AI is the Same as Teams in a Job Search

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

First, a clarification to avoid confusion and a lawsuit. By “Teams” I am referring to a group of colleagues not a collaboration software tool.

Many years ago, there was a famous (infamous?) case of a stockbroker who was hired by a competitor and proceeded to fail miserably. He had been an 8-figure producer. Now, at his new company, he couldn’t sell enough to buy lunch for his co-workers. When he was called into his supervisor for an explanation he said, “Well, at XYZ I had a great team. Here, I have nothing.”

Employers don’t interview teams to fill a position, they interview individuals. If they want to hire a team, they will advertise for a team. They want to hire an individual and, in this case, they went looking for one. Responsibility for the failed hire was equally divided between the employer and the candidate/new hire. They should have dug deeper to discover the reason for the candidate’s success. And the candidate should have explained his needs instead of taking credit for a team effort.

This is similar to using AI to apply for a job. If an applicant asks AI to prepare a cover letter and resume based on a job description, those documents will be literally identical to all others prepared by AI based on the same job description. Seeing virtually identical submissions from numerous candidates, something constantly being written about on LinkedIn by frustrated hiring managers, means that even if the resumes pass the dreaded ATS screening, the resume will be rejected. Hiring managers want to hire people, not AI. If they wanted AI they would not spend money looking for humans.

So, in order to differentiate yourself from your competition, don’t use AI. You’ll be submitting fewer applications, but getting better results.