Welcome back to the Knockout Newsletter, brought to you by The Final Round. Every other Tuesday, we send you insight to help you knock out the competition, advance past the final round interview, and grow in your career.
Thank you for joining us in the ring. Letās go.
Whatās New?
AJ recently provided input on an article from Fast Company written by Dr. Agustin Chevez that discussed what āThe Jetsonsā got right and wrong about the future of work. Hereās his takeaway from what the show missed:
1. Gender Stereotypes
2. Working Hours
3. Remote Work
Artificial intelligence, with good reason, is the talk of the town. As new interfaces develop and grow, itāll be interesting to see the increasing role technology will play in our lives.
Content like this post encouraged us to take a deeper dive into the world of A.I. in this weekās edition, and how ChatGPT can help us shape our own career paths.
Click here to see AJās full post
A Deeper Dive Into A.I.
ChatGPT x McKinsey & Company
Weāve had over 30 recruiters across a variety of industries on The Final Round. Theyāve provided so many great tips, tricks, and advice on how to crush the interview to help you land top job offers.
As we highlighted in the last edition, A.I. is even starting to play a role in how candidates are selected for interviews. Resume scanners look for certain keywords (such as skills and university names) to more easily speed through the long list of candidates.
We wanted to once again put ChatGPT to the test, but this time, a little differently. My first question in the conversation was training ChatGPT to āact as [role]ā: āAct as a Recruiter at Mckinsey & Company. How do I get hired at your firm?ā
ChatGPTās answer was just what you expect: do your research, network, highlight your achievements and problem-solving capabilities, be a team player, and prepare well in advance. But we wanted more.
My next question was: āProvide me a plan to get hired at McKinsey & Company. Give me links where applicable.ā I know this would provide a bit more detailed result, and it certainly did (particularly with the links).
Some of the advice remained the same, such as doing research, networking, and practicing case interviews. However, this time, their advice was much more specific, with the inclusion of specific links to pages within the McKinsey & Company site to help. But once again, we wanted to go even further.
For my next input, I asked ChatGPT to update this schedule to include a timeline with dates. And I was pleasantly surprised. ChatGPT gave me a 5-week plan that I should take to maximize my chances of getting and crushing an interview. Hereās what one week looked like:
Lucky for you, we had Erika Love, a Recruiting Lead at McKinsey & Company, on the podcast. Click here to listen to the full episode and learn even more about the firm and how to crush it during the interview process.
This Time with Goldman Sachs
Next, we asked ChatGPT a question very common in the business career space: āinvestment banking or consulting?ā Hereās what the A.I. had to say:
āType of Work: Investment banking typically involves financial modeling, valuations, and deal-making, while consulting involves problem-solving, analysis, and advising clients on business strategy.ā
āLifestyle: Both investment banking and consulting can be demanding jobs with long hours and high pressure. However, consulting tends to have more travel and a greater emphasis on work-life balance.ā
āIndustry exposure: Investment banking typically provides more exposure to the financial services industry, while consulting can provide exposure to a wider range of industries.ā
āCareer trajectory: Investment banking and consulting can both lead to successful careers with high salaries and opportunities for advancement. However, the career trajectory in each field can be different.ā
āSkills development: Both investment banking and consulting can provide opportunities to develop valuable skills such as financial analysis, communication, and problem-solving.ā
The results of this input were expected, but what we really liked was how clear and concise its comparison was. Again, we wanted to dig a little deeper.
My next question for ChatGPT was to āAsk me some personality questions, and based on my answers, decide whether investment banking or consulting is right for me.ā
And the results were interesting. I was asked an array of questions, from what work environments I prefer to how I think, and even got a suggestion.
Finally, I asked ChatGPT what the life of an ideal investment banker looks like. I followed up by asking what a hypothetical day-to-day could look like as well. And hereās what I got for Monday:
For an ever deeper look into Goldman Sachs, listen to our interview with Annie Hopkins (former Vice President of Diversity Recruiting and Campus Recruiting at Goldman Sachs)!
Clearly, ChatGPT can be used to help with you some of the most difficult issues pressing students and professionals. Donāt forget to include it in your career prep. Itāll really go a long way!
Spotlight Episode - Breaking into Google
Interested in breaking into tech and working for a company like Google? In Episode 22 of the Final Round Podcast, Elizabeth Morgan discusses what it takes to work for a firm like Google, and how you can separate yourself from the rest of the pack.
Click here to listen to the full episode
Business Buzz š
Teslaās Drop-off
Tesla has continued to drop the prices of various models in the past few months. While deemed a move to increase the number of sales, the move has undoubtedly cut their margins. Even despite these cuts, within the Electric Vehicle industry, Teslaās profit margins remain much higher than new competitors like General Motors and Ford.
Teslaās net income has fallen over 20% since last year. A drop close to expectations, the company mentioned how the under-utilization of factories, inflation of raw materials and commodities, and lower revenue from environmental tax benefits provided to buyers all contributed to this drop.
Even considering this decrease, the company plans on making big moves this year into the next. With the addition of a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico, as well as a āMegapacksā factory coming to Shanghai, Tesla is certainly looking to upscale production. Itāll be interesting to see how these changes influence employment moving forward.
Googleās Role in A.I.
Though many perceive Microsoft as the market leader in the artificial intelligence space, some suggest itās too early to count Google out of the race. The company has been working extensively on two specific products: Google Brain and DeepMind.
Started in 2012, Google Brain is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence. Although originating with simple tasks such as identifying cats among an array of images, Google Brain has developed more practical capabilities. This includes understanding and repeating human communication, foreign language translations, and the detection of breast cancer in X-Rays.
Secondly, acquired by Google in 2014, DeepMind is a second tool taking monumental strides within the artificial intelligence community. This includes learning the 2500-year-old game of Go, developing more efficient means to cool Googleās energy centers (saving them millions of dollars), and even developing a general AI system called Gato. Gato has mastered over 600 different tasks, exemplifying its multi-functionality uncommon among other products.
Clearly, Googleās push to enter and dominate the A.I. market should not be counted out.
What this Means
Companies may seem like theyāre doing really hot, or really cold. But a lot could be taking place below the surface that you just donāt truly know about until you take a deeper, second look. Be careful what the news headlines say, and before you make assumptions, do some research. Your future self will thank you.
The Final Question
Have you used ChatGPT to help make career decisions? Let us know by commenting below!
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Written by Bryan Hanley; Edited by AJ Eckstein