Man Vs Copilot: Microsoft Word - Let's Build a Resume!

Greg Trzeciak and Amelia Roberts dive into an interesting challenge: Can AI, using Microsoft Word’s Co-pilot, help create a better resume faster than a human? In this friendly competition, both Greg and Amelia build a resume for a fictional data analyst, Amy Peters, under tight time constraints. Let’s see who wins in speed, creativity, and accuracy!

Setting the Stage

In this exciting challenge, the team had to create a resume for Amy Peters, who has a background in data analysis. The goal was to do so in under five minutes. Greg, a human resume builder, uses his own knowledge and templates, while Amelia relies on Microsoft’s Co-pilot AI to do the heavy lifting. The twist? Amy’s resume contains some peculiar details that may throw off AI, including the fact that Amy claims to have 11 fingers!

Greg's Approach: A Human Touch

Greg starts the challenge by opting for the traditional resume-building process, making quick decisions to structure Amy's resume. Here's what Greg focused on:

• Name & Formatting: Greg centers Amy's name and keeps the layout simple yet professional.
• Education & Skills: He includes Amy’s qualifications and technical expertise, such as proficiency in SQL, PowerBI, and Python.
• Work Experience: Greg inserts bullet points for Amy’s past roles, though time constraints affect the formatting.

Greg’s attempt is creative but rushed. Although he adds essential information, his formatting is less polished due to the time limit.

Amelia's Approach: AI to the Rescue

Amelia, on the other hand, trusts Microsoft’s Co-pilot to speed up the process. She opens the Co-pilot feature in Microsoft Word and inputs the command to generate a resume using the information from Amy’s bio.

• Resume Generation: Co-pilot generates an entire resume almost instantly, structuring Amy’s information in a clean, organized format.
• Attention to Detail: Amelia checks if Co-pilot includes any strange details like "11 fingers." Fortunately, the AI doesn't include this oddity but does feature the peculiar mention of “Barefoot hiking” as an activity.
• Fixing Errors: Amelia quickly refines the AI-generated resume, ensuring all the details are professional and concise.

Thanks to AI, Amelia creates a flawless resume in record time, offering a great example of how technology can save time and effort when applied correctly.

Speed, Creativity, and Accuracy

Both Greg and Amelia present their finished resumes. Here’s how they compare:

• Speed: Amelia wins the speed category, completing the resume in a fraction of the time it took Greg.
• Creativity: Greg’s creative approach is reflected in his formatting choices, but Amelia’s resume, while AI-generated, still manages to look polished and professional.
• Accuracy: Both resumes are quite accurate, though Greg's contains a block of text in the work experience section, which makes it harder to read compared to Amelia’s neat, list-like structure.

Conclusion

Ultimately, this challenge highlights the growing role of AI in job application processes. While human creativity is still valuable, AI tools like Co-pilot offer significant speed and efficiency advantages. However, it's important to remember that AI still requires human oversight, as shown when Amelia had to manually correct some peculiarities in the resume. Both Greg and Amelia demonstrate that while AI is a powerful assistant, it’s not perfect and still benefits from a human touch.

Don't forget to check out the Pragmatic Works' on-demand learning platform for more insightful content and training sessions on Copilot and other Microsoft applications. Be sure to subscribe to the Pragmatic Works YouTube channel to stay up-to-date on the latest tips and tricks.