NCAD AI for Artists Workshop · Week 13

Jobs, Portfolios & Career Leverage

Freelance, Outreach, and the Materials That Get You Hired

Career-anxiety week. Tone: here's leverage, not here's how scary it is.

60-second recap

The deal

AI for friction, humans for meaning.
Raw output is never finished work.
Verify before trusting. Disclose where it matters.
Skepticism welcome when specific.

Standing recap.

The cruel irony

Every applicant uses AI to write the cover letter

…so AI-voice becomes a disqualifier.

"Recruiters skim hundreds of identical 'passionate about seamless experiences' portfolios."

The week in one line

AI is your editor and interviewer.
Never your ghostwriter.

As a writer it makes you sound like everyone. As an interviewer it extracts what only you know.

Deliverable

You will leave with

One rewritten case study — in your real voice
A job-search prompt pack — reusable for years

Both immediately useful to their actual job search.

Today's map

Today's map

  1. Career reality + portfolio craft — 40 min
  2. Job-search systems — 15 min
  3. Demo: generic vs. extraction-interview case study — 35 min
  4. Lab: rewrite + prompt pack — 70 min
  5. Share: does it sound like a person? — 35 min
Breaks protected.

Part 1

The career reality, without the panic

~0:10.

What's changing

The roles that remain reward

judgment · taste · accountability · critical AI use

The spine of this entire course.

"You've been building the durable skills for twelve weeks."

Your CV

The reframe

Everyone says

"Good at AI tools" — means nothing

Rare and true

"I can direct AI, verify its output, and know when to refuse"

"This whole course is your evidence for the right-hand sentence."

Part 1, continued

Case studies are stories, not galleries

~0:20.

The structure

Client → problem → process → outcome

Recruiters read to imagine working with you.
The path is the juicy part — it shows how you think.

"AI cannot write your path. It wasn't there. It can structure one you feed it."

Part 1, the core

The extraction interview

~0:26.

Don't ask AI to write it

Make it interview you

Same interview move as Weeks 6 and 11. Its questions, your answers, your authorship.

Then

"Write using ONLY my answers,
my phrasing where possible,
no adjectives I didn't earn."

The constraint that makes it yours instead of generic.

Part 1, continued

The Generic Detector

~0:32.

AI-voice has tells

Every recruiter recognizes them

passionate about · seamless · elevate ·
stunning visuals · user-centric · I'm excited to

…because every AI writes them.

Board these. Students find them in their own drafts and gasp.

Watch out

AI also INFLATES

Results you didn't measure. A role bigger than you had. Impact you can't prove.

Deflate it.

"Recruiters check. Getting caught inflating ends candidacies on the spot."
Differentiator

Disclosure

Specific disclosure reads as confidence

Worst assumption

"AI-assisted"

Trust

"Textures generated, then repainted by hand; concept and art direction mine"

"It shows you know exactly where your value sits."

Part 2

Job-search systems

AI as research + admin engine

~1:00.

Five uses, voice untouched

Where AI saves real hours

"You write the hook. AI does the scaffolding. You verify against the real site."

Break

Break — 10 minutes

Demo next: the same project, written two ways.

Stage the generic-generation prompt and the diff page.

Demo

Case study rewrite: generic to yours

~1:15. On your own real-ish project.
Demo · move 1

Generate the generic (knowingly)

Write a portfolio case study for this project: [description].

(read it flat. the room calls the stock phrases. highlight each.)

"This is what every applicant submits. It says nothing."
Demo · move 2

The extraction interview

Don't write anything yet. Interview me, one question at a time, hunting for the constraint that hurt, the decision I'd defend, the thing I cut.

I answer specifically and honestly.

Name a real constraint, a real cut, a real client reaction. The room watches specifics appear.
Demo · move 3

The honest rewrite

Now write 150 words using ONLY my answers, my phrasing, no adjectives I didn't earn. End with one line disclosing AI's role.
Read it. The difference is audible.
Demo · move 4

Side by side, and the catch

Find the stock phrase that STILL snuck in. Replace it by hand.

"Even the good version needs your red pen. The Generic Detector is never AI's job to finish."

Break

Break — 10 minutes

Lab next: your project, your voice.

Lab slide staged.

Lab · 70 minutes

Generic Detector + Case Study Rewrite

Generate + detect (15) → Extraction interview (25) → Deflate + detect (15) → Prompt pack (15)

Bring a real project — or your strongest coursework.

Parts + times on board.
Lab · step 1

15 min

Generate + detect

Generate the generic case study of YOUR project. Run the Generic Detector. Highlight every stock phrase.

Seeing AI write your generic version is the wake-up call.

Let it land before moving on.
Lab · step 2

25 min

Extraction interview

Run the interview. Answer with real specifics and stakes. Get the rewrite.

The assessed deliverable — it must read like YOU.

Circulate: "What's the detail here that's only true of YOUR project?" None? Send them back.
Lab · step 3

15 min

Deflate + detect again

Challenge every result/role/impact claim. Replace surviving stock phrases by hand.

✏️ the lines only you could have written.

"Did you measure that 30%? No? Then it's gone or it's honest."
Lab · step 4

15 min

Prompt pack

Customize at least three job-search prompts into your reusable pack.

Core: role matcher · interview rehearsal · outreach structurer.

The take-home career tool. Reusable for years.
Always available

Alternative

Zero-AI track (fully equal)

Partner-run extraction interview (better interview practice anyway) · hand-written case study · peer red-pen Generic Detector.

Offer neutrally; the human-interview version is genuinely strong.

Share-out · 35 min

Read cold

A volunteer's rewrite is read aloud by someone else, who says: does it sound like a person? where does AI-voice leak?

Room asks: What did you learn about this person in two sentences?

Opt-in. Frame: "we're critiquing the AI-voice, not you."
Every week

Integrity check

This week's four

  1. A sentence only YOU could have written?
  2. Every claim deflated to true-and-defensible?
  3. Disclosure specific, not vague "AI-assisted"?
  4. Prompt pack keeps voice and judgment human?
Four beats.

Reflection

Write 4 lines

Two quiet minutes.

Next Wednesday

Capstone Sprint

Build the personal AI workflow, tool, or system that ties the whole course together.

Bring your friction. Bring your specs. Bring everything you've made.

End on time; corridor questions after.

Tonight, optional

Go deeper

Final slide stays up while people pack.