Career development

9h

My husband was unemployed for 10 months. He finally landed a job when he turned up at an office with a box of doughnuts.

I was skeptical of his plan as a former recruiter, but it got him the job.

My partner was laid off in January of last year. Hundreds of applications later, he'd only landed two interviews with no job offers.

We had managed to stay optimistic during the job search, using the time to travel and see family, but our positive attitudes began to wear thin as January turned into September.

As a tech... professional, he found it difficult to find work in the field as AI surges and companies grapple with the uncertainty it brings. Even with my help as a previous recruiter, he was ghosted by most companies. I reviewed and tweaked his résumé multiple times, edited his cover letters, gave him tips on finding leads on LinkedIn, and we even practiced mock interviews.

At one point, I listened in on a remote second-round interview to make sure I didn't have any additional pointers. He was doing great, but when he didn't land that position either, our worry grew.

Desperate, he stepped outside his comfort zone and began applying to non-tech companies. But with no experience in other fields, that effort was also fruitless. He wasn't even getting a call back. That's when he came up with a unique plan.

One day, after seeing an open role that was locally posted online, he decided to try an old-school tactic by visiting in person after submitting his online application.

When he told me, I worried about how they'd react to an unexpected drop-in. But he's a social person, and being at home so much was tough on him. If nothing else, putting in an appearance at their headquarters would let him be social in the middle of what would have been a workday, instead of searching through postings at home for the thousandth time.

I had serious doubts that showing up unannounced would work, but we were approaching the 10th month of his job search, and he looked excited about an opportunity. That had become rare.

I wished him luck and held my breath when he left that morning.

Now, my husband is a pastry lover, and on the way to their office, he stopped for a box of doughnuts to bring as a nice gesture. The move drew attention during his visit and jump-started conversations with staff.

He came home hopeful but nervous, telling me about who he had met and how the sweets had gone over better than expected. And it was true: his visit pulled him to the top of the applicant pool, and he finally received a call from HR later that day. The woman mentioned the doughnuts and how the staff had appreciated the treat.

A few interviews with them finally turned into a job offer.

When he first told me he planned to show up at their office with a box of sweets, I didn't think the visit would do much. Truthfully, dropping his résumé in person for that level of role seemed outdated to my recruiter's mind. I worried they would find his actions antiquated. I was wrong.

His visit earned him the chance to land a job he wouldn't have been considered for otherwise. Six months later, he's been offered a raise and recently had a great review. We still joke that doughnuts are responsible for his employment, even though they were just a symbol of his tenacity in this hard job market.

Unemployment isn't for the faint-hearted. It chips away at your confidence and finances while escalating life's stressors. I feel for anyone currently on the hunt when I look back at those 10 months of uncertainty.

What I love about the story is that showing up with a box of doughnuts is a very "him" thing to do, and it was when he let his personality shine that he finally got recognized as a person instead of just another applicant in their email inbox.

As a former HR professional, the job market and hiring process can feel brutal and impersonal on both sides. He forced it to be personal, and that's when things clicked. more

7

Edmore Munyoro
3m
Great stuff , thinking out of the box.
Alidu Abdulai
1h
That was a wonderful approach used by your husband. Congratulations to him. In searching for job, there is the need to use multiple approaches,... especially if the traditional approach of sending resume and cover letter is not working for you as a job seeker. more

James Petchett

Career development

3d

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

peter elweu
2h
May be you hired a baby. Just lay off the baby.
Siyabonga Madikizela
12h
Hi Sir, I understand you care about your son's performance and the quality of work he produces, but I think we got it covered here and we can manage.... We will handle everything we'll together but if we need help we will certainly call you. more

Career development

1w

I hid the fact I had children in job interviews - it's the only way to get hired

When author and mother-of-two Davina Quinlivan was interviewing for new roles online five years ago, she would hide all evidence of her two children, moving Mother's Day cards, their artwork and stray Pokemon cards.

Quinlivan, author of recently published Possessions: A Memoir of Transformation in an Era of Precarity, felt she needed to give each interview "the best shot" and couldn't take the... risk of motherhood "impacting me, even a small amount". As an academic who has spent much of her career teaching feminist theory, she found it deeply conflicting.

"It's a difficult feeling, because why would I do that? It's so painful to pretend to vanish [my children] away. Yet I know on some unconscious level that people interviewing are thinking: 'Well, if this child is unwell, our teaching schedule goes down.' Of course, there is support for working carers, but you have to jump through the hoops of getting the job in the first place," she explains. "I wanted to give myself opportunities. I don't think there were vast numbers of mums being interviewed for these jobs, and I knew who would get those jobs in the end - and they weren't mums."

She's one of an increasing number of women who have felt the need to hide motherhood during job interviews. Peanut, the world's largest community app for mums, ran a poll exclusively for The i Paper and found that the majority of mothers - 60 per cent - don't mention caring responsibilities during job interviews, while six per cent actively hide any trace of motherhood until they are offered a role. This compares with 34 per cent of mums who actively mention their children in interviews, the poll of 580 mothers found. "We're seeing more mothers concealing their children from interviewers, which underscores the need for our working culture to catch up. When honesty becomes a hiring risk, the problem isn't with the candidate - it's with the system," Michelle Kennedy, CEO of Peanut, believes.

You might think caring responsibilities should never be discussed in a job interview. But research consistently shows that men can actually experience a "fatherhood premium" - where having children actually increases their chances of getting hired. In one study, professor Stephen Benard at Indiana University sent identical fictionalised CVs to companies from female and male job "candidates", some mentioning their volunteer work for the Parents Teacher Association. Fathers received a slightly higher callback rate than childless men, while employers were 100 per cent less likely to call back mothers than childless women.

Lana Phillips, a marketing assistant from Derby with two children, aged six and four, learnt to hide motherhood after a job interview went wrong. "My children were three and one at the time. The interview was going well and it came up naturally that I had kids. The head of operations asked how old they were. When I told her, she replied, 'They need their mummy at home with them at this stage.' Then explained she stayed at home with her three children until they were school age. I was already back at work. I found it especially shocking that a woman was making this judgment. The interview went sour and ended five minutes later. I received an email saying I hadn't got the job," she remembers.

Since then, she has avoided mentioning her children in interviews. "Then, if I'm turned down, I know it's because of me, not because I have children," she says. She is relieved her employer is supportive and offers flexibility if she wants to watch a school show.

Discrimination against mothers is something that charity Pregnant Then Screwed has been campaigning against for a decade. CEO Rachel Grocott says: "The reality is that many bosses still see motherhood as a burden to business. Women have faced this discrimination for decades - from assumptions they might become parents, to the belief they 'won't come back' from maternity leave, to the stereotype that mothers are less passionate, less talented and less productive. Anyone experiencing it should seek advice on their rights and protections. Mothers are some of the most talented, productive employees and when you discriminate or push them out, you pay the cultural and financial price as parents move to employers who support them. That's the economic truth."

Joeli Brearley, founder of Growth Spurt which gives advice to women returning to work after becoming parents, says: "I spoke to a recruitment consultant who was told by 80 per cent of his clients not to put forward women with children under the age of five. We are seeing pregnancy and maternity discrimination rising year on year. When the economy gets tricky, people feel uncomfortable and revert back to old biases," she explains. "Things are taking a step backwards but we have a government that is making positive changes with the Employment Rights Act last year and the Parental Leave review currently underway."

Many mothers have experienced "ghosting" from recruiters. Florence, who has three children under five, recently started interviewing. "I have multiple childcare options, from nursery to family living closeby," she explains. "I had one recruiter contact me saying I was a perfect fit for a role. They were really positive until I mentioned children, when he asked how I'd manage work and my childcare responsibilities. I never heard from him again."

Brearley says in a job interview it's not illegal to ask a candidate if they are a parent, but it is illegal if an employer acts on that information. "We cannot prove that is the reason for discriminating, though," she says. "More often than not, interviewers ask subtle questions about candidates' personal lives, such as: 'How do you manage your personal life alongside work?' How to react to this depends on where you are in your career; we know that bias exists. For the majority of people, it is better to wait until you are offered a job to ask for flexible working or mention children, then you can prove discrimination. But if you're very senior, have privilege [to choose your role] and power, then ask the questions you want."

She says this is the opposite for men: mentioning children in an interview - as long as there is no request for flexible working - boosts their chance of success as they are seen as "responsible and better employees". Fathers are perceived as five percentage points more committed than childless men at work, according to research by Harvard Kennedy School, while mothers are seen as 12 percentage points less committed than non-mothers.

Sophie Catto, managing director of AllBright everywoman, which supports development of women in leadership roles, and whose children are seven and five, says: "No woman should ever feel she has to hide being a mother in a job interview. There is no lack of ambition in women who are mothers. Motherhood builds skills from prioritisation and decision-making under pressure to resilience, adaptability and problem solving. It strengthens emotional intelligence, empathy and communication, while also sharpening efficiency and the ability to manage competing demands. When businesses recognise and value this, it has a direct impact on confidence, progression and retention, something we have positively experienced in our office.

"I recommend training for line managers who aren't parents and an open calendar policy from business leaders: I have sports days and parents evenings in my diary and this inspires others to do the same. When working flexibly feels normal and doesn't come with a hidden career trade-off, we see stronger retention, deeper engagement and more sustainable long-term progression."

Quinlivan, whose children are now 13 and 10, found the experience of "vanishing" her children so painful that she will never do it again. "It seemed impossible [at that time] to think I had choice. But I did: by giving myself the tools so that I could make my own work," she says. She's built her self-employed creative career over the past four years, while remaining in academia running an online course with the University of Bristol and holding a Research Fellowship.

"Luckily, I've been treated brilliantly - sometimes my children come along and sit at the back in seminars. I now display motherhood in a way that makes it easier [for employers] to understand how my skills are immensely important and translatable to any kind of professional life. Anyone who is a carer knows the amount of creative power, care, love and challenge that goes into raising a human. I bring all those skills to the workplace." more

Tony Briscoe
1
2h
Technically, it's none of their business how many children you have.
Munyaradzi David Matimba
3
6d
I think the female boss in the interview was primarily focused on what’s best for the children, rather than assuming that hiring a mother of young... children would negatively affect work throughput or productivity. more

chisha brandz

Career development

2d

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

Greg Beutler
1
5h
Lots of jobs in UsA
Gladys E. Bustos
51
1d
Canada and Italy. Do your own diligence. There are countries paying for you to come. Find out conditions.

Career development

1d

Chicago woman asked a hiring manager about diversity. Then the manager refused to answer and told her 'we'll get back to you in a couple days'

Job hunting is a struggle, and as Chicago resident Suz Ballout just shared on TikTok, the interview process can sometimes be the test that leads to burnout. After navigating a series of scheduling nightmares, she found herself in a bizarre, dismissive final interview that Ballout declaring, "I'm gonna just stop looking for a job." If the comments are anything to go by, her story resonates with... everyone tired of the repetitive, often soul-crushing nature of modern jobs.

Ballout described her first interview as amazing. They obviously agreed since she got an email 10 minutes later to schedule a follow-up. Meeting that district manager was easier said than done. It wasn't just about the 4 attempts to schedule the meeting; it was the three no-shows. In that third time, she got a call, after she left, to meet hours later, and when he finally showed, she said she "immediately [did] not like this guy's vibe."

Would you like to know what makes this process even more hilarious? She was interviewing for a role at a weed dispensary. He asked the standard questions and then asked for her concerns. Rightfully, she mentioned the communication. He straight-up ignored that and asked for her next question. She was a little taken aback and then, out of curiosity, asked, "What do you do for diversity for your company? What do you do for people of color?" Yeah, that didn't go down well.

The response was jarring to say the least. The manager told her "that's like not really a discussion that I wanna get into right now. Um, I would just be too long. Um, but anyone who comes in here with any background, uh, can get promoted."

After that response, as you would expect, the manager finished the interview by saying they had other candidates and would be in touch in a couple of days. Ballout of course, could read the writing on the wall, so she called the first manager to pull her name from consideration.

While Ballout's experience feels personal and frustrating, it touches on a much larger, systemic issue regarding how companies handle diversity, equity, and inclusion. A study from Stanford Graduate School of Business, highlights a major disconnect between corporate rhetoric and actual internal change. After analyzing 1,300 DEI-related controversies, they found that even when companies face public backlash, their efforts to improve diversity are often surface-level.

According to the report, most companies respond to controversies by modestly increasing hiring, but almost exclusively in lower-paid, junior, or non-core back-office roles. However, companies are not just failing to promote diverse talent. The study found that turnover increased among women and people of color.

The researchers called it "DEI washing." Companies ramp up their diversity-related language on social media and in corporate reports without making meaningful structural changes. As the lead researcher points out, firms often rely on slogans like "people are our greatest asset" but don't commit to it in practice. Then, they face similar controversies the next year. Unfortunately, it echoes Trump's push to cut DEI programs for being 'woke' or to deem them illegal.

TikTok agreed. Users shared their own horror stories, ranging from hiring managers hiding in the back room to avoid onboarding new hires to companies using AI to psychoanalyze candidates based on text-based interviews. For many, the process feels like a complete waste of time that leaves them feeling undervalued.

As one commenter, HRene, wrote, "I am so tired of applying and not hearing anything. It makes me feel worthless and sad. Like I am not good enough despite my years of experience." more

6

Ezekiel Kayanja
13h
Hiring managers need sensitization but also candidates should go to interviews with unbiased mind due to their skin colour.

Career development

18h

Learning Agility in the AI Age: Top Skill for Jobs

"AI is not going to provide empathy and leadership and mentoring and all those skills that you need to lead a company for a company to be successful." John Santora, CEO of WeWork, made that statement at Fortune's Workplace Innovation Summit, and beneath his emphasis on human qualities sat something more specific: learning agility has become the singular skill reshaping how the world's most... powerful leaders hire.

Across boardrooms from Silicon Valley to Singapore, a consensus has crystallized. Not AI literacy alone. Not technical prowess. But the capacity to learn, adapt, and thrive as roles shift almost daily. What's remarkable isn't that CEOs value learning -- they always have. What's changed is the urgency and specificity with which they now assess it.

Why "years of experience" is no longer coveted by recruiters

The hierarchy of hiring has inverted. Years of experience no longer carry decisive weight. Advanced degrees are losing their gatekeeping power. What now separates those who will thrive from those who will quietly become obsolete is something harder to measure on a résumé: the ability to absorb new information, reset mental models, and perform in roles that didn't exist 18 months ago.

"The number one trend reshaping talent acquisition in 2026 is a decisive shift from experience-based hiring towards skills, learning agility, and AI readiness," said Napit Teparak, People and Organisations Director at SCG Chemicals. "Learning agility matters more than years of experience, and AI readiness is a baseline expectation."

The data backs this.

A World Economic Forum analysis of hiring experiments found that AI skills offset conventional disadvantages. Older applicants and candidates without advanced degrees -- groups historically facing lower callback rates -- saw their prospects improve substantially when they demonstrated learning agility and current capabilities. A barrier that seemed fixed for decades suddenly became permeable.

AI isn't replacing job categories in waves. It's rewriting almost every role from within. A marketing manager now works with AI copywriting tools. A data analyst includes AI governance. A customer service rep must know when to override an AI recommendation.

"If we don't continue to invest in entry-level hires, what happens in 3-5 years?" asked IBM's Chief Human Resources Officer. "There's no pipeline; the well simply dries up." IBM responded by tripling US entry-level hiring in 2026 -- explicitly for learning agility, not credentials.

This reflects a broader truth: the most expensive mistake a company can make now is hiring someone overqualified for yesterday's job but unable to adapt to tomorrow's.

Learning agility means several things: rapid knowledge absorption (moving from zero to competent in days, not months); mental flexibility (holding multiple frameworks and knowing which to deploy); comfort with ambiguity (viewing unfamiliar territory as data, not threat); and intellectual humility (updating beliefs when evidence shifts).

Sixty-seven percent of CEOs expect AI to increase entry-level hiring in 2026.

That's a signal they're willing to hire less experienced people if they demonstrate learning agility. Palantir CEO Alex Karp was blunt: "There are basically two ways to know you have a future" -- vocational trades or neurodivergent individuals. His company backs this with $5,400 monthly stipends and a clear pitch: "Skip the debt. Reclaim years of your life. Earn the Palantir degree."

Tastewise CEO Alon Chen hired Gen Z candidates with zero experience and no degree requirement. Why? Because they're not trapped in "old ways of working." Someone fresh from high school hasn't internalized legacy assumptions. They approach an AI tool as simply the way you do things.

Companies using "learning tests" present candidates with unfamiliar tools and ask them to solve problems in 30 minutes. Others conduct multi-round interviews where each round introduces new information. IBM explicitly evaluates "ability to learn quickly, adapt to change, and confidently leverage AI."

The most reliable indicator: curiosity. Evidence of self-directed learning, questions during interviews, side projects suggesting intellectual exploration -- these predict learning agility better than any formal test.

The future realignment

Learning agility determines whether a company moves faster than the technology it's trying to harness. Job titles will become less stable. Performance reviews will focus on what someone learned, not just what they shipped. The person valuable in 2031 is the one comfortable admitting ignorance today and getting fluent in two weeks.

In the age of AI, learning agility is the core asset that separates the adaptable from the obsolete. more

Career development

19h

Gen Z Doesn't Job-Hop. They Manage Risk.

For years, job-hopping was framed as a flaw. It signaled impatience. A lack of commitment. A résumé that couldn't sit still.

That framing assumed something crucial: that staying put was safer.

It isn't anymore.

Gen Z is not leaving work because they lack discipline or loyalty. They are leaving because the risk calculus has changed. Stability has thinned. Guarantees have disappeared. And the... cost of staying wrong has quietly overtaken the cost of leaving early.

From their vantage point, mobility is not a form of rebellion. It is insurance.

Staying Used to Be a Strategy

For much of the twentieth century, staying made sense. Tenure increased earning power. Loyalty bought visibility. Endurance was rewarded with progression, protection, or at least predictability.

That system was imperfect, but it was legible. You could see the trade.

Many senior leaders built their careers inside that logic. It shaped how they interpret ambition and seriousness. Staying signaled intent. Leaving early raised suspicion.

But that logic depended on one condition: that institutions would reciprocate commitment.

Gen Z entered the workforce after watching that condition fail.

A Different Risk Landscape

Gen Z's formative years were marked by instability that older cohorts experienced later, if at all. They watched layoffs ripple through households during the Global Financial Crisis. They graduated into a pandemic economy. They entered professional life just as white-collar work lost its aura of safety.

By 2024 and 2025, layoffs were no longer exceptional events. They were routine corrections. Early-career workers were often the first to be let go. Offers were rescinded. Roles disappeared mid-cycle.

At the same time, the cost of staying rose. Student debt in the US surpassed $1.7 trillion. Housing affordability in Western markets reached generational lows. Wage growth lagged inflation for much of Gen Z's early working life.

In practical terms, concentration risk increased. Staying in a single role for too long no longer maximizes upside. It amplified exposure.

A Gen Z professional put it plainly in a 2025 Reddit thread: "If I stay somewhere too long and they cut me, I'm stuck explaining a role that didn't grow. Leaving earlier keeps me employable."

That is not restlessness. It is portfolio thinking.

Job-Hopping as Risk Management

Research from 2024 and 2025 shows that early-career workers who switch roles often see faster wage growth than those who stay. External moves now carry a clearer financial premium, while internal promotion ladders have flattened or slowed.

Gen Z noticed.

They also noticed how quickly skills age. Roles evolve faster than job descriptions. A stagnant position is not neutral. It erodes future optionality.

In interviews and online forums, Gen Z consistently describes job changes as defensive, not aspirational. Leaving is how they hedge against skill decay, pay compression, and organizational fragility.

One Gen Zer described it this way: "Staying loyal doesn't protect you anymore. Staying relevant does."

That sentence should unsettle leaders. It reframes mobility as prudence.

What Managers Experience as Disruption

From a managerial perspective, this behavior feels destabilizing. Surveys from 2024 and 2025 show rising frustration with Gen Z employees. Many managers report that Gen Z is harder to retain, harder to motivate, and more likely to leave "too soon."

Some go further. A widely cited study found a meaningful share of managers saying they would hesitate to hire Gen Z again.

The complaints follow a familiar script. Too many questions. Too much feedback required. Too little patience. Too willing to walk.

But these complaints often confuse friction with irrationality.

Gen Z asks more questions because context matters when decisions shift quickly. They request feedback because delayed calibration feels risky, not reassuring. They leave earlier because staying wrong has become expensive.

Managers are reacting to a mismatch between old assumptions and new incentives.

Loyalty Has Become Conditional

In Leading Gen Z, I wrote:

"Gen Z does not reject loyalty. They reject blind loyalty. They grew up watching institutions dissolve commitments without warning and learned to treat work as conditional by default. When loyalty is framed as endurance without protection, they opt out. When it is framed as mutual investment with clear terms, they commit with surprising intensity."

This distinction is often missed.

Gen Z is not anti-commitment. They are anti-ambiguity. They want to understand what staying delivers, how long that delivery lasts, and what happens when conditions change.

When those answers are vague, they leave.

Tenure Is No Longer a Proxy for Trust

Many leaders still view tenure as a sign of seriousness. Time served is assumed to signal maturity, alignment, and grit.

Gen Z does not share this assumption.

To them, tenure without progression is not a sign of loyalty. It is exposure. Staying in a role that no longer builds skills or leverage is seen as careless, not commendable.

A Gen Z employee explained this in a 2025 interview: "If I stay somewhere that isn't teaching me anything, I'm not being loyal. I'm being irresponsible with my future."

That framing flips the moral weight of staying.

Why Gen Z Leaves Before Leaders Feel Ready

One of the most common managerial frustrations is that Gen Z leaves "before they're ready." Often, this means before leaders feel they have recouped their investment.

But that framing assumes the investment was mutual.

Gen Z evaluates roles continuously. When learning slows, feedback thins, or growth becomes hypothetical, the return curve flattens. Staying becomes speculative.

They leave at the point where the risk outweighs the reward.

That moment often arrives earlier than leaders expect because leaders still treat time itself as value.

It isn't.

Feedback, Growth, and Exit Timing

Gen Z consistently identifies feedback as one of the strongest predictors of staying. Not praise. Not perks. Information.

They want to know where they stand, what is improving, and how the role compounds over time. When that information disappears, uncertainty fills the gap.

In organizations where feedback is infrequent or performative, Gen Z interprets silence as stagnation. Leaving becomes the only way to regain signal.

This is not impatience. It is calibration.

The Managerial Misread

When Gen Z leaves, leaders often default to moral explanations. They lack grit. They expect too much. They do not want to put in time.

These explanations are comforting. They preserve identity. They absolve systems.

They are also incomplete.

Gen Z is navigating a labor market with fewer guarantees, faster skill obsolescence, and higher volatility than any cohort before them. Their behavior reflects that environment.

Calling it disloyalty does not change the incentives.

The Cost of Staying Wrong

There is another factor leaders underestimate: regret.

Gen Z has watched older workers stay too long in roles that stalled their growth. They have seen loyalty rewarded with layoffs rather than leadership. Those stories matter.

A Gen Z commenter wrote: "Everyone who tells me to stay longer also tells me they wish they had left earlier."

That observation carries weight.

What Actually Keeps Gen Z

When Gen Z does stay, the conditions are consistent.

They stay when learning is visible. When feedback is direct. When expectations are explicit. When progression is real rather than promised. When time invested compounds.

They do not stay because of slogans or sentiment. They stay because the math works.

In Leading Gen Z, I also wrote:

"Retention has shifted from being a function of time to a function of relevance. Gen Z stays where growth is tangible, feedback is frequent, and the exchange feels fair. When those conditions erode, leaving is not emotional. It is logical."

This is the new retention equation.

A Leadership Test, Not a Generational One

Gen Z's mobility is not a phase. It is a signal.

It exposes organizations that rely on inertia to retain people. It reveals roles that cannot articulate their value beyond tenure. It forces leaders to confront whether staying is rewarded or merely expected.

Some leaders will continue to frame this as a generational flaw. Others will adjust.

The difference will not be empathy. It will be clarity.

Mobility Is the Symptom, Not the Problem

Gen Z does not job-hop because they lack commitment. They move because commitment without return is no longer rational.

In a volatile labor market, staying is no longer the safest option. Relevance is.

Leaders who understand this will stop asking why Gen Z doesn't stay and start asking why staying should be worth it.

Those who don't will continue to treat attrition as a mystery while quietly accelerating it.

Jodie Shaw writes about consumer behavior, leadership, and generational shifts. Her books -- The Mind of the Modern Consumer, All Leaders Make Mistakes, and Leading Gen Z -- go deeper than this piece. If this thinking is useful, start with one of them. If not, subscribe for future essays. And if nothing else, a clap or comment helps this reach the right readers. more

Career development

20h

Terry Prone: Mooney controversy not as wild as BBC's case of mistaken identity

Which the director general thought was a good move. He further thought going public about it was an exercise in openness and should have been warmly welcomed. Which neither media nor an Oireachtas Committee obliged him by doing.

On the other hand, in the pantheon of RTÉ war stories, it's not actually that memorable. Every station and broadcaster have their war stories. The guest who arrives drunk... or otherwise incapable, like the eminent late Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing on Gay Byrne's Late, Late Show.

Byrne called him on it and -- in a wonderful example of the unpredictability of a live broadcast -- was promptly attacked by audience members eager to defend what they clearly believed was Laing's basic human right to go on Irish television pissed as a newt if he so chose.

Sometimes, the war story emerges from technical failure, as happened repeatedly to the BBC's great Richard Dimbleby during his later years, when he was dying painfully of cancer, although he had kept his illness secret. Dimbleby was presenting the BBC's live coverage of a royal tour of Germany during the mid-60s by Queen Elizabeth II.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Video links failed. Audio was hit-and miss. Just as they were about to go on air, Dimbleby's own monitor failed, which meant he was guessing what pictures, if any, were reaching the viewers, and to what degree if at all those pictures matched his commentary.

In fact, what the viewers were seeing, back home, seemed flawless, but Dimbleby didn't know that, and his frustration grew when the production crew told him the feed to London had failed. "Jesus wept," he muttered, sure his microphone was not working. Except that it was, and millions of viewers heard his desperation.

But a Dimbleby slip, while memorable, was nothing like as consequential as the broadcast cockup which happened 20 years ago, leaving jobs lost and reputations shredded.

What happened was that a man from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, having survived murder and mayhem in his homeland, became a refugee, reaching the UK, where he gained permission to stay. His career prospects were not helped by poor English, but, as a graduate in finance, he was also tech-savvy, and eventually received notice he should turn up for a job interview at the BBC at 10am on May 8, 2006. The job would entail detecting and removing inaccuracies from online databases. He was delighted and turned up in plenty of time.

So far, so good. As Guy arrived for his interview, a TV programme was already being broadcast from the same building, and that programme was lining up to cover a legal case involving the Apple logo. A computer expert had been booked to talk about this, and one of the production crew -- named Elliott Gotkine -- was told to get that expert from reception and bring him to studio.

He asked the receptionist if a guy named Guy Kewney had arrived and she nodded him towards the man who was there for a job interview. Somewhere along the line, the fact this was Guy Goma got missed. Gotkine grabbed Goma and led him to the studio, where Goma sensibly waved off an offer of make-up. What would he be doing with make-up on during a job interview?

He then found himself in a bright-lit studio, listening to a presenter introducing the bare bones of the court case judgment before turning to him, and asking if he was surprised by the verdict. At this point, Goma knew he was in trouble. "I'm in the wrong place," he thought. "Please don't blame me. I'm gonna do my best."

Doing his best consisted of him mixing a hamfisted response to her question with an attempt to relate it to the job interview he was supposed to be doing.

"I am very surprised to see... this verdict... come on to me, because I was not expecting that," he said. "When I came, they told me something else and I am coming. 'You got an interview,' so it's a very big surprise anyway."

In print, it looks semi-coherent. It wasn't, and the "interview" got quickly worse, during which time, people in the control room yelled at each other that the guy on camera knew nothing, that they had to get away from him and to alert the reporter at the court that they were cutting to him.

Which they did. Now, the reporter had not had time to read the judgement, so as the hand signal came to tell him he was on air, he started winging it like he had never winged it before. On the other hand, he spoke creditable English and most viewers were paying damn all attention to him anyway, because they were going "What the hell just happened there?"

One viewer was asking that with particular focus, he being Guy Kewney -- the real, the actual and the white Guy Kewney -- who was watching the disaster unfold on a monitor in another part of BBC reception, mystified by the chyron running across the black man's chest, falsely identifying him as Kewney.

All hell broke loose. Other media began cobbling stories together, some wrongly claiming Goma was a taxi driver made famous -- or infamous -- by pretending to be someone else.

Next, international media bombarded the Beeb with requests for information. One of those reached was the controller, Kevin Bakhurst, who'd been on a day off when it happened, and whose initial reaction to queries was to truthfully say: "Sounds very unlikely."

Unlikely it may have been, but it had happened, and Bakhurst suddenly found himself being asked if the BBC could prevent other broadcasters -- like CNN -- from using the clip. No, he decided. Time to put the corporate hands up and let it run.

He denied being angry about it, but he certainly did not, as most viewers did, find it funny. The recently published book about the episode says that over time his view "may have mellowed a bit".

"It was funny," he admitted to the author, "but it was reputationally not helpful." In that context, an RTÉ broadcaster wrongly categorised by the previous DG as a producer, rather than a presenter, is, bluntly, small potatoes.

Minuscule spuds, in fact. Petite prátaí, even. Which may explain why Bakhurst got so shirty with members of the Oireachtas committee who didn't see it that way. The shirtiness availed him nought. It had been decided this was a scandal, whether he liked it or not. And he clearly didn't like it.

But, in fairness, the producer/presenter controversy doesn't come near to the earlier, 20-year-old disaster. That's a broadcasting war story for the ages. Goma goes wild... more

Career development

20h

Mumbai journalist forced to quit during pregnancy struggles to get a job: 'HRs only see gap in CV'- Moneycontrol.com

'I was snatched away from a professional system that would have been in place for me had I not been forced to resign,' Nisha Nawaz (name changed) said. (AI-generated image)

A Mumbai-based journalist, who says she was forced to quit during her pregnancy, has spent nearly three years struggling to re-enter the workforce, alleging that recruiters are fixated on a gap in her résumé and using it to... justify lower salaries.

Nisha Nawaz (name changed), who previously worked with a city tabloid, told Moneycontrol that her job search since her child was three months old has been marked by repeated scrutiny over her career break.

"It seems like the first thing that catches recruiters' eye in my resume is the gap," she said, adding that offers made to her have often been below market standards. According to Nawaz, hiring managers frequently position the gap as a weakness in salary negotiations. "They want me to settle with a minimal salary and have often used the career gap as a reason that I should settle for less," she said.

She has applied across journalism, content writing, and research roles, but says the response pattern has remained consistent.

Exit during pregnancy

Recalling why she was forced to quit her last job at a popular Mumbai tabloid, Nawaz said she informed her editors about her pregnancy during the first trimester and initially received support, including limited work-from-home flexibility. But, health challenges -- including severe nausea, back pain, and long commutes -- made work increasingly difficult.

After taking a short medical leave, she said she was called into what she described as an unexpected performance review with senior editors.

"I could immediately sense a shift in my seniors' attitude," she said, adding that despite delivering around 15 cover stories during her nine-month tenure -- while others were expected to provide one cover story a month -- her performance was questioned over minor contributions.

She also alleged that her request for continued flexibility was denied.

"I had a note from the doctor that advised rest. I was nauseous almost all the time and had a back pain. I did not say no to work but just wanted a little flexibility. A hybrid system would have made it much easier for me to take care of myself and my work. But both my editors and the HR, who were all women, put their foot down."

This surprised Nawaz because there were at least two employees in the office who were allowed to work from home.

"It wasn't like I was the only person requesting for some flexibility. The organisation had already made exceptions for two other employees," she said.

Pressure builds after appraisal meeting

Since the office had denied a hybrid work system, Nawaz asked the senior editors if she could take a couple of months leave without pay along with her maternity leave. They allegedly said no. The following week as marked by "immense pressure," leaving her with what she felt was no viable option but resignation.

"It seemed that the only way to protect myself and my baby was to quit," Nawaz said, adding that the organisation accepted her resignation immediately and waived her notice period, which surprised her.

Long-term impact on career

Nawaz says the lack of maternity-linked job security has had cascading effects -- from lost benefits to stalled career progression.

"I was snatched away from a professional system that would have been in place for me had I not been forced to resign," she said.

She also pointed to the challenges of job-hunting while raising a child without family support in a large city. "Sifting through jobs... while I take care of a young child... has been traumatising," she said.

'Gap added skills, not reduced them'

Despite hiring bias, Nawaz argues that the career break has strengthened her abilities.

"That gap has not only brought forth a new human being but also taught me better time management, multi-tasking and other life skills," she said.

Nawaz is currently interviewing for roles and remains hopeful that employers will evaluate her on skills rather than the career break. more

Career development

21h

The job-search move that matters more than your résumé

College might prepare you for a job, though not necessarily how to network for one.

Building those professional relationships matters more than ever because while it's easier than ever to apply to jobs, it's often harder to stand out from a pile of AI-tailored résumés.

Finding ways to connect with people on the inside might be enough to get a hiring manager to give your application a... thumbs-up.

This approach is often more effective than expecting your résumé to do the talking for you, career advisors told Business Insider. And this is especially the case if you're just starting out and don't have a lot of experience.

"People hire people, they don't hire paper," said Andy Chan, who runs the Office of Personal and Career Development at Wake Forest University.

He said that job seekers too often think of recruiting and applying for jobs as transactional processes. While they are, to some degree, Chan said, it's important to try to ground your interactions with an employer in relationships.

That matters because it's a tough job market in many industries. While unemployment remains in check, some companies are shedding workers, and some employers want more from their entry-level hires.

He said the No. 1 way to get an interview is to know someone at an organization or have someone recommend that you talk to someone at a specific company.

After a conversation, Chan said, the person you spoke with might then talk to the hiring manager or someone in HR and let them know you're applying, Chan said.

"That bit of endorsement is frequently the key to getting an interview," he said.

Spend two-thirds of your time networking

Chan said it's important that most job seekers, including those seeking their first professional role, spend about 60% to 70% of their time talking with people and only 30% to 40% applying online.

"Most students will say, 'Whoa, I spent like 100% of my time online,'" he said, adding that some will then say that their approach hasn't worked.

If you don't have many contacts in your field, college career offices can often help connect you with relevant alumni and corporate recruiters.

You can also try to make connections by asking someone you admire to chat for a few minutes about their career trajectory. It's what's sometimes called an informational interview.

The trick is to first do your homework by researching the employer and the person you're speaking with.

"If you're going to ask for 15 minutes of their time, be sure to show that you spent 15 minutes of yours," Madeline Mann, a career coach and CEO of Self Made Millennial, previously told Business Insider.

Apply, then start your hustle

Jane Curran, global head of HR operations at the real-estate company JLL, said that job seekers still need to apply for roles that make sense for them. After all, you need to be on an employer's radar to be in contention. Yet, she said, there's more work to do after submitting an application.

"Then you have to turn that into a hustle," Curran said. That could mean going to LinkedIn to see who might have a connection at that company, she said.

"You have to go figure out who knows who, and how am I going to stand out? How am I going to get a job interview?" Curran said.

Catherine Fisher, a career expert with LinkedIn, said that networking doesn't have to mean taking someone out to dinner three nights a week.

Making or keeping a connection with someone can involve small gestures like offering a substantive comment on someone's post or shooting them a text, Fisher said. Other times, like if you're asking someone for a bigger favor, it might be time to buy them a coffee, she said.

"Networking is a muscle that you're going to have to flex throughout your entire career," Fisher said. "When you're job searching, you're going to be flexing it more."

She said that too often, people think they should only reach out when they have something big to share. Instead, Fisher said, it can be as simple as messaging to say you were thinking of the person and enjoyed the last conversation.

"You just want to keep those relationships warm," she said, "because they will serve you when you need them."

Fisher said a key part of it is being "reciprocal" so that when people contact you, you give your time, too.

"It just becomes this kind of circle of networking," she said.

Don't overlook your résumé

Even though networking is so often essential, that doesn't mean your résumé can be an afterthought, said Kathleen Powell, chief career officer at William & Mary.

Many employers use applicant-tracking software to take a first pass at reviewing résumés, in part by looking for keywords that match those found in the job posting.

She said that because a recruiter or hiring manager might only scan a résumé quickly, it's important that it be well-organized.

"If it's in front of a human, make it easy for that human to find the things," Powell said.

Do you have a story to share about your job search? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

An earlier version of this story appeared on July 16, 2025. more

cyusa shawn

Career development

1d

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.

2

Kelvin Mulembe
2
3d
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
4
4d
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
42 replies

Career development

22h

ScoutBetter Raises the Bar in Hiring with $5M AI Career Platform Built for Outcomes

ScoutBetter is an AI career platform helping job seekers optimize applications, improve hiring outcomes, and build data-driven job search strategies.

ScoutBetter is an AI career platform helping job seekers optimise applications, improve hiring outcomes, and build data-driven job search strategies. Today, a typical job seeker applies to 200+ jobs, customises every résumé, and still doesn't know... if what they're doing is right. The problem isn't effort; it's strategy. That's the gap ScoutBetter was designed to fill. But for co-founder Rakshith Reddy Gopidi, it wasn't a market insight so much as an experience as an international student in the US: repetitive, uncertain and disheartening. "It felt like shouting into an abyss", he says. "You apply, you wait, and you never know what made the difference." Disappointment that leads to a problem that needs solving. Co-founded with Raghav Kapoor Gupta, both Computer Science Engineering graduates and batchmates from NIIT University, Rajasthan, ScoutBetter has become a $5 million AI-powered career platform built completely bootstrapped with a global team of 80+.

While most hiring platforms focus on the number of listings and applications, ScoutBetter is the other way around. By looking at the link between a candidate, the roles they apply to, and what they get in return, this employer-focused hiring marketplace is building a data-informed picture of what drives results. "You shouldn't position your career on guesswork it should run on intelligence, clarity and direction," says Raghav.

In practice, the platform covers the entire lifecycle of job search: resume polishing, job identification in company career pages, custom application, and interview prep, where AI and humans work together. To date, it has handled millions of applications across the United States, creating thousands of prospects for interviews for students, early-career professionals and international applicants.

Creating the Intelligence Layer

ScoutBetter is changing from a purely application platform to an AI-powered career agent, which tells candidates where they position, what skill gaps they have, and their odds of success at different roles. Developed by CTO Nayan Reddy, a BITS Pilani graduate who has 5+ years of experience, the focus of the system is pattern recognition, feedback and real-life results, all without raising a penny of external capital.

The company, a $5 million AI career platform, was founded in 2023 by Rakshith Reddy Gopidi and Raghav Kapoor Gupta. ScoutBetter is headquartered in the US with a distributed +80 team, serving users across the US and India. more

Career development

23h

Job Search Guidance For 10th-Pass

I have completed my 10th standard and now want to enter the workforce as soon as possible. What I need from you is focused job-search support that goes beyond simply polishing a résumé. Here's what I am expecting: * A concise, market-ready résumé and short cover-letter template tailored to 10th-pass openings. * A curated list of current vacancies in reputable companies that hire candidates with my... qualification, including but not limited to hospitality, customer service, manufacturing or similar corporate setups. * Step-by-step guidance on how to apply to each role -- including optimising keywords for online portals, filling out application forms, and following up professionally. * Interview preparation: likely questions for entry-level positions and tips to present my schooling and any informal experience in the best light. Please outline how quickly you can deliver the first set of openings and any tools or job boards you plan to use. I'm ready to start right away and will provide any additional personal information you need to move things forward. more

Career development

23h

I Found a $49 Service(For Free) That Applies to 100+ Jobs a Month For You -- And It's Not What You...

I Found a $49 Service(For Free) That Applies to 100+ Jobs a Month For You -- And It's Not What You Think

A human team doing your job hunt isn't lazy. It might actually be the smartest career move you make this year.

Job hunting is broken. Not slightly inconvenient -- genuinely, soul-crushingly broken.

The average software engineer spends 4-6 hours filling out a single application on Workday.... The average job search takes 5 months. The average number of applications sent before landing an offer? Somewhere between 50 and 200, depending on which depressing LinkedIn post you read last.

And yet, most job seekers are still doing all of this manually. One application at a time. Copy-pasting the same bullet points into yet another "Skills" text field that will be read by a bot before a human ever sees it.

That's the problem JobRocket was built to solve -- and when I came across it, my first reaction was skepticism. My second was: wait, this is actually just smart.

What JobRocket Actually Is

JobRocket is an application assistance service where a US-based human team applies to jobs on your behalf. You upload your resume once, tell them your target role and salary range, and they start hunting.

Every day, their team identifies 5+ new openings across 200+ company career pages -- Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, Notion, Stripe, the whole ecosystem. They tailor your resume and write a custom cover letter for each application. You get a live dashboard showing every single submission, and interview invites land directly in your inbox.

The price: $49 a month. But here's the hook -- they'll do your first 10 applications completely free, no credit card required. If those 10 applications generate interviews, you pay. If they don't, you walk away with nothing lost.

That's a genuinely confident business model. You don't offer a free trial unless you believe your product works.

The Part That Made Me Stop Scrolling

There's a line on the site that stopped me: "No bots. 100% human team. That's why we don't get banned by Workday or Greenhouse."

This is the thing most people miss when they think about AI-powered job search tools. The major Applicant Tracking Systems -- Workday especially -- have gotten extremely good at detecting automated submissions. Bot-applied applications frequently get flagged, filtered, or silently discarded before a recruiter ever sees them.

JobRocket's answer to this is deliberately old-fashioned: actual people, actually filling out forms. It sounds counterintuitive in 2026, but human applications have a higher completion rate, better formatting consistency, and don't trigger spam filters. Their clients reportedly average 3-8 interview requests within 30 days of 100+ applications. That conversion rate is real.

Who This Is Actually For

The site mentions "200+ laid-off engineers," and that framing is precise. This product clicks hardest for a specific kind of person:

The employed professional who hates job hunting. You're not desperate, but you want to see what's out there. You have $49 but you don't have 20 hours a week to spend on applications. JobRocket is essentially arbitrage -- you're buying back your time at a rate that makes obvious sense.

The recently laid off who's overwhelmed. When you're in the middle of a layoff, the cognitive load of job hunting compounds the emotional weight of it. Having someone else handle the application volume while you focus on interview prep is a legitimate division of labour.

The senior professional targeting specific companies. At a senior level, the ratio of quality applications to quality interviews matters more than raw volume. JobRocket's team applies directly to career pages (not third-party aggregators), which means your application lands in the primary ATS -- where it should be.

The Honest Caveats

JobRocket is transparent about what it is and isn't. The footer reads: "JobRocket is an application assistance service. We do not guarantee interviews or employment."

That's fair. No one can guarantee interviews. What they're guaranteeing is volume -- 100+ applications a month, or a full refund. The rest is on the quality of your resume, the strength of your experience, and the market you're operating in.

The other thing worth noting: this is not a headhunter. They're not leveraging relationships with hiring managers. They're not doing anything you couldn't theoretically do yourself -- they're just doing it faster and at scale, which is precisely the value proposition.

The Broader Point

There's a cultural narrative that says doing your job hunt manually is somehow more earnest, more deserving of results. That if you didn't suffer through every Workday form yourself, you didn't really want it.

That's nonsense. Nobody judges a founder for hiring a recruiter, or a busy executive for using a career coach. Delegating the mechanical, repetitive parts of job hunting -- form-filling, cover letter formatting, application tracking -- so you can focus on the high-leverage parts (interview prep, networking, negotiation) is not cutting corners. It's resource allocation.

JobRocket isn't magic. But at $49 a month with a free trial that requires zero credit card, it's one of the lowest-risk experiments a job seeker could run in 2026.

The application economy is volume-based now. The question is whether you want to supply that volume yourself, or hire someone who does it faster while you sleep.

JobRocket is live at jobrocket-site. The free trial is 10 human-submitted applications, no card required. more

Career development

1d

Remote Job Search Assistance

I'm determined to secure reliable remote work and need an experienced guide to get there quickly. Here's where I'm starting: * I want focused Job hunting support, not just general advice. * My preference is Remote work opportunities that fit my background and let me earn steadily from home. * If a side path makes sense, I'm open to using Kickstarter for a small crowdfunding push to bridge the gap... while applications are underway. What I'm looking for you to do: 1. Review and strengthen my résumé, LinkedIn profile, and portfolio so they align with remote-first employers. 2. Build a targeted list of roles, platforms, and companies that match my skills and time zone. 3. Craft or refine outreach messages, cover letters, and application workflows so I can send quality submissions fast. 4. Coach me through interview prep, salary negotiation, and onboarding steps. 5. (Optional) Outline a simple Kickstarter campaign I could launch if needed for short-term financial relief. Success for me means landing a sustainable remote position as soon as possible. If you have a proven track record placing candidates in distributed teams or coaching clients into remote gigs, I'd love to work with you. more

Career development

1d

Resume Revamp & On-Site Tech Roles

My current résumé is cluttered, dated, and failing most ATS filters. I need it reorganised into a clean, one-to-two-page document that instantly positions me as a strong on-site software developer within the technology sector. The content already exists; what I lack is sharp wording, logical flow, and the right balance of technical depth (Java, Python, Git, AWS) and measurable achievements. Once... the résumé is tightened, I also want proactive guidance on uncovering suitable openings. That includes identifying companies hiring for in-office developer positions, refining keywords for job boards, and shaping an adaptable cover-letter template I can tweak quickly for each posting. Deliverables * A polished, ATS-friendly résumé in both PDF and editable format * A reusable cover-letter template matched to on-site software development roles * A concise search strategy with at least five current job leads and the reasoning behind each recommendation Acceptance Criteria * Résumé passes a standard ATS scan with 90 %+ match for typical software developer postings * Key achievements are quantified (e.g., performance gains, code coverage, team size) and easy to spot at first glance * Job leads are genuinely on-site (not hybrid) and aligned with my tech stack Turnaround of one week or less would be ideal so I can start applying immediately. more

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

1d

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

1d

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

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