Amy Lindgren

Second Sunday Series – Editor’s Note: This is the eighth of 12 columns on AI and work, which will appear the second Sunday of each month, from September through August. Last month’s column described AI tools for interview prep, while previous columns looked at résumés and cover letters; best practices for companies using AI; tips for using ChatGPT; work opportunities with artificial intelligence; AI use in the hiring process; and an overview of artificial intelligence in general.

We’ve been looking at a variety of AI (artificial intelligence) tools in this Second Sunday series: résumé builders, cover letter generators, interview practice applications … it seems like there’s nothing AI can’t do when it comes to job search.

Which bring us to today’s topic: Could AI conduct the entire search for you? And track your results? And do your follow-ups? Well, of course it can. The products are blossoming faster than tulips in spring, so there are a lot to choose from. Here are some that I explored, in different categories.

AI tools that track your applications

Tracking applications has befuddled job seekers since the days of pasting newspaper ads onto index cards. Things have only gotten more complicated now that the search is conducted online.

I speak with job seekers every day who don’t know how many jobs they applied for last week or even yesterday. Rather than tracking the applications submitted, they rely on hearing back from the employer. If they don’t hear back, it’s out of sight, out of mind.

That might seem efficient, if you assume that no news is no news. But it robs you of the opportunity to analyze your search results on any level, other than the number of days or months you’ve been looking. On the other hand, I’ll admit I don’t love most of the alternatives, such as entering each activity into a spreadsheet — a process that nearly always falls apart after a few weeks.

Quite a few AI options will help or take over this project, including these three:

• Careerflow. This program provides both free and premium options to build a dashboard where you can monitor your applications and organize follow-up activities. (www.careerflow.ai)

•JobCopilot. Building on the dashboard-based model, JobCopilot provides additional features such as archiving the original job postings. It’s not free, since the job tracking comes in bundled sets of services. (www.jobcopilot.com)

• Notion. Already a well-respected platform for managing written content, Notion enters the field with a series of templates designed to help you manage different aspects of the job application process. (www.notion.com)

AI tools that do the applying for you

Actually, quite a lot of tools will do this now, although the results vary a lot. Since you’ll be trusting the program to interface with the employer (or at least, the employer’s bot), you’ll want to check for user reviews before diving in.

Some tools in this category will search the internet for jobs, revise your letter and résumé accordingly and/or complete an application on your behalf, and then send it out, all without your intervention. Others will do the first few steps but await your approval before sending.

Two programs to consider in this category are Sonara (www.sonara.ai) and Teal (www.tealhq.com)

All-in-one AI job search tools

Here’s another category with several options to consider. These are platforms that help you build a résumé, write your cover letter, enhance your LinkedIn profile, and practice for interviews, in addition to providing the application and tracking features we’re already discussing.

To get you started, check out Zapier (www.zapier.com). This one includes a suite of services, including Zapier Workflows, which creates emails on your behalf, ranging from application follow-ups to thank-you letters.

A notable exception: human + AI

For an interesting exception to the automated products, consider ApplyAll (https://applyall.com). This model is built around the company’s unique AI-human partnership. Instead of letting AI do all the work, a human reviews the AI-generated output and removes the errors.

This option isn’t free (current sale rates of $199 and $259 for 100 and 200 applications, respectively) but it does include a money-back guarantee if you don’t get at least one interview in the first month.

My usual caveat

As always, this short primer is only a sampling of available AI tools, and a smaller slice yet of what will be available a few months from now. Even so, it’s a place to start. Come back next month and we’ll continue the AI discussion.

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Working Strategies: Navigating part-time jobs at a professional level

Working Strategies: Finding a part-time job requires a plan

Working Strategies: Holding on when things get tough

Working Strategies: Using AI tools to prepare for interviews

Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.

Want to get outside and enjoy nature for free?

For the kickoff of the annual National Park Week, which for 2025 will be held April 19-27, the park service is offering free admission to all its parks and monuments on Saturday, April 19.

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This can save you a $50 entry fee or even more, but here’s what you need to know:

You might be shocked to learn this, but these freebie days are really, really popular. For maximum enjoyment, I suggest getting there at sunrise, before everyone else is even out of bed. No crowds, you can find parking, and sunrise is really beautiful, right? C’mon. You can do it this once.

And here’s when you can visit all national parks free in 2025.

And here’s a tip about sunrise: In Yellowstone, the rivers send up huge clouds of steam before dawn because of underlying hot springs. This is remarkable to see, but the steam starts evaporating the minute the sun hits them. To see this remarkable phenomenon, get on the road just before the sun comes up. It’s worth the effort. Plus, all the parking lots will be empty.

You don’t need to sign up or register. But check if you need reservations, because April 19 is in the middle of Easter weekend. You’ll need to go to recreation.gov and search for the park you want and “timed entry” to find the reservation information. I didn’t find any reservation requirements for Yosemite.

Here are the nine national parks in California: Channel Islands (the boat ride won’t be free), Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Lassen, Pinnacles, Redwood, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and Yosemite. (Note that Yosemite’s still going to be snowy, and probably Lassen and Kings Canyon too.)

Personally, I suggest Joshua Tree, which is my favorite local place. We go at dawn and hike until the sluggards start arriving, usually around 11 a.m. head to lunch, and then either drive home, or stop in Desert Hot Springs for a soak in a hot spring resort.

Note there are special national park events all week long, so take a look online to see what’s available. And enjoy!

Learn more: nps.gov

Another great season of “The Last of Us” tops our roundup this week, as well as a series featuring another fantastic performance from Jon Hamm.

Here’s roundup.

“The Last of Us Season 2”: Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann concocted a magical formula for turning a massively popular, intricately plotted video game like Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” into a massively popular, intricately plotted series. The trick was both simple and yet nearly impossible to pull off since the creators needed to win over both fans of the video game as well as those who had never played it. How did they do this? They created compelling, distinctive characters and found the right actors to portray them (starting with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey). Then they thrust these characters into dire, dystopian situations full of moving, intimate and ethically challenging dilemmas that arose in a pandemic caused by a massive fungal infection and populated by zombies clamoring for flesh and bone.

Somehow, they’ve done it again with this seven-episode follow-up Season 2 (after a long two-year wait) by replicating the magic of Season 1, even pulling off a real tearjerker — the 6th episode — that echoes the emotional heft of Season 1’s “Bill and Frank” segment. The Season 1 finale left us speculating if the feisty, Infected-immune Ellie (Ramsey) bought her surrogate dad Joel’s (Pascal) big lie. That remains one of the big question marks dominating this season, which takes place five years after the first season. The story moves to Seattle but spends its first episodes around the Old West-like Wisconsin settlement where Joel, Ellie, Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Tommy’s wife Maria (“True Blood’s” Rutina Wesley) live with others. The Infected are nearby, of course, and might not be all that stupid anymore.

The season also expands on just how chilly the relationship’s gotten between Ellie and Joel and it’s heartbreaking at times. It also introduces us to new characters, including the smart, direct and flirtatious Dina (Isabela Merced, a welcome addition to the cast), who thoroughly captivates Ellie; hard-drinking psychologist Gail (Catherine O’Hara, also most welcome); a vengeance-seeking Abby (“Apple Cider Vinegar’s” Kaitlyn Dever, who’s knocking one performance out of the park after another these days); and do-gooder Jesse (Young Mazino of “Beef,” upping the hunk factor here). There are others, including Jeffrey Wright’s intense turn as Isaac — a pivotal role he voiced in the game as well. How do the newbies figure in? Can’t tell you that, particularly if you’ve never played the game. Rest assured, your expectations will get met in Season 2. So just let it unfold naturally and savor how it stands out from the pack of dystopian fiction by so depicting how actions have moral consequences and have the power to change us forever. This season offers even a bigger cliffhanger than the last. Details: 3½ stars; first episode drops April 13, with one episode dropping every week afterward.

“Your Friends and Neighbors”: Few roles fit as snug as a Tom Ford suit on a male model than the one Jon Hamm wears in Apple TV+’s series. The “Mad Men” actor’s role in this rich-people-behaving-badly show plays to all his strengths. Hamm grouses. He struts. He caves and surrenders to having hot sex with someone he probably shouldn’t. And does he ever lament and put down the hollowness embedded inside of the rich, privileged and unhappy friends and neighbors that reside in an affluent country club community outside of New York where he lives. Creator Jonathan Tropper frames all this dissatisfaction from the glib and gone-soured perspective of Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Hamm) whose narration is one of the highlights along with an ingenious opening sequence of this intriguing series.

Coop is a true antihero, a cocky guy who’s gotten knocked down from his perch, first by losing his psychologist wife and mother of his two teen kids (Amanda Peet) to his best friend (Mark Tallman), an image-conscious ex-basketball star, and then after losing his lucrative hedge fund job. Desperate for some cash flow, he starts to rob his friends and neighbors who are so rich they don’t notice if a few of their Rolexes go missing. Tropper’s series carts out a cast of mostly wealthy neurotics — a jilted ex-wife (Olivia Munn) who’s in a love-hate hookup relationship with Coop and another friend (Hoon Lee) facing his own financial Waterloo. Tropper’s series does meander, but even if it’s not run as tightly as a ship as it could be, its original premise and its ability to make many of these characters interesting as they show flickers of humanity and then do something appalling keep you watching. The primary reason remains Hamm, so good at acting bothered in the face of gnarly situations that would make most of us have one panic attack after another. We’ll get to see how Coop manages to get out of the pickle he’s in since Apple TV+’s so jazzed about this one they’ve renewed it for a second season. Details: 3 stars; two episodes drop April 11 followed by one new episode weekly through May 30.

“Devil May Cry”: Ask video-game aficionados what their impressions are of Capcom’s demon-themed dystopian adventure and you’ll likely get an enthusiastic response. The gore-drenched game wherein the underworld crawls out into our world has amassed a devoted following. Does Netflix’s eight-episode animated take do justice to original creator Hideki Kamiya’s vision? Does it also toss out a welcome mat for first-time visitors? A qualified yes on both counts, since it’s based on the game, but is not a flat-out translation. Showrunner Adi Shankar (“Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix”) takes time and care with the multi-layered world building while pumping it all up with adrenaline, heavy-metal-esque action sequences. They razzle dazzle. My favorite parts come when Shankar dips into the pasts of its main characters, the half demon/half human Dante (Johnny Yong Bosch), a vengeance-bound demon hunter with issues that would keep Freud up at nights; Mary – aka Lady (Scout Taylor-Compton) — a righteous demon hunter working for an organization called Darkcom that’s in cahoots with the American vice president and the evil White Rabbit (Hoon Lee), a demonic force with one wretched backstory. “Devil May Cry” primes itself for another season, leaving us with a cliffhanger that promises to move the story into further exciting directions. Hop aboard. You’re in for a good time. Details: 3 stars; now available on Netflix.

“Sacramento”: Road trip dramedies tend to be cut from the same narrative cloth, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it makes for a bad show, just a more predictable and comforting experience. Director, co-screenwriter and co-star Michael Angarano’s rambling, mumblecore-esque buddy picture follows two Millennial sorta-pals (Angarano and Michael Cera) who are not adjusting well to upcoming responsibilities, including pending parenthood. Both Glenn (Cera) and Rickey (Angarano) have some arrested development kinks they both need to work through. They embark on an impromptu road trip — a rare occurrence for the overly uptight and antsy Glenn — to Sacramento. But the plan takes various detours and sends them to alternate destinations where secrets get shared and false pretenses get exposed. While the two boy-men do get annoying you can’t help but like them. Yet it’s the two female characters — Kristen Stewart, a radiant lighthouse here as Glenn’s very understanding — and aware pregnant wife, and Maya Erskine as one of Rickey’s ex’s that you would prefer to hang out with in the end. “Sacramento” is wafer-thin material, even if it’s well-played by its cast. Details: 2½ stars; in theaters April 11.

“The King of Kings”: In this faith-based animated retelling of the story of Jesus Christ (loosely based on Charles Dickens’ “The Life of Our Lord”), you keep expecting Jesus or a nearby donkey to break out into song and maybe bust a move or two. Doesn’t happen, and we’re forever grateful that’s not the tack taken in this seasonally appropriate family film that does a solid job of following along through the Christ story, from birth to crucifixion (handled well, and not in a Mel Gibson way) and onto resurrection. The mystifying element to the Angel Studios production is that it relates the biblical story by having author Dickens (voice of Kenneth Branagh) tell it to his precocious, trouble-prone young son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis). A more contemporary setting and narrator might have made it more relatable to the children seeing it today. One part that doesn’t work is putting Walter on the sidelines of events in Christ’s life. It’s a bit jarring and serves as a distraction. Otherwise, the animation is first-rate with the voice cast (Oscar Isaac, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Uma Thurman, Forest Whitaker, Mark Hamill) doing some fine work. While a few choices do seem a bit odd, “The King of Kings” does a facile job of offering a crash course on Christ for a younger generation. Details: 2½ stars; in theaters April 11.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

By KIM COOK

If you like to stay hydrated no matter where you go, chances are you’ve got a reusable water bottle or two. Or 10. (The collectors know who they are.)

Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, fashion trendsetter, hiker, commuter or just an eco-conscious consumer, there’s a bottle out there for you. There are bottles that sterilize themselves. Bottles that remind you when to drink. Bottles designed for sustainability. And bottles transformed by a paintbox of colors and imagery into mini artworks.

Hydration’s become more than a necessity. It’s got a personality.

Bottle basics

Kit Dillon, a writer for Wirecutter, says four things make a good water bottle: “It’s the right size. It’s leakproof. It feels good. It insulates well.”

Which one works for you depends on what you use it for, he says. Eva Bleyer, who tests kitchen appliances for the Good Housekeeping Institute, agrees.

Some people go for a favorite sipping straw while others value a comfortable carrying handle. For collectors, social media feeds light up with the launch of new colors and patterns.

Insulated BioLoco water bottles by German brand Chic.Mic are displayed at the Ambiente homewares trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany in Feb. 2025. (Kim Cook via AP)

“While I can confidently recommend which ones performed best in our tests, choosing the right water bottle is incredibly personal,” she says.

Hydro history

It’s all a far cry from the mundane mugs of yesteryear.

An early maker of light, plastic water bottles was Nalge, in Rochester, New York, which found that the unbreakable containers it was making for science laboratories in the ’60s were being used by employees on backpacking trips. The Nalgene reusable water bottle soon went on the market.

Hundreds of plastic and bioplastic versions from various makers have been joined over the decades by stainless steel and aluminum versions, with as many iterations of the lids – straws, screw-ons, flip-ups.

Smart sips

The tech keeps evolving, says Bleyer. “I’ve seen and tested everything from filtering water bottles to the Air Up, which uses flavor pods to enhance the taste, as well as newer options that carbonate your water or track your sips.”

This Feb. 2025 photo shows insulated tall and short bottles from Legami Milano are displayed at the Ambiente homewares trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany in Feb. 2025. (Kim Cook via AP)

Some examples:

Self-cleaning bottles could be helpful in countries or wilderness areas where water quality is questionable. Philips’ GoZero UV Self-Cleaning Smart Water Bottle got top ratings in Men’s Health magazine’s testing lab for self-cleaning bottles. Its month-long battery life might make it useful for off-grid camping or trekking. LED technology automatically sanitizes the bottle every two hours, or whenever you push the cap button.

The LARQ PureVis 2 is another self-cleaning water bottle. The company says the plant-based filter in the lid removes chlorine, forever chemicals (PFAS) and bacteria. The bottle also tracks your consumption. It’s made it into the Museum of Modern Art’s design store and is part of their spring new product collection.

The HidrateSpark Pro comes with a Bluetooth tracker to keep you updated on consumption, based on your age, weight, activity level and other factors you code into the app.

Low tech but reliable: Wirecutter has put the Hydro Flask on their “best” list since they started testing water bottles in 2014, citing simple yet dependable features like good insulation, sturdy steel construction, wide or narrow mouth options, and dishwasher-cleanability.

Hydration, but make it fashionable

New color and design drops generate the kind of buzz that fashion drops get. Owala’s FreeSip bottles usually go for about $25-$40, but limited-edition designs can sell in the $400 range. A Valentine’s Day pattern, and a St. Patrick’s Day pattern called “Clover the Rainbow” that was released on leap day 2024 (Feb. 29) are now on eBay for over $200.

Water bottles by Italian company You Bottles, in collaboration with street artist Banksy, are displayed at the Ambiente homewares trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany in Feb. 2025. (Kim Cook via AP)

S’well has collaborated with illustrator Steffi Lynn, known for her cheery, youthful prints and murals that feature upbeat messages like “What’s the Best That Could Happen?” and “Have a Nice Day,” and also with Crayola for a series of bottles that look like giant crayons. New patterns for the brand include a deep, moody floral called Midnight Botanical.

S’well also offers customization, perhaps for an event, team or a gift for a special someone.

Italian company YouBottles did a collab with Banksy; the artist’s “Girl with Balloon” and “Flower Thrower” murals are a couple of the patterns.

Color trend giant Pantone has its own collection of BPA-free bottles in eight vibrant colors, including aubergine, red, yellow and greenery.

Bags for the bottled bevs

Snazzy carry bags for your water bottle include insulated ones that keep the drink cold or hot. PackIt has one with a crossbody strap in sturdy nylon. Versions come in sunflower or starry-night prints, and feature a phone pouch attachment.

WanderFull’s bag has made “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list twice. The bag, available in colorful puffer-coat fabric, comes with a nylon crossbody strap. There’s a vegan leather version as well, with an additional chain strap for dressier occasions.

New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The Associated Press. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.

For more AP Homes stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/homes.