Revolutionizing Work and Job Search: A Power User’s Playbook for AI at Work
Can being at the "leading edge" of technology adoption maximize your workplace productivity as well as potential career prospects?
During a guest expert session in the June 2025 Applied AI (XD131), Wayan Vota, the founder of Career Pivot, shared his practical approach to integrating AI tools into daily workflows and job search strategies. Drawing from his 20-plus years in international digital development, Wayan emphasized that AI is already an omnipresent part of our lives, from emailing to streaming services, and that our online interactions inadvertently train these algorithms
In addition to the slides and content included in this post, you can also watch an AI-generated video overview below.
Leveraging Popular AI Tools Effectively
During his session, Wayan showcased several popular AI tools, each with unique strengths:
Perplexity for Real-Time Research: Wayan uses Perplexity as a real-time search Large Language Model (LLM) to research current events, such as staffing reductions at the UN. It excels at providing summaries and serving as a starting point for content creation, offering up-to-date answers unlike the delays found in ChatGPT or Claude. Wayan demonstrated how Perplexity's research, complete with footnotes, could be transformed into high-traction social media posts. He pays for Perplexity Pro, which unlocks direct access to the latest models from leading AI providers.
Claude for Content Generation: Claude is Wayan Vota's preferred tool for generating first drafts of content, particularly for replicating his writing style. It effectively helps overcome the "blank page problem" by providing a solid starting point that can be edited and refined, saving about 60% of the work. While strong in style replication, Wayan noted Claude's limitations in handling very large documents.
ChatGPT for Analysis and Large Datasets: Wayan utilizes the paid version of ChatGPT for analyzing substantial documents, like a 60-70 page budget, a task Claude struggles with. ChatGPT provides a high-level understanding of complex data, although it may lack detailed accuracy, necessitating human review. Wayan explicitly pays for ChatGPT, as its terms of service state that paid users' data is not used for model training, unlike the free version where user data is the product. He finds it the least accurate among the three but capable of handling the most data.
Custom GPTs for Specific Needs: Custom GPTs can be tailored for unique requirements, such as sanitizing content to conform to specific word styles by training them on uploaded documents. They can also be used to analyze personal CVs against job descriptions.
Wayan advocated for paying for AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, viewing the cost as justified by the time saved and potential career benefits. He suggests focusing on one or a few tools that align with individual needs, asserting that the cost (around $20 per tool per month) is minimal compared to the efficiency gains or the speed at which one might secure a job.
XD131 screenshot of Perplexity Pro presentation by Wayan Vota
AI in the Job Search Process
Wayan detailed several practical applications of AI in job searching:
Identifying Themes and Keywords: ChatGPT can analyze job descriptions to pinpoint key themes and keywords, helping job seekers understand role expectations and align their skills. By comparing multiple job ads, it can reveal common phrases and even assess how well a CV fits specific roles, highlighting gaps.
Networking and Informational Interviews: AI tools can assist in finding relevant contacts on platforms like LinkedIn. ChatGPT can generate unique and insightful questions for informational interviews based on a contact's LinkedIn profile, moving beyond generic inquiries. This helps convey legitimacy and intelligence, motivating contacts to connect job seekers with others in their network.
Identifying Companies and Opportunities: Perplexity can be used to identify mission-driven companies or specific job openings, such as firms hiring for particular roles in a given year, enabling job seekers to discover opportunities and initiate conversations. ChatGPT can also analyze existing skills and suggest relevant job types and career paths.
Important Considerations for AI Use
Wayan stressed several critical points for responsible AI usage:
Fact-Checking is Paramount: Wayan strongly emphasized the absolute necessity of checking every link and data point generated by LLMs before sharing or publishing. He likened AI to "overeager but unreliable graduate assistants" whose work should never be submitted without thorough human review. While Perplexity is relatively accurate, ChatGPT is considered the least accurate, despite its ability to handle large volumes of data.
Security and Data Privacy: While paid AI services generally state in their terms of service that they do not use subscriber data for model training, Vota advises caution. He personally avoids inputting sensitive or non-public information, treating LLMs as potentially public tools. He referenced past company policies where putting non-public client data into public tools was grounds for termination.
Evolving Perceptions and Experimentation: Wayan noted that the cultural understanding of AI is evolving, likening the current use of LLMs to "teenage sex" – widely practiced, not openly discussed, and often done clumsily. He encourages an experimental approach, freely copying and iterating on prompts found online.
Disclosure Statements: In response to a suggestion, Wayan noted that ChatGPT can even help create AI use disclosure statements for clients. Personally, he prefers to disclose AI use only when others do, noting his workplace's increasing adoption of internal AI tools like Gemini.
Closing Thoughts:
Wayan closed by encouraging participants to think of AI as an "other brain" to leverage for increased efficiency and effectiveness, especially in streamlining administrative tasks and enhancing career development.
This series features insights from our June 2025 Applied AI (XD131) course. Listen to the AI-generated podcast for an audio recap of this event.
