Use AI for Resumes & Cover Letters?
What is a Career Walking Deck?

Today, let’s take a look at the Career Lantern inbox. Here are a few questions that may be of interest to all readers.

RK asks: Some of my friends are using AI to write their resumes and cover letters. Do you think that is a good idea?

Reply: As with most technology tools, it depends. AI can be helpful when preparing resumes and cover letters by suggesting wording improvements or making you aware of content you may have inadvertently omitted or not even considered including. However, you must think of AI only as a “helper” and not as a personal servant who completely does all the work for you. It is critical to thoroughly review any AI-generated content with an eye to accuracy and common sense. While some material created by AI may be much better than what you could ever write on your own, sometimes its wording may be somewhat odd or even downright goofy. Note that AI results are also often flawed, containing words, job titles, jargon, or terms that are unusual or used incorrectly as related to your particular field. Obviously, such embarrassing quirks will detract from your credibility, make you look incompetent, and potentially expose your careless use of and reliance on AI. AI can be helpful as a tool, but look at the results carefully!

JS asks: I have heard about something called a “Career Walking Deck” or “Personal Pitch Deck” being used as part of a job interview. What exactly are those?

Reply: A “Career Walking Deck” and “Personal Pitch Deck” are essentially the same thing. The Career Walking Deck is a relatively new concept and differs from the usual business presentation. This type of presentation is typically short, with about 5 to 8 slides, and focuses on helping the interviewers learn more about you. It provides favorable insights about you that they may not discover through the normal question-and-answer interview process or by simply reading your resume. The slides should be colorful and visually stimulating, using pictures where appropriate, and not just a bunch of bullet points.

The presentation may come into play in one of two ways: Continue reading →

Do you have a job interview coming up soon? Awesome! However, take a moment and put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. When looking at all the candidates who applied for this job, what does the interviewer see? If the job posting and applicant tracking system (ATS) perform as expected, the interviewer might be looking at a collection of clones! What do I mean? Remember, the candidates selected for an interview should all have, at a minimum:

• The same required education, degree, or training
• The same amount and type of work experience
• The same license, certification, or other credential, if one is required

All the candidates—including you—had to meet the same minimum requirements or else no interview, right? Additionally, if they prepared themselves adequately, they will all likely:

• Be professionally dressed (yes, even for an online video interview)
• Have submitted polished, professional resumes and cover letters
• Be polite and articulate

So, what makes you anything special?

This Problem is Nothing New

At its core, this is a problem that marketing professionals have struggled with for years! Consider the following example. When you purchase facial tissue, do you spend time researching all the products available and then stress over the decision of which brand to get? Probably not. For most people, a tissue is a tissue is a tissue. You likely either buy what you have always purchased or grab whatever happens to be on sale this week. For the manufacturers of facial tissue, your behavior is an absolute nightmare! They MUST find a way to convince you that out of all the tissue choices available, their brand is the one you want to buy! Continue reading →