MENTOR SHIP 💎

🧠 When AI Took His Job, He Built One That Could Help You Get Yours

Meet the man behind CareerBuddy GPT—and how his AI-powered job-hunting assistant could change everything for recent grads.

Mark Quinn didn’t plan to become an AI creator. He was a seasoned professional working in tech operations—until AI came for his job.

In 2023, like thousands of others, Quinn found himself abruptly unemployed. Layoffs swept across the tech sector, and ironically, the same emerging AI tools that excited the industry had made his role obsolete. For months, he sent out résumé after résumé, scrolling job boards, crafting cover letters, tweaking LinkedIn—but nothing stuck.

So he did something unexpected:
He built his own AI-powered job search assistant.

And not just for himself.

🚀 CareerBuddy GPT: A Job Hunt Sidekick for the AI Era

Quinn created CareerBuddy GPT, an AI tool designed to help job seekers land their dream roles—especially those feeling invisible in today’s competitive, often confusing market.

Here’s what it does:

  • Reads the job description and your résumé side by side to assess alignment. It points out gaps, skills you’re underselling, and where you might need to shift your narrative.

  • Rewrites résumés and cover letters to match the tone, language, and focus of the posting—cutting through the “I don’t know what to say” spiral.

  • Helps with outreach—offering personalized messaging suggestions, and even helping you decide whether to email someone directly or connect on LinkedIn.

  • Preps you for interviews—simulating mock Q&As and even analyzing your interviewer’s background to suggest smarter responses.

  • And yes, even mindset coaching—because sometimes the biggest barrier is burnout or fear of rejection.

It’s part strategist, part therapist, and part job-hunt sherpa. And it's all powered by AI.

🧩 Why This Matters (Especially for Students + Recent Grads)

Intern Ship's community is filled with students standing at the edge of their careers—and many are facing a very different landscape than even a few years ago. Entry-level roles are vanishing. Internships are getting automated. And AI is both the problem and—potentially—the solution.

Quinn’s story reminds us that even when the system changes, we can adapt.
In fact, we can build new systems.

With CareerBuddy GPT, he didn’t just improve his own search—he turned it into a free resource to help others.

💡 Lessons from Mark Quinn

  • Don’t sleep on AI—but don’t rely on it blindly either. Use tools like CareerBuddy GPT to save time and sharpen your focus, but always add your you-ness.

  • Get creative. When Quinn had a dream job he really wanted, he went beyond standard outreach. He baked cookies and delivered them in person with a résumé attached. (Did it work? Yes.)

  • Reframe rejection. Quinn teaches users to see job hunting as a numbers game—not a reflection of worth. AI tools help reduce decision fatigue, so you can show up sharper when it counts.

🧭 The Bigger Picture

We talk a lot at Intern Ship about navigating change. Mark Quinn didn’t just navigate it—he mapped it, turning uncertainty into innovation. In a world where even AI is taking entry-level jobs, it’s a little poetic that a laid-off worker used AI to help people land theirs.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, lost, or invisible in the job search jungle, maybe you don’t need to do more. Maybe you just need a buddy.

Even if it’s an AI one.