Lost For Words
How often have you been confused about how to write something? The idea is clear in your thoughts although the words on the page (or the screen) don’t seem to convey the message you had in mind in the right way. It should be so much easier with the tools that are increasingly available to us shouldn’t it? There’s predictive text, spellchecker and lots more to prompt you. But writing still takes time, especially when it’s a really important piece: an encouraging note, a complaint letter, a CV or a story.
With so many organisations now suggesting that they won’t accept candidate applications where there’s evidence that they’ve used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help them, I’m suggesting that writing has become even more difficult. I’m a supporter of the filters which highlight plagiarism and contribute to more originality in student submissions although I really don’t want to know who or what helped an applicant. Let’s be honest, who hasn’t asked a friend or a family member to help them in the past? And what about those wonderful recruitment coaches we all know!
Let’s deal with these two topics separately. The first, how you frame the message in your head and the second about using AI to help get it written down. I’m happy to share that when I began writing for my blog 6 years ago, it was a tentative experience (some might say experiment). My early stories were more like well-rehearsed anecdotes. I had fun writing them although they took time to get right, and some hung around in my drafts for weeks on end. My confidence grew and so did the length of my stories. Some were topic-specific while others were more like a weekly chat covering my thoughts and activities. I learned that what I had to say was fun to write and well-received by others.
From time to time I check my facts while I’m writing although on the whole my blog stories are not rehearsed except in my head. Sometimes it scares me that I’ve written over 100,000 words and I only notice the typos that have crept in! That brings me onto the second topic. I’m happy that I use spellchecker although I deliberately don’t use other supportive systems to write for my blog until a story is complete. Then I read what ‘the Editor’ suggests. For the most part I only select the ‘shorter way of saying something’ or check my spelling. I don’t choose to use Copilot to assist me with my writing. Mostly because I still enjoy getting my own words on the page right now. This may change! I’ll keep you posted.
Rather than banning applicants from making good use of AI in their applications (yes, really) or somehow thinking we have the right (as potential employers) to ‘reject’ an application because it may be written by a bot, employers need to get even better at:
· Simplifying their recruitment processes, and
· Assessing talent
· Giving candidates hope (feedback and great communications)
The clever thing is for applicants to be shrewd and remember to ‘own’ what they write. I’ve always given the same advice: if someone helps you, please make sure you understand the language and remember to reflect it at interview. After all, the best person to describe a situation you’ve been in is you, right?
“Only you will know [what help you’ve had] although remember, you will need to live up to the reputation you’ve created at interview – enough said?”
Returning to my opening theme, writing can be a fabulous way to train your brain to relax. In other words getting some of those thoughts that seem to be causing stress in your life written down and put to one side. Remember if the written words are just for you, it doesn’t matter how you say what you want to say. The benefit is that the stress moves from the ‘worry zone’ to the ‘to do’ list and gets the priority it deserves!
Writing for me is a way to relax, although with my recruitment guide for candidates being published (most likely in May) and a brilliant idea for ‘A Red Lipstick Lover’s Life At Seventy’ still stalking me, it may seem like I’ve deserted my blog. The reality is that I’ve found the three different styles a little challenging to reconcile! Remember to write for yourself before you write for others! Have fun. And if you fancy a natter, Let’s Chat.
