Mvuselelo B Nzama
Career development 21h
How can a newly employed individual maintain financial and career independence without becoming trapped in the rat race?

  • Randall Giancaterino

    21
    44m

    Treat yourself as if you are "a business" when employed by someone or a company, and that will guide you. Businesses do not view employees as being... singular, as an entity who owns their own "business."  more

  • Linda Makokha

    1
    5h

    Starting a career is a high-energy phase, but it’s also when the "lifestyle creep" trap is easiest to set. Maintaining independence requires a dual... strategy: building a financial moat and treated your career as an asset you own, rather than a place where you belong.
     more

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Career development

 2d

My Husband Can't Get a Job. Should I Divorce Him?


My husband is a very smart and capable person, but he became very sick in early 2020, and he has barely worked since then, despite tirelessly applying for positions. What can he do?

We recently moved so I could go to graduate school for music, but the stress of trying to make enough money to live on (even with help from my mom) has made it nearly impossible to focus and develop my skills. It's... literally ruining my life.

Currently he is doing an online master's program in computer science, but I worry that this will not improve his prospects. I don't really want to get divorced, but I think about it constantly. It's just too hard trying to support two adults as a nonprofit administrator. I can't live this way for the next 30-40 years.

Thanks for your help,

 more
1   
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Teresa Livesey


Career development 1d
I haven’t been working at a small company for long and like to give my coworkers small gifts on holidays. It helps make the workplace friendly. Everyone is happy to get my gifts, but no one gives me anything back. It’s not about the price, even a cheap gift would be fine. It's the thought that matters. But my coworkers don’t seem to want to spend money. I don’t understand, are they just cheap or... do they not want to give gifts to me? I think I might stop giving them presents.

 more

  • Al Leonard

    2h

    A reciprocal gifting culture doesnt exist in the way you want. Youre coping with that reality.
    It's hard when we engage in a behavior that makes us... feel not-valued. You could set that desire aside and think about what benefits you recieve from giving without expectations. Do you enjoy seeing recipients happy with your gift? If thats not enough - Are there other less -grand ways to appreciate them that would set THEM up for success ? Less cost to you, less (unknown?) pressure on them?
    If you want to give AND recieve gifts think about why that is. It seems this is taking space in your mind and something unpleasant is surfacing -agitation? confusion? When that happens I try to step back and hold those emotions tenderly. When we give gracefully to appreciate the recipient it's a beautiful gesture. When we recieve gracefully we shouldnt feel pressure . Your gifts are a kindness you put out there. We dont always get gifts exchanged tit for tat.     more

  • Uma Aggarwal

    2h

    My attitude on gifts is simple. I give gifts because it makes me happy and, since I do not expect anything, any gift to me is a pleasant surprise.... Since it is no longer making you happy, you can taper them off and replace with having cookies or candy on your desk. Anybody can come and get it from your desk and will also talk to you. more

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Barbara Rivera
Career development 6d

I've been applying for work amd its going to be a year in July. IVE HAD ZERO LUCK. Even applied at fast food places and I still get denied.

Anyone else having this kind of luck ad can lend some guidance?

  • Leilani Barnett

    1
    1d

    Barbara, take a look at your social media accounts, like Facebook. Make sure your posts are "business like" or "family oriented." No low-top pictures,... no silly poses, etc. People WILL look before hiring, so your posts need to be in line with the image the company wants to project.  more

  • The Bridal Party

    1
    4d

    Do not put all your eggs in one basket. Apply for 10 jobs at a time, you'll probably get 4-5 interviews invitations. When attending interviews, do not... sound desperate. Just say you are very keen as you like the copany (and if you don't, do not accept the offer as you'll be jumping out of the frying pan into another fire). BUT make sure you tell them you have other interviews lined up and make it sound like you are in demand. I always had 5 interviews in hand and I was never desperate. Usually when I walk into an office, they won't let me out. Instead, they tell me to sit down and start work - immediately. BTW, NEVER mention you had or have any personal problems. Employers will select the one who is happy, smiley and has no problems. GOOD LUCK. more

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Nikolas Rumeliotti


Career development 4d
Hello! It’s an open position in my department and we’re choosing between two candidates: an experienced 48-year-old man and a recent college graduate with no experience but very motivated. I prefer the second candidate, as she will learn fast and work well. But our company director wants to hire the experienced man. To me, he seemed a bit dry and a little tired.
Who would you choose? Thanks for... your advice

 more
3   

  • mwaura david

    5h

    The problem originated from ypur advert and shortlisting. If properly done theres no way the two would have appeared to be interviewed. It means you... didnt know what you wanted more

  • Renata Fester

    7h

    There are advantages and disadvantages to both. The experienced person is going to take a shorter time to onboard and get up to speed (pro) BUT may... not have the experience on newer technology or may bring baggage(e.g. unwillingness to share work or teach others), which could potentially impact delivery (con). The younger person will bring a fresh eagerness (pro) but will take a minimum of 3 months to get up to speed(con). This means someone will need to spend that time handholding and ensuring errors are spotted, which could be expensive if human resources are thin. Ultimately, it is the boss's choice, and you may need to wrap your head around that reality. Your views on the matter become irrelevant when the directors are the decision makers. Additionally, if they do bring on the more experienced person, you could very well earn a thing or two from him. Never underestimate the value of experience over eagerness. more

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Career development

 8h

Out: Résumés: In: Weeklong in-office trials.


Business Insider tells the global tech, finance, stock market, media, economy, lifestyle, real estate, AI and innovative stories you want to know.

When Ellis Neder interviewed for a job as head of design at Foxglove three years ago, a platform for robotics developers, he was asked to come in for a few days to work. He was hesitant to invest the time, but took some days off and... flew to Foxglove's San Francisco offices to work over a long weekend.

Neder tells me he loved it. The work trial, which involved fixing a user experience issue within Foxglove's app, let him see up close the pace at which the team moved, how the startup's leadership team functioned, and the bigger problems he would tackle upon joining.Now he oversees work trials for other prospective employees at Foxglove, as the company uses them for every role. People ask him, "Can I use AI during my work trial?" Neder answers, "We expect you to use AI, and we will give you whatever AI tools you want." It's not just about evaluating a candidate's competency. "We want them to see what it's like to really work with us."Last month, I wrote that the age of AI, the résumé has lost its cachet. Online job portals are launching them into the void. Instead of relying on your past experience, recruiters are more actively sourcing candidates on LinkedIn, relying on referrals, and putting job seekers through work trials, job simulations, or picking people based on personality traits.Welcome to the show your work era of job hunting. It's not enough to ace an interview and list your GPA and previous employers -- job seekers need to demonstrate those skills and aptitudes live. AI lets everyone talk; your next boss wants to be sure you can walk. Just as college professors have pivoted back to in-person Blue Book exams and middle school math teachers require equations written out step-by-step, hiring managers are looking for workers who can back up what they say they know. The job interview has always been a sort of audition; now companies are increasingly looking for people who can get on the proverbial stage and perform -- not just to prove that they're real in a world of generative AI fakes and frauds, but also to show that they can use AI.AI is "changing not just how we get the job, but what we do in the job and what's expected of us in the job as well," says Patrick McCue, senior vice president at talent management firm Right Management. Companies want workers who combine hard and soft skills, like vibe coding marketing managers. People who can add AI skills to their portfolio and show how they would use them are increasingly valuable. "The future job market is going to definitely benefit the bold -- people who are willing to put themselves out there with just a little bit of knowledge and understanding, knowing that they will be able to fulfill whatever it is they're asked to do."During the 2000s, employers added degree requirements to jobs that had previously been open to those without college degrees, like managers, administrative assistants, sales representatives, and IT workers. But between 2017 and 2019, when companies struggled to fill managerial and IT roles in particular, companies dropped degree requirements by 46% for middle-skill positions, and by nearly a third for high-skill ones, according to research published by Harvard Business Review in 2022. Companies like Google and IBM hopped on the trend. Some positions in healthcare followed suit in 2020, as the pressure to hire workers during the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Skills-based hiring, which emphasizes assessments over credentials, started to rise.Now, as the job market tightened and companies have shed the employees they overhired during the 2010s tech boom, employers are even hungrier for skills. The hype around generative AI and Silicon Valley's promises of a new era of productivity have amplified the drive to hire the most effective people. The number of job postings requiring AI skills has quadrupled, from about 50,000 in March 2024 to nearly 200,000 last month, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution. A 2025 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that the proportion of employers who say they're using skills-based hiring increased from 65% to 70% from 2024 to 2025. More than 60% of 3,500 business leaders surveyed in late 2025 by payment intelligence firm Payscale said they had updated the expectations of existing roles to include AI usage -- at both tech and non-tech jobs.And just as candidates need to show more of their work to get hired, they need to show more skills to stay employed. Revenue per employee metrics are back -- Meta's revenue per employee has jumped as the company implemented layoffs and adopted AI over the past three years, now averaging more than $2.5 million per worker. Big Tech companies are tracking how workers use AI and adding AI competency to performance reviews, trying to crystalize the murky relationship between the technology and productivity gains. The shift towards skills "opens the door for a lot of people that may not have opportunities," says Rick Smith, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who also directs the Human Capital Development Lab. "It then creates a challenge for employers with, OK, how do you measure these skills and competencies?"Startups are racing to build the new interview standard. There's Rounds, a work simulator that gives candidates tests ranging from 30 to 90 minutes for roles like software engineering, design, social media marketing, in content, and for product and technical leaders. The company uses an AI agent named Sophia, who takes job candidates through an interview process that includes technical simulations and questions. AI use is not just allowed, but part of the evaluation. "Every enterprise wants to build AI native teams, and consequently, they have to change their hiring process to test for how well people work with AI," says Fardeen Khimani, CEO of Rounds.Live tests and work trials are appealing because they take away the questions of whether someone cheated by overrelying on AI. Foxglove tells me they have extended offers to eight of the 13 people who completed them in the last 90 days. This isn't just for jobs like software engineering, which saw its industry standard technical interviews upended by AI early on. Michelle Volberg, founder and CEO of recruiting software company Twill, tells me that she has seen processes where candidates for finance jobs are asked to decipher spreadsheets during interviews. "Every single function you can think of, there is some sort of live component to it," she says.But even work trials and simulations might fail to capture the highly sought after trait bosses are seeking: adaptability. "Work is changing so quickly, because of AI, that job descriptions will be varying," McCue says. Some employers are looking not just at skills-mapping, but capability-mapping, he says, or seeking soft skills that correlate to success on the job. Davide Grieco, head of growth at software company Clay, tells me that his new team doesn't come from Big Tech companies or with years of marketing experience. Instead, he selected for personality traits he thought would equip workers for success: obsession, creativity, and the ability to multitask, putting those traits above more traditional qualifications. He hired a top NCAA artistic swimmer; someone who had juggled gigs across a nonprofit and a floral business; and an applicant who joined a livestream Grieco hosted and started participating. Work experience didn't matter, adaptability did. "The problem is everything changes so fast," Grieco says. "Knowing how to do something today doesn't mean that you know how to do something in six months."Volberg has seen the uptick in demand for former athletes, too. "The majority of people that we work with would much rather hire somebody with no experience or like one to two years of experience that played on a sports team or did something competitively in a field that they have some level of interest in." She says AI and vibe coding are fueling the trend that values personality traits over white-collar experience. The question is no longer: "How am I going to make this person more efficient?" she says. Instead, they think: "I'm going to hire this person to make the team more efficient."At small companies, the work trial is critical to assess dollars spent on a small batch of hires. Peter Grafe, cofounder of AI marketing platform BlueAlpha, says he has used work trials to find about half of his 12-person team. The company will bring candidates in for several days, and pay them $2,000 or cover their travel expenses to San Francisco. "Everyone can code something within 48 hours," Grafe says. "But what we want to understand is how do you think, how critically do you assess things, and then are you using AI tools to make yourself 10X faster?"Results are outweighing credentials and prestige. Jake Ward, cofounder of internet search agency Contact, posted a link to an application portal on LinkedIn. "I don't care about your CV or what degree you have. Just what you've created, written, launched, or the results you've driven," his post read. Days later, Ward told me the firm had received more than 1,000 applicants for six open roles -- a large pool for the small company. The portal asks just for name, email, role they're interested in, years of experience, and then an open-ended response about two or three projects the applicant is proud of. "All we really care about is results -- results for our clients, results for our users, results for our product, and a CV doesn't tell you that, their past experience does," Ward says. "I would love to see the thing that broke and how you thought about that thing and how you got it back to where it needs to be."For larger companies, sorting droves of applicants by degrees is much easier than skills-based hiring, Moe Hutt, director of strategic consulting services at recruitment advertising agency HireClix, tells me. When inundated with applications, they're still putting candidates to a test, but that's often because they're trying to evaluate whether a person and their qualifications are real in an age of AI, rather than put their aptitude above their past experience. "The knee-jerk reaction is to put something in front of them: a test," Hutt says. "Companies are able to do this right now because it is an employer market." If the market shifts, employers may change their demands on candidates. But it's likely that the change in showing, not just telling, that you're the best fit for a job sticks.Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.

Hiring Generative AI

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Career development

 8h

Salvador and the Human Side of More Than 100 Job Openings in Nazaré


salvador is preparing for a day when a school corridor in Nazaré will carry more than class schedules and foot traffic. On Wednesday, a fair of employability and entrepreneurship will bring more than 100 job and internship opportunities to the neighborhood, alongside free services that reach beyond work and into daily life.

What will happen in Nazaré on Wednesday ?

The event will run from 8: 30... a. m. to 3 p. m. at Grau Educacional, Fonte Nova unit, in Nazaré. It is part of another edition of the Feira de Empregabilidade e Empreendedorismo organized by Grau Educacional. The openings span sectors such as telemarketing, administration, logistics, construction, and information technology, giving the day a practical focus for people looking for work or a first step into the labor market.

Participation is open to interested people aged 16 and older. To join the selection processes, they should arrive with personal documents and a résumé, either printed or in digital form. The organization will distribute service tickets throughout the day to help keep the selection flow orderly.

Why does this fair matter beyond the vacancies?

The event reflects a wider need in salvador: access to entry points that are close to everyday life and not limited to a single type of worker. A fair with more than 100 opportunities can matter differently to someone seeking a first internship, a person changing fields, or a resident trying to reconnect with formal employment after time away from it. In a city where job seeking can be shaped by timing, transport, and access to information, a local event lowers some of those barriers for one day.

It also places job searching beside services that support the rest of a person's routine. The fair will offer massotherapy, nutrition guidance, oral hygiene advice, eye care, financial orientation, beauty consulting, professional training, and other activities tied to well-being and personal development. That mix turns the event into more than a hiring line; it becomes a place where work, health, and confidence are treated as connected needs.

Which services will be offered for free?

Free services will be available throughout the day for the public. These include massotherapy, consultation with a nutritionist, guidance on good oral hygiene practices, eye care, financial orientation, beauty consulting, and professional training. The structure suggests an effort to welcome people who may come for a vacancy but leave with something else useful for their daily lives.

For many visitors, the practical value may be immediate. A person who comes in search of an interview may also receive advice that helps with job readiness, health concerns, or budget decisions. In that way, the fair is built around the full experience of trying to move forward, not just the final step of handing in a résumé.

Who is taking part in the selection process?

Several partner institutions will be present, including SIMM, CIEE, IEL, and Isbet, along with recruitment agencies such as Grow RH and Habilita RH. Their presence broadens the range of opportunities available on site and gives the fair a multi-institution shape rather than a single-employer format.

The organizers have set the event up to handle movement across the day, which matters when a public selection process brings together candidates, service stations, and health support. For families, students, and adults seeking alternatives, the fair offers a concentrated window of access in one neighborhood, on one day, with one clear purpose: open doors.

For salvador, the scene in Nazaré may feel ordinary by the end of the day, with people leaving carrying papers, advice, or an appointment made for later. But that ordinary movement is the point. A line at the door, a résumé in hand, and a free consultation next to the interview desk can turn a Wednesday into a first attempt at something larger. more

Career development

 8h

The End of Resumes: Why Work Trials Are the New Hiring Standard - Newsy Today


When Ellis Neder interviewed for the role of head of design at Foxglove, a platform for robotics developers, he wasn't asked to provide a polished portfolio or a list of accolades. Instead, he was asked to show up and actually do the job. He flew to San Francisco for a long weekend, spent several days in the office, and worked through a real-world user experience issue within the company's app. It... was a trial by fire -- and Neder loved it.

Today, Neder oversees these work trials for every single role at Foxglove. When candidates ask if they can use AI during the process, his answer is a definitive yes: "We expect you to use AI, and we will give you whatever AI tools you seek." For Foxglove, the trial isn't just a competency test; it is a window into the company's actual pace and a way to ensure a candidate can "walk" in an era where generative AI allows almost anyone to "talk."

The death of the paper trail

The traditional résumé is losing its cachet. In a landscape flooded with AI-generated "slop," hiring managers are increasingly viewing online portals as voids. The result is a pivot toward a "show your work" era of job hunting. It is no longer enough to list a GPA or a former employer; candidates are being asked to perform live, much like a musician's audition or a student's in-person exam.

This shift is driven by a fundamental distrust of static credentials. AI has made it possible to fabricate expertise or polish a CV to perfection, but it cannot simulate the ability to solve a problem in real-time under the gaze of a team. This is why companies are turning to work simulators -- such as Rounds, which uses an AI agent named Sophia to lead candidates through technical simulations -- or asking finance applicants to decipher complex spreadsheets on the spot.

The data suggests this is more than a startup trend. According to an analysis from the Brookings Institution, job postings requiring AI skills quadrupled from roughly 50,000 in March 2024 to nearly 200,000 recently. A 2025 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that the proportion of employers using skills-based hiring rose to 70%.

The adaptability premium

Beyond hard technical skills, there is a growing obsession with "capability-mapping" -- the search for traits that correlate with success in a volatile environment. Some leaders are now prioritizing personality over prestige. Davide Grieco, head of growth at Clay, has built a team not from Huge Tech veterans, but from people demonstrating "obsession, creativity, and the ability to multitask." His hires include a top NCAA artistic swimmer and an applicant who simply joined his livestream and started participating.

This trend toward "vibe coding" and adaptability is echoed by recruiting experts like Michelle Volberg of Twill, who notes a surge in demand for former athletes. The logic is simple: in a world where AI changes the nature of a job every six months, knowing how to do a specific task today is less valuable than the innate ability to learn and pivot tomorrow.

For minor firms, this approach is a risk-mitigation strategy. Peter Grafe, cofounder of BlueAlpha, pays candidates $2,000 or covers their travel to San Francisco for multi-day trials. "Everyone can code something within 48 hours," Grafe says. The goal is to see how a candidate thinks and whether they can use AI to become "10X faster."

Efficiency as the new benchmark

The pressure to prove value doesn't end at the hiring stage; it has moved into performance reviews. Big Tech companies are now tracking exactly how employees use AI to justify productivity gains. Meta provides a stark example: after implementing layoffs and adopting AI over the last three years, the company's revenue per employee has jumped to an average of more than $2.5 million per worker.

However, a tension remains between the agility of startups and the inertia of large corporations. For massive firms, sorting thousands of applicants by degree is simply easier than conducting individual skills assessments. Moe Hutt of HireClix notes that while large companies are adding tests to their process, it is often a "knee-jerk reaction" to verify that a candidate is real, rather than a genuine attempt to prioritize aptitude over experience.

Despite this, the trajectory is clear. Whether it is through an application portal that ignores CVs entirely -- like the one used by Jake Ward of Contact -- or a week-long in-office trial, the burden of proof has shifted. The modern candidate is no longer asked to tell the employer what they can do; they are expected to do it.

How is AI actually changing the interview process?

AI is acting as both the disruptor and the tool. Because it can automate the creation of resumes and cover letters, employers are moving toward live simulations and "work trials" to verify authenticity. Simultaneously, AI is being integrated into the evaluation itself; companies now expect candidates to use AI tools to solve problems faster, treating AI competency as a core requirement rather than a bonus.

Why are companies hiring former athletes or people from non-traditional backgrounds?

Employers are increasingly valuing "adaptability" over specific white-collar experience. Because AI evolves so rapidly, specific technical knowledge can become obsolete quickly. Traits associated with competitive athletics -- such as discipline, obsession, and the ability to perform under pressure -- are seen as better indicators of a candidate's ability to thrive in a rapidly changing workplace.

What does "revenue per employee" have to do with AI hiring?

It serves as a metric for AI's impact on productivity. Companies like Meta are using this figure to demonstrate that a smaller, AI-empowered workforce can generate more value than a larger, traditional one. This creates a higher bar for new hires, who must now prove they can integrate AI into their workflow to maintain or increase these efficiency levels.

Will the traditional resume disappear entirely?

While unlikely to vanish completely -- especially in large corporations where it remains a convenient sorting tool -- the resume is losing its status as a primary validator of talent. The market is shifting toward a model where results, launched projects, and live demonstrations of skill carry more weight than a list of previous employers or degrees.

As the barrier between "talking" and "doing" continues to shrink, are you prepared to audition for your next job? more

Anonymous member


Career development 3d
I’ve been working at a big bank for six months, and I still can’t get used to how people treat each other. Many employees look down on drivers, cleaners, maintenance staff, and kitchen assistants. They treat them like they are “lower”.
I can’t act like that and try to be kind and respectful to everyone. But my colleagues criticize me for it and even push me to be rude to support staff.
How can I... stand my ground and help others treat them with respect?

 more
1   

  • ANTHONY Engena

    11h

    Someone once said charity begins at home
    Treat all members the way u want them to treat you and remember this world is round the person you treat... badly today may be your boss at one point more

  • Patrice Mack

    2d

    They can't push you to be rude, that is a choice you make. Perhaps you should criticize them for their behavior.

    1
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Career development

 18h

I Built an Autonomous Job Application Agent with Claude AI -- Here's How It Works


Job Hunter AI is an autonomous agent that searches job boards, researches companies using Claude AI, and generates tailored CVs and cover letters -- with zero manual intervention.

GitHub: https://github.com/Tanzil-Ahmed/job-hunter-agent

Job hunting is repetitive and exhausting. Every application needs the same research: What does this company do? What's their tech stack? Does my background fit?... Then rewriting your CV for each role.

1. Job Discovery

Searches job boards automatically using Tavily and Exa APIs. Filters by role, location, and relevance.

2. Company Research (Claude tool_use)

For each job, Claude uses tool_use to research the company -- analyzing tech stack, culture, funding stage, and fit score against your profile.

3. CV + Cover Letter Generation

Claude generates a tailored CV and cover letter for each role based on the research. Each one is different.

4. Real-time Dashboard

FastAPI backend with WebSocket streaming shows the pipeline running live. more

Career development

 21h

AI job hunters show why compute needs to be on-chain


An open-source AI job hunter built on Claude Code just auto-applied to hundreds of roles and actually landed a job, exposing why the real bottleneck is on-chain compute, not résumés.

A viral clip shared by 0xMarioNawfal claims that "SOMEONE BUILT AN AI JOB SEARCH SYSTEM FOR CLAUDE CODE THAT SENT 700+ APPLICATIONS AND ACTUALLY GOT HIM HIRED," and that "THE JOB HUNT JUST GOT AUTOMATED."

The system... in question, an open-source project called Career-Ops, is billed on GitHub as an "AI-powered job search system built on Claude Code" with 14 skill modes, a Go dashboard, PDF generation and batch processing, effectively turning the job hunt into an automated pipeline. A LinkedIn post summarizing the tool says it "scans multiple company career pages, rewrites your CV per job, and even fills application forms," targeting firms like Anthropic, OpenAI and Stripe across 45-plus pre-configured employers.

Reaction on X underscores how fast AI agents are colonizing hiring. One user, Ofek Shaked, calls it "the future of job hunting," adding that a simpler version "landed me 3 interviews" in a month. Another, Eugene Smarts, notes "that's wild, imagine how much time that saves, job hunting is the worst," while EchoWireDai warns that "If everyone automates applications... recruiters will just automate rejections." Others highlight the quality constraint: investor Balvinder Kalon writes that "the real flex is getting the context right per company," arguing that agents that "tailor each application to the job description, not just spray and pray" will be the ones that matter. Tools like Plushly, promoted in the same thread as a way to "auto apply to internships & jobs while you sleep," show how quickly similar services are proliferating.

As systems like Career-Ops scale, their bottleneck is not résumés; it is compute. The GitHub repo describes an architecture that continuously scans job portals, runs multi-step Claude Code prompts, generates ATS-optimized PDFs via Playwright, and monitors everything from a terminal dashboard, turning each job search into thousands of model calls and browser automations. According to Bloomberg, AI has already become "unavoidable on both sides of hiring," with most résumés never reaching a human and interviews increasingly led by bots, a shift workforce experts say forces applicants to "learn how to navigate a job market reshaped by it." In another explainer on the "new rules of finding a job in 2026," Bloomberg warns that mass-applying with generic AI hurts candidates, but using AI well can help them strategically target roles and refine materials, exactly the niche Career-Ops tries to occupy.

That compute demand is already visible in crypto markets. An MEXC research note on AI tokens highlights how Bittensor (TAO), Render (RENDER) and the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance's FET token have led recent rallies, with TAO up nearly 35% in a week and Render and FET gaining roughly 25-32%, as traders bet on "agentic AI systems, autonomous software capable of performing tasks without human input." These networks explicitly sell tokenized access to GPU and machine-learning resources: Render routes GPU rendering jobs across a decentralized network of providers, while Bittensor's design, as CCN explains, aims to reward participants who supply and route high-quality machine-learning models, with price forecasts suggesting TAO could trade between $748 and $2,750 in long-term scenarios. As job-hunting agents evolve from scraping and form-filling to full-stack career copilots, routing their ever-growing computational load through tokenized compute layers becomes a rational way to meter, price and trade that performance rather than leaving it buried inside closed platforms.

The cultural flip is not lost on users. Commenter Gagan Arora notes that "We went from 'AI will take your job' to 'AI will find your next job' in about 6 months," calling it "the irony" that the tool workers feared is now "the best tool for getting hired." Bloomberg's coverage of AI-led interviews points in the same direction: a study summarized by the outlet found that AI interviewers, randomly assigned to 67,000 job seekers, could outperform human recruiters in surfacing strong candidates, raising questions about where humans still add value in the funnel. For now, Wall Street expects AI adoption to increase hiring rather than crush it, with a Bloomberg Intelligence survey cited by Bloomberg News indicating that roughly two-thirds of financial firms foresee staff numbers rising initially as they roll out AI.

For crypto, the signal is simple: if agents are going to swarm both sides of the labor market, the underlying compute will become an asset in its own right. In a previous crypto.news story on AI tokens, analysts argued that projects like Bittensor and Render sit "at the center of the AI infrastructure narrative," capturing value as demand for model inference and GPU cycles grows. Another crypto.news story on agentic AI in DeFi predicted that autonomous agents would eventually need on-chain reputations, budgets and compute allowances, paid in liquid tokens that track underlying GPU or model performance rather than abstract governance rights. The Claude-powered job hunter that just landed its creator a new role is a glimpse of that future: an early, messy, very human example of why the next phase of job hunting may run not just on prompts and PDFs, but on tokenized computational performance that turns raw AI horsepower into a tradable, programmable resource. more

Career development

 21h

The Truth About Today's Job Market


This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

After four long years of classes, extracurriculars, internships, volunteer opportunities, jobs, and professional publications, I'm finally graduating with my bachelor's degree this May. Yay! However, as I prepare for postgrad life, a seemingly unconquerable feat lingers in... my mind: navigating the job market.

While I haven't turned the tassel just yet, I began applying to job postings a month ago. I've submitted upwards of 30 applications, and while that number isn't staggering, it's a steep figure for someone who's still taking classes full-time and engrossing herself in career-building opportunities. I've only received responses from a handful of companies, all of them rejections (and some of them were unnecessarily pointed).

It's hard to admit that my job search is impacting my mental health as much as it is. I believe myself to be a driven and qualified worker, so getting turned down for entry-level work as a postgrad with relevant experience definitely stings. However, I'm not the only one struggling with job hunting.

The New York Times reports that, at the end of 2025, the unemployment rate for college graduates between 22 and 27 rose to 5.6%. 40% of college graduates with jobs could have gotten their positions without a college degree, which is the highest percentage in six years. While college graduates still have better luck finding jobs than non-college graduates, Gen-Z applicants are facing one of the roughest job markets in years. Why is the job market so difficult to maneuver? What makes this market worse than those from years' past?

A phrase that's been circling the world of economics is "low-hire, low-fire" hiring, which, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, means that "firms have substantially reduced the number of workers they are actively hiring while also reducing the number of workers they are firing."

In keeping teams contained, employers publish fewer job postings, perform fewer interviews, and attend fewer job fairs, which postgrads rely on for networking opportunities. The chances of a recent graduate getting hired at a low-hire, low-fire company are slim, as each job posting brings monumental competition and a lack of inclusivity for entry-level applicants. For companies with such restricted workforces, hiring teams gravitate towards people with several years of experience and success, instead of those looking to achieve such.

There's also the impact of AI on job hunting. In industries like customer service and software engineering, applicants between 22 and 25 are facing close to a 20% decline in finding jobs due to AI capabilities. Employers are also implementing AI in determining candidates for interviews; by putting resumes into an AI scanner, employers can filter through applications based on specific keywords or skills. While this can streamline the hiring process, it strips the personalization from applicants and can potentially lead to important contributions or experiences being dismissed.

And then, there are the AI interviewers, who interview potential candidates in the place of recruiters or company representatives. For job hunters, interviewing for a program instead of living, breathing people can be downright frustrating, especially considering the difficulty of getting an interview in the first place.

Recent years of job hunting have also brought an increase in ghosting from employers, something unfortunately relevant to my own job search. The Atlantic states that almost two out of three candidates have been ghosted for an interview at some point in their job search, and there's no sign of stopping. Josh Millet, CEO of the hiring website Criteria, tells Yahoo! Finance that recruiters are "seeing a surge in application volume, largely fueled by AI tools" and "hiring teams are spending more time reviewing applications, but getting less meaningful signals from each one." Under Millet's reasoning, ghosting serves as a reciprocation of lacking energy or passion that applicants first display, which leads to a never-ending cycle of applications and absences of responses.

So what hope can be salvaged from the job market right now? For me, the most foundational motivation is that everything will work out in time. Most days, it's hard to open LinkedIn and apply for jobs that I will most likely not hear back from, but something will work out. Considering how many people are also struggling with the same issue, it's soothing to know that my lack of fruitfulness in job searching is not a personal attack. The job market is rough right now, but that doesn't mean it will always be. more

Career development

 1d

Calculating your career ROI: When education pays


Professional advancement is increasingly shaped by decisions around education. Qualifications signal capability, open doors and promise career progression, yet their value is often assessed...

Professional advancement is increasingly shaped by decisions around education. Qualifications signal capability, open doors and promise career progression, yet their value is often assessed too narrowly.... Beyond remuneration, education carries costs and returns that unfold over time, influencing professional mobility, access to leadership, and long-term relevance. This article by Regent Business School Academic, Ravin Baburam examines career return on investment through a broader, more considered lens, exploring how study choices can either accelerate professional momentum or constrain it.

In recent years, the business world has developed a noticeable tendency towards the accumulation of academic qualifications. Employees increasingly seek additional certifications and credentials to strengthen their résumés and broaden their skill sets. The result is a more competitive marketplace, shaped by the growing volume of qualifications pursued in the hope of career advancement and skills development, encompassing both technical and soft skills.

This raises an important question about the real return on investment (ROI) that graduates derive from their studies. While salary progression is often regarded as the primary indicator of ROI, it represents only one dimension of value. ROI can also be understood through non-monetary considerations, including time investment, opportunity cost, professional mobility, access to leadership pathways and long-term relevance within an evolving labour market.

When time becomes the hidden cost of education

As industries evolve at speed, the duration required to complete a qualification may become a barrier for new entrants seeking to establish themselves and secure a foothold in the marketplace. This challenge applies equally to experienced professionals aiming to reposition or redirect their careers.

Programmers, for example, may choose to explore new terrain by completing short courses in a new programming language rather than committing to a three-year bachelor's degree. This approach allows them to enter the field sooner, gain practical experience and study in manageable segments. Conversely, others may favour a full bachelor's degree, viewing it as a more comprehensive pathway that develops broader competencies.

This route is often regarded as better preparation for functioning effectively in complex organisational environments, particularly within large, global corporations where a three-year degree remains a prerequisite for employment.

Different qualifications, different career leverage

The cost of pursuing any qualification extends beyond financial considerations. Time and cognitive capacity are finite, and most individuals can realistically focus on only one programme at a time if it is to be completed successfully. Selecting one qualification therefore involves forgoing others.

For this reason, prospective students must carefully evaluate their study options and make informed decisions aligned to their personal circumstances, professional goals and future priorities. Another influential factor lies in access to leadership competencies, which are often embedded within graduate attributes developed by institutions such as business schools through carefully designed teaching and learning outcomes.

There are many considerations when selecting a qualification, but one of the most significant is the individual's current position relative to where they aspire to be. A recent matriculant may consider a bachelor's degree, diploma or higher certificate as an entry point. Those who have already completed undergraduate study may opt for postgraduate education to deepen expertise or enhance strategic capability.

Each qualification offers distinct benefits, and these must be weighed against constraints such as time, cost and effort. While it is well established that graduates in South Africa earn, on average, significantly more than non-graduates, it remains important to examine the different qualification pathways and the varied forms of career progression they enable.

From credentials to leadership capital

A more prestigious qualification, such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA), can open access to senior leadership opportunities. Many MBA graduates report advancing into management or executive roles within a relatively short period after completing their studies. One contributing factor may be the MBA's integrated curriculum, which emphasises the application and synthesis of business and commercial knowledge, strengthening advanced leadership, problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities.

The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), by contrast, is designed to cultivate deep research expertise and advanced strategic thinking. Holding a doctoral qualification can confer credibility and influence within both corporate and academic environments, alongside the professional standing associated with the doctoral title.

International mobility also warrants consideration when assessing educational ROI. Certain qualifications, particularly the MBA, enjoy strong global recognition. This recognition can enable graduates to pursue international career opportunities and relocate in search of broader professional exposure and financial reward.

Longevity remains one of the most critical ROI considerations. Prospective students should reflect on how relevant their chosen qualification, and the associated knowledge and skills, are likely to remain within their industry. Ideally, a qualification should provide a robust foundation that supports ongoing development and sustained competitiveness.

The questions every strategic student should ask

Before applying, students would benefit from reflecting on several key questions. Foremost among these is how the qualification will challenge and develop them, both personally and professionally.

They should also consider what problems the qualification is intended to solve. Will it support career advancement, enhance professional credibility, fulfil compliance requirements, or enable reinvention?

Equally important is the broader cost of study in terms of time, stress, energy and potential impacts on work performance. Personal and family sacrifices during the period of study must also be taken into account. Timing therefore plays a critical role, particularly when considered alongside life stage, professional responsibilities and personal commitments.

Students should also determine how they will define success upon completion. For some, success may be passing all modules at the first attempt. For others, it may involve graduating with distinction or completing the programme within a specific timeframe.

Choosing education that sustains career momentum

While tertiary education can significantly accelerate career progression, prospective students must assess their current circumstances alongside their long-term aspirations when selecting a qualification. The right qualification, chosen at the right time, can act as a powerful lever for advancement. Conversely, a poorly aligned choice may quietly undermine momentum and motivation.

Ultimately, students must conduct thorough research into the wide range of tertiary qualifications available and make considered, well-informed decisions about their educational pathways.

by Ravin Baburam (Academic at Regent Business School) more

Career development

 1d

Inside Apex Standard: The Quiet Push to Build a Universal Credentialing Framework for AI Professionals


A new organization called Apex Standard has emerged with an ambitious goal: to define what it actually means to be qualified in artificial intelligence. Not qualified in the informal, LinkedIn-badge sense. Qualified in the way a CPA is qualified to audit books or a PE is qualified to stamp engineering drawings. The kind of qualification that carries weight in boardrooms, courtrooms, and regulatory... proceedings.

The effort, still in its early stages, arrives at a moment when the AI industry is grappling with a credibility problem it didn't anticipate. Companies are hiring AI talent at breakneck speed, but there's no standardized way to verify whether a candidate -- or a consultant, or an entire vendor team -- actually possesses the competencies they claim. Résumés list frameworks and tools. Certifications from cloud providers test product-specific knowledge. But nothing approximates the kind of profession-wide credentialing that exists in medicine, law, accounting, or engineering.

That's the gap Apex Standard is trying to fill.

According to its website, the organization positions itself as a professional credentialing body focused on establishing recognized standards for AI practitioners. The language is careful, institutional, and deliberately modeled after legacy professional bodies. It speaks of competency frameworks, ethical guidelines, continuing education requirements, and tiered certification levels -- the architectural bones of any serious credentialing system.

The timing is not accidental. Governments worldwide are accelerating AI regulation. The European Union's AI Act, which entered into force in August 2024, imposes obligations on providers and deployers of high-risk AI systems that implicitly demand demonstrable competence. In the United States, the Biden administration's October 2023 executive order on AI safety called for workforce development standards, and multiple federal agencies have since begun exploring what qualified AI oversight looks like in practice. The question of who is competent to build, deploy, audit, and govern AI systems is no longer theoretical.

And yet the AI profession -- if it can even be called that in a formal sense -- has no answer.

Consider the contrast with software engineering more broadly. While software engineers don't face universal licensing requirements, the field has well-established credentialing pathways through organizations like IEEE and ACM, along with certifications such as the Certified Software Development Professional designation. AI, despite its higher stakes and greater public scrutiny, has nothing comparable. The closest equivalents are vendor certifications from Google, AWS, Microsoft, and others, which test knowledge of specific platforms rather than foundational competence in AI design, safety, fairness, or governance.

This is where Apex Standard appears to be making its bet. The organization's framework, as described on its site, encompasses technical proficiency, ethical reasoning, regulatory awareness, and practical application -- a multidimensional model that goes well beyond what any single vendor certification covers. It's structured to be platform-agnostic and principle-driven, which would make it more analogous to a CFA charter or a board certification in medicine than to an AWS Solutions Architect badge.

Whether the market actually wants this is a different question entirely.

The AI industry has historically resisted formalization. Its culture is rooted in open-source collaboration, rapid iteration, and a meritocratic ethos where shipping code matters more than holding credentials. Many of the field's most influential figures -- from research scientists at DeepMind to startup founders in San Francisco -- would bristle at the suggestion that a credentialing body should gatekeep who gets to work in AI. The tension between professionalization and the hacker ethos is real, and it's not going away.

But the pressure is mounting from the other direction. Enterprise buyers are increasingly demanding proof of competence from AI vendors and consultants. Insurance companies are beginning to ask about the qualifications of teams building AI systems that make consequential decisions. And regulators, particularly in the EU, are writing rules that will effectively require organizations to demonstrate that their AI personnel meet certain competency thresholds. The market dynamics are shifting, even if the culture hasn't fully caught up.

Recent reporting underscores the urgency. A May 2025 analysis from Reuters noted that demand for AI governance professionals has surged more than 40% year-over-year, with employers struggling to evaluate candidates because no common standard exists for the role. Separately, the Financial Times has reported on growing frustration among corporate boards that they lack the tools to assess whether their AI teams are genuinely competent or simply well-credentialed in adjacent fields.

This is the environment Apex Standard is entering. Skeptics will note that the organization is new and unproven. Building a credentialing body that achieves real market recognition is extraordinarily difficult. It requires buy-in from employers, educational institutions, regulators, and practitioners simultaneously. The history of professional certification is littered with well-intentioned organizations that never achieved critical mass.

The successful ones share common traits. They establish rigorous, transparent standards developed with input from diverse stakeholders. They create examinations that genuinely test competence rather than rote memorization. They require continuing education to ensure credentials don't become stale. And critically, they achieve a tipping point where employers begin to prefer or require the credential, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of adoption.

Apex Standard's published framework touches on all of these elements, at least in outline form. The organization describes a tiered certification structure with escalating requirements, mandatory ethics components, and ongoing professional development obligations. It's a blueprint that mirrors the architecture of established credentialing bodies. The question is execution.

There's also the matter of legitimacy. In the credentialing world, legitimacy comes from accreditation -- typically from bodies like the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Without third-party accreditation, a credential is essentially a private-sector product, no matter how rigorous its standards. Whether Apex Standard intends to pursue formal accreditation isn't clear from its current public materials, but it would be a critical differentiator if the organization is serious about becoming the profession's standard-bearer.

The competitive field is not empty. Organizations like the International Association for Artificial Intelligence (IAAI), various university-backed certificate programs, and consulting firms offering proprietary AI maturity assessments all occupy adjacent territory. None has emerged as a definitive professional standard. The opportunity exists precisely because the space is fragmented.

So what would it take for something like Apex Standard to succeed? Three things, primarily.

First, employer adoption. If major enterprises -- the banks, insurers, healthcare systems, and government agencies deploying AI at scale -- begin to require or prefer Apex Standard credentials in hiring and procurement decisions, the credential gains gravity. Without employer demand, it remains a nice-to-have line item on a résumé.

Second, regulatory alignment. If the credential maps cleanly to emerging regulatory requirements -- particularly those in the EU AI Act and anticipated U.S. federal guidelines -- it becomes not just a signal of competence but a compliance tool. That's powerful. The CPA credential derives much of its market power from the fact that regulatory frameworks require CPAs for certain functions. An AI credential that serves a similar regulatory purpose would have a built-in demand floor.

Third, practitioner respect. The credential must be difficult enough to earn that holding it means something. If it's perceived as a rubber stamp or a cash grab -- and the credentialing industry has no shortage of those -- practitioners will ignore it, and employers will follow. The rigor of the assessment process is everything.

The broader context here is a profession in the midst of defining itself. AI practitioners today come from computer science, statistics, mathematics, engineering, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and a dozen other disciplines. There is no common educational pathway, no shared body of knowledge that everyone in the field is expected to master, and no ethical code that carries professional consequences for violations. This is unusual for a field with as much societal impact as AI now has.

Medicine went through a similar professionalization process in the early twentieth century, catalyzed by the Flexner Report of 1910, which established standards for medical education and effectively created the modern medical profession. Accounting professionalized through the establishment of CPA requirements in the mid-twentieth century. Engineering licensing evolved over decades in response to public safety concerns. Each of these transitions was messy, contested, and ultimately driven by a combination of public demand, regulatory pressure, and professional self-interest.

AI may be approaching its own inflection point. The technology is now embedded in hiring decisions, medical diagnoses, criminal sentencing, financial underwriting, and national security operations. The people building and deploying these systems wield enormous influence over individual lives and societal outcomes. The argument that they should meet some demonstrable standard of competence and ethical awareness is becoming harder to dismiss.

Apex Standard is one early attempt to provide that standard. It may succeed. It may be overtaken by competitors or rendered irrelevant by regulatory developments that impose their own competency requirements directly. But the underlying need it's responding to -- the need for a credible, recognized, profession-wide credentialing framework for AI -- is real and growing.

For industry insiders watching this space, the key indicators to track are straightforward: Does the organization secure endorsements from major employers or industry associations? Does it pursue and obtain formal accreditation? Do regulatory bodies reference its framework in guidance documents or rulemaking? And do practitioners who hold the credential demonstrate measurably better outcomes than those who don't?

Those are the tests that matter. Everything else is marketing.

The AI profession is being built in real time, by thousands of decisions made by companies, governments, universities, and individual practitioners every day. Whether a single credentialing body can impose coherence on that process is an open question. But the attempt itself tells us something important about where the industry is headed: toward accountability, toward formalization, and -- slowly, unevenly, but unmistakably -- toward becoming a real profession. more

Career development

 1d

Why Marketing Hiring Carries New Risks for HR Leaders - HR Daily Advisor


The risk profile of a marketing hire has quietly changed. What once felt like a creative or brand-driven function is now directly tied to revenue performance, pipeline growth, and board-level metrics. At the same time, AI has reshaped how candidates present their work and how convincingly they can simulate experience.

For HR leaders, that combination creates a new reality: Marketing may now be... one of the highest-risk functions for mis-hires.

When portfolios look polished, résumés sound strategic, and channel expertise evolves every quarter, traditional evaluation methods no longer provide the confidence they once did. With high-impact digital roles, HR teams must modernize how they assess capability, design responsibilities, and define success.

Why Marketing Has Become a High-Risk Hiring Function

Marketing's elevation inside the business has changed the stakes. Today, success is measured in revenue contribution, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and pipeline velocity -- not activity volume. Yet many candidates built their careers in environments that rewarded output over outcomes: campaigns launched, content published, ads optimized.

But activity does not equal impact. This creates the first layer of risk: hiring marketers who are fluent in tactics but inexperienced in tying those tactics to measurable business results.

AI adds a second layer. Modern tools allow average marketers to produce polished samples and sophisticated strategy decks, often sounding more advanced than their experience suggests.

A third risk stems from internal misalignment. Organizations often hire for the role they think they need, not the one the business requires. A company might hire a "Head of Marketing" expecting strategy and leadership, when what it truly needs is a hands-on builder who can construct campaigns, implement systems, and test channels from scratch.

How AI Complicates Candidate Evaluation

AI has not only changed marketing execution, but also how candidates demonstrate expertise. Historically, HR teams relied on portfolios, writing samples, and campaign case studies to validate capability. Today, those artifacts may be AI-assisted, or fully AI-generated, complicating evaluation in several ways:

* Output no longer proves authorship or expertise. A mid-level marketer can use AI to generate senior-sounding messaging, structured strategy documents, and persuasive campaign narratives.

* The marketing process is obscured. When AI drafts messaging, suggests targeting, and summarizes data, interviewers lose visibility into how candidates think. Process knowledge becomes harder to assess.

* Case studies can be manufactured. AI can help candidates construct credible-sounding campaign stories, complete with KPIs and strategic framing. Without deeper probing, it's difficult to distinguish between lived experience and simulated competence.

* Traditional interviews fail to uncover gaps. Many interviews rely on retrospective storytelling. AI can help candidates prepare polished, structured answers that mask shallow understanding.

The consequence is clear: Artifact-based evaluation is no longer sufficient.HR leaders must shift from reviewing deliverables to assessing decision-making, systems thinking, and technical fluency in real time.

How HR Teams Can Validate Real Marketing Capability

Reducing hiring risk requires moving beyond résumé and portfolio review toward skills-based assessment. The following approaches are proving more effective in digital marketing roles:

1. Use Small, Live Marketing Challenges

A contained, time-bound exercise can reveal far more than a static portfolio. Examples include:

* Auditing a mock paid media account and identifying optimization priorities.

* Outlining a demand generation strategy for a defined audience.

* Diagnosing why a sample funnel is underperforming.

To preserve integrity, clarify whether AI use is permitted and evaluate both the final answer and the candidate's reasoning. This reveals how candidates structure problems, interpret data, and prioritize action.

2. Conduct Role-Play Scenarios

Role-play moves the interview from theory to applied thinking. For example:

* Ask the candidate to explain a drop in lead volume to a skeptical CFO.

* Simulate a situation where campaign performance declines unexpectedly.

* Present conflicting data and ask how they would reconcile it.

This tests communication under pressure, business acumen, and cross-functional fluency.

3. Ask In-Depth Behavioral Questions Focused on Outcomes

Instead of asking, "Tell me about a campaign you ran," shift to:

* What was the revenue target?

* How did you determine channel allocation?

* What trade-offs did you make?

* What failed, and how did you adjust?

Candidates who understand fundamentals can explain the mechanics behind performance. Those relying on surface knowledge often struggle to articulate decision logic.

4. Live-Test Technical or Platform Knowledge

For channel-specific roles, consider structured, practical validation:

* Interpreting performance data from an ad platform.

* Explaining how attribution models affect reporting.

* Walking through how to structure a multichannel campaign.

Technical fluency is increasingly essential as automation handles tactical execution. HR should verify not only familiarity with tools but also understanding of how those tools make decisions.

Rethinking Role Design to Reduce Mis-Hires

Assessment alone can't mitigate risk. Role design must evolve, too. HR leaders can help prevent mis-hires by modernizing job descriptions and expectations. Start here:

1. Define Outcomes Before Titles

Start with measurable business impact:

* Revenue contribution.

* Pipeline growth.

* Customer acquisition targets.

* Retention or expansion metrics.

Then, build the role around those results. Titles without outcome clarity create ambiguity and mismatched expectations.

2. Specify Functional Depth

Be explicit about whether the role requires:

* Strategic leadership.

* Hands-on execution.

* Systems building.

* Channel specialization.

When strategic leadership and hands-on execution are blended into one undefined role, misalignment is almost inevitable. Separate them when necessary and clarify expectations for both.

3. Clarify AI and Tool Expectations

Given the central role of AI in modern marketing, define:

* Required platform proficiency.

* Expected level of AI fluency.

* Whether the role involves building AI-enabled systems or simply using tools.

This prevents hiring candidates who are comfortable consuming AI outputs but not guiding or validating them.

4. Define Cross-Functional Collaboration

Marketing doesn't operate in isolation. Job descriptions should outline expected interactions with finance, sales, products, and data teams. Clear collaboration expectations limit friction and improve onboarding success.

5. Include Measurable KPIs

Incorporate performance metrics directly into the job description. This signals that the role is results-driven and allows candidates to self-assess alignment.

The New Standard for Confident Marketing Hiring

Marketing has evolved into a growth function with direct accountability for revenue performance. That shift demands a higher standard of hiring precision.

HR leaders who modernize evaluation methods and anchor roles in outcomes -- not artifacts -- will reduce mis-hires and build marketing teams that deliver measurable impact in an AI-driven environment.

Marti Willett is the President of Digital Marketing Recruiters, a specialized firm dedicated to matching talented digital marketing professionals with growth-focused businesses. With a rich background in digital marketing, Marti has spent over a decade refining her expertise in talent acquisition, business process architecture, and leadership development. Her approach is characterized by a passion for connecting exceptional individuals with the right job opportunities, leveraging her team's collective 30 years of digital marketing experience to offer a truly personalized service. more

Career development

 1d

Has an AI agent interviewed you for a job? Take our survey.


Forget the small talk. If you're looking for a new job, you may be invited to interview with a recruiter who doesn't blink.

In recent years, some employers have begun inviting job applicants to participate in job interviews led by AI agents -- sometimes called bots -- rather than human recruiters. A 2025 survey of 1,084 hiring decision-makers in the US and the UK found that 20% now do this. The... research was commissioned by TestGorilla, a talent-assessment platform.

Employers using AI agents to conduct job interviews are often large organizations with high-volume hiring needs, as well as mature startups looking to scale quickly. Those, and others, are often overwhelmed by applications because job seekers can use AI tools to apply to openings en masse, and due to the tight job market.

If you've been interviewed for a job by AI, let us know what your experience was like: more

Career development

 1d

Take Charge of Your Career with Executive Career Coaches - Oconall Street


In the ever-evolving corporate world, taking charge of one's career trajectory can be both a daunting and exhilarating endeavor. Executives and senior leaders, in particular, face unique challenges and opportunities that require a strategic approach to career development. As organizations increasingly recognize the value of executive coaching, professionals are turning to expert career coaches to... navigate complex career landscapes, enhance leadership skills, and achieve long-term career goals. These specialized coaches offer tailored guidance, enabling executives to unlock their potential and steer their careers in the desired direction.

The Role of Executive Career Coaches

Executive career coaches play a pivotal role in guiding leaders through the intricacies of career advancement and personal development. These professionals bring a wealth of experience, offering insights and strategies that are crucial for executives aiming to excel in their respective fields.

Benefits of Executive Coaching

* Personalized Career Strategy: Executive coaches provide customized career strategies that align with individual goals and organizational objectives.

* Enhanced Leadership Skills: They help refine leadership skills, ensuring executives can lead with confidence and effectiveness.

* Increased Self-awareness: Coaching facilitates a deeper understanding of personal strengths and areas for improvement, fostering growth and development.

* Improved Decision-Making: With expert advice, executives can make informed decisions that benefit both their careers and their organizations.

For those looking to explore these benefits further, find out more about this approach to executive coaching.

How to Identify the Right Executive Career Coach

Choosing the right executive coach is crucial for achieving desired outcomes. Here are some factors to consider:

* Experience and Credentials: Look for coaches with a proven track record and relevant qualifications.

* Coaching Style: Ensure their coaching style aligns with your personality and learning preferences.

* Industry Knowledge: A coach with experience in your industry will offer more relevant insights and advice.

* Testimonials and References: Check for positive feedback from previous clients to gauge their effectiveness.

For more guidance on selecting an executive coach, discover expert strategies here.

Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching

To fully harness the potential of executive coaching, it is vital for executives to be proactive and engaged throughout the process. Here are some tips to maximize the impact:

* Set Clear Goals: Define specific objectives you wish to achieve through coaching.

* Be Open to Feedback: Embrace constructive criticism and use it as a tool for growth.

* Commit to Action: Implement the strategies and changes discussed during coaching sessions.

* Regularly Review Progress: Continually assess your development and adjust goals as necessary.

Executives can explore advanced guides and tips to further enhance their coaching experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, executive career coaching is an invaluable resource for professionals seeking to take charge of their career paths. By providing personalized guidance and strategic insight, executive coaches empower leaders to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities effectively. Whether it's developing leadership skills, enhancing self-awareness, or formulating a career strategy, the right coach can make a significant difference in an executive's career journey.

For those interested in learning more about how executive coaching can transform their professional lives, learn about our tailored solutions to achieve career success.

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Career development

 1d

Five ways to progress in your career in a hybrid workplace


How we advance in our careers has changed. Before the pandemic, managers saw first-hand how we worked and interacted, and this physical visibility often played a significant role in advancement. But, in today's hybrid and remote environments, these signals are less apparent. To position yourself for promotion, you now need to be more intentional about the areas that sit beyond your formal job... spec.

Sholina Durga, Managing Director: Distance Learning and MBA at Richfield, says that career development is no longer something that 'just happens': "You need to take ownership of your trajectory. You need to build the skills and visibility that move you forward."

Durga unpacks five areas that support career progression in the modern workplace:

Start with a self-assessment: You can plan your career more effectively when you understand your strengths and skills. The first steps are identifying your current capabilities, and reviewing how they align with the direction your employer and industry are taking. The next step is to fill any gaps. These reviews and adjustments should form a continuous, internal feedback loop that informs an ongoing action plan.

Upskill, all the time: With the world of work in a constant state of flux, the qualification you earned 10, or even five, years ago may no longer be relevant. To add as much value as possible to your role, you need up-to-date career-focused qualifications designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge to succeed.

Qualifications in IT and business science have become foundational across industries and roles. If you understand the strategies and technologies shaping organisations, you are far more likely to stay relevant. Meanwhile, the MBA remains one of the most sought-after management qualifications, with employers continuing to signal rising demand.

In addition, micro-credentials from industry bodies like IBM, Amazon, Cisco, Oracle, Salesforce, and CIMA align with the skills employers are looking for. Durga advises that if you are considering a tertiary qualification, you should look for an institution that embeds these courses into its curricula.

And, with numerous private tertiary institutions offering online programmes, you can balance work and life with flexible distance learning.

Learn how to use AI: With AI defining almost every aspect of professional environments, it is increasingly important to understand how - and when - to use it.

"AI can be invaluable for exploring ideas and comparing concepts," Durga says. "These tools can enhance efficiencies, but they are not a replacement for human capabilities. Developing the ability to use AI ethically while maintaining critical thinking skills is a core professional competency."

Build quality networks: Long considered essential for professional visibility, networking is more important than ever. Talking to the right people, at the right time, helps ensure that your name is mentioned in the right conversations before roles are even advertised. Attending conferences, leading industry discussions, and engaging meaningfully on platforms like LinkedIn can help you access opportunities, strengthen your credibility, and open doors.

Mentorship can also play an important role in career development. Gaining insights and direction from experienced professionals can help you make better decisions and accelerate your growth with greater clarity and confidence.

Hone your professional reputation: Advancement is often influenced by how leaders perceive your reliability and expertise, and reputation has emerged as one of the most powerful career assets.

Being known for mastery of a specific area of expertise positions you better when new opportunities arise. Consistency and visibility also matter. Delivering quality work, meeting deadlines, and communicating effectively all contribute to your credibility, while sharing learnings and collaborating constructively allows you to demonstrate your capabilities more widely.

"In a hybrid workplace, it is not enough to just show up. Your career growth comes from making yourself visible in meaningful ways, taking deliberate steps to develop your skills, and creating the kind of impact that others cannot ignore," ends Durga. more

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Dry promotions and Lobster learning: the viral job trends you need to know


THE job market has never been tougher. Whether you're job hunting or too scared to leave a boring role, many employees up and down the UK are struggling.

This tough climate has led to a number of new workplace 'trends', that can either hurt or help your career, and could even lead to a payrise.

"Understanding what these terms mean and how to deal with them when they happen to you can boost your... career," explains career coach Pamela Langan.

"The key thing for most employees is having a plan and working towards that plan.

"Many employees end up coasting and staying in roles longer than they need to. Some of these trends might help break that cycle."

Here Pamela reveals the new job terms you should know:

Getting a 'dry promotion'

This is when you get the new job title, the extra workload and the bigger team to manage, but your pay packet stays exactly the same.

All the responsibility, none of the reward.

"Don't accept in silence," Pamela says. "Go back and negotiate. Put a time-frame on it; agree a salary review in three to six months and get it in writing.

"If your employer won't budge, it's time to start looking for a new role."

She adds that in some cases you might think it's worth having the experience on your CV if it means you can get a pay rise in the future, but that is your call to make.

You risk being stuck in the same situation longer term.

When your role experiences 'ghost growth'

Similar to dry promotion, ghost growth is when your role quietly expands: your to-do list gets longer, expectations creep up, but formally nothing has changed.

None of your efforts are recorded and there is certainly no extra money as a result.

"This can happen slowly so you need to identify what is happening. Point out to your employer exactly what extra work you are doing," Pamela says.

"Book a meeting, document everything your role now includes and have a direct conversation about whether your salary reflects reality. If your employer can't see it, someone else will."

Boosting your bank account by 'benefits-maxxing'

Savvy employees are finally taking their benefits packages seriously, these offers from an employer on top of your pay.

Employee benefits can include pension contributions, private healthcare, gym membership, retail discounts, or even training budgets you can spend on boosting your skills.

If your employer is offering something, you'd be daft not to use it. Many even include tailored health support for mental health and menopause or contributions towards something like IVF.

"Dig out your employee handbook or ask HR for a full list of what's available," says Pamela.

"Many employees are sitting on hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds of untouched benefits."

Protecting yourself with 'career cushioning'

Career cushioning is the strategy of making sure you are 'cushioning' your career plan with other options if things don't work out.

Given the uncertainty of the current job market, it's a very good idea to be thinking of other roles you can apply for with your skill set, and anything you can do to broaden out your experience.

"Don't wait until you need a job to start looking like someone worth hiring as you'll already be behind the pack," Pamela says.

"Stay visible, stay connected and keep your CV current."

Boosting your pay packet by 'lily padding'

Rather than climbing a traditional ladder, 'lily padding' professionals hop from role to role, company to company, each move a deliberate step up instead of waiting for a promotion at your current job.

Employees changing jobs receive a pay rise of up to 20% on average, according to data company PayScale.

"It works but only if each jump is intentional," Pamela says.

"Lots of people end up side-stepping and never actually move up and get a promotion and the pay packet that comes with it.

"Know what you're moving towards, not just what you're leaving behind."

Boost your skill set through 'lobster learning'

The idea is that, like a lobster, we never stop growing, we just need to shed our shell when it no longer fits.

It's about committing to learning throughout your career, not just at the start of it.

"Don't be afraid to ask your employer what is available to you, as sometimes firms offer funded qualifications, mentoring or shadowing opportunities," Pamela says.

"Even if they say there is no money left in the pot, often there is still a fund for training and they should be putting staff members forward.

"If they're not advising in your development, factor that into whether you stay." more

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'Jobs Are Limited': Indian Woman Sparks Viral Discussion About The Harsh New Zealand Job Market


An Indian woman in New Zealand shares the harsh realities of job hunting as a migrant, sparking widespread online discussions about local work opportunities

An Indian woman living in New Zealand has sparked widespread discussion after sharing her struggles finding work as a migrant. Her candid social media post highlighted the challenges newcomers face in the job market. This topic resonated with... many online, prompting others to share their own viewpoints.

Starting life in a new country often comes with high hopes of better opportunities, but reality can be more complex. For many migrants, securing that first job is the toughest hurdle, especially in markets that prioritise local experience. The woman, who recently moved from the US to New Zealand, explained the situation candidly in a video posted on Instagram.

"Ever since I moved from the US, a lot of my friends from both the US and India have asked me about the job market here," she said. "Honestly, right now, it's pretty tough. Jobs are limited, and companies often prefer people with New Zealand experience over newcomers. It's not impossible, but it does take patience and persistence."

Alongside her video, she shared a caption reflecting her mindset during this period of uncertainty, "Not every chapter is picture-perfect. Right now, it's about patience, consistency, and believing in myself even when things feel uncertain.

Job hunting in a new country isn't easy, but I know this phase is shaping me into someone stronger. Better days are coming."

Her post struck a chord with many viewers, leading to numerous comments sharing similar struggles. One user wrote, "5000 applications and got one." Another mentioned, "The job market is really bad, 110+ applications in over 5 months."

Others highlighted the importance of local experience, with one noting, "If there's one job in New Zealand, there are 10 jobs in Australia, 100 in the UK, 1000 in the USA."

Some commenters offered a more nuanced perspective, emphasising that opportunities exist depending on skills and approach.

One explained, "From a recruiter's perspective, this isn't entirely true. New Zealand faces a skills shortage. It depends on what you've studied, where, and how you present yourself. The market is tough, but patience can pay off." more