On the Fence About Using AI? These Insights Might Help
By Ruth Sternberg, NCOPE, Watercooler Editor
NRWA member Gina Riley recently created a list of potential company targets for a client. She used ChatGPT, and the task, which easily could have taken a couple of hours, took only a few minutes.
She fed the artificial intelligence tool the name of a well-known firm as an example and asked it to find others in various size categories.
“There was Accenture, but there were also midsized firms,” said Gina, who owns Gina Riley Consulting. However, her goal was to show her client that there were different-sized operations for him to choose from and, therefore, lots of employment options.
You probably already realize that you can use AI to make your life as a career-industry professional easier. If you are still thinking about using it but are not sure what to use it for, here are some examples from NRWA members. Their chief takeaway is that AI tools save time and add a layer of technical polish that doesn’t require hiring an assistant or graphic designer.
Gina uses it for more than making lists. She uses prompts to help her consolidate and summarize client career information and synthesize it with her coaching insights.
“When I’m working on someone’s LinkedIn summary, I’m putting together things from their debrief and resume, fed into the tool in little bits. I include the language they have used, both in their coaching workbooks and the things they have said to me. Then I write an integrative narrative based on our insights from the sessions.”
Here are some of the ways other NRWA members use AI:
Jessica Visek, owner of Your Career Partner:
Tools: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Yoodli, Slidesgo, Fathom
Uses: create content, research, take notes, and create presentations
Examples: Jessica used ChatGPT to prepare a pivotal career-management presentation, conceptualizing the presentation in outline form, and crafting a narrative. Yoodli and Slidesgo helped her create the visual presentations.
Fathom helps her capture and summarize her coaching sessions. “This tool allows me to maintain a clear and consistent communication channel with my clients, ensuring we remain aligned with our established goals and action plans. It's made me more present, concentrated, and a more effective career coach.”
Denise Bitler, owner of Resume-Interview Success, LLC
Tools: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity
Uses: generate questions, consolidate information, research
Example: Denise generates industry-specific questions that can help her gather additional client resume details. She also uses it to identify up-to-date company goals, missions, and challenges and leverages that information to help clients write high-level 30-60-90+ plans.
Tom Powner, owner of Career Thinker
Tools: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft CoPilot
Uses: research; consolidation; and assistance with tasks such as writing emails, generating images from text, transcribing audio or video, and drafting documents
Dan Shortridge, owner of Results Resumes
Tools: ChatGPT
Uses: Brainstorming. “It’s helpful if my brain is stuck on certain words or phrases, or to make sure I’ve covered all my bases,” Dan said.
Example: “It's especially helpful if I'm working in a field I'm not personally familiar with. I might ask, ‘Give me a list of 10 skills for a cosmetologist’ or ‘What are 15 important points for a resume for a physical therapist?’ I won't use the language directly, but I will use the topics as a jumping-off point for my client discovery call. They often will catch me up to speed on the types of questions to ask more deeply about.”
Ruth Sternberg owns Confident Career Search, located in Rochester, N.Y., and helps mid- to late-career professionals across the country rethink their directions and adjust their career paths for deeper life satisfaction.
