NorQuest College instructor Mahbub Mishu knows artificial intelligence is a game changer when it comes to landing a job.

“It’s about how good your profile picture is, how strong your bio is and keywords designed to attract recruiters nowadays,” said Mishu, who teaches in the machine learning analyst program at Norquest. 

It’s why he supervised a team of his tech students to design online resume games, as a new addition to this year’s career fair. 

It’s a tough job market, especially for young people. The latest numbers from Statistics Canada have unemployment in Alberta pegged at 6.4 per cent and for younger workers, between the age of 15-24, its at 14.1 cent.

More than 2,500 people took part in the event at 10215 108 St. in Edmonton this week, which included traditional booths with 52 local employers. 

But it also featured a photographer taking professional headshots for online profiles, a community clothing corner where the Students’ Association provided free business attire and a LinkedIn lab where students could learn more about how to optimize their online profile through a this game approach.   

Looking on LinkedIn 

“Right now LinkedIn is No.1 for job market job search. It’s very important to have a solid profile,” said Mishu. 

Mishu said it’s important for your resume and online profile to include keywords related to your field and the job posting to get past the AI resume screening tools now routinely used by companies. 

What doesn’t work are things like casual language, idioms, metaphors and personal oversharing. 

“For example, if you’re going out on a Friday night you would not post a picture on your LinkedIn after a night out,” said Mishu. 

The distinction has stuck for NorQuest student Connor Greer, who helped develop one of the games for the career fair.

“Many people think it’s a social media thing, I’m going to add all my friends on there, I’m going to post my vacation photos.” said the student hoping to land a gig in IT. 

“No, this is your professional site”. 

A picture is worth a job

For Aastha Maurya, 21, having a “business” photo she is proud of is the beginning. 

“It was the first time I did a photo shoot and I was feeling like a model,” said the international student from India. 

Maurya said the career fair has been a big help for her. 

Online expert Dana DiTomaso, who has spent the last quarter century clocking the changes in digital marketing, said first impressions are important.

“The biggest mistake I see students make is not having a professional headshot,” she says.

Next it’s words. “If you do not have the words the AI is looking for then you likely are not going to be screened into the next round,” said DiTomaso, the principal and partner of Kick Point Inc. 

Gone are the days of paper resumes and keeping it to a single page, DiTomaso says. When it comes to online job search, less isn’t more.

“Basically it’s everything you could possibly put on there, because, especially if you’re new in the job market, you have a relatively thin CV and this is the time you have to beef it up as much as possible”. 

No everyone is using AI for hiring 

While many employers are using AI in the hiring process, for tasks like writing job descriptions, summarizing resumes and interviewing candidates, some are sticking to a more traditional approach. 

Madison Kine-Donahue, with St. Albert Public School, opted to meet prospective employees at her booth at the NorQuest job fair this week.

“We’re a division that doesn’t use any AI for any of our processes for hiring,” said the human resource manager. “We do really feel that face-to-face is the best way to get to know people”. 

Kine-Donahue says they’re a relatively small employer and have some “old school way of doing things.” 

She says it’s a point of pride for the organization northwest of Edmonton that they value relationships and emotional intelligence. 

With Artificial Intelligence “you’re trying to outsmart a computer about what words are you trying to find and you’re losing the heart and soul of what someone is trying to convey about why they want to work for you.”