On April 30, the Porter Center hosted a workshop with Rebecca Akben, owner of Macy AI, aimed at educating students on how they can use AI when searching for jobs and internships.
Macy AI is a consulting company that educates organizations on how to confidently and ethically use AI. Akben also developed and teaches the Elon NEXT AI Certificate for Professionals.
Amanda Traugutt, senior associate director of career services for the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, said the Porter Center wanted to put on this workshop to make sure that students had the information and education to use these tools properly.
“[AI tools] can be really powerful if you know how to use them right,” Traugutt said.
Before beginning to teach students the specifics of these AI tools, Akben made a point to emphasize that, while AI is good at recognizing patterns, it can’t make judgements. It’s up to human users to determine what content matters from the output AI has given them.
While some think that educating students on AI use supports them offloading their thinking and blindly using these tools, Akben said that’s not the reality.
“The more you learn how to use AI ethically, the more you are able to see what skills are uniquely human, how we can amplify those skills, and when AI should be pulled in and when it should not,” Akben said.
During the workshop, Akben first taught students how to use NotebookLM to store their resumes, writing samples, class work, etc. Then, using Gemini, students were able to create a Gem — which is a repeated task — that used what they had put into NotebookLM to determine if a certain job or internship posting was the right fit for them. The Gem also gave suggestions as to how they could tailor their resume and skills for specific job opportunities.
In addition, Akben showed students how to create a recurring job search through Gemini, that took location, interests, work format, and more into consideration. Each tool Akben taught was designed to streamline the job search process, while keeping the human element of writing and making decisions about what suggestions to pursue.
Ava Paolino-Sarcia ’28 said she came to the event to learn how to utilize AI when searching for summer internships.
“I think searching will be a little bit easier and more efficient with AI, and I’ll probably be able to find some more opportunities than I could have before,” Paolino-Sarcia said.
Junior Alex Roberts also appreciated the efficiency that using AI as a tool could bring to his job search, and said he liked how easy it was to learn how to use the tools taught through the workshop. Roberts pointed out how rough the job market can seem to students who will soon enter the workforce, but said that using these tools can make it easier to get ahead of the pack.
“Rather than you having to do the work, it’s letting the machine do the work. You just do all the writing and make it human and sound like yourself,” Roberts said.
The event had a large turnout, with every seat filled, showing not only the desire of students to learn how to effectively use these tools but also the importance of hosting workshops to educate on how to use AI properly and ethically.
Looking to the future, Traugutt hopes that students continue to make use of these AI tools in tandem with the resources provided through the Porter Center.
“It’s great to start with AI,” Traugutt said. “But having someone to talk to about what you’re learning about yourself and what guidance you might be getting from AI is really, really helpful.”