Talent Development: Mindset and Skillset

April 1, 2025 | Jay Block | Blog, CEMP, CIC

“Never go to bed the same as you woke up”

Jim Rohn made this challenge back in the mid 1990’s. Thirty years later, in today’s utterly unprecedented society, especially within the professional and workplace landscape, continuous (daily) talent development is no longer just a competitive strategy – it’s a survival one.

Kaizen (“good change” or “continuous improvement” in Japanese) represents my personal notion of never going to bed the same as you woke up. Learn something new today and find a way to use it tomorrow. This ensures that job seekers and coaches remain genuinely relevant and valuable in the face of virtually non-stop technological advancements and societal/political transformations. It’s rare when a week or two passes without some new resume-reading technology or ChatGPT interviewing robot isn’t being introduced throughout the hiring/employment space. And from a purely objective hiring standpoint, with all the upheaval concerning DEI hiring practices, how do job seekers and coaches address and navigate diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices federally and state-wise? Like many other transformational issues, this requires daily updates.

Beating the cheaters

Janet Elias, writing for CNBC in Sunday’s March 9thedition, featured a headline entitled, “Meet the 21-year-old helping coders use AI to cheat in Google and other tech job interviews .” She writes, “As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, employers are trying to build workarounds to prevent candidates from cheating in virtual job interviews but are struggling to keep up. Columbia University student Chungin “Roy” Lee said he used AI to game a popular virtual interview platform used by tech companies and later received several internship offers. And Google is among companies considering moving away from virtual interviews as AI becomes more popular among candidates as a way to cheat the process” (https://rb.gy/7mpewo).

No, I’m certainly not advocating teaching or mastering the skill of cheating. Quite the contrary. It’s only when we are aware that other job candidates are using technology to cheat in virtual job interviews, that we can provide effective strategies and counter measures to position our job seekers to win out ethically over the cheaters. This is the importance of committing to daily talent development. In my case, I wasn’t aware of this interview-cheating scheme until a few days ago when I read about it online. When job seekers and coaches commit to daily talent development, the odds of rapid success turn dramatically in their favor.

Talent development: 1) mindset and 2) skillset

The power of teaching the skills of maintaining a positive mindset is best illustrated by a recent PARWCC Certified Interview Coach (CIC) who told me, “Now, when my clients go into job interviews, they don’t hope to win a job offer – they expect to win it! Yes, they must demonstrate they have the skills and qualifications to produce results, but like a well-trained Olympic athlete, it all begins with a positive, winning mindset.”

Talent Development: Mindset

Most job seekers and coaches spend the majority of time focused on skill identification and stories behind those skills (STAR/quantifiable results/specific accomplishments, etc.). Hard and soft skills. Hard skills are those specific, proven areas of expertise and knowledge that can be learned, applied, and measured. Soft skills are those personal attributes that describe how one works and gets along with others; often referred to as ‘people skills.’ This would include more general skill-types such as communications, problem-solving, leadership, teamwork, adaptability, time management, and interpersonal skills.

A skill that is NOT taught by most practitioners and AI/Chat is the competency of managing one’s attitude and mindset while in pursuit of something worthwhile (like a new job), especially when adversity shows up. When an interviewer promises to call a job seeker back and doesn’t, how do they grin and bear it? When a job seeker is the runner-up for a job three times in a row, how do they suck it up? When John sends out 250 resumes and doesn’t get a single reply, how does he make the best of a bad situation and turn lemons into lemonade? Make no mistake about it, managing one’s mindset is a skill – and a skill that can be taught. It’s a powerful skill for building self-confidence and empowering success.

Henry Ford said that if you think you can, or you think you can’t… that becomes your reality – the foundation for your future. What good is a masterpiece resume in the hands of a fearful and low-confidence job seeker? Below are four concepts job seekers and coaches can make (or improve) regarding attitude (mindset), self-confidence, and inspiring full engagement:

Embrace AI as a Collaborative Career Asset Spearheaded by the Human Element

- Rather than viewing AI as a threat, career coaches must encourage job seekers to see AI as a collaborative tool that when integrated with the “human element,” results in rapid success.
- AI/Chat technologies are NOT capable of helping to build courage, confidence, and an unstoppable, resilient character. Only humans can inspire this. AI/Chat will be used for general activities such as resume drafts, initial target marketing, and preliminary interviewing prep. But every job seeker (and coach) has their own special qualities, value, personality and, yes, issues. This means that when technology performs all the mundane activities humans used to do, humans can now then invest more quality time on the human-aspect of winning job offers. Mindset.

Teach Empowerment Techniques to Optimize Success (Self-Confidence)
In PARWCC’s Certified Empowerment and Motivational Professional (CEMP), career coaches learn that the words we use, the questions we ask, and the things we focus on optimize or sabotage a job campaign. Fear, overwhelm, and doubt can be replaced with courage, engagement, and confidence – and only humans can teach this.

Are job seekers focusing on their current predicament (the problem) or on the success they desire (the solution)? Are career coaches still asking job seekers to do homework, or are they given rapid employment exercises to complete? Words and phrases matter because they empower success.

Develop a Human + AI Collaborative Job Campaign Strategy (Full Engagement)

Job seekers must focus on specific results they can Deliver, Generate, or Produce (DGP) for their paychecks – with supporting evidence. AI can generate typical, used-by-everyone else content, but only humans can bring the emotional intelligence, creativity, and uniqueness to the process.

Success coaches inspire job seekers to recognize and honor their value, past achievements, and future contributional potential. Most job seekers fail to recognize, specifically, what they deliver, generate, or produce for their paychecks. This new awareness is an empowerment strategy because it results in indisputable self-confidence.

Encourage AI-Powered Continuous Learning (Upskilling)

- I call it the 20-minute a day upskilling challenge. AI/Chat technologies are changing industries, the workplace, and society so rapidly, coaches and job seekers must stay up-to-date and adaptable to all the changes… and there’s a phrase for it: “continuously upskilling.”
- Coaches must inspire and empower clients using specific techniques. Being just a motivational pro doesn’t work, because motivation is short-lived. But when we teach empowerment techniques and the skill of managing one’s mindset, that is something technology will never do as well as humans.

Talent Development: Skillsets that Produce Results

Simplicity is an empowerment and engagement skill. And I believe we need to simplify the AI/Chat skillset so career coaches and job seekers understand, embrace, and optimize them. Below are four bullet points that can help simplify the AI skills conundrum.

Incorporating AI for Resume Optimization
Use AI tools, along with your own creative strategies, to enhance resume formatting, keyword optimization, value proposition communications, and ATS (Applicant Tracking System) compliance.

Train job seekers on how to use AI-powered resources (like Chat) for drafting cover letters and online digital footprints.

Teaching AI-Assisted Job Campaign Strategies

Help job seekers leverage AI to identify job opportunities, tailor applications, and generate impact-making cover letters.

Guide them in using AI for networking, such as drafting LinkedIn outreach messages and interview follow-ups.

Shifting to AI-Augmented Interview Preparation

Use AI to simulate interview scenarios, generate practice questions, and analyze responses. PARWCC’s CIC (Certified Interview Coach) outlines powerful methods for optimizing BOTH verbal and nonverbal communications for influencing job offers.

Collaborate with AI to teach job seekers how to out-compete their competition in interviews with compelling discussions (using PARWCC’s OMC method taught in CIC) that come across as natural and personalized.

Ethical and Strategic AI Guidance

Educate job seekers on the ethical use of AI in applications, ensuring transparency and authenticity.

Teach them how to fact-check AI-generated content and personalize it to avoid generic (or patented) responses.

Conclusion

The commitment to never going to bed the same as you woke up is a powerful strategy for optimizing work performance and securing long-term career success. In an era where AI/Chat technologies are reshaping industries, continuous skill development is essential for staying relevant and competitive.

By embracing a mindset of lifelong learning, cultivating adaptability, and leveraging AI/Chat as a collaborative tool back by the human element, career coaches, resume writers, and job seekers can not only excel in the present workplace – but also future-proof their careers. Success in the modern workforce belongs to those who are willing to learn, evolve, and embrace change – every day.