AI Is Taking Your Opportunities, But Not in the Way You Think
Most of the women I talk to in pharma and biotech are worried that at some point AI will take their job. That’s a relevant conversation. But there’s another one we’re missing, and it’s happening right now in your job search and your promotion.
When you let AI write your cover letter, your resume, or your LinkedIn, it makes your voice more generic. You all know the tells. And the research shows it isn’t getting you more interviews.
In this episode, I’m sharing what I’m seeing with my clients and in the industry, and what the latest labor economics research says about AI-written cover letters.
Key takeaways
1. Where AI is taking opportunities from you (and it’s not your job)
A lot of the women I talk to are worried AI will take their job at some point. That’s a relevant conversation. The one we’re missing is where AI fits into your career growth, if you want a new job or a promotion. More and more women say, “Let me just use AI to write my cover letter, my resume.” I know how tempting that can be. It’s easier, and it makes it sound better. What ends up happening is your voice gets more generic. I even coach women against this inside The Right Move Protocol.
2. What the research says happens to AI-written cover letters
This isn’t just about celebrities and movies. In a study published in the Journal of Labor Economics, recruiters rated cover letters written with and without ChatGPT. AI made the letters cleaner and more formal, but it didn’t lead to more interview invitations. The improvements were in the generic sections. Your personal motivation, your why, is what recruiters care about most, and it barely improved. When recruiters were told a letter was written without AI, they rated it higher. Just think about that.
Another study looked at over 5 million cover letters across 100,000 jobs. After the platform launched an AI cover letter tool, the link between a well-tailored letter and getting a callback dropped by 51%. Employers stopped trusting cover letters and relied on work history instead.
3. Why sounding perfect doesn’t get you more interviews
Remember why you’re writing a cover letter and perfecting your resume. You want more opportunities. If it sounds nice but it’s not getting you opportunities, you’ve lost the plot. Earlier this summer, Anne Hathaway talked about hiring for a role where the candidates who sent thank-you notes all sent nearly the same AI-written note. Meryl Streep’s reaction was that nobody on that list gets the job. When I saw that, I thought, that’s exactly it. We think we’re being so smart. The life sciences recruiter who led the bonus workshop in my program said there’s a bias for and against cover letters. Some companies don’t even have a place to add one anymore because the trust has gone down so much.
4. How to use AI as a tool without letting it take your voice
I’m not saying don’t use AI. I want you to think through how you’re using it. Go through the first pass on your own. Then there’s a space for AI, maybe to brainstorm or help edit. The research backs this up: the more time people spent editing the AI draft, the better their hiring outcomes. This week on a coaching call, a woman in my group was having a really hard time putting one part of her process into words. So she brought it to coaching and word vomited everything she knew. Then we wordsmithed it together. Every time we do this it’s like magic, because it sounds like her. It doesn’t sound generic, and it doesn’t sound like AI.
5. Why now is your biggest opportunity to stand out by being you
In a world where everyone is using bots, the people standing out are the ones still being themselves. This is your greatest opportunity to let your voice shine, even if it’s messy, even if it’s not perfect. I’ve had clients who felt they couldn’t advance past director or be on a site leadership team because they didn’t have the polish or the executive presence, or because they cared about people. We want to harness what makes you different and make it effective. You can stand out without being a broski and without being someone you’re not.
The Bottom Line
With everything going on in this industry, the reorgs and restructures and the pressure to be a certain way, you get to be your true self and still advance. Use AI as a tool. Don’t let AI take your voice. Be courageous. Write your cover letters, your resume, your LinkedIn. Think about the person on the other end who’s going to read it. If you’re going to spend the time to create something you want someone else to read, make sure it’s worth reading, and worth reading because you wrote it.
Listen to the full episode to hear the research and how to use AI without losing your voice.
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Transcript
If you’re someone who wants to find out just how good your career can get and how much of a difference you can make in the pharma biotech industry, you are in the right place. Welcome to Your Worthy Career, the podcast for women building meaningful, high-impact careers in pharma and biotech. I’m Melissa Lawrence, career and leadership coach, organizational psychology expert, and the founder and author of Your Worthy Career. I spent over 12 years inside this industry in talent development across bio tech and large pharma, and I’ve been coaching women in this space exclusively ever since. I bring you research-backed strategies, an insider perspective on what’s actually happening inside industry organizations, and the perspective shifts that get you real results. Here we build careers that are meaningful, aligned with who you actually are, and positioned for the impact you’re capable of making.
Let’s get started. Hello, hello, and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. Now, at the time that I’m recording this, I am just wrapping up the enrollment of the October cohort of the Right Move Protocol, and I am so excited for all of these women that have decided to join us. We have women that are from the principal scientist, scientist level, all the way to a senior director level across engineering, operations, quality, Business development, clinical operations. So we have a very diverse group, but all of these women are wanting to uplevel their career, whether that’s a new job, a promotion, grow as a leader, be the best that they can be, and have a career they love going to. So this has been a whirlwind of a launch. I have certainly learned a lot, and I may dig deeper into that in another episode. But today I have been waiting to talk to you about this topic for a few weeks now, and this is about how AI is taking opportunities from you and not in a way that you think. So a lot of the women that I talk to are concerned that at some point AI will take their job, that at some point they will be outsourced, or that they are at risk, or wondering What AI tools should I learn and should I know in order to protect myself and protect my career?
And that is a relevant conversation. But the conversation that I’m not having with women that I think women are missing that we’re talking about inside the Right Move Protocol is where AI has a place in your career growth, in your career advancement. If you want a new job or a promotion. Because what I am seeing is more and more women, and honestly, even in my group, I will coach women against this when they tend to try to say, well, let me just use AI to write my cover letter, to write my resume. And I know how tempting that can be, right? Because it’s easier, it makes it sound better. And what ends up happening is you end up making your voice more generic. And as I’ve been having conversations about this inside my program, and as I’ve seen more and more resumes and cover letters people are posting on LinkedIn or their LinkedIn profiles that just sound like AI wrote them, like you can, there’s some tells, you all know, right? Because I feel like, I feel like these women that I speak to, they have a lot of judgment about people that use AI, but then they use it sometimes when they really should take the, the harder route, the more authentic route of creating their own words.
But when it comes to job searches and promotions, we can sometimes get in our head and we want things to sound the best they can be. We want to stand out in a competitive market. So I was online one day and I saw this post that was highlighting a podcast episode or interview that Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Emily Blunt were having. And so if you don’t know, they’re in Devil Wears Prada. So this was around the time, it was earlier this summer, and Anne Hathaway was hiring for a role. And every candidate who sent a thank you note sent the, like, a very similar AI-written note. And so some of these quotes that she said were— she said that they were the exact same thank you note, that if you’re out there thinking you’re getting away with something, there’s a chance you’re just revealing yourself. And Meryl Streep said, that’s just tragic. Oh my God, that would be an absolute killer. Nobody on that list gets that job. And when I saw that, I was like, yes, that’s exactly Right? We think that we’re being so smart that we’re really using AI’s words to make us sound like the amazing leader we are because you are amazing.
You are talented. And sometimes it’s hard to know how to articulate that, what the messaging is. I was just on a coaching call this week, um, in my group and there’s a woman that’s going through her career protocol to identify what her next best role is and She was saying, I’m having a really hard time articulating this one part of the process of what I do. And so she was getting really stuck on it. And so she brought it to coaching where she can just kind of word vomit everything that she knows about the answer to that question and the process. And then I can help you wordsmith that and articulate it. And every time I do it, it’s, it’s like magic on those calls. Like, they’re like, oh my gosh, like, You just took it from my head, right? But it sounds like them. It doesn’t sound generic. It doesn’t sound like AI. It creates their zone of genius, their competitive edge, the thing that makes them stand out that only they could say, right? And so when you give me your word salad, I can help you learn how to say that more effectively so it’s still you.
So when I saw this, I thought, oh my gosh, This is where a lot of women are making a mistake. And that’s why I wanted to talk about this today because I don’t, I just, to say, I don’t want you to use AI, but I just want to encourage you to think through how you’re using it, to maybe go through the first pass on your own. And when you use AI, There is a space for it, maybe to brainstorm, to help edit. It is a tool, but don’t let it take your voice. Because the way you say things, especially now, to me, this is the best opportunity for us. Because my job, my career, my whole mission is to help women in industry be elevated to roles of influence, to have a seat at the table, whatever that means for them, to love their career, and to do that in a way that is authentic without having to be like a broski, without having to be someone you’re not, without having to sacrifice your values. Right. And now in the world of AI, I feel like we have an even bigger opportunity because the people that are standing out are the people that are still being themselves, that are leaning into their authenticity in a world where everyone is using bots.
Just think about that. Like, this is your greatest opportunity. To really let your voice shine, even if it’s messy, even if it’s not perfect, right? Because that’s what’s going to help you stand out when people are looking at things and just passing them over because they sound like AI. Okay. And so I want to give you some additional research because this isn’t just about celebrities and movies. So the Journal of Labor Economics had a press release earlier this year, and there were recruiters from all different types of companies that rated cover letters that were written with With and without ChatGPT. So AI did make the letters more clean and more formal, but it didn’t lead to more interview invitations, right? So remember why you’re writing a cover letter, why you are trying to perfect your resume is because you want more opportunities. So if it sounds nice, but it’s not giving you opportunities, Then you’ve lost the plot, right? The improvements that were made with ChatGPT were in the generic sections of the COVID letter. Personal motivation, your why, which recruiters care about most, barely improved. Recruiters could spot AI-written letters, according to this journal.
When recruiters were told that a letter was written without AI, those recruiters rated that cover letter higher. Just think about that. The recruiter just knowing, regardless of what you say, if they read your letter, if they look at your resume and they think AI didn’t write it, it will be more credible than if it has the AI tells, right? And I’m not talking about em dashes. Let’s just stop attacking em dashes. Okay. So There was a quote from the researchers from this Journal of Labor Economics that said widespread AI can lead to poorer matching in the labor market. It’s causing you to lose opportunities because you’re trying to sound perfect. Okay, now there was another article, it’s called Signaling In the Age of AI: Evidence from COVID Letters. And this was from Wharton. And so they reviewed over 5 million cover letters across 100,000 jobs. After the platform that they were reviewing launched an AI cover letter tool, the link between a well-tailored letter and getting a callback for an interview decreased by 51%. Employers stopped trusting cover letters and relied on work history instead. And we’re seeing this all the time. I actually, in the Right Move Protocol, have a life sciences recruiter bonus workshop where I had a recruiter come in and talk about resumes and cover letters and kind of all of the secrets you wish you knew but can’t ask because you’re actually interviewing and you’re trying to put your best foot forward.
And so that, that workshop is within my program. And it’s true that there are some best practices when it comes to resume and cover letters. And then there are some things that are just red flags. And something that was talked about is that there is a bias for and against cover letters, meaning some jobs you apply for, the COVID letter won’t ever be looked at. So you’ll even notice when you apply for jobs, some companies don’t even have a place to add a cover letter because the trust has gone down so much. Some still really heavily rely on a cover letter, but if you have a cover letter, you need to make sure every word counts, that it doesn’t sound like a robot and that it sounds like you. Because think about it, when you’re in this job, when you’re interviewing, and then ultimately if you get an offer, you’re not going to talk like an AI robot, right? And so you want to go through this process authentically. You want to be able to get the job offer being you. And you want to get into the job still having the ability to be authentic, right?
You don’t want to pretend you’re someone you’re not and then get into the job and then they’re expecting you to talk like you’re a polished textbook, but you actually don’t. And then there’s a misalignment and then you feel you always have to reach a certain perfectionist standard. They feel disappointed, right? It’s just setting you up for failure in addition to, like this said, it’s reducing your chances by up to 51% of actually getting an interview. Time spent editing the AI draft was linked to hiring success. So that says if you write it yourself and use it for editing, if you get something from AI but you go back and make it in your voice, that is going to help you get more opportunities than using AI alone. Now there was one more. This article is called AI is Killing the COVID Letter. And there are, there’s a quote from there that I want to share with you. It says, a tailored cover letter became a prerequisite rather than a differentiator. Right? And so when you think about it, the COVID letter used to be the thing that people would read that would give context and storytelling to your experience, where you could maybe address if you don’t have direct experience in something, but how you’ll still be successful.
Or you could proactively address anything that you think someone might have hesitancy about before talking to you. Or you could share your why, right? It used to be a wonderful place to call people in and make them interested to talk to you. But now it’s becoming something that is hurting you. It’s working against you. People are, it’s no longer becoming a differentiator. Now it’s something that’s being removed from the hiring process in a lot of cases because of AI, we can’t trust it. And because Of honestly all of us, all of you that may be using it, overusing it, contributing to the problem, right? And so the lesson here is really a positive one. It’s that you can be successful without using AI. You can be successful and differentiate yourself by learning how to communicate and message what sets you apart. In a way that is authentic and natural to you. There was actually a study done by, I think it was McKinsey or Gallup, that said that there was going to be more demand for people skills, the ability to connect, communication skills, up to 15% in the next couple of years. And the reason for that is because of the robots.
Because when robots take on some of the mundane tasks, the repetitive administrative work, the things that can be done by computers, the people that companies want to work with are the ones that can connect. The ones that are human, the ones that can speak without a robot, right? Like this episode I’m recording right now without a script. I just pressed play, right? But I’m also a skilled communicator, right? I have a degree in it. This is my job. I study it. I study it for myself. I study it for you because it’s so important, right? Messaging is a core part of how I work with clients around their communication skills, around their branding, right? Their resume, their cover letter, their LinkedIn, their conversations, their interviews, but also the way they manage up, the way that they present themselves, the experience people have with you, right? All of that comes down to your messaging and there’s a way to be a skilled and excellent, effective communicator without sounding like a robot, without sounding like all of the other senior leaders sitting around the table at your company. You can stand out and be effective by being you.
And how liberating is that? I’ve had clients who felt like they couldn’t advance their career any further than director. They couldn’t be on a site leadership team because of who they were, because they didn’t have the polish, the executive presence, because they cared about people, because they had things that were unique to them. And instead, we want to harness that and make that effective. We want to make sure that you’re still you. You’re tapping into those things that make you different. Because how amazing is that for all of us? When you look around and you see representation, when you look around and see people that are authentic, that are themselves, because we are going to crave that more and more. That’s why I love my community so much. It’s why I love all of you. It’s why I love coming on here and talking to you, because this is our community. This is our space to be real, to be human, to advance in the world. A pharma and biotech with all of the craziness happening around us, right? Whether it’s the government, please don’t get me started, or the things that are happening in the news, or the reorgs and restructures and the societal pressure to be a certain way, to do a certain thing, or family pressure, the stress of it all.
With everything going on in real life, we get to be our best. We get to be our true selves. And if we don’t know who that is, we get to figure that out. We get to know who we are. We get to know what we’re great at. We get to know what makes us happy, and we get to have that in our lives. Okay. All right. So lesson learned: use AI as a tool. Don’t let AI take your voice. Be courageous. Write your letters. Write your your resumes. Write your LinkedIn. From a human perspective, think about the person on the other end who’s gonna be reading that, right? There’s of course a strategy around ATS systems and all of those things, getting through the robots. But at the end of the day, if you’re gonna spend the time to create something that you want someone else to read, make sure it’s worth reading and it’s worth reading if you wrote it.
All right.
Have a wonderful day. I’ll talk to you soon.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Worthy Career. If today’s episode resonated with you, the best next step is joining the Biopharma Trailblazers, my free email community where I share career strategies, leadership insights, and behind-the-scenes content you won’t find anywhere else. Join us at yourworthycareer.com/email.
