Category: AI

Job Searches Suck. How AI Can Make Them Better.

Job searches suck. We know that. You spend hours writing and rewriting your CV and cover letters. Scammers call you with the job of your dreams and try to ask you to pay them to update your resume. Some people fall for this. However, they never get an updated resume; they find unauthorized charges on their credit cards. It is not fun.

Where does AI get into the picture? Job boards use AI to tweak your resume or cover letter. For the most part, it is legit. In some cases, it’s free. I write my cover letters, resumes, and portfolios myself. AI is a great tool for brainstorming. Sort of like working with a job counselor. 

AI is here. It is becoming useful in many areas. In the job search, it helps with research. Using a variety of tools that you can easily find on Google, you can do some great sleuthing on the company you are applying to and the specific role. 

You can find out the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. You can dig into its share price, when it made job cuts, how it interacts with its local community, and how it responds during a crisis. You can see how it reacts when its competitors pull ahead or fall behind.

This data is essential for creating tailored cover letters and interview talking points. It can also help you find key people to reach out to. Yes, LinkedIn is useful. AI is often more direct. It does say it pulls from LinkedIn. But it also pulls from many other places and can help you brainstorm while you fill out your application.

Is it taking away our jobs? Or can it help you find one? It can definitely point you in the right direction and help you navigate the long road ahead. But you still need to do your own work.

AI and Transcript Creation 

For those of you who read my prior AI posts, “The Happiness and Toils and Tribulations of AI” and “What Does AI Really Know About You,”I thank you. Now it’s time to jump into how well it does when it comes to making transcripts when you upload videos to YouTube.

A few days ago, as chairman of the Ten Mile River Scout Museum, I made a few presentations at our annual Alumni Weekend. One was to present a tile in honor of a deceased Scouter who made an impact on hundreds of youths. The other was the introduction of my board of trustees. Both were recorded on someone’s iPhone.

We uploaded the videos to YouTube and transcripts were created. In the first video, “August 8, 2026: TMR Wall of Fame Induction of John D’Arcy,” the only speaker was me. In the second, “August 8, 2026: Presentation of Museum Trustees*,” each of my trustees introduced themselves. We do a lot of work and have fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. Most of us have been friends for decades and love to joke around.

I was told by the person who recorded the videos that he placed them on YouTube. I was excited and took a look. YouTube automatically created transcripts. I was aghast when I saw the transcripts. Yes, it got some things right. But it misspelled many things. Before alerting me that it was live, it should have been checked. But it is not the end of the world.

I don’t think YouTube’s AI understands Brooklyn. Everyone in the video is originally from NYC. Many are from Brooklyn. However, as far as the other boroughs, YouTube doesn’t speak that either. 

Several of our camps have Native American names. One of our now-shuttered camps was Nianque. One of our trustees said he started over sixty years ago in that camp. The transcript said, “Camp Miami.” We’ve all been there. Miami and a Scout camp in the middle of Narrowsburg are way different. Personally, I like my camp better. But have had many adventures in Miami. It spelled many first and last names wrong, as well as the titles.

We toyed around with editing the transcript. But it was time-consuming and, for some reason, more difficult on Macs v. Windows-based computers. Why? Who knows? You’d think it’d be easier and quicker on a Mac. Everything is. What did we do? We deleted them and uploaded again without transcripts. 

Am I upset? Not at all. As a matter of fact, I am pleased. This was a great learning exercise. It is fantastic that AI is being put to work to create transcripts. They look nice and are perfectly placed at the bottom of the video. This taught us that you always need to check and verify. I do not doubt that as we move forward, this will get better. My other work with AI tools has proven that. We are on a learning curve, and we are learning, learning a lot.

*- These are the final videos.