Remember the Staples Easy Button??? 🔴
Well, it's DEAD. 🪦
Specifically: The idea that you can press a button, spray out 500 AI-generated applications, and land a great job is now officially OVER (if it ever worked in the first place!).
Of course, it’s completely understandable to want that shortcut. This market is the toughest we’ve seen since the Great Recession. Students are desperate for any advantage, and AI tools feel like a gift.
But here's the hard truth we need to accept: When the market gets tough, we have to get tougher. 💪
Which means moving from the generic information baked into LLMs and starting to get access to the insider information that really matters:
► Who's actually hiring?
► What does the hiring manager care about?
► Who can walk your resume into the room?
ChatGPT can't tell you any of that. It doesn't know what actually works because it doesn't have access to the outcomes. It doesn't know which resumes landed interviews or which interview strategies landed offers.
So what is the RIGHT strategy in a brutal market??? 🤔
1️⃣ Throw down the gauntlet. Stop asking what is easiest, and start asking what gets results.
2️⃣ Get out of the building. Shift the vibe from "finding the magic AI tool" to the high-value activity that generic bots can’t touch: getting insider info through talking to actual insiders.
Bottom Line: The Easy Button is dead. ☠️
Long live the Hard Button. ;)
PS: Want to see an even deeper dive on what's working - and not working - right now? Check out my action-packed convo with 100+ career leaders from last week's webinar: