Use the tools. Keep your voice. Avoid workslop.
AI is everywhere now. It’s built into Microsoft Word, running in your browser, and showing up in LinkedIn. It’s fast and helpful. It also makes it very easy to turn in workslop: polished‑sounding, low‑effort writing that doesn’t show you, doesn’t prove anything, and falls apart the moment a human asks a follow‑up question.
This guide shows you how to use AI well to speed up the boring parts, sharpen your message, and keep the substance honest.
What’s changed since ChatGPT launched in 2022?
- Tools are stronger. You can upload files & they can read long documents, compare your resume to a job posting, and suggest targeted rewrites. Great.
- Expectations haven’t changed. Recruiters, hiring managers, and faculty still want truthful, specific, verifiable evidence of what you’ve done. AI can’t hand you that, you have to supply it.
Bottom line: AI is a coach. You are the author.
Copilot via your WSU Microsoft account is my 100% endorsed AI
Enterprise Level Data Protection
- No Training on Data: Prompts and responses are not used to train the underlying Large Language Models (LLMs).
- Data Protection Indicator: A green shield or “Protected” indicator appears in the top-right corner when users are successfully logged in with their WSU credentials.
- Session Privacy: Chat history and user data are not accessed by Microsoft and are not visible to WSU, ensuring that input data is not used outside of your chat.
The Anti‑Workslop Rules
- No fiction. If you can’t defend it out loud in an interview, it doesn’t go on the page.
- Depth beats buzzwords. Keywords get you attention; evidence gets you the interview. Show results, scope, and tools.
- Keep your voice. If the sentence sounds like a brochure, it’s not you yet. Edit until it does.
- Feed it the good stuff. AI gets better when you give it real projects, numbers, and context. Garbage in → workslop out.
30‑Minute Workflow
Use this when you’re tailoring for a specific job. Each step includes a Workslop Trap and a Fix so you know what to watch for.
1) Understand the job (5 min)
- Upload the job posting and your current resume to your AI tool.
- Ask it to pull the top skills/competencies and what proof a recruiter would expect for each.
Workslop Trap: Copy‑pasting keywords you don’t actually demonstrate.
Fix: For each competency, list a real example with a metric (%, #, $, timeline) or a tool you used. If you don’t have one, don’t force it; pick a different angle or go get a quick project you can show.
2) Rewrite 6–10 bullets for impact (10 min)
- Have AI tighten your bullets to be action‑first, quantified, and aligned to the role.
- Ask for two versions (concise ATS‑friendly + conversational professional). Observe the differences then choose the one that pops and edit for tone.
Workslop Trap: Bullets that could describe anybody.
Fix: Keep specifics: names of tools, audience size, volume handled, constraints, and the “so what?” result.
Quick test: Could a peer read this and say, “Yep, that sounds like you”? If not, keep editing.
3) Draft a short cover letter (7 min)
- Ask for a 200–250 word draft that centers on one story you can actually defend.
- You write the first and last sentences yourself (your voice; your motivations).
Workslop Trap: A letter that just repeats the job posting in nicer words.
Fix: One specific story. One clear result. One sentence connecting that result to what the team/job needs next.
4) Scanner sanity check (5 min)
- Use the prompt: “Run a quick ATS review (clean headings, standard fonts, natural keywords)”.
- Then do a human pass: read it out loud and cut anything that doesn’t earn its space by demonstrating fit to the position.
Workslop Trap: Optimized for bots, unreadable for humans.
Fix: If a human can’t get your impact in 10–20 seconds, it’s not ready.
5) Interview readiness (3 min)
- Have AI generate questions based on your resume and the job.
- Don’t memorize scripts. Boil each answer down to three beats: context → action → result. Practice saying it your way.
Workslop Trap: Over‑coached, robotic answers.
Fix: Notes, not paragraphs. Speak to your beats, not a teleprompter.
Red Flags
- Vague verbs: helped, assisted, participated (with no follow‑up detail).
- Empty claims: strong leader, excellent communicator, passionate about teamwork.
- Numbers with no anchor: increased engagement (from what to what, over how long?).
- Tool salad: listing software without showing how it changed the outcome.
- Voice mismatch: your resume sounds like a brochure.
Before You Submit: 60‑Second Checklist
- Truth: Every metric, tool, and title is real. You can explain it in under a minute.
- Evidence: At least six bullets include measurable impact or scope.
- Voice: It sounds like you, confident, clear, no fluff.
- Fit: The top three competencies in the job posting appear in your first half‑page.
- Polish: Clean formatting, consistent dates, no weird text boxes or graphics that break ATS.
Examples
Workslop
- “Tutored students on course materials.”
Better
- “Increased confidence of 12+ students in biology by hosting weekly study sessions, increasing average test scores by 15% over the semester.”
Workslop
- “Assisted customers with any concerns.”
Better
- “Resolved customer concerns on the spot, fixing 90%+ of service issues through active listening and quick solutions.”
Prompts You Can Paste (with guardrails baked in)
Evidence‑First Bullets
“Rewrite these bullets with action verbs and measurable outcomes using only my text. If any metric is missing, ask me a question instead of making one up. Provide a concise ATS version and a conversational version.”
Cover Letter (One Real Story)
“Draft 200–250 words that highlight two job‑relevant strengths and one specific, verifiable story from my resume (include the result and tool). Leave the opening and closing line for me.”
Competency Map → Proof
“From this job posting, list the top competencies and the kind of proof a recruiter would expect (metrics, scope, tools). Map each to my experience and call out any gaps I should fill.”
Mock Interview (No Scripts)
“Create 8 questions based on the job and my resume. For each, give me a 3‑bullet outline (context, action, result). No full scripted answers.”
Final word
Use AI to clarify your story, not to replace it. If you feed it honest inputs and keep your edits human, you’ll end up with materials you can stand behind and talk about with confidence.
Remember you can schedule an appointment or use the ASCC drop-ins hours for human feedback. We’ll mark the lines that look like workslop and help you turn them into evidence‑based, interview‑ready bullets.
