Linda Nordling is a freelance journalist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Unsolicited applications — commonly known as cold e-mails — can be a surprisingly powerful tool for landing a job in science.

AI can do a lot, but it won’t automate your career. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has the ability to whip up a resume or cover letter in less than five minutes based on the information you feed it. But beware — ...