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How to Stand Out – When business cards were a thing

Walt Disney had a reputation for going big.
He started doing cell animation when most people were doing cut-out animation.
He was the first to use high-production values like synchronized sound (see my last post).

The photo is one of Walt Disney’s first business cards from 1922.
For scale – it’s next to an 8.5’ x 11’ sheet of paper.

In the 1700s, business cards were called “calling cards” and were the size of playing cards.

The Industrial Revolution increased the demand for cards that people could easily share and were cheap to print.
Calling cards were renamed “business cards” and reduced to 3.5” x 2”.

On the other hand, Walt Disney used larger business cards… to stand out.

Larger cards were better for displaying the outcome Walt was selling: high-quality animation.
Larger cards created the aura of going big when the studio was just Walt and Roy Disney.
Larger business cards did not fit into wallets, so they stayed on top of desks.
People remembered who Walt Disney was when he left his business card behind.

3 Ways to Get Burned Using Automation and AI to Apply for Jobs

1) Badly Trained AI Will Keep You From Standing Out

> Generative AI like ChatGPT used to build automated job application programs is trained using data from all over the web – including other people’s resumes!
> The more people use automated job application programs the more AI gets trained with the same data for resumes – everyone’s resume starts sounding the same.

2) Your Accomplishments Won’t Be There to Help You Stand Out

> Any recruiter will tell you that accomplishments are a must-have on a resume – preferably with data that quantifies your value.
> Generative AI doesn’t know you so it can’t incorporate what makes you unique – your quantified accomplishments – onto a resume.

3) Eventually, You Will Get Caught

> As I said above, generative AI is trained using other people’s resumes on the web – you’ll start plagiarizing without knowing it.
> Skills assessments and working interviews are becoming more commonplace – you better be able to ‘walk the walk’ of what’s on your resume early in the job application process.
> Companies are learning from teachers and embedding “trojan horses” into their job postings – don’t be surprised when your AI generated resume gets rejected because you “excel at Tableau, SQL, and Elvis Presley.”