Do you consider yourself an early adopter? Do you sign on to learn new things or purchase innovative items soon after they come out? Were you one of the first cell phone users for example, or microwave over users? Did you get one of the first smartphones?
Do you remember Commander DATA – the character from Star Trek? DATA was an example of a perceived future version of AI which could talk and process info and had astonishing personality characteristics – although they could be limited.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not new, and it is already all around us part of our lives.
Have you seen a robotic pet that seems to react like a real one and responds to your voice and commands? MIT-designed robot in the late 1990s called KISMET that recognized emotions through human body language and voice tone.
Do you have a wearable fitness device? Yup, it is powered by AI.
Have you ever interacted with a customer service chatbots? Again, yup, it was AI.
AI is also behind security cameras that alert us to unrecognized visitors; email services that label some messages as spam; music playlist recommendations; and purchase recommendations from online sites.
Corporations like to use it to set interview appointments for job candidates. It’s used on smartphones, smart home devices, and for travel and navigation. It’s behind the spell check function on your phone and computer.
Research on AI (remember it is a tool) has been ongoing for six decades. It began with the same beginnings as the internet back in the day with DARPA which is an acronym for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which is an agency under the auspices of the military for national security purposes.
AI is represented by innovations such as self-driving cars and facial recognition software, and software that can take notes for you at a meeting so you don’t have to and more recently by a more refined tool that allows you to ask a question and it will produce an answer – which is wowing and frightening all at the same time.
AI in the context of the job campaign can be used effectively, but how it is used may assist and or hinder your success.
I recently read an article about a lawsuit against WORKDAY. WORKDAY is an applicant tracking system (ATS) used by many companies and the allegation is that its algorithm has biases. It stated that its AI and screening tools disproportionately and discriminatorily disqualify Black, older, and disabled job applicants. The argument is that the AI/software unlawfully favors applicants outside of protected classes.
I also recently saw an article about a professor who was offering a professional development session on Portraying Aging in Images, Language and Humor. As part of her research, she turned to ChatGPT (which now has more than 100 million users) and discovered that 7 out of 10 requests for “tell me a joke about an older adult” made fun of poor digital literacy skills. Her suggestion perpetuates myths – myths about cultural biases. An example of a joke was:
“Why did the older adult refuse to use the internet?”
“Because he didn’t want to catch a virus!”
If I share anything – while wonderful and scary with all things AI and internet based the rule of GARBAGE IN and GARBAGE OUT always applies. This has been a mantra for information found on the INTERNET and in building software programs – financial or otherwise for decades. In its simplest form it is what it implies. If you put in garbage parameters you get garbage results.
You may be asking if queries of data in information systems such as the internet have been around for decades, why the big deal now with AI?
The answer is innovation of Open AI, the development and release of ChatGPT and of Microsoft’s BING bot too (which incorporates ChatGPT). Technology companies are in a race to capture the most market share, the fastest. What we all suspect, is that there is infinitely more testing that could and should be done but hasn’t and may not happen soon. In essence we get what we get.
Regarding using AI in your job campaign, please hear buyer beware.
AI tools have been around for a while to assist your job campaign. I’m referring to various resume evaluation tools such as JobScan.co and ResumeWorded.com. There is a time and place for these tools.
BUT here’s more to consider about using AI for your Job Search:
Korn Ferry International which is one of the world’s largest executive search and recruiting firms has indicated that many of their employer clients are not actually ‘reading’ cover letters anymore. Why? Because they attribute so many to NOT being written by the candidate, but by AI.
Why do they care? Would you want a love letter that was written by a BOT but was passed off as written by your lover? Same type of situation.
Let’s get into a few more details here about how this technology works.
- A well-designed PROMPT or question is posed for the software/AI. Then the AI software scours the internet with blazingly fast speed and comes back with an answer, or prose, or analysis.
- Why is this an issue you may ask? This answer goes back to 1) garbage in garbage out – needing to assure your “prompt’ (the question asked) is well written. Just so you know there are already new jobs being created for ‘Prompt Writing’ within companies that are using AI.
- And 2) not everything found on the internet is true and not all conclusions presented by AI are valid. In other words, AI still needs the human element, the human touch – human judgment applied to check and double check the results.
It’s realistic that many job campaigners will start to use AI as part of the job search toolkit. You are already as I’ve pointed out above.
In the last month, one resume writer reported she had a potential client cancel their resume intake call. They used AI to build a new resume that resulted in a job offer before they could start their engagement with the resume writer.
You can use innovative tools that help you as a job seeker create content-based job descriptions using AI and the specific prompt. “Write 5 bullet point achievements for a [TITLE] role with metrics based on this job description. Then you may copy/paste the job announcement/position description into the AI. (Shout out to TealHq.com)
There will be tremendous demand and growth in this technology over the next 5 years. BUT – here are some cautions:
AI cannot help you determine your unique value proposition. Most job seekers struggle to articulate your value on paper. I like this thought, “it’s hard to read the label when you are inside the jar.”
A quality career branding expert (like me) can give you an outside perspective on your personal brand and unique value proposition. The goal is that you are presenting THE RIGHT narrative to your intended audience.
The “BOTS” can’t infuse personality into your branding.
Brand personality is one of the most important factors in differentiating your personal story from your competition.
Bots and AI software may create some efficiencies if you use them in developing your tool kit for the job campaign, but you still need to create the humanness and connectedness.
Don’t be fooled that AI will eliminate your need to put in personal effort. Beware that this tool isn’t a replacement for doing your own homework and pushups but can be a nice complement.
Get clear, gain confidence, make it happen – get hired sooner. Stay courageous.
As always, I wish you health and a clear path to offer your professional creativity within a job that’s truly right for you.
Success – at work, at play, every day!
Lynden
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