AI is killing the cover letter - but here's -2-

There's a debate among talent-acquisition professionals about whether there's a place for video cover letters, Fell said. One major pitfall is a potential introduction of visual bias to the hiring process, she noted. Hiring and firing decisions cannot be based on a person's race, religion, age, sex or other protected status, such as pregnancy.

Attorneys for workers are also trying to understand what AI means for the job hunt, said Ben Lebsack, president of the National Employment Lawyers Association.

He pointed to an informal opinion about video résumés from the federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2010. Antidiscrimination laws don't ban specific technologies from helping employers pick candidates, so there was nothing wrong with video résumés by themselves, the regulator wrote; what matters is the decision-making process that follows.

There are also worries about AI models training themselves from videos submitted by applicants. As Thompson started mulling video cover letters, she signed the newly launched "Human Consent Registry" to try guarding her name, image and likeness against unauthorized AI use.

Analog skills count big

For all the technological advances, hiring experts say the old-school building blocks count more than ever.

"The analog moments are what really make someone stand out," said Bailey. "The phone call, the personal outreach, the organic meeting - that's how you stand out nowadays."

As Thompson considers video cover letters, she's also going to increase her in-person networking activities. Now the key is finding the events that are worth the time and expense as her job search continues. It's a strategy shift emphasizing the value of personal connections.

"Here I am complaining about the robots, but I'm not doing the human part of it as much as I need to be," she said.

Related: All entry-level jobs require 3-5 years of experience. How am I supposed to get that if no one will hire me?

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-Andrew Keshner

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07-16-26 1001ET