2025, so bot right now
Welcome to job hunting in a post-agent world. Buckle up, folks.
When I first started writing this post it was going to be about how complicated applying for jobs is now (thanks ai). Both sides, recruiters and applicants, use a plethora of always-popping-up AI Job Helper Tools.
The list of these tools grows every day x10000.
And I just get more tired.
Anecdotally this should be great. Both sides using ai to eliminate unnecessary work to get the best candidate selected BUT IT FEELS HARDER TO ME.
Being honest (pessimistic), it doesn’t seem like time has been saved at all. It’s just more tools to research and contribute to and use. More to-dos to hack the system.
And new ai-specific worries have come about too, like:
Is your resume formatted to pass an ai screener?
Did you use the exact keywords the ai tool wants—or maybe your phrasing is not identical and you’re immediately disqualified?
Is your application being discriminated against by ai because of your age, gender, race, random other thing?
Don’t get me wrong, seemingly helpful job-adjacent ai companies have popped up. The most recent one I’ve heard about is Wobo which claims to be “your Personal AI Recruiter, Finding and Applying to the best jobs for you.”
That’s neat. And could be really useful.
Side note — I can’t wait until we get to the point where our online avatars just show up for these job interviews… #amiright?
Except I’m overwhelmed. And disheartened by how many options there are now.
BUT.
WHAT IF (!!)
a company (… maybe OpenAI) created a tool (… perhaps an “agent”) that can actively multitask for you? That’d be great, right?
WeLcOmE tO 2025!
OpenAI just introduced Operator:
“Using its own browser, it can look at a webpage and interact with it by typing, clicking, and scrolling… Operator is one of our first agents, which are AIs capable of doing work for you independently—you give it a task and it will execute it.”
This is Wobo times infinity.
This is game-changing.
I can outsource my entire life, starting with my lunch order.
But really, the possibilities are endless and I feel like our timeline just took a hard pivot and we’re going to see the consequences of this new “agent” for years to come.
Not even just in the job-application realm but in the entire-life realm.
Hmm but when is my life being outsourced too much, you ask?
*pictures the humans from Disney’s WALL-E*
Scary (but fun?) times ahead, indeed.
To leave you on a less ominous note, enjoy this “Computer Interview” by improv superstars, Middleditch and Schwartz.
In closing -
We know you (and your agent) have many choices to give your attention to in 2025… so we thank you for joining us here at Robot’s First Rodeo.
We promise it’ll be an interesting ride 🤠