"it gave you something to argue with"
So I've been messing around with running an LLM on my computer because I want to understand the technology better and I do think it can provide me with some support in certain areas (like writing basic python scripts, to perform stupid tasks like extracting text and formatting from an html file of a ff.net page so I can save something that is personally important to me to an epub to keep on my kindle).
And then I had to write a cover letter.
Everyone talks about how we just have AI-created job listings getting AI-created responses, back and forth, computers talking to themselves forever. And I with the exception of a cover letter for a job I didn't get, I don't feel like I've ever written a successful cover letter in my life. (Also maybe I have a bad definition of "successful"... But I did get an interview!)
So I copied the text of the job posting into my stupid LLM and asked it to write me a cover letter.
I copied what it wrote into Word and set about making adjustments.
I re-wrote the entire thing. I don't think more than about a single sentence worth of text remained from the original draft, and I kept (some) of the basic formatting.
I don't know if the cover letter is any good. And I haven't heard back yet, so I don't know if it will get me an interview or a job. (And besides, my application is going in with a personal recommendation, so that's going to obfuscate any conclusions we could draw from the outcome of this situation.)
But it sure as hell was the fastest I've ever written a cover letter. Usually I agonize for days, unable to figure out where to start, or how much of the original job posting to include and/or reference.
Now this was definitely a more pro forma cover letter (it's a part-time job, and I'm quite possibly overqualified for the position, but it's a significant and reputable institution and therefore worth pursuing), so that probably helped take the pressure off.
When I told my mother about what happened, and joked that perhaps the LLM's most important skill was defeating the "blank page" anxiety which has gripped so many, she just said, "It gave you something to argue with."
I have never been more accurately and casually informed of my own personality defects in my entire life. I can struggle at times to articulate my position on things (not that anyone who knows me would say such a thing, given my vociferous opinions on most topics). But the truth is that I'm a fan of dialogue and conversation because it help me "refine my thinking," which is to say "it gives me something to argue with".
This isn't to say that I can only articulate myself in opposition to some external source, opinion, or stimulus. But when I'm trying to figure out what I want to say, the easiest way to figure it out is to say something incorrect or not-quite-right. Recognizing the truth can be difficult, but I am more confident in my ability to recognize a lie. (And certainly, I can recognize a blatant untruth regarding my personal experiences and capabilities.)
I still don't really understand cover letters. Maybe I haven't really wanted most of the jobs I've applied for badly enough, or maybe writing cover letters for jobs in financial administration just isn't particularly engaging.
People just aren't going to believe you if write "I am passionate about policy and procedure" in a cover letter. Because that sounds like a fake sentence, designed to get a job. Never mind that I independently went and acquired a copy of P&P at my last job, printed it out, bound it in a little folder and proceeded to flag various sections for future reference. (I kept it on my desk and would regularly pull it out to check the verbiage when we had compliance questions in the office.)
But a cover letter is also supposed to be concise and direct or what-have-you, so I can tell the whole P&P booklet story (and it still makes you sound like a try-hard, but being a nerd is just like that some times).
But P&P is the ultimate version of "something to argue with". And that's what I'm all about.