Big yourself up: New AI tool launched to help ‘modest' women sell themselves in job interviews

Women who are reluctant to “big themselves up” are being invited to use a new artificial intelligence tool intended to help them be more bullish when applying for jobs and promotions.

The service, called BigUpAI, has been created by a female-led team of digital innovators. They say they want to “transform the conversation” around the way in which women present themselves in job interviews and in the workplace.

The tool is designed to encourage the use of stronger language in things like CVs and cover letters. Users are asked “Tell us about a strength?” with examples to facilitate answers.

Through the use of a “go bigger” button, it turns something relatively mundane like “I am a team player” and turns them into more bullish statements like “I thrive in a team environment” or, for extra oopmh, “I become a valued member of any team I am placed in”.

BigUpAI has been developed by Anna-Louise Gladwell and Sara Pouri, who cited research that has shown women are generally more likely to downplay their achievements than men.  

“Modesty just isn’t the best policy, yet it’s often so ingrained in women, we don’t realise when we’re doing ourselves a disservice,” says Ms Pouri, the London-based creative director behind BigUp.AI. “The ambition of BigUp.AI is to help us recognise when we need to stand tall and tell the world how great we are, and it gives us the language to do it, too.”

They say tools like these have become even more important as the Covid-19pandemic has disproportionately affected the careers and job opportunities of women, partly due to the burden of child care landing more heavily on women during lockdown. Data from LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, suggests that women were less likely to be hired than men when the schools were shut.

“Covid-19 has exacerbated a systemic social issue of female confidence, self-promotion and career advancement,” says Ms Gladwell, managing director of the creatibe agency AnalogFolk. “So BigUp.AI is here to remind women of their value and help them find the words to express it.”

One recent graduate, Eve Wallis, said she found the tool helpful in her job search. “I normally hate ‘bigging myself up’. And I’ve had to do a lot of it since I graduated this summer in graphic design… BigUp.AI is a super-helpful tool that I’ll definitely use in my job search.”, is a welcome example of AI technology that is challenging social issues.”