Carragee Consulting

TLDR: Useful tool for organization, but don’t use the AI writing feature to write your accomplishment bullets!!

For roughly the first time since 2017 I decided to try and completely revamp my CV. For consulting I use a bio slide in my proposals and work mainly from referrals so I haven’t maintained an up to date formal resume/CV.

Having seen references to Teal a lot on LinkedIn I figured I could give it a try. I have mixed feelings about the software, here’s why:

WARNING:
– When you draft your resume and put in accomplishment bullets you have the option to “Improve with AI”. The generated rewritten points suggest % improvements your work contributed to the business that are fabricated. As a user you’ve given the tool no information from which to calculate “measurable results”.
– Accepting the default writing turns your resume into a work of fiction rather than a serious portrayal of your capabilities.
– The broad adoption of tools like this and other writing GPTs will incentivize increasingly inflated resumes until they are all as fantastic as the one Len Markidan posted (satirically) a few years back.

What I like:
– From a workflow perspective the Teal platform does seems like it would help you maintain a log of which tailored versions of resumes and cover letters you submit with each job application

Good luck out there to both the hiring managers who are reviewing AI generated resumes and the applicants who are competing in a world of absurd defaults.

UPDATE: David Fano is looking into UI/process modifications to help make this less likely to happen (see the comments below).