Career myths – debunked!
The Verdicts 👨⚖️👩⚖️
1. “Cover letters are dead” — BUSTED (with an asterisk)
Not dead — but the bar moved. In a ResumeGo study of 7,000+ applications, a tailored cover letter lifted callback rates from 10% to 16% — while a generic one barely moved the needle. And post-ChatGPT, that signal is fading fast: when every letter looks tailored, none of them stand out. Do it right, or don’t do it.
2. “The LinkedIn Open to Work badge hurts you” — DEADLOCKED
Recruiters mostly shrug — and LinkedIn’s own data shows the public badge gets you more recruiter messages than the private setting. But hiring managers still carry a subtle risk bias, and the badge invites scammers. Verdict: the recruiter-only setting captures most of the upside with less of the downside.
3. “ChatGPT is a good enough resume tool” — IT DEPENDS (on the prompt)
The tool isn’t the problem — the “minimum viable prompt” is. “Write me a resume” produces junk students can’t evaluate because they’ve never been recruiters. Used with real guidance, AI genuinely helps. The skill is in the prompting, not the platform.
4. “You must be 100% qualified before you apply” — BUSTED
60–70% qualified (plus a referral) has long been enough. And a 98%+ keyword match now works against you — some companies auto-filter suspiciously perfect resumes, because no real candidate is that flawless.
5. “Resumes must be one page” — BUSTED
Recruiters spend longer on resumes than the old “6-second” myth claims — and they preferred the two-page version even for entry-level candidates. Human eyes like white space and clarity. The catch: page two has to earn its place with real content, not filler.
6. “You can’t measure career services impact for leadership” — BUSTED You can — you just need agreement with leadership on what are the right things to measure. Activity metrics (appointments, workshops) don’t move leadership. Tie service usage to retention, readiness, and outcomes. The single most powerful one-pager: the correlation between coaching sessions attended and job offers earned. That’s the “we change lives” number
The proof
Click the button below and to the right to see all of these statements backed up with data!
The recording
Watch the full debate here.
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