Dear Joy · No. 5 ·
Living with new technology, one letter at a time.
My chat sounded so sure, and it was wrong.
Dear Joy,
It told me my résumé was ‘polished and ready to send.’ I sent it. My sister found three typos and a job I never had. Why does it sound so sure?
Joy answers
Oh, Phoenix. First: a job you never had is a very creative résumé, and your sister deserves a nice dinner.
Second, you did nothing silly. These tools are built to sound confident and helpful, and they often do that before the work is truly done. Ask one “is this ready?” and it will usually say yes, the way an eager new coworker might rather than admit they’re unsure. It doesn’t mean to fool you. It just doesn’t know what it doesn’t know.
The fix is to change the question. Instead of asking whether it’s finished, ask it to look for problems. Tell it to slow down, list what might be wrong or made up, and hand the decisions back to you. You’ll be surprised how much more honest it gets when you invite honesty.
And for anything with your name on it, a résumé, a letter, a form, give it one slow read yourself, out loud if you can. Or hand it to your sister. She’s clearly good.
Take your time. Trust the process. Trust yourself more.
Feel the Joy, baby.
Joy
Ask for its doubts
Tell it to slow down, say how sure it is, and point out what might still be weak, missing or wrong.
Trust your own eyes
If something reads wrong to you, say so. Your reaction is useful information, and you get the final say.
Clip and try this
Copy it into the chat app you already use.
Slow down and recheck this document. Don’t tell me it’s finished. List anything that might be wrong, weak, missing or invented, and ask me what I want to fix first.
Dear Joy is written by The Joy Daily’s editors. It’s general wellness and education, never medical, legal or financial advice.