How to advise an older gen x/boomer lawyer friend on modern job hunting etc
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Anonymous
It is not SOP. Legal recruiters will start by emailing or messaging on LinkedIn and THEY can choose to set up phone calls, sure. Although it’s more likely to be a video chat. I have been recruited and also hire. The last time I had a straight phone call was probably 2020. Either way, the lawyer trying to be hired should NOT be the one dictating this- trying to find someone’s phone number and cold calling them etc. That’s the difference. If they want to email you, you don’t try to call them instead. Yeah, you anti AI people don’t get it, and you probably will retire before you ever do. No one is saying ‘I’ll just push a button and have AI write this contract for me’. But you should absolutely be using it for efficiencies and to shorten tasks, and yes. always with a human hand. Btw if you don’t think that pretty much all tech now that you use doesn’t already include AI, you are clueless. But sure, keep thinking it doesn’t apply to you. Got it. |
Anonymous
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Think you don’t use AI?
Here is a summary of where AI shows up in normal, everyday technology — including websites, backend systems, ads, Outlook, Word, and Teams. ⸻ AI is everywhere now, even in tools that look simple. You’re using AI constantly, often without noticing it. 1. Website Backends Even old-school sites run on infrastructure that uses AI, including: • Load balancers that predict traffic and route users • Storage systems that detect failing drives and optimize speed • Security layers that block bots and cyberattacks • CDNs that use ML to decide what to cache and where The website itself may not use AI — but the servers behind it do. ⸻ 2. Online Ads All modern ads are AI-driven: • Targeting (deciding which ads you see) • Real-time bidding (micro-auctions every page load) • Fraud detection (blocking bots and fake clicks) • Optimization (choosing the highest-performing ads) If a website shows ads, AI is involved automatically. ⸻ 3. Email (Outlook / Gmail) AI controls: • Spam and phishing filters • Sorting into “Focused Inbox” • Autocomplete and suggested replies • Meeting reminders and scheduling predictions You’re using AI every time you open your inbox. ⸻ 4. Documents (Microsoft Word / Google Docs) AI powers: • Grammar and spelling corrections • Rewrite suggestions • Predictive typing • Document layout and formatting suggestions • Copilot/assistant features for summarizing and drafting Even typing a sentence triggers AI checks. ⸻ 5. Video Calls & Messaging (Microsoft Teams / Zoom / Slack) AI handles: • Noise suppression • Background blur/replacement • Live captions and transcription • Automatic meeting summaries • Visual enhancements (lighting, framing) • Suggested replies in chat Your camera and microphone streams go through AI filters before anyone else hears or sees them. ⸻ Bottom Line You don’t have to use “AI tools” to use AI — AI is built into almost everything now: the servers, the ads, the email filters, the writing tools, and even the microphone on your video calls. |
Anonymous
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"She wants to call potential recruiters and leads on the phone instead of emailing them or god forbid, using their intake portals (recruiters)"
What's wrong with that? I think that's fine. |
Anonymous
In this day and age, if a potential employee hasn’t given you their phone number and told you specifically to call them, it is not appropriate to make first contact with them through digging up their phone number. I cannot believe how many people on this thread don’t understand that. If they said ‘Jane, here’s my number, call me next week for an update!’ Sure, call them. Although that is unlikely to happen. They’ll email you. |
Anonymous
| ^ employer |
Anonymous
| This is all so amusing to me. My company doesn’t even have phones anymore… |
Anonymous
Don’t you have a phone number assigned to your Teams account? Someone calls and it rings you on Teams on your computer? I’m GenX and conversations are a lost art with the later generations. Everyone wants to fire off an email. Sure it’s quicker and easier but sometimes details are missed without a conversation. I applaud her for wanting to call. In fact, it’s worked at my company with potential hires. But I think in this day and age she’s got to try all approaches- applicant tracking systems, recruiters, phone calls, networking. |
Anonymous
I think the key of knowing and figuring out your audience. |
Anonymous
No, you’d call by my email teams to teams. No traditional phone number. Of course people have cell phones and they can answer from their app on their cell too. Old style - Pstn public switched telephone network are traditional phone lines. We no longer use them. We have a very small ATT add on plan that allows for routing- called session border control- for 911 calls. Teams is cloud, VOIP voice over internet. If someone dug up a hiring mangers personal or cell phone number somehow (our ads don’t say who that is fwiw) and called them directly, that candidate would be removed from consideration |
Anonymous
DP. My experience is also that legal recruiters do phone calls instead of emails. It can be inconvenient and results in phone tag. |
Anonymous
Nope. Boomers were the children of the Greatest Generation Generation X grandparents fought in WW2. Gen X's parents were the Boomers, from the post WW2 baby boom. Gen X were born in the very late 60s, 70s and very early 80s. They are currently in their 40s and 50s. The parents of Gen X were the Boomers, born in the very late 30s through the very early 60s. Boomers are currently in their mid 80s with the youngest of the boomers being right at retirement age, mid 60s. Gen X and Boomers are not even remotely the same generation. |
Anonymous
You must be a gen Z who didn't learn basic history and can't do math. Boomers are the parents of Gen X. If you are encountering a Boomer in your workplace, they are going to be in their 70s and 80s, and were likely born in the 1940s or 1950s. |
Anonymous
Boomer has two meanings. One means out of touch |
Anonymous
| I have a friend like this and I worry. She is out of touch, but needs to find work after a messy divorce. |
Anonymous
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So a Boomer born 1964 can be a Gen X parent born 1965?
I am a boomer and all my kids are Gen Z Gen Z is now as old as 28. |