Career development

chisha brandz

1d

i graduated as a registered nurse 6years ago,i ve been applying for different hospitals,companies but never been lucky enough to get picked or even called for interviews ,its really stressing me out
how do you guys get lucky with jobs,need some practical tips and help,maybe i do it the wrong way?

4

Peninah Simji Gomerep
1
1d
I'm open
12 replies
Turabumukiza felix
1d
You should come in Rwanda , always nurses are needed.

cyusa shawn

Career development

13h

hey guys am new here, i had a question i would like to become the a successfully tech entrepreneurand am seeking advice on the 5 big mistakes a entrepreneur should avoid, from you as experienced people in the field that would mean alot to me.

1

Kelvin Mulembe
2
2d
Focusing on the mistakes starts on the wrong page. "Youngest successful tech entrepreneur" sounds like an ego adventure rather than an innovative... idea. Your idea must attempt to solve a problem, improve something, or meet a need. Otherwise, find a job and climb the ladder. more
2
Tawny King
3
3d
I do not know the tech industry but what I can say generally speaking which I could have benefitted from when I started my cleaning services is....1.... do your research and know the industry you are entering 2. look up competition 3. Get a mentor more
32 replies

James Petchett

Career development

2d

Hi! I recently became the manager of the courier department and everything has been going well. But last week we hired a new courier and he keeps coming to work with his dad. His father tries to get involved in everything and control the work process. I understand he cares about his son, but it’s starting to bother me. How can I politely tell him not to come to our office anymore and not to stick... his nose into our work? Thanks more

1

Okello John peter
1d
Congratulations on your new position. Since you’re the manager, it’s important to establish professional boundaries early, but you can still do it... respectfully.
You could say something like:
‘Mr. ___, I truly appreciate how supportive you are of your son, and it’s clear you care about him succeeding here. However, our company policy requires employees to handle their responsibilities independently, and for workflow and confidentiality reasons, we need to limit non-staff involvement in daily operations. I’m confident your son will settle in well, and we’ll make sure he receives all the guidance he needs from the team. This keeps the conversation calm, professional, and focused on workplace policy rather than making it personal. If the behavior continues, then you may need to speak directly with the employee himself and reinforce expectations professionally. more
1
Uma Aggarwal
2d
The son is your employee. You should tell him that you have hired him, not his father and the father is not welcome to come in your building and cause... disruption. If it does not stop right away, you may have to consider letting him go. more
11 reply

Anonymous member

Career development

1w

Hello! My boss expects me to be available 24/7. She even calls me after 10 p.m. and on weekends, usually about unimportant things. I feel like she just likes controlling her employees and bothering us even outside of work. Maybe I should just stop answering her calls?

2

Joe Giandonato
1w
My boss once implored me to tow his 2001 Mitsubishi Galant with eyelashes on the headlights from Proxima Centauri to the Oort Cloud where his mechanic... was exiled to after emitting radio signals about the imperial commander’s PED use when participating in a bicentenarian pickleball league in 2380 AD. more
2 replies
Mike Keane
1w
In our country it’s it’s against the law to contact an employee outside of hours
2

Career development

9h

I happily pay 40% tax in Sweden and after 7 years here's why I don't want to return to India

In 2018, Chandrika moved from a small town near Tirupati to Stockholm as a dependent spouse, barely knowing anything about Sweden. Seven years later, she is a Solution Architect at Scania, a mother of two, and an NRI who has quietly done the math, and chosen to make Sweden home.

In a conversation with financialexpress.com, Chandrika opened up about the realities behind the "dream European life,"... from language barriers and isolation to parental leave benefits, high taxes, and eventually building a stable professional identity in Stockholm.

From dependent spouse to job seeker

Before Sweden, Chandrika had already built a foundation in India, working at Cognizant and later transitioning into SAP Materials Management. In 2018, when her husband received an offer from Scania, the family took the plunge.

As a dependent spouse, the biggest challenge was not just professional; it was personal. The early days were brutally isolating. "Everything was new. I stayed at home with my son, no TV, nothing," she recalled. Job hunting on a dependent visa felt overwhelming, with no local experience, limited Swedish language skills, and almost no network.

But Chandrika was quick to adapt. She enrolled in free Swedish language classes, reworked her CV to local standards, and started applying aggressively. Within a year, she landed her first role through a Telugu consulting firm, moved to Electrolux, and eventually returned to Scania as a Solution Architect in the AP domain.

The realities of Sweden's family support system

However, despite all the early struggles, the generous parental leave system proved to be a game-changer. In Sweden parents can share 480 days of leave per child, with the flexibility to use them until the child turns 12. Daycare (förskola) is reliable, subsidised, and widely available. "You don't feel guilty taking time off for your child. "Society actually supports working parents," Chandrika said.

According to Sweden's Social Insurance Agency, Försäkringskassan, each parent is entitled to 240 days of parental leave, with 90 days reserved specifically for each parent. The remaining days can be shared between parents in a way that suits the family. In most cases, parents receive around 80% of their salary for up to 390 days, while the remaining 90 days are paid at a lower flat rate.

But that support comes with a clear financial trade-off. With taxes ranging around 30-40% and a high cost of living in cities like Stockholm, she said the reality is far more balanced than the "ideal Europe" perception. "You get stability, but not necessarily high savings," she explained. "Most of the income goes into running the household."

Despite these challenges, Chandrika believes the Swedish model wins for working mothers. The stress-free work culture (rarely any after-hours calls), safe environment, and quality education for children made the trade-off worthwhile.

Work-life balance that ends at 5 PM

For Chandrika, one of the most striking differences in Sweden is the workplace culture. Work begins early, but it also ends on time. After office hours, communication stops. Emails and messages do not follow employees into evenings or weekends. "There is no stress after working hours," she says. "Once you log off, you are done for the day."

As a mother of two, she says this structure has been central to maintaining balance between career and family life.

Building a life, and deciding to stay

The family's immigration journey moved from a two-year employer-sponsored work visa to Permanent Residency after four years, and they are now exploring the path to citizenship. However, proposed rule changes from 2026, including longer residency requirements, mandatory language tests, and higher income thresholds, have created a sense of uncertainty within sections of the Indian community in Sweden.

Even so, whenever the couple weighed the option of returning to India, the decision consistently tilted the same way. The defining factor was quality of life, a strong work-life balance, personal safety, clean surroundings, and a more structured long-term environment for raising their children, now aged 10 and 3.

"Emotionally, India will always be home," Chandrika says. "But practically, Sweden offers a more balanced and stable environment for raising a family."

Over time, the family has also built a close-knit Telugu-Indian community around Stockholm, which has helped ease long winters and reduce feelings of isolation. more

Career development

17h

Reading Log #7 -- Aoashi Guns, Germs, and Steel Distinction

Strength may be not talent, but a product of environment and accumulation.

In the later arc of Aoashi, the stage moves to Spain. What's thrust at Ashito there isn't a gap in technique. It's the fact that the very environment that raised them is utterly different.

Players who, from a young age, bathed in success and failure at a youth setup like Barcelona's. While the Japanese player is... desperately "thinking, thinking," the European top player is already beyond that. Is this a gap in cleverness? Or --

The answer isn't racial superiority. It's environment and geography. Plants fit for cultivation, animals fit for domestication, a continent long on its east-west axis -- people who happened to be in a blessed environment generated surplus through farming, grew their population, and accumulated technology, immunity, and the state. The difference was born not from ability, but from the conditions you were placed in at the starting line.

Soccer is similar. Spanish players are strong not because they were born fast. It's because they happened to be born into an environment where football is rooted as culture. "Before you blame the person, look at the structure" -- this book's reach lands straight on the pitch too.

From the first division down to the seventh. Even small towns have clubs, and soccer is dissolved into daily life. This thickness of layers isn't made overnight. It's many generations of time, fallen and piled up.

And this thickness isn't only a matter of "long history." It's an accumulation of how much heat a whole society has poured into football. In Spain there's an air that permits prioritizing the local club's coaching over your job. On a weekday evening, adults and children gather on a small town pitch as a matter of course. That daily heat, piled over generations, became that thick pyramid. The Japan/Spain gap isn't a gap in talent. It's a gap in the amount of heat society has bet on the game. Diamond's "accumulation born of environment" takes, in soccer, the shape of this heat and this pyramid.

The frightening thing about environment is that it changes not only "what you think," but "what your body does before you think."

Picture Barcelona's soccer. That beautiful passing combination, the ball circulating among the players without stagnation. Even someone who doesn't follow football has surely seen that scene once. It's become, before anyone noticed, a shared "normal" the whole world knows.

This is what Bourdieu calls habitus -- the unconscious "normal" the environment carves into the body. Spanish players aren't, each time, "choosing" that passing. From a young age, the environment has raised bodies that circulate the ball that way. What the Japanese player tries to catch up to by thinking "I should move like this," they already know in the body, before thought.

Environment soaks in below consciousness. That's why it's the hardest to catch up to. You can learn the form, but the "normal" of a body that moves before thinking -- that, you can only grow inside the environment.

Here, Distinction from #5, once more.

Aesthetic sense, the discerning eye -- made by class and history. That story works directly on a player's "résumé" too. The Spanish player holds, from the start, the cultural capital of the environment they were born into. The Japanese player can only build it up later, consciously.

And as we saw in #5, the evaluating side's gaze isn't neutral either. A résumé that says "from Europe" backs a certain trust all by itself. The accumulated environment backs the résumé, and the résumé clouds the eye. The power of structure, before ability.

So Ashito's fight is doubly heavy. While closing the environment gap, he must also force open the gaze that the gap itself has clouded. #5's "if you aren't seen, make them see" works here too.

But -- don't read Diamond's book as fatalism. That environment sets the conditions is true. Yet a person can re-choose their environment.

Fukuda crossed the sea to see football's ceiling. A view he couldn't have seen in Japan. To see it, he moved his own environment. You can't choose the environment you were born into, but the environment you stand in next, you can choose.

And there, in the re-chosen place, someone says it flat.

"Japanese can do it too." The environment gap they were told was absolutely impossible, pinned down by results. Environment is strong. But environment isn't everything. Having taken on the conditions, the individual who still goes to surpass opens a hole in the environment's story.

And the hole one person forces open becomes, in time, a path. The footprints of the one who first proved "Japanese can do it" -- the next generation can walk them as a road. The individual who went where no one had gone becomes, before anyone notices, the successors' very environment. A path isn't given. The first person carves it with their own feet. And that path becomes the next person's "normal."

The most hopeful implication of Diamond's book is, I think, here. If strength is a product of environment, then the environment is what you can design.

If Spain's pyramid took many generations, then an environment that grows players can also be made on purpose. What Aoashi's Esperion tries to draw is, probably, exactly that -- not waiting for chance talent, but designing the very environment in which talent grows.

The "heat to cultivate" I read in #6 was an individual act. What I'm reading in #7 is the story of that heat piling up and, in time, becoming an environment. One coach's heat becomes one rung of the pyramid. That's how an accumulation of time gets built.

Finally, to OrbitLens.

The most dangerous thing about observation is attributing strength to the individual alone. A score of "this person is excellent / low" usually ignores the environment they were placed in. Accumulation built in a blessed environment, and grit endured alone in a barren one, both get rounded into the same "individual score."

This is continuous with #5's unconscious discrimination. Measure the individual without seeing the environment gap, and you misread an environment gap as a talent gap. High just for being from Spain, low just for being from Japan -- observation like that preserves the structure as is.

So EIS observes by separating domains. It doesn't mix them. It keeps the relative-within-the-same-environment and the absolute-across-organizations apart. And it tries to observe the accumulation of time (surviving code) together with that person's context. Before pushing strength onto the individual, it asks what environment made it possible. Observation, the moment it overlooks environment, becomes an apparatus of discrimination.

Strength is a product of environment and accumulation. So before measuring the individual, see the environment. And design the better environment.

You can't choose the environment you were born into. But the environment you stand in next, and the environment you build for someone else -- those, you can choose.

In #8, Aoashi again. A storied Spanish club -- when does its tradition and pride tilt into "a kingdom that lost its essence"? When winning becomes the end, a culture that was an infinite game gets swallowed by a finite one. Read alongside James P. Carse's Finite and Infinite Games and Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities. more

Career development

19h

5 Features To Look for in Top Recruitment Marketing Platforms

Career development

23h

Career Referral Partners Needed -- 2

I run AryaCareers, a platform that helps international students and working professionals in the United States land roles through fully tailored applications, interview prep, and ongoing career support. Our services are already packaged, priced, and converting well; what I need now is a network of trusted partners who can introduce us to more job seekers and share in the revenue. Here's how the... collaboration works: you receive a unique tracking link or coupon code, send it to your audience in whatever channel suits you best -- social media, newsletters, webinars, direct messages, campus groups, even one-to-one introductions -- and collect a 10 % commission on every paid signup that comes through. Commissions are recorded in real time inside a lightweight partner dashboard and paid out once a month, with no earnings cap and no expiry on referrals. If your client buys additional coaching or résumé services later, you keep earning the same percentage on those follow-on purchases. Because you already mentor, coach, write résumés, recruit, or manage student communities, this can fold naturally into your current workflow: simply mention AryaCareers as a trusted resource, drop your link, and let us do the heavy lifting. We handle onboarding, service delivery, customer support, and retention; you focus on the warm introduction. Deliverables * Sign our one-page partner agreement (e-sign, under five minutes). * Distribute your referral link or code to your audience in the manner you choose. * Share high-level feedback on what resonates so we can refine joint campaigns. Acceptance Criteria * First paid signup tracked to your link triggers commission eligibility. * Ongoing payouts match the total gross revenue your referrals generate, at the agreed 10 %. If you're ready to add a simple, recurring income stream while giving your clients a proven career resource, let's connect and get your partner credentials issued today. more

Career development

1d

What's behind the rise in firings linked to disability discrimination in Hong Kong?

Career development

1d

Navigating Your Path to Success: Tips for Securing a Talent Agent

Breaking into the world of entertainment can be a daunting task, but one of the most pivotal steps in this journey is knowing how to get a talent agent. A talent agent can connect you with auditions and opportunities that you might not find on your own, guiding you through the industry with expertise and experience. This article will serve as a comprehensive guide to help you understand the... process of securing a talent agent, offering practical advice to increase your chances of success.

Understanding How to Get a Talent Agent

Before diving into the process, it's essential to understand what a talent agent does. A talent agent represents actors, models, musicians, and other entertainment professionals, promoting their skills to potential clients and negotiating contracts. They are the bridge between you and casting directors or recruiters. Now, let's explore the steps to secure an agent.

Building Your Portfolio

Creating a solid portfolio is crucial. Whether you're an actor, model, or musician, you need to showcase your best work. For actors, this means compiling a headshot and résumé, along with clips of your performances. Models should have a portfolio with a variety of looks, while musicians need demos or recordings of their music.

The importance of training cannot be overstated. Enroll in acting classes or workshops, work with a vocal coach, or enhance your modeling techniques. This formal training not only hones your skills but also shows potential agents that you are committed to your craft.

Researching Potential Agents

Research is a crucial step in understanding how to get a talent agent. Look for agencies that specialize in your area of expertise, whether it is acting, modeling, or music. Focus on reputable agencies with a history of representing successful clients. Online databases and industry publications can be valuable resources for finding agencies that match your needs.

It's essential to ensure the agency is legitimate and licensed. Resources such as the Wikipedia education page offer insights into structured paths, which include finding accredited representations in entertainment. Avoid any agency asking for upfront fees, as this is generally a red flag.

Approaching Talent Agents

Making the right first impression is key. When you reach out to talent agents, personalize your communication. Write a concise, professional cover letter that expresses your passion and dedication. Include your portfolio and any relevant links to your work. Remember, this is your chance to stand out, so demonstrate what makes you unique.

Networking can also open doors to talent agents. Attend industry events, showcase your work and connect with professionals who may lead you to a reputable agent. Sometimes, a recommendation from a mutual contact can significantly influence an agent's decision to represent you.

Auditioning and Interviews

If a talent agent expresses interest, they might invite you for an audition or interview. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your skills and convince them of your potential. Prepare thoroughly and present yourself professionally. Remember to be punctual, as the entertainment industry values time management and reliability.

Nurturing the Relationship

Once you secure a talent agent, nurturing the relationship is crucial. Maintain open communication and be receptive to feedback. Just like any professional relationship, trust and mutual respect are foundational.

Keep honing your skills and work hard to meet the expectations set. The journey doesn't end once you secure representation; it marks the beginning of your professional career. Check out our article on studying abroad in Europe's best art schools. It might inspire additional training opportunities to further your career.

Conclusion

Embarking on a quest for representation can seem overwhelming, but understanding how to get a talent agent is the first step in building a successful career in the entertainment industry. Remember that persistence, professionalism, and passion are your best tools. Stay informed, be adaptable, and continue to develop your craft to ensure you make the most of the opportunities that come your way.

* Build a comprehensive and professional portfolio showcasing your talent.

* Research thoroughly to find reputable talent agencies in your niche.

* Personalize your approach and network within the industry.

* Prepare for auditions and interviews with agents diligently.

* Foster a strong, respectful relationship with your talent agent.

What should be in my acting portfolio?

Your acting portfolio should include a professional headshot, an updated résumé, and clips of your performances. Enhancing these with any formal training or workshops attended is also beneficial.

How can I verify if a talent agent is legitimate?

Ensure the agent is licensed and check their reputation through industry publications or online databases. Be cautious of agents who demand upfront fees, as this is often a sign of a scam.

What is the typical process of auditioning with a talent agent?

A talent agent may ask for a meeting or an audition to assess your skills. They will evaluate your performance and fit for the agency's clientele. It's essential to prepare thoroughly for such meetings.

How do I maintain a good relationship with my agent?

Maintain regular communication and be open to constructive feedback. Show appreciation for their efforts and continue to refine your skills, demonstrating your commitment and professionalism.

Can a talent agent help me internationally?

Yes, many agencies have international connections and can facilitate auditions abroad. However, securing local representation in target markets can often enhance your opportunities further. more

Anonymous member

Career development

1w

I want to pursue a certification for accountant but the microfinance I work for doesn't expect it's employees to have anything that distracts them from work.

As a matter of fact, working hours are from 7:30 AM up until 6:30 PM on average days monday to Friday (Saturdays work stops at about 4:20 PM give or take).

I don't know how I'll balance the two because the company has no guidelines... for such and its seen as a potential reason for employee exit which they don't want!

What should I do? more

3

DARD SOUTH SUDAN
1d
Go for professional studies, this would enabled you pursue your further studies specially with e-learning/distance learning programmes.

In case you... are required to do your in-house
exams, you can request for the examination leaves or do it through microwave. more
Joyeve SelmanTsalachChesed
4d
Try evening classes 8pm to 10pm

Career development

3w

'We're almost done, but are you planning to get married?' Candidate walks out of job interview after HR asks about 'family planning situation'

'We're almost done, but are you planning to get married?' Candidate walks out of job interview after HR asks about 'family planning situation' The conversation begins like a typical hiring conversation. The HR representative appears satisfied with the candidate's performance and says, "Everything looks great. Your technical assessment was strong, the team loved you, and I think we're almost done... here."

An online job interview has sparked a debate about workplace boundaries after a candidate declined a job offer over personal questions about marriage and family. The conversation, posted by a career advisor, shows the chat turning from positive to uncomfortable, and ends with the candidate calmly walking away.

The conversation begins like a typical hiring conversation. The HR representative appears satisfied with the candidate's performance and says, "Everything looks great. Your technical assessment was strong, the team loved you, and I think we're almost done here."

The candidate responds positively, saying they enjoyed the process and seemed ready for the next step.

But just before closing, the HR introduces what they call a "final question", "Just one last question before we wrap up... Are you married?"

When the candidate questions the relevance, the HR continues probing: "And if not, are you planning to get married soon?" The explanation offered is that it is "for planning purposes," suggesting that life events like marriage or children "can affect work."

The candidate then directly asks whether the question is about plans to have children. The HR responds by saying they need to understand the "family planning situation for team planning purposes" and describes it as a "standard question for all our hires."

They further justify it by referring to "long-term stability" and "important clients and projects that demand long-term stability."

The tone shifts as the candidate pushes back. They respond, "I'm not comfortable answering this question as it's not legally appropriate for hiring decisions."

The candidate adds that hiring should be based on professional ability, not personal life choices. The moment becomes decisive when they say the question has changed how they see the company's culture and decline to continue with the process.

HR : Everything looks great. Your technical assessment was strong, the team loved you, and I think we're almost done here.

Candidate: Glad to hear that. I've enjoyed the process.

HR : Just one last question before we wrap up.

Candidate: Sure.

HR : Are you married?

Candidate: Sorry?

HR : And if not, are you planning to get married soon?

Candidate: I'm not sure I understand why that's relevant to the role.

HR : We just like to understand these things for planning purposes.

Candidate: Planning for what exactly?

HR : Well, marriage, children, family changes... those things can affect work.

Candidate: So this is really about whether I'm planning to have children?

HR : We just want to know your family planning situation for team planning purposes.

Candidate: I'm not comfortable answering this question as it's not legally appropriate for hiring decisions

HR : This is a standard question for all our hires

Candidate: This still doesn't change the fact that it crosses a line.

HR : We're just trying to understand long-term stability.

Candidate: My ability to do the job should be measured by my skills and experience, not my marriage plans or whether I want children.

HR: We've important clients and projects that demand long-term stability

Candidate: Honestly, that question changes how I view this company completely.

HR : Let me know if we moving forward .

Candidate: No, Thank you. I have concerns about a company culture where such questions were considered acceptable.

The post presents the exchange as a scenario, but its impact lies in how familiar the situation feels to many job seekers. Questions around marriage and family, though often unofficial, continue to surface in hiring conversations. It puts a spotlight on where professional evaluation ends and personal intrusion begins.

The conversation has drawn strong reactions online, with many users siding with the candidate's response.

One commenter wrote, "There are questions that are not necessary, and this is one. If I were him, that's the way I'd answer."

Another said, "Any company asking about marriage and kids in 2024 is basically admitting they have zero respect for boundaries or basic labor laws."

A third added, "Well in this kind of situation every candidate should leave quietly... and in actual they are already married mostly ."

Another bluntly remarked, "HR is always selfish."

As the clip continues to circulate, it has sparked a broader discussion about what employers can and cannot ask during interviews. Many users pointed out that such questions, even if framed as planning needs, risk crossing into personal territory that should remain off-limits.

At the same time, others highlighted the candidate's calm and composed response as an example of how to handle uncomfortable situations without confrontation.

The reactions suggest it reflects a real and ongoing issue in hiring practices. For many professionals, the chat has become less about one interview and more about a larger question, how much of one's personal life should matter at the workplace door.

For now, the clip continues to travel across timelines and places, serving as a reminder that sometimes, saying no can be as important as landing the job. more

2

Twesige Nicholus
3w
Sometimes it depends to the organisations interests, so high level of maturity and thinking is needed to answer such a question.
Nuwamanya Patrick
1
3w
i find no problem in positively respond to the question if i were the candidate,because so contracts come with benefits ,for instance medical... insurance,housing,transport etc .So the company would be in a better position to catch biodata of the employee right from the start. I submit. more

Career development

3d

I was rejected for a job 6 minutes after I applied. I told the company that AI was screening out strong candidates.

Tellez said he told the company's HR chief that AI was filtering out qualified candidates.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tony Tellez, a 49-year-old IT professional based in Indianapolis. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I started my career at the entry level and worked my way up to essentially running IT companies in the managed-services space,... overseeing IT operations for multiple clients. Recently, I found myself on the job market for the first time in 10 years. It's changed a lot.

I got some interviews right away, but I also got a lot of rejections. Nobody likes to be rejected. I've got children, rent, and animals to take care of, and those responsibilities start to weigh on you.

One Sunday night, my frustrations reached a breaking point. I had applied for a senior position at a managed-services firm that I was more than qualified for around 11:15 p.m. About six minutes later, I received an email that simply said, "We have declined your application." The company didn't even provide a reason like, "we're pursuing other candidates."

It didn't make any sense. I applied at a time when no one was likely to be manually reviewing résumés and rejecting them. I reread the job listing, and it clearly said that a bachelor's degree -- something I don't have -- was preferred but not required.

Also, my best friend is an HR consultant, and she made sure my résumé included all the necessary keywords. I even ran it through an open-source applicant-tracking system to check that it was well-optimized.

So, after I saw that rejection email come in, I went to the company's LinkedIn page, found their HR director, and sent him this message.

I sent it partly because it's already frustrating for someone to lose a job and have to search for a new one. It's even worse when you have to deal with rejection from a robot.

Another reason is that I've developed and deployed applicant tracking systems, so I understand what it takes to configure them properly. There's a problem here, and the company's leadership may not know that they're potentially missing out on quality candidates.

I haven't heard anything back, and I probably won't. The job listing is no longer up, so I don't know if it was filled. I just know that I'm not ready to retire anytime soon. I love working. I love fixing things.

I've since used AI to make my résumé more AI-friendly. You've got to fight fire with fire. However, I've also started targeting companies that say in their job listings that every résumé submitted is reviewed by a human. In some of my past jobs, I was responsible for hiring people, and I prided myself on reading every résumé that came in. It's crazy how much the job market has changed. more

7

Otes Morgan
2d
Your resume might be the problem
Greg Racette
2d
It could be a different scenario. It's possible that they already found their candidate and forgot to take the link for the job down.So when this guy... applied, they already had their candidate making his application, neil and void.And once they got his application and message, they soon realized that the job link was still available and deleted it soon after. more

Career development

2d

I Sent 12,500 AI-Generated Job Applications.

I Sent 12,500 AI-Generated Job Applications. Here's What Worked, What Didn't, and What I'd Do Differently.

After 6 months of running a local-first AI job-hunting agent on my laptop, here are the data, the screenshots, and the lessons -- no fluff.

Six months ago -- while still very much in the thick of my full-time Product Manager role in Dubai -- I started quietly looking for what's next.

By... month two of the search, I had sent 200 manual cold emails to recruiters. I did it on evenings, weekends, and around stand-ups and OKRs. I received exactly six replies.

The math made me physically nauseous. So, I did what any engineer-turned-PM would do: I built JobyBots https://www.jobybots.com/

What started as a weekend Python script is now an AI agent running locally on the laptops of 47 paying customers across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, the UK, and a few other markets. Collectively, they send around 6,000 personalized job applications per day. As of last Tuesday, JobyBots itself has shipped 12,547 applications across all users.

This article is everything I learned along the way. No gatekeeping, no corporate speak -- just raw data.

The Brutal Modern Math of Job Applications

In 2026, a typical tech job posting on LinkedIn receives 1,200 applications within 24 hours. To put that in perspective, that number hovered around 30-50 back in 2018. Three distinct forces collapsed the old funnel:

- The Post-COVID Hiring Slowdown: Fewer open roles means a massively inflated pool of candidates competing for the same spot.

- The AI Autocomplete Surge: Generative AI has lowered the cost of applying to near-zero. Whether it's ChatGPT autocomplete or aggressive spam-bot networks, people are flooding the gates.

- AI-Driven ATS Triaging: Applicant Tracking Systems are now advanced AI bots themselves. They triage 1,200 résumés in seconds before a human recruiter ever sees the top 20.

- The implication for an individual job seeker is depressing:

Even a brilliant résumé has roughly a 3% chance of being read by a human if it goes through the standard "Easy Apply" funnel.

The only winning strategy today is out-of-band -- you have to bypass the broken funnel entirely and reach the human directly. That is exactly what JobyBots automates.

The 4-Stage Agent Loop

Every 30 minutes, the local bot wakes up and executes a tight four-stage cycle on the user's machine:

[Search] ➔ [Score] ➔ [Find Recruiter] ➔ [Personalized Send]

Stage 1: Search

The bot fans out 80 HTTP requests across LinkedIn, Indeed, Naukrigulf, Bayt, GulfTalent, RemoteOK, AngelList, and a half-dozen company ATS endpoints (Greenhouse, Lever, Workable, Ashby). It de-duplicates the results, yielding roughly 150 candidate roles per cycle.

Stage 2: Score

Each role's description is compared against your résumé embedding (which Gemini builds locally upon first install). It returns a 0-100 match score along with a one-line explanation.

- Below 50: Automatically dropped.

- 50-69: Gets a clean, generic template letter.

- 70+: Triggered for a fully tailored, context-aware cover letter.

Stage 3: Find the Recruiter's Email

This is where the real engineering happens. JobyBots runs a strict 5-tier waterfall to find the exact human behind the post:

- Cache: Did we already resolve this company in a prior cycle?

- Scrape: Scan the company's careers/contact page for direct mailto links.

- Session Cookie: Use the user's local LinkedIn session cookie to identify the specific job poster and pull their published contact info.

- Pattern Guessing: Country-aware pattern guessing (e.g.,

careers@company.ae

) used strictly as a last resort. - SMTP Probe: Run an

SMTP RCPT

probe to drop obvious 5xx dead addresses before any email is actually sent.

Stage 4: Send

The agent drafts a punchy, 4-6 sentence cover letter. It quotes exactly one job description requirement and pairs it with one concrete outcome from your résumé. It sends directly via the user's personal Gmail with a strict cap of 200/day, randomized 20-60 second delays, and 12 rotating subject templates to protect sender reputation.

How this compares to the "Easy Apply" baseline:

We ran a rigorous 90-day A/B test in March using the exact same résumés for the exact same roles via standard application portals. The results weren't even close:

- Reply Rate: 11× higher using the agent.

- Interview Rate: 10× higher using the agent.

- Offer Rate: ∞× higher (The "Easy Apply" cohort produced exactly zero offers).

What Worked (The Wins)

- Quoting ONE specific requirement: The single biggest lift in reply rates came from instructing Gemini to quote exactly one highly specific requirement from the job description, rather than starting with a generic intro. When we made this prompt change, our reply rate jumped from 8% to 14%.

- Using the recruiter's first name: When the LinkedIn finder successfully identified the poster's name, opening with "Hi [First_Name]," instead of a generic greeting completely doubled the reply rate on those specific emails.

- Daily caps and "jitter": Limiting sends to 200 emails/day with a 20-60s randomized delay kept our Gmail sender reputation pristine. The moment we tested pushing the limit to 300/day, reply rates collapsed within a week because Gmail began silently throttling and delaying delivery.

- Rotating subject lines: Utilizing 12 distinct templates chosen deterministically per company meant no two emails per cycle shared a subject line. This simple change lifted overall deliverability by roughly 25%.

- Building an IMAP bounce tracker: Reading the user's Gmail inbox via IMAP specifically for delivery-failure notifications allowed us to instantly quarantine bad addresses. Fixing this helped us backfill and clear out 230 historical bounces that had been silently degrading our sender scores.

What Didn't Work (The Failures)

- Long, multi-paragraph cover letters: Crafting a beautifully written, 12-sentence "personal essay" dropped reply rates by a staggering 60% compared to the short 4-6 sentence version. Recruiters scan emails in less than 5 seconds; respect their time.

- Including the same résumé link everywhere: Including an identical Google Drive or Notion link in every single email immediately triggered Gmail's "marketing email" classifier. We pivoted to attaching the PDF directly, which fixed the issue.

- Sending on Sundays: Sunday sends yielded a miserable 4% reply rate, while Tuesday sends pulled a massive 19%. The scheduler now automatically defers weekend-generated emails to Monday morning.

- Generic openers: Clichés like "Hope you are well," or "I am writing to express my interest..." were our lowest-performing patterns. We permanently deleted them from the codebase.

- Trying to be clever with subject lines: Subject lines like "Quick question that might change your week" bombed hard with a 1-2% reply rate. Meanwhile, boring titles like "Application: Product Manager (Talabat)" won the day with a 16-19% reply rate. Boring wins.

What I'd Do Differently If I Started Over

If I could go back to day one with the knowledge I have now, my roadmap would look entirely different:

- Build the bounce tracker on day one: Deliverability hygiene compounds over time. Don't leave it for later.

- Start with ONE market: I stretched myself thin trying to support 13 markets simultaneously at launch. Dominating the UAE alone would have been more than enough to validate the first 100 customers.

- Charge $99 USD instead of $49: The sheer volume of hours, API optimization, and real-world value this provides means the product is heavily underpriced.

- Ship the Mac installer in week 2, not week 11: I easily lost around 10 premium customers early on due to Mac-installer friction.

- Double down on long-form content over web design: I spent way too long tweaking CSS on the landing page. I should have written this deep-dive article in week 3 instead of week 13.

The Power of the "Local-First" Principle

JobyBots runs entirely on the customer's laptop. We don't own a centralized server where you upload your résumé, and we don't keep a database tracking your job-search activity. The website at jobybots.com

is simply a secure payment page that fires over your desktop installer.

This was a highly deliberate design choice, and it comes with real trade-offs. It means our pricing model is a one-time purchase instead of recurring SaaS MRR, and it limits our ability to aggregate data to "optimize" top-down metrics.

But it elegantly solves a massive problem that most HR-tech startups quietly dodge: liability for someone else's deeply personal career data.

If you are building in the AI agent space right now, I highly encourage you to consider the local-first architecture. The venture scale economics might be trickier to pitch to VCs, but the user trust and relationship health are dramatically better.

Final Thoughts

If you are out on the market hunting for a role, understand that the baseline math has fundamentally broken. Manual cold emailing is exhausting, and standard ATS submissions are largely a black hole of noise. The only remaining path to victory is executing high-volume, hyper-personalized outreach directed straight to the human stakeholder.

You can absolutely build this bot yourself -- it will probably take you about 360 hours of tweaking prompts, managing selectors, and handling API exceptions.

Or, you can pay a one-time fee of ₹2,999 at jobybots.com

and run the one I've already spent half a year perfecting.

There's a 7-day refund policy if it's not a fit for your workflow. Built proudly in Dubai. Lifetime license.

Darapu Tharakeswara Reddy is the founder of JobyBots and a working Senior Product Manager in Dubai. He has spent the last eight years leading data products and AI agents across MENA retail. An alumnus of IIT Patna, you can connect with him directly at tharakesh.iitp@gmail.com. more

Career development

2w

Biggest Résumé Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them

Going into my first year of college, I had no clue what a résumé even was. I had experience, but none of my previous jobs required me to submit a résumé when I applied. So, when my on-campus job asked for one, I scrambled to throw it together. I asked everyone I could for their help. With a horrible résumé (and a ton of grace given by my boss), I was hired.

Now, as a student assistant in the... Journalism Dean's Office, I review résumés daily. This is a list of the biggest mistakes I see in the office and how you can fix them to improve your résumé and chances of getting hired.

Contact information

Contact information is located beneath your name at the top of your résumé. This section includes your phone number, email address, LinkedIn, city and state and portfolio (if you have one).

More than one email address

The first mistake I see in the contact information section is including more than one email address. A lot of college students think it's best to list both their student email and personal email address to give the employer more options to choose from. While this is a good idea in theory, it can be confusing for employers to figure out the best way to contact you. Instead, list the email address that you check most frequently, whether that's personal or school. If you're a graduating student, you should list your personal email and make a habit of checking it regularly.

Not including LinkedIn

If you do not have a LinkedIn profile in college, you're doing it wrong. LinkedIn is an extremely important form of social media used for networking with people in your industry. Although it is understandable not to have a LinkedIn profile your first year of college, it is highly recommended that you create one before the beginning of your sophomore year.

The next step is putting the hyperlink to your profile in your contact section. Don't just link it to the word "LinkedIn;" copy and paste the full URL to ensure your profile can still be accessed easily if your resume were to be printed.

Including a picture

In the United States, federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, age, etc. Including a picture on your résumé may trigger unconscious bias from your employer and prevent you from even making it to the interview stage. Some employers will even immediately reject résumés with photos to avoid potential discrimination accusations.

Education

This section is the most important information on your résumé as a college student. It includes your college, major, degree, GPA (if a 3.0 or above), expected graduation and minors or certificates, if applicable.

Getting your degree and major name wrong

This might be surprising to some, but in fact, many students get their degree and major wrong! All colleges have different degrees and major names, so it's important to check your school website for the official name of your degree.

High school information after your first year

As unfortunate as it is, employers don't care what you did in high school if you're a college student. It is much more important what you are doing in college, so high school should be completely omitted.

The exception to this rule is first-year college students. This is because until the end of the first semester of college, first-years do not have a GPA or much experience in their degree. That being said, it is generally recommended to remove your high school information from your education section after the first semester of freshman year, and definitely before the beginning of your sophomore year.

Experience

Your experience is the second most important information on your résumé. This section includes your past and present work experience with two to four detailed bullet points describing the work you did in each position, as well as the location and time frame you worked.

Missing detail

An important thing to remember when writing the bullet points for your experiences is to add detail! Employers don't just want to know what you did; they want to know how you did it. Instead of saying, "Wrote articles for Her Campus." You should say, "Wrote 6+ articles for Her Campus over topics of self-love, entertainment, culture, etc." This way of writing gives your employer a better understanding of your capabilities while quantifying your work and adding credibility.

Not including unpaid experiences

Unpaid experiences make up a large portion of a college student's experience. From internships to organizations, college students gain lots of unpaid experience. And many students think that because they did not earn a paycheck for these experiences, they cannot include them on their resume. That is not true. Employers care much more about the knowledge you have gained and experience you have in the position, rather than the amount of paid work you have.

Skills

Your skills section should always be the last section of your résumé. This section is a simple list of skills that you haven't expressed in your experience sections.

Soft skills

Your skills section should be solely hard skills. Things like teamwork, leadership and other soft skills are good to have, but they can easily be demonstrated in the bullet points of your experience section or in an interview.

Instead, include hard skills relevant to the job you are applying for. If you're a journalism major, your skills section should include things like AP style writing, video editing and photojournalism. You can also include programs that you are familiar with. Think Microsoft 360, Canva or Adobe. These kinds of skills will give your employer more information about the skills you possess.

Formatting

Although not a section, formatting your résumé the correct way is extremely important to the hiring process.

Using templates

As tempting as a super cute Canva or Word template is, do not give in! Most templates are formatted in a two-column style that doesn't scan well with applicant tracking systems (ATS). This means that your résumé could be thrown out before an actual human even takes a look at it. Instead, make your own one-column template that you can use over and over again.

Typos

This might sound like an obvious one, but it is so important to triple-check your résumé for spelling and grammar errors. Even one typo can get your résumé thrown in the trash. Employers tend to see typos as a liability later down the line. If you're not checking your résumé for misspellings, it signals to your employer that you'll make that mistake with important work as well.

More than one page

Résumés are recommended to be only one page in order to not overload your employer with unnecessary information. The average amount of time an employer spends reviewing a résumé is six to seven seconds. A résumé that is short and easy to read will allow your employer to focus less on trying to decipher your résumé and more on the skills you could bring to their team.

The most important thing to remember is that your résumé is a living document. This means that you can (and should) constantly be updating it. You should change your résumé for every application you submit.

Résumés are a hard skill to master, but once you understand the reasoning behind all the factors, it will all click and you'll have no trouble creating and editing your résumé. more

7

Otes Morgan
2d
My resume expert is the best, I've been using his service for over a year now and a lot of my clients does the same..
His service is... unique......

Anyone need help let me know more
Jim Nicholson
2
3d
Describing WHAT you did is meaningless to me unless there are specific details of what those WHATs translated to RESULTS. What did you propose and... implement to improve the tasks you performed? What did they result in? Higher revenues? Quicker process times? Tasks are meaningless unless results of you performing them are improved. more

Anonymous member

Career development

3d

one thing I have learnt is that opportunities come to those who stay prepared, remain professional and keep developing their skills even during difficult moments. Every experience whether good or challenging teaches us something valuable about leadership, communication, team work and resilience .

5

Otes Morgan
2d
Absolutely, I'm a career coach as well and have a lot of recruiters in my network.
I don't know if you might want to reach out to them if you have any... one that is looking for a job.🙂 more
Scolastica Wambua
4d
Unfortunately this is the trend in many organizations now..