LinkedIn’s new AI feature helps people find jobs by grouping them into tailored categories

For many, "new year, new me" includes finding a new job. Scouring sites like LinkedIn and Indeed for opportunities can feel like a full-time role in and of itself. This process could potentially improve moving forward, with LinkedIn announcing its latest feature: Job Collections. 

Basically, instead of searching for a specific industry or role, LinkedIn is using generative AI and large language models to analyze each job posting and categorize it into groups such as IT, pro sports, remote and top startups. Along with saving time, LinkedIn indicates that this feature can benefit people who aren't sure what their next step looks like. The company compares it to Airbnb Experiences — you might not know what you're searching for, but you could find something great. Its success relies significantly on how well it understands you versus wasting your time further sorting through jobs that are completely off base. 

According to LinkedIn, applications rose 50 percent in the US and 36 percent globally last January (a month that typically sees a spike), with 85 percent of working people contemplating changing jobs this year. The number of people searching for a job isn't surprising, given the number of recent layoffs. In the tech industry alone, 2024 has already seen layoffs at Twitch, Google, Meta, Discord and more.  

To use LinkedIn's new feature, simply go to the Jobs tab and click on "Explore with Job Collections." You can now also go to Preferences and choose from things like employment and location type. Then LinkedIn will highlight them in green anytime they appear on a job listing. Plus, if a job isn't exactly what you want but the company is, you can now send them an "I'm Interested" notification right from the listing instead of visiting their profile to do so. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linkedins-new-ai-feature-helps-people-find-jobs-by-grouping-them-into-tailored-categories-104032853.html?src=rss

LinkedIn’s latest premium perk is an AI job coach

LinkedIn is adding a new, AI-powered perk for its premium subscribers: a built-in job coach that uses AI and LinkedIn data to help job seekers find, research and apply for roles. The new feature arrives as the company announced its user base has grown to 1 billion members as it looks to ramp up its investment in AI-driven features.

The Microsoft-owned company has increasingly been experimenting with AI features for its paying members. Earlier this year, it introduced the ability to use generative AI to write better profile descriptions and messages to hiring managers. But the latest AI perks aim to provide an even more personalized experience.

For now, the most prominent feature for job seekers will be AI-generated insights alongside each job posting. The tool can help summarize lengthy job descriptions and weigh in on whether the role is a good fit for a user based on the contents of their LinkedIn profile. For example, it can highlight specific work experiences users’ may want to emphasize in their application and provide tips on how to improve their LinkedIn profile to look more attractive to hiring managers.

LinkedIn's new AI job coach.
LinkedIn

Because LinkedIn is able to draw on its vast trove of career data, the tips it’s able to provide are much more personalized than what you’d likely get if you were to ask other generative AI services for tips, says LinkedIn product manager Rohan Rajiv. “This is made possible by generative AI, but also the datasets that bring all of this together,” Rajiv tells Engadget. “It's your profile, your connections, and all of this that essentially can help you move your job search forward.”

For now, it’s still early days for the feature which is launching in beta to a limited set of LinkedIn Premium subscribers. But the company has signaled it intends to make AI a central part of its service going forward. “Today marks the beginning of a new journey, one where the power of AI is your ally in every career question and decision,” LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer, Tomer Cohen, wrote in a blog post.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linkedins-latest-premium-perk-is-an-ai-job-coach-120044855.html?src=rss

You can now ‘enhance’ your LinkedIn Profile with AI-written ‘suggestions’

LinkedIn is the latest platform to hop on the generative AI bandwagon. The company is adding AI-powered “writing suggestions” and job descriptions to its service as it looks for new ways to infuse AI into its platform.

The writing suggestions are meant to make it easier to fill out key profile fields that LinkedIn says can otherwise feel “daunting” to complete: the “about” and “headline” sections near the top of each profile. Now, with the new “enhance” tool, LinkedIn Premium subscribers can generate descriptions based on their experience.

The company says the tool, which uses the same OpenAI models that power ChatGPT, is meant to preserve “your unique voice and style” and will draw from your job experience and skills, as well as LinkedIn’s own “insights” into what makes a good profile. In an example of a completed “about” section provided by LinkedIn, the tool generated a first-person summary of an individual’s job experience that reads almost like the beginning of a cover letter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn also says it’s starting to test AI-written job descriptions. In those cases, hiring managers will simply need to fill out the job title, company name and a few other basic details, and LinkedIn will create a detailed draft of a relevant job description.

Of note, the company is positioning its AI writing features as more of a starting point than a final product. In both cases, LinkedIn says that users should review and edit the AI-generated text to check for accuracy. But the company says that both could be a major time saver for members who want to offload some of the more tedious writing tasks associated with LinkedIn.

These writing tools aren’t LinkedIn’s first foray into generative AI. The company also recently introduced “collaborative articles,” which rely on a combination of AI-written text as well as contributions from individual LinkedIn “experts.” Elsewhere, the company is also adding new online courses dedicated to generative AI-related topics.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-enhance-your-linkedin-profile-with-ai-written-suggestions-160054549.html?src=rss

Engadget is looking for contributing writers in the US

If you love technology as much as we do and have writing chops to boot, we want to hear from you. Engadget is looking for freelance news writers in the US! Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume and links to three writing samples to jobs at engadget dot com. Here’s the deal:

Contributing writer

Engadget is looking for ambitious and enthusiastic freelance writers capable of telling compelling stories about technology, science and the future of everything. The ideal candidate will put important news in proper context with minimal fluff, find an interesting and original angle from which to tackle a story, explain complicated subjects simply and clearly, and do this all reasonably quickly.

As a writer at Engadget you'll be an essential part of our dedicated and passionate news team. Our ideal candidates will have some solid professional media experience under their belt, but we're also open to early-career writers who are ready to hustle. You'll gain valuable experience and exposure in a fast-paced, online newsroom. Plus, you'll have access to some of the finest writers and reporters in the business who can offer invaluable lessons on how to thrive in the modern media landscape.

Freelance contributing writers will take on between three and five assignments per day (we're looking for coverage on East Coast hours, with shifts such as 8AM-1PM ET and 1PM-5PM ET available). We are currently looking for writers located in the US, or anyone willing to work during US business hours. Shifts will be a minimum of four hours, paid hourly at $28.

We're looking for:

  • Preferably someone who already has some professional tech/science/auto bylines under their belt.

  • A familiarity with and sincere interest in consumer technology.

  • A writer with a strong, lively voice who can turn in clean copy quickly.

  • Works well with others, and is receptive to feedback.

  • Experience with Photoshop or other photo editing software is a plus.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engaget-contributing-writers-jobs-160008551.html?src=rss

Engadget is looking for contributing writers in the US

If you love technology as much as we do and have writing chops to boot, we want to hear from you. Engadget is looking for freelance news writers in the US! Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume and links to three writing samples to jobs at engadget dot com. Here’s the deal:

Contributing writer

Engadget is looking for ambitious and enthusiastic freelance writers capable of telling compelling stories about technology, science and the future of everything. The ideal candidate will put important news in proper context with minimal fluff, find an interesting and original angle from which to tackle a story, explain complicated subjects simply and clearly, and do this all reasonably quickly.

As a writer at Engadget you'll be an essential part of our dedicated and passionate news team. Our ideal candidates will have some solid professional media experience under their belt, but we're also open to early-career writers who are ready to hustle. You'll gain valuable experience and exposure in a fast-paced, online newsroom. Plus, you'll have access to some of the finest writers and reporters in the business who can offer invaluable lessons on how to thrive in the modern media landscape.

Freelance contributing writers will take on between three and five assignments per day (we're looking for coverage on East Coast hours, with shifts such as 8AM-1PM ET and 1PM-5PM ET available). We are currently looking for writers located in the US, or anyone willing to work during US business hours. Shifts will be a minimum of four hours, paid hourly at $28.

We're looking for:

  • Preferably someone who already has some professional tech/science/auto bylines under their belt.

  • A familiarity with and sincere interest in consumer technology.

  • A writer with a strong, lively voice who can turn in clean copy quickly.

  • Works well with others, and is receptive to feedback.

  • Experience with Photoshop or other photo editing software is a plus.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engaget-contributing-writers-jobs-160008551.html?src=rss

MGM lets potential employees try out jobs in VR before signing on

MGM Resorts is letting applicants try out casino and hotel jobs in virtual reality (VR) before signing on, Business Insider has reported. It's part of a new effort to reduce employee attrition during the "great resignation" that has caused labor shortages in the US and elsewhere during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The casino and resort group is using headsets from a VR company called Strivr that specializes in virtual training for industry health and safety, customer service and more. The idea is to let employees experience typical job activities so that they know what to expect. "It can be very difficult just to verbally explain the types of positions or show a video," MGM Resorts' chief HR officer Laura Lee told BI. Using VR, by contrast, lets applicants "throw a headset on and really experience the job."

MGM plans to use the headsets at its offices and possibly career fairs, starting in January. The idea is to let potential customer service employees experience key aspects of the job, both positive and negative. For instance, the MGM Resorts VR module would include interactions with difficult guests, something that has reportedly become more common with COVID.

The negative interactions could discourage some candidates, but MGM expects that it would also allow for better hiring decisions. The use of the tech "might've resolved some turnover we experienced when people accepted positions and then realized it wasn't quite what they thought it would be," said Lee.

MGM plans to use the tech for its proposed $9.1 billion hotel, resort and casino in Osaka, Japan. It would be the first casino in the nation, so potential employees may not be familiar with typical jobs. As such, the VR option could be offered to candidates (it won't be required) to show them customer-oriented functions like hotel check-ins and gaming operations.

VR might not be the hit everyone expected in the consumer space, but it's certainly caught on with enterprises, particularly for training. MGM also uses Strivr's tech for customer-interaction training with new employees, saying it allows them to fail without consequences while learning a role. "Virtual Reality gives employees the opportunity to think and correct themselves without getting stressed or worried that they did something wrong," Lee said in a Strivr webinar

MGM lets potential employees try out jobs in VR before signing on

MGM Resorts is letting applicants try out casino and hotel jobs in virtual reality (VR) before signing on, Business Insider has reported. It's part of a new effort to reduce employee attrition during the "great resignation" that has caused labor shortages in the US and elsewhere during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The casino and resort group is using headsets from a VR company called Strivr that specializes in virtual training for industry health and safety, customer service and more. The idea is to let employees experience typical job activities so that they know what to expect. "It can be very difficult just to verbally explain the types of positions or show a video," MGM Resorts' chief HR officer Laura Lee told BI. Using VR, by contrast, lets applicants "throw a headset on and really experience the job."

MGM plans to use the headsets at its offices and possibly career fairs, starting in January. The idea is to let potential customer service employees experience key aspects of the job, both positive and negative. For instance, the MGM Resorts VR module would include interactions with difficult guests, something that has reportedly become more common with COVID.

The negative interactions could discourage some candidates, but MGM expects that it would also allow for better hiring decisions. The use of the tech "might've resolved some turnover we experienced when people accepted positions and then realized it wasn't quite what they thought it would be," said Lee.

MGM plans to use the tech for its proposed $9.1 billion hotel, resort and casino in Osaka, Japan. It would be the first casino in the nation, so potential employees may not be familiar with typical jobs. As such, the VR option could be offered to candidates (it won't be required) to show them customer-oriented functions like hotel check-ins and gaming operations.

VR might not be the hit everyone expected in the consumer space, but it's certainly caught on with enterprises, particularly for training. MGM also uses Strivr's tech for customer-interaction training with new employees, saying it allows them to fail without consequences while learning a role. "Virtual Reality gives employees the opportunity to think and correct themselves without getting stressed or worried that they did something wrong," Lee said in a Strivr webinar

LinkedIn’s new quizzes can prove you’re not lying on your resume

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