Do you have a video screening interview?

What is the AI algorithm looking for apart from your answers?

The link below is a fascinating study by the Bavarian Broadcast company on just one AI video screening software platform.

The study results indicate that the infamous Zoom bookshelf may help increase your perceived Openness, Conscientiousness, and agreeability.

It may make the difference between a candidate interviewing with a plain white wall behind them.

The study looked at other strategies like hair coverings and increasing the candidates’ performance over and above what they say.

Take a look yourself at the Bavarian broadcasting website

https://web.br.de/interaktiv/ki-bewerbung/en/

Amazing. Is AI being used to write e-mail replies?

So what is this all about, Is AI being used to write e-mail replies?

Now we’ve all heard about AI, or Artificial Intelligence, and quite often this is a term used in marketing for well wrapped boolean logic.

There is a form of AI from a company called OpenAI that is creating a deep learning model, and thus a truly artificial intelligence.

Here is a link to an article to ZDnet for further reading on this is below. Today’s tip is for a product coming out of the research of OpenAI’s technology GPT-3.

The product is Magic E-mail. It is claimed to be able to help reply to an e-mail, looking at the context of the sending e-mail, and from a single line response that the user provides.

It will draft a full e-mail in reply. To find out more follow this link and get your self on the public beta program.

Magic e-mail

So you know if you follow my link, you’ll help me get higher up the public beta waiting list, so come on help a geek out, sign up to see how scary the future looks!

If you’re not so bothered if AI is being used to write e-mail replies in your e-mail perhaps you’d like to write yourself with greater accuracy using Grammarly

We’re hiring

These words are like music to a job hunters ears.

This tip is showing how big data can be presented in a purposeful way and can become a tool. In this case, the tool is datastudio by Google.

DataStudio is requested to create a database of all entries currently live in Linkedin that have in there posted “We’re hiring”

The “We’re hiring” sheet lays out all the global post, showing categories, such as the job sector, geographical location, their person creating the post in Linkedin and other information on salary if it’s available.

Review the site, and all will become clear.

We’re Hiring Database

https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/c7d16119-acb0-4f6a-8284-d9b2d3b7b258/page/otYdB
https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/c7d16119-acb0-4f6a-8284-d9b2d3b7b258/page/otYdB

Are you considering moving home location if the job is right for you?

What is your salary expectation?

If you’re in a permanent job interview cycle, do you know how much to ask for?

I’ve come across the following site recently, and while there could be some use, they don’t seem to have very much data from UK salaries.

https://www.levels.fyi/

The best source for salary expectation data, I’ve seen so far is Linkedin found behind their paywall for Linkedin Premium.

Do you know better sources?

Wait! Did you ask yourself the right question?

This is the one question, you need to answer through out your CV?

I was once coached on creating a boastful, SMART CV/Resume; this was one tip that has remained from that session.

For each paragraph or sentence. They asked me? So what?

Did you ask yourself the right question?

This is a brutal way of clarifying by yourself. If what you’ve written conveys a lesson learnt? Does it show you added a skill or technique? Or materially did you improve the buisness due to your efforts?

Such a statement as this.

“I managed twenty staff, producing widgets for the aerospace industry.”

Would turn into

“As a new manager in XYZ Aerospace Ltd. I took an underperforming team of twenty staff, through Lean production training. In parrallel I helped the senior mangement team restructuring the incentive scheme. Through these changes I was able to increase the department’s widget production by 30% in six months.”

Or

“As a carpenter, I build Welsh Dressers, Using only hand tools.”

Would turn into

“I’ve passed my City and Guilds exams to level 5 in Carpentry. Under the guidance of a master crafts man, I’m now a expert cabinetmaker. I’ve spent the past five years building full Welsh Dressers, using traditional handtool techniques.

If you need more help in writing the perfect CV try reading this post Writing the Perfect CV

So. Did you ask yourself the right question?

Descript, a guide on notes taking

How many times are you leading a project, where you are setting the agenda, and somehow you need to keep track of meeting minutes.

While we want to believe we can multitask, known as quick-shifting, it has been proven that we have reduced attention and focus when multitasking.

My first experience of office life was from around 1983 where my mum was in the typing pool, typing up either her shorthand notes or transcribing the very modern small dictation cassettes.

Thankfully the world has moved on. Today as long as the appropriate notice is given to the attendees of a meeting. It is simple to make a recording of a meeting.

The issue does go back to what I saw my mum doing, which was making sense of the meeting flow, creating issue and decisions logs, as well as assigning time-based actions to the relevant participants.

This is where today’s tech tip comes in handy.

Descript is an audio transcription software, that will detect differences in the people speaking and create a detailed transcript.

If it only did this it would be cleaver; it does a lot more besides.

It works as a transcript and in parallel a high-end audio editor.
With the click of a button, it can remove all the long pauses in the recording. Take out hums and ahs, balance the sound level of different speakers and lots more.

One of the most ingenious features is to recognise the tone of different speakers and create an automated prompt to label each speaker in the text file. As a result, the program identifies each speakers words and audio waveform with individual colour coding for easy tracking.

Once you’ve got a transcript with the participants highlighted, text tightened up, using common word-finding functions, you can edit the text; for example, you can remove the start and end of meeting preambles.

It is super quick to export a transcript in MS Word document style. You can select how much mark up detail of speakers, and the timing you require. This could either be the master record of the meeting or used for editing into a more concise record of events.

Other uses of this product are to create subtitles for video applications (a legal requirement for all online content in the US) as well as producing transcripts for Podcasts, which create an excellent searchable source of information, driving web search traffic to an information-rich podcast.

This is one of my longer tech tips, while Descript is such a powerful tool, I’m sure lots of you will be using this or something similar in the years to come.

Start a trial today and let me know how you get on.

Writing the Perfect CV

Customise your CV per job application with Rezi.io

The last time I mentioned Applicant Tracking Systems. ATS there was an acknowledgement that my network wasn’t fully aware of how they affected your job application process.

(see my last post here How to reach a recruiting manager )

Today’s tip is for a CV writing service, that isn’t based on personal opinion or concept of the “single best CV”.

Rezi.io is a bespoke CV writing service, that will help get your application in front of a human recruiter.

Rezi is a paid service that will speed up the process of crafting the CV to the desired job description.

Using this service will help you get to the next phase in the process, the Job interview.

There is a free preview available www.rezi.io

How many of you tried out my last tip Jobscan.co and found that the job description and company that you entered had a known ATS behind it?

How to Automate your dream job search?

This is a simple google search from any Google.co.uk search box.


Using the keyword “jobs” in a phrase such as “Jobs Project Manager Devon” Which would list all project manager jobs listed publically, based in the Devon region.


To automate the search.
Select the blue arrow, with 100+ more jobs.


At the bottom of the next page there is a bluebell tab, which invites you to turn on New Job alerts for the job search made. (see the tips images for an example)


You can create as many searches from this page, turning on the alerts, from the article below the only major recruiting company that hasn’t allowed Google to scrap their announcements is Indeed.

-https://www.thebalancecareers.com/google-for-jobs-4140171

This tip assumes you have an active google email account.

Linkedin name pronunciation guides.

What would you say in 10 seconds?

LinkedIn has introduced a new option available from you’re Android phone or iPhone.

If you navigate to you’re profile page, you’ll see a prompt to record your name pronunciation.

Now it’s up to you if you record your name or something more fun.

Go on and have a go, let me know when you’ve done it?

https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/120710

Note this doesn’t work from the desktop LinkedIn website and only a phone app.

Writing with accuracy

Grammarly an every day writers tool

How many times do you read an e-mail you’ve just sent, and you spot a simple grammatical error? 

Okay, so maybe you’ve become used to being at work you use Microsoft Word to draft your documents, and you’re used to a background spell checker. And all is well with the world. 

Now you’re online and sending e-mails via a web browser and all of a sudden there’s no safety net, or do you read a past Linkedin message and think how did I write that?

Enter Grammarly; it’s an elegant program, that can sit as a plug-in on you’re favourite web browser. 

It has free offering very features rich, where it takes spell checking to the next level, advising on grammar, split into four areas, Correctness, Clarity, Engagement, and Delivery. 

Rather than gushing on how useful it is, go and have a look for yourselves. 

Grammarly 

P.S would you think that I’d written 32k words last month and that my vocabulary is 93% than the average Grammarly users, how do you think you’d fare?