I Tried AI to Make a Reel for Job Applications. I Wasn't Blown Away

There are two things in life that’ll bring you down to size: dating in New York City and applying for a job in 2024. The fictional Carrie Bradshaw said it best: In New York, you’re always looking for a job, a boyfriend or an apartment. 

While I’m not looking for a job, as a freelancer, I’m always looking for the next jobs. My wife and some friends are on the job hunt, too — so I’ve got some good insights to draw from. 

Their biggest pain point? Getting bumped off LinkedIn’s job hunting section and being forced to sign up to companies’ separate hiring portals. But while the Easy Apply button isn’t always easy, there are other tools that can make the job search and unemployment process more manageable. With the wave of artificial intelligence, it’s never been easier to add something surprising to your resume. 

The goal: to be a delightful respite for hiring managers reviewing resumes, making it easier to get a foot in the door. 

I’d heard about Canva’s new AI capabilities, so I wanted to test them out. Canva is a graphic design platform with tools and templates that anyone can use. The Australian company launched in 2013, but its AI suite, Magic Studio, became available to users in October 2023. 

With Magic Studio, you can create AI-powered designs, presentations, videos, animations and more. There are three different Canva plans – free, pro or teams. Some of the AI features are only available on pro or teams plans, which range from $100-$120 per year. In the free version, it specifies “AI-generated writing and designs” and in the pro version, it lists “20+ AI tools” as part of its offerings.

I wanted to use AI to personalize my job application, to show there’s a real human behind it and to showcase my thinking, experience and achievements. 

Can Canva help your career? 

I had an idea. To avoid being reactive and simply applying to jobs, I wanted to create a short showreel of myself and my work that I could also DM recruiters and share on social media. 

I decided to create a 60-day campaign where I share it somewhere online once a day to get eyeballs on my profile, have more direct conversations and showcase my creativity. This strategy can be applied to any industry – just tweak the asset, approach and audience. 

A five-day plan could be: 

1. Add the reel to your cover letter and resume.
2. Write a post and share the reel.
3. Link the reel to the Featured section in LinkedIn.
4. DM a recruiter or potential employer and link the reel. 
5. Comment on a post of an employee who works at a target company and link out to it.

Before jumping into Canva, I asked ChatGPT what I should put in my video resume. It gave me some hints. Namely, keep it short and focused; plan your script out to cover an intro, key achievements, skills and expertise; film it with a professional background; include visual assets to support what you’re talking about; tailor the video to your audience; and end with a personal message and a call to reach out.

Of course, I could have used ChatGPT to draft the script for the showreel, but given its importance, I didn’t want to outsource the thinking or words to AI. The key was not giving too much away and for it not to feel like a needy “hire me” ad. Less marketing, more movie trailer feel. 

Magic Studio put to the test

First, I compiled my bio/elevator pitch, a couple of photos and my favorite work clips, then jumped into Canva’s Magic Studio.

Next, I gave Canva some context on what I planned to use this video for, to help it generate a design. 

I didn’t like the text it generated, and it cut off a lot of the important parts of my work samples, like headlines and brand or publication names, so I had to do some tweaking.

It also had a hard time matching up the right text with the corresponding picture. This slide/story below was for my work in National Geographic, but it failed to mention that.

I knew I wanted to use my bio, but I was curious how Canva would describe me from the text I fed it. “I’m a creative and experienced professional with a passion for storytelling.” Canva, we can do better than that. 

I pulled key lines from my bio, as I was keen on keeping the video short. You can pull these from your LinkedIn or ask ChatGPT to pinpoint the top seven to 10 selling points from your resume. 

Here’s mine:

I lengthened the time on each slide slightly (from 4 to 5 seconds) to give people more time to read each sentence. I also changed the animation of each slide to my liking. It probably took me an hour to upload and modify in Canva. 

To download it without the watermark, I would have needed to upgrade to Canva Pro. It’s worth it to avoid looking sloppy to potential clients or employers, but for my experiment, I downloaded my video via the free version. 

The verdict on Canva’s AI tools

What it produced was passable and functional. Did I need AI to make it? Given I changed a lot of what it initially provided, probably not. 

Will I be winning an Academy Award for this clip? Definitely not. 

Will I win over recruiters or hirers? Maybe. 

Read more: Job Hunting With AI: 6 Techniques We Tried and How They Work