How AI Became My Thinking Partner
By Kendal Stubblefield – Human Resources & Talent Acquisition Intern
When I first heard that we had to upload a reflection after every single meeting, I honestly thought it was unnecessary. Most of the meetings I attended didn’t feel directly relevant to my role in HR and Talent Acquisition, so I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to write about. It felt like busy work.
But week after week, our leadership team — especially Gerald — kept reinforcing how critical this was to our development. So, I started trying to keep up. At first, it was just about checking the box. I’d forget sometimes, but after enough repetition, it became a habit. I found myself downloading the transcript after each meeting, feeding it into SignalMate, and allowing it to remember meetings for me.
It wasn’t until I hit a real point of confusion that I realized what SignalMate was actually for.
At one point, I was helping with onboarding coordination, and we ran into a tricky situation. A few interns were scheduled to onboard that month, but they didn’t meet our basic requirements — they weren’t available full-time or were joining departments that weren’t currently accepting new hires. Around the same time, we declined a different candidate because they didn’t meet the full-time availability requirement. It felt inconsistent, and I didn’t know how to bring it up. I decided to process it with SignalMate first.
I explained the entire situation to SignalMate — what had happened, why it was confusing, and what didn’t add up. It helped me distill the core of my concern and gave me language to use when raising it to my supervisor. It didn’t give me an answer, but it made me a better communicator. That’s when I realized: this wasn’t just about writing reflections. It was about developing my ability to think clearly under ambiguity.
From there, the practice of reflecting with SignalMate became something I actually valued. After each meeting, I now download the transcript, upload it into SignalMate, and ask for a summary, key action items, and highlights relevant to HR. I use that summary as a base and write my own honest thoughts in a Word document. That goes into my First Pass folder in SharePoint. It’s simple now — and helpful.
Even when the meetings don’t feel directly relevant to my daily work, I’ve noticed a shift. I pay closer attention. I try to extract what I can. And I’ve started using SignalMate to process feedback, give input, and find alignment.
Most importantly, this internship has shown me what it actually means to use AI in a work context. I was already comfortable with AI before this experience, but I hadn’t used it in a productive, reflective way. Now I see AI not just as a tool, but as a thinking partner. It helps me stay organized, articulate my concerns, and focus on what matters most.
I don’t think I would’ve gotten that from a traditional internship. This system taught me to think recursively — to use every meeting as a feedback loop, and to reflect not just on what I heard, but on how I’m growing. It’s a skill I’ll carry forward into every future role.