Career development

 9h

7 things boomers notice about your handshake that determine their entire opinion of you in under 3 seconds and there is no second chance


From the death grip that screams insecurity to the limp fish that whispers indifference, that split-second greeting you barely think about has already written your entire story in their minds -- and they're not reading it twice.

Last week at my nephew's college graduation, I watched him introduce his girlfriend to his grandfather.

The moment their hands met, I saw it -- that subtle shift in my... father-in-law's expression, the almost imperceptible straightening of his shoulders, the way his eyes flickered with approval.

The handshake had lasted maybe two seconds, but the verdict was in. Later, he pulled me aside and said, "That young woman has character. Good head on her shoulders." All from a handshake.

It got me thinking about all the job interviews, parent-teacher conferences, and first meetings I've witnessed over my decades in education.

The handshake ritual might seem outdated to younger generations, but for those of us who grew up when a person's word and a firm grip meant everything, it's still the opening chapter of who you are. And whether we like it or not, that first impression sticks like superglue.

Here's what nobody tells you: there's a Goldilocks zone for handshake pressure, and boomers have an internal calibration system for it that's been fine-tuned over decades. Too soft, and they think you lack conviction or worse, that you're not taking them seriously. Too hard, and they see right through your attempt to prove something.

I learned this the hard way during my first year as a substitute teacher. Desperate to be taken seriously while juggling textbooks and a toddler on my hip, I'd practically crush people's hands trying to show I belonged there.

One veteran teacher finally took pity on me and said, "Honey, you're not arm wrestling. You're saying hello." The right pressure feels like you're holding a small bird -- firm enough that it won't fly away, gentle enough that you won't hurt it.

You know that moment when someone's shaking your hand but looking over your shoulder for someone more important? Boomers catalog that instantly as a character flaw. We were raised to believe that if you can't look someone in the eye during a handshake, you're either hiding something or you think you're too good for the interaction.

The eyes-to-hand ratio matters too. If you're staring at the handshake itself instead of making eye contact, it signals uncertainty. But here's the thing -- it's not about boring holes through someone's skull with your intensity.

It's about that brief, genuine moment of connection that says, "You have my attention." Think of it as the physical equivalent of putting your phone down when someone's talking.

Nobody likes to talk about sweaty palms, but boomers definitely notice them.

Now, before you panic about your naturally clammy hands, know that there's a difference between nervous moisture and neglect. What really bothers this generation isn't the nervousness itself -- it's when someone doesn't have the awareness or courtesy to do a quick, discreet palm wipe before extending their hand.

My father, who delivered mail for forty years, always kept a handkerchief in his pocket specifically for this purpose. "Shows respect," he'd say, giving his hand a quick pat before greeting someone. It wasn't about having perfect, dry hands. It was about making the effort to present your best self, even in small moments.

A good handshake has a rhythm to it -- usually two to three pumps, lasting about three seconds total. Any less feels dismissive. Any more starts to feel like you're trying to sell them something or you don't understand social boundaries.

Have you ever been trapped in one of those endless handshakes where the person won't let go? Or experienced the opposite -- that barely-there touch that makes you wonder if it even happened? Boomers read these variations like tea leaves.

The person who holds on too long might be seen as needy or aggressive. The drive-by shaker comes across as someone who can't be bothered with human connection.

This one's subtle but crucial.

The way you position your hand for the shake -- palm perpendicular to the ground versus tilted up or down -- sends a message. Palm down suggests dominance or condescension. Palm up can seem subservient or overly eager to please. That neutral, vertical position? That's the sweet spot that says you see this as a meeting of equals.

I once watched a young teacher interview completely tank his chances with our principal before he even sat down. He came in with what I call the "politician's grab" -- that two-handed sandwich move that feels invasive when you don't know someone.

The principal, a Korean War veteran who valued proper boundaries, was immediately put off. Sometimes trying to seem extra friendly backfires spectacularly.

What happens in the milliseconds after the handshake matters just as much as the grip itself. Do you immediately pull back like you've touched a hot stove? Do you linger awkwardly? Or do you release naturally while maintaining that moment of connection?

Boomers notice if your smile drops the second your hands part, or if you're already mentally moving on to the next thing. They're looking for consistency -- does your body language after the handshake match the confidence you tried to project during it?

That smooth transition from handshake to conversation, without any jarring shifts in energy, tells them you're genuine rather than performing.

Perhaps nothing makes a worse impression on a boomer than avoiding or bungling the handshake entirely.

Whether it's the awkward COVID-era elbow bump attempt when they've clearly extended their hand, or that mortifying moment when you go for a fist bump while they're offering a traditional shake -- these mismatches scream that you can't read a room.

But the absolute worst? Not offering your hand at all when meeting someone from this generation in a professional or formal setting. To them, it's like showing up to a wedding in sweatpants. It doesn't matter if handshakes seem archaic to you. What matters is showing respect for their cultural norms.

Look, I know some of you are rolling your eyes right now, thinking this is all ridiculously old-fashioned.

Why should a three-second gesture carry so much weight? But here's what I've learned after decades of watching these micro-interactions play out: these small rituals of respect and connection still matter deeply to a generation that built their relationships on them.

Understanding how to navigate them isn't about conforming to outdated standards -- it's about speaking someone else's language fluently enough to build a bridge. And sometimes, that bridge starts with something as simple as getting the handshake right. more

Career development

 1d

I landed a job by cold emailing the CEO. Nothing else worked for me.


Job seekers should focus on personalized outreach instead of traditional résumés and cover letters.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cathy Xie, a 25-year-old marketing professional based in Toronto. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I remember opening my laptop about a month into my job hunt, seeing yet another automated rejection, and feeling this kind of collapsing... desperation. I knew I needed to do something different in my approach if I wanted to stand out in the job market.

I tried three new job-finding strategies, but I didn't get hired until I sent an email directly to a CEO with the subject line "My landlord inspired this email."

Job seekers should be thinking less about their résumé and cover letters, and more about how they can get a potential employer's attention.

In 2024, I founded a startup aimed at helping students and new grads with unconventional backgrounds pivot into tech and navigate the job market. Unfortunately, we had to shut down about a year and a half later due to changes in the market. It's a little ironic that the tech job market is what put me back on the job hunt.

After mass applying to roles across marketing, product, and growth, largely targeting tech and AI companies, I felt drained. I was also spending so much time doom-scrolling on TikTok, watching video after video of young Gen Z job seekers talking about their frustrations with the job market.

Job searching was always in the back of my mind, and I knew it was time to try a different approach.

The first route I tried was referrals, but those were not a huge success.

My next approach was scouring niche startup boards, subscribing to free newsletters that posted about startups hiring, and even following LinkedIn creators who report on startups that had just raised. Then I'd apply directly through the company's website and try to email someone on the team who would likely be my manager for that position. Though I didn't end up with a job from that approach, it was still a great way to network.

My last approach, cold emailing a founder, ultimately landed me my new role. I'd been following this founder's journey on LinkedIn for a while because I was passionate about his startup's mission to address the housing crisis in major cities. He posted that he was hiring a marketing manager and included a link to apply. I thought to myself, "I am not applying the traditional way again."

I had just come across a social media post from someone about how cold emailing helped them achieve so many of their life goals, and how rejection was redirection. It made me think maybe I should just email the founder directly. I had nothing to lose.

I know, as a founder, you get thousands of emails, so I needed to make sure my email was one he had to open.

It was also important to me to make my email as personal as possible because I think it's a lost art. Especially with AI, we've become overly formal with writing. My subject line was "My landlord inspired this email" because I thought it was funny and might grab his attention.

In the body, I introduced myself, described my past roles and how they prepared me for this job, and wrote about my passion for and interest in the startup itself. I tried to keep it personable and a little funny. I kept it around 150 words, so it was short and sweet.

He responded just over a week later by emailing me back and messaging me on LinkedIn to set up an intro call with him and the CMO. After two more interviews, including an intro to a case study and a case study presentation, I was offered the role of marketing manager.

The job has been great so far, and my team is amazing.

The first two questions a lot of people ask themselves when applying to a job are "How should I write my résumé?" and "How should I write my cover letter?"

However, I think the question you should ask yourself instead is, "How can I get the attention of this person?" Once you ask yourself how you can get in front of a person, you open up so many ways to approach this job hunt, rather than just doing the traditional cold application.

With this wave of AI, it's so easy not to put in effort with job applications and just mass apply. But I think what comes with getting people's attention is putting in the effort.

You can spend a few hours cold applying and maybe get one or two automated emails, or you can spend those hours doing a couple of very personalized outreaches. It will take effort, but I think it's important to put that effort in if you want to stand out in today's job market. more
2   

  • Julius Nyule

    11h

    Great approach. I have been using the first approach you mentioned and it helped me get the company insights very quickly. I will try your last... approach (cold emailing a founder) and see how it goes. Thanks a lot for sharing. more

  • Mabolo Kituyi

    13h

    Well put

Career development

 11h

The Word That Changed Everything: How "Creatrepreneur" Was Born in a Room in Australia


The Word That Changed Everything: How "Creatrepreneur" Was Born in a Room in Australia

By Kevin J. Barrett | Founder, The Creatrepreneur & KJ Barrett & Associates, The Creation Society | Strategist Behind, Qoollege.com

Australia. 1992.

A rented RSL hall -- the kind normally used for bingo nights and community raffles. Fluorescent lights humming overhead. Stale carpet. Instant coffee.

And... fifteen people who were not, as the government paperwork described them, "unemployed."

They were the discarded.

Victims of a recession that didn't need to happen. An economy that had overleveraged itself into collapse. A banking system that turned a structural error into a national wound.

I stood at the front of that room -- an American in Western Sydney, contracted by D.E.E.T. (the Commonwealth Department of Employment) to deliver skills training -- and I knew within minutes that skills were not the problem.

It wasn't their résumés that had collapsed.

It was their sense of meaning.

When "Entrepreneur" Wasn't Enough

I began the way any instructor would. Talking about opportunity. Self-employment. Starting a business during a recession.

A few heads lifted. Most remained still. One man sighed -- a quiet sound of surrender that hit me harder than any challenge could.

And then something shifted.

I had spent years studying the evolution of societies -- Agricultural → Industrial → Information → Knowledge -- and sensing a fifth stage forming beneath the surface. Years of spiritual study: Silva, visualization, meditation, intuition. Years of feeling the gap between what people were taught and what their souls were longing for.

In that ordinary room in Western Sydney, it all crystallized.

Not as a thought. As a birth.

"Entrepreneur isn't enough," I heard myself think.

I paused mid-sentence.

"No..." I said quietly, more to myself than the room.

"You don't just need to be an entrepreneur."

The participants stirred. A few lifted their heads. Something electric passed through the silence.

"You have to go beyond competition. You have to learn to create -- not just react. Not just survive. Create."

And then, without planning it -- without ever having spoken the word before -- I gave voice to what I now believe is the next evolution of human work:

"You have to become... a Creatrepreneur."

Some laughed. Some murmured. One woman raised an eyebrow.

But I smiled -- because I felt the truth of it vibrate through the room, through me, through the world itself.

A new identity had just been named.

What the Word Actually Meant

A Creatrepreneur is not simply an entrepreneur who is creative.

The distinction matters.

An entrepreneur competes. A Creatrepreneur creates -- not just products or services, but value, meaning, and futures that don't yet exist.

In that room, I was watching something Viktor Frankl had described decades earlier: when a person finds a why, they will endure any how.

The government's success benchmark for skills programs at the time was 15% -- fifteen percent of participants eventually finding work after cycling through training.

Meaning-based identity work -- Creatrepreneur identity work -- produced outcomes above 80%.

Not because I taught better skills.

Because meaning reactivated their will.

When meaning collapses, motivation collapses. When identity collapses, possibility collapses. But when identity re-ignites -- even slightly -- the entire trajectory of a life can shift.

The First Creatrepreneurs in the World

At the end of that first day, I asked everyone to stand.

Some resisted. Some sighed. Some rolled their eyes with the exhaustion of long-term unemployment.

But they stood.

"Repeat after me," I said -- not with authority, but with invitation.

"We... are Creatrepreneurs."

A few chuckles bubbled up -- skeptical, disbelieving, almost embarrassed.

But something in the room had shifted.

By the second week, their voices grew stronger. By the third, they were going home and telling their families: "There's this Yank teaching us how to be Creatrepreneurs."

Some families laughed. Some didn't understand.

But within weeks, the laughter stopped. The skepticism dissolved. Identity took root.

And those fifteen individuals -- people society had written off -- became the first Creatrepreneurs in the world.

Long before business schools recognized what was coming. Long before conscious leadership entered corporate vocabulary. Long before entrepreneurship evolved into creation.

This was the birth of a movement, quietly unfolding in community halls across Australia. Not through capital. Not through technology. Not through credentials.

Through identity, meaning, and human spirit.

The Pattern I Had Been Tracking for Years

Societies change when their central form of value creation changes:

- Agricultural Society → humans mastered physical labor

- Industrial Society → humans mastered machines

- Information Society → humans mastered data

- Knowledge Society → humans mastered learning

But something was breaking through the surface in the early 1990s.

Knowledge was no longer enough. Information was overwhelming people instead of empowering them. Technology accelerated faster than human identity could adapt.

Beneath all of it, one quiet truth kept rising in me:

People needed to become creators of value -- not merely consumers, not merely workers, not merely knowledge holders.

Value was shifting:

Data → Meaning. Products → Purpose. Skills → Identity. Labor → Creativity. Competition → Contribution.

This was not speculation. It was evolution.

The Creatrepreneur wasn't a clever term I invented in a marketing meeting.

It was a future calling itself into the present.

What I Saw Before Others Did

Standing in that RSL hall, I recognized a quiet truth long before the world did:

People were not losing jobs. People were losing identities.

The Industrial promise was collapsing. The Knowledge Society was cresting. Technology was beginning to outrun the human frameworks designed to carry it.

And the future? The future did not belong to workers, or managers, or even traditional entrepreneurs.

It belonged to creators.

Creators of value. Creators of meaning. Creators of solutions. Creators of futures that didn't exist yet.

What I witnessed in that small room in Western Sydney was not isolated. It was the convergence of a collapsing economic paradigm, an expiring identity model, and a new societal evolution emerging -- one built on:

- Purpose as productivity

- Meaning as momentum

- Identity as capability

- Creativity as currency

- Consciousness as infrastructure

The Creation Society was not an idea I invented.

It was a pattern revealing itself. I simply recognized it early.

The Lesson That Still Applies Today

Three decades later, the forces that filled that RSL hall are playing out on a global scale.

AI is displacing workers. Automation is restructuring industries. The old promises of job security are evaporating faster than ever before.

And the response from institutions? More skills training. More credentials. More résumé optimization.

The same mistake. Different century.

What people need now is exactly what those fifteen Australians needed in 1992:

A new identity to stand on.

Not just new tools. Not just new platforms. A new self-concept -- one built around the capacity to create, to contribute, and to generate value in ways the economy hasn't even named yet.

That is what a Creatrepreneur is.

And that is why the Creation Society -- the community I've spent thirty years building -- exists.

The world doesn't have a skills deficit.

It has a meaning deficit.

And the answer has been the same since the first word was spoken in that RSL hall in Australia:

Create.

Kevin J. Barrett is the founder of KJ Barrett & Associates, the originator of the Creatrepreneur movement, and the Strategist behind Qoollege.com -- an AI-powered college guidance platform. He has been working at the intersection of identity, creativity, and human potential since 1988.

Follow Kevin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kjbarrett

Learn more about the Creation Society and the Creatrepreneur movement: thecreatrepreneur.com more

Career development

 12h

Modern Tech Resume Redesign


My current Technology/IT résumé needs a full makeover so it stands out visually yet still flows through any ATS without hiccups. The content is already drafted; what I require is a fresh, clean layout that feels contemporary and professional, with subtle graphic touches that suit a tech-savvy audience. Here's what will define success: * Two final files: editable Word document and matching PDF *... Layout optimised for common ATS systems (no images that break parsing, fonts embedded, proper section headers) * Consistent typography, balanced white space, and a clear visual hierarchy that guides the reader through key achievements Please tell me about your experience designing résumés -- especially for IT professionals. Links to examples are welcome if they help illustrate your style, though a brief note on how you approach structure and readability is even more helpful. I'll share my current résumé as soon as we start so you can focus on design rather than content rewriting. Looking forward to seeing how you can elevate it. more

Career development

 14h

How an MBA became a catalyst for meaningful work


Entrepreneur and regenerative business designer Ondine Hogeboom chose to treat her MBA research project as a strategic lever to develop the foundations for work that has since shaped global conversations on flourishing, purpose-led enterprise.

When Ondine Hogeboom joined Henley Business School Africa, she didn't arrive with the conventional résumé of a corporate climber. She brought years of... lived entrepreneurial experience and a deep instinct for building social value, and recognised the need to deepen her understanding of shared business language to support the global growth of her impact

Today, Ondine is a leader in regenerative business model design. Her journey from a non-degree student in South Africa to a global founder in Canada is a masterclass in how an MBA research project can serve as a strategic lever for international career transition and social innovation.

Ondine started her first enterprise at 17. By her 30s, she had scaled initiatives in Durban's creative sector and founded Botswana's first corporate wellness organisation. Despite her success, she felt gaps in her business knowledge.

"I felt there were things I just didn't know," she says. "And I knew that I didn't know."

This self-awareness led her to Henley Business School Africa. Henley's admissions policy - which accepts a small percentage of candidates based on impactful work experience rather than an undergraduate degree - opened the door.

The transition wasn't easy. Joining a heavily corporate cohort, Ondine initially struggled with imposter syndrome. However, the MBA provided a breakthrough: it validated her lived experience.

"I realised I knew so much more than I thought I did," she reflects. "I just didn't have the language. The Henley MBA gave me confidence in my own experience and perspective."

The true formula for Ondine's success wasn't just completing the degree; it was how she utilised the final research project.

Facing a move to Toronto with a newborn baby, Ondine used her research as an entry point into the Canadian startup ecosystem. Her study explored how innovative startup approaches could be applied to the social impact sector. Every interview served as:

During her research, Ondine met Antony Upward, creator of the Flourishing Business Canvas, the world's first and only systemic business canvas. Their collaboration led to the founding of Flourishing Startups, an organisation specialising in regenerative business design.

Ondine's research project at Henley birthed the Flourishing Startup Method, an approach to designing business models that are socially beneficial, environmentally regenerative and financially viable. Ten years later, this methodology powers incubators and accelerators worldwide.

Ondine's story is a reminder that an MBA is more than three letters behind a name. For those approaching their final thesis, she offers an invitation:

"There's such an incredible opportunity to spark a meaningful line of learning. Imagine the possibilities when your gifts and curiosity meet the Henley research opportunity. more

Career development

 14h

Men's Bubble Watch: Tracking which teams will make (or miss) the NCAA tournament


Neil Paine writes about sports using data and analytics. Previously, he was Sports Editor at FiveThirtyEight.

The 2026 men's NCAA tournament is rapidly approaching, which means the question top of mind for many fans is: Will your team be in or out? With just over a week until Selection Sunday, we're tracking how each team on the "bubble" of the bracket is trending.

We'll use a variety of metrics... as guides, classifying teams based on how likely they are to make the field of 68 as one of the 37 at-large selections -- conditional on not winning their respective conference tournaments for one of the 31 automatic qualifying bids (AQs). To that end, we'll use Joe Lunardi's Bracketology projections and a combination of data sources -- including my forecast-model consensus and NCAA résumé metrics such as NET rankings that the selection committee will evaluate -- to judge a team's underlying potential. (For a full glossary of terms and sources, click here or scroll to the bottom of this story.)

We'll sort teams in at-large contention into the following categories:

Teams beyond these categories have very slim chances to make the Big Dance without winning their conference tournament.

Now let's go conference by conference -- in order of which project to have the most NCAA tournament bids -- to rank the teams in each category based on their chances to secure an at-large bid.

Coming off a hot stretch of six victories in eight games, the Tigers fell at Oklahoma on Tuesday -- though it really didn't dent their at-large chances. Mizzou had already cracked the top eight of SEC teams in the résumé average (and the top 40 nationally), a favorable spot with the conference projected for 10 to 11 tournament entries. If it comes down to in-conference comparisons, the Tigers do have five Quadrant 1 wins and a much better record than a team such as Auburn (20-10 vs. 15-14), albeit against a much easier schedule (64th toughest vs. fifth). The at-large forecast models continue to like the chances for Dennis Gates' team, as it sits above 80% with one more Quadrant 1 shot left to close the regular season.

After adding a key road win over bubble rival Texas A&M on Saturday, Texas' momentum was slowed with a lopsided loss at Arkansas on Wednesday. The Longhorns have seven Quadrant 1 wins on the season -- more than Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M or Auburn (or even Tennessee) -- so the consensus forecast still sets their at-large chances at 77%, way up from 45% at a certain point last month. And at No. 9 in the overall SEC résumé rankings, they are still in a solid position; teams with similar résumés to Texas have made the tournament in the past, per advanced analytics site Bart Torvik.

Recent losses to Arkansas and Texas sent Texas A&M's at-large chances tumbling from "should be in" to "work to do" territory, but the Aggies clawed some of that positioning back with a home win over Kentucky on Tuesday. Bucky McMillan's squad still sits at 73% in the consensus of models, so they're far from a "lock." They do have five Quadrant 1 victories now but rank 11th among SEC teams in our résumé rating (mid-40s nationally), and parsing their bona fides against the conference's other bubble teams such as Texas and Auburn still won't be an easy task for the committee.

The Tigers desperately needed a win after losing seven of their previous eight games, and they finally got it against LSU on Tuesday. They have an interesting case for the committee, but have all but run out of wiggle room: Though they have five Quadrant 1 wins against the nation's fifth-most difficult schedule per the BPI, and are borderline top 40 in the national résumé ranking average, their 14 losses are by far the most among the SEC bubble tier. Teams with résumés most similar to Auburn have tended to miss out on an at-large bid more often than not, per Bart Torvik, which explains why the Tigers' consensus chances hover in the mid 30% range ahead of their regular-season finale.

Following Saturday's loss at Minnesota, Mick Cronin's team picked up its most impressive win of the season Tuesday night, beating No. 9 Nebraska by 20 in Westwood. The victory was the Bruins' fourth Quadrant 1 victory (third vs. Quadrant 1-A) of the season, placing their résumé inside the nation's top 40 and ninth in what Bracketology projects to be a 10-bid Big Ten. They're playing well recently, and their consensus at-large odds are at 96% in the forecast models, meaning the Bruins appear to be tourney-bound.

After falling in a tight game to Michigan on Thursday, Iowa has now lost five of its past seven games with the Big Ten tourney approaching. But since three of those losses were to quadrant 1A opponents, the Hawkeyes aren't in too much danger. Their résumé still sits in the mid-30s nationally -- in addition to being top 25 in our average of predictive ratings -- and they have a consensus 93% at-large probability. While grabbing the win over Michigan would have potentially elevated them to "lock" status, there aren't many scenarios under which Iowa would somehow be left out of the bracket at this point.

You know things are going right for the Buckeyes when they win back-to-back games -- something they haven't done since late January, sweating out the bubble with at-large chances hovering around a coin flip over that stretch. Their convincing wins over Purdue and Penn State boosted their numbers to 87%, further solidifying a résumé that ranks inside the top 40 of the national rankings (eighth in Big Ten). This is as far above the cutline as they have been in a while. They'll look to keep the momentum rolling against bubble rival Indiana to close the regular season with what would be their first three-game winning streak since November.

Indiana badly needed a win after losing four straight to Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern and Michigan State -- plunging its conditional at-large probability to just 45% -- and the Hoosiers got it with Wednesday's blowout of Minnesota. Though they remain on the right side of the bubble in the predictive metrics with a top-40 ranking, their portfolio has still lost ground compared to other bubble teams: They now rank borderline top 50 in the national résumé average, 10th in the conference, right on the line of how many bids the Big Ten could get. With at-large chances in the mid-50%, their tournament future remains in flux with the regular-season finale against bubble rival Ohio State next.

After regaining momentum with three straight wins in mid-February, UCF has since lost back-to-back games to Baylor and Oklahoma State -- the latter of which the Knights came out hot but could not take control of the game. Still, UCF is in solid shape at 86% in the at-large model consensus. With so many of the Big 12's expected bids effective "locks," the conference's bubble picture really starts with the seventh bid. And with the Knights still around the top 30 in the résumé average -- no other non-"lock" from the Big 12 is even in the top 40 -- they still easily should have that seventh slot.

The Horned Frogs' case for the Big 12's final at-large bid strengthened again with their seventh win in eight games, adding one of their best victories of the season at Texas Tech on Tuesday. Their consensus at-large chances have now risen into the mid-70% range, up from just 10% three weeks ago, and they have five Quadrant 1 wins after downing the Red Raiders. They have a clear case to be the conference's eighth tournament team, even with Cincinnati surging -- their overall résumé is superior to the Bearcats' -- and the latest Bracketology sets the Big 12 with that many entries. Though a big head-to-head with Cincy awaits, it's looking more likely than not that TCU will hear its name on Selection Sunday

The Bearcats' late-season charge continued with a convincing Quadrant 1 win over BYU on Tuesday for their sixth win in seven games. They are still outside the top 50 in the national résumé average -- the rest of the bubble is generally around No. 45 -- so the consensus model sets their at-large chances at 30%. At this point, their case heavily relies on signature wins: Iowa State, Kansas and now BYU. But their recent hot streak sets up a big regular-season finale against fellow bubble team TCU.

Fresh off a nice résumé win over Louisville on Saturday, the Tigers hung with North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Tuesday -- even leading midway through the second half -- but ultimately fell for their fifth loss in six games. It doesn't spell doom for Clemson, though; it still ranks no worse than seventh in the ACC in résumé average, and its consensus at-large chances remain above 90% -- down from 98% after the recent slump, but still high enough in the conference's pecking order to feel optimistic about its chances ahead of the regular-season finale against Georgia Tech. A win would give the Tigers a much-needed momentum reset ahead of the ACC tournament.

The Hurricanes have been on a roll in ACC play, adding to their recent résumé-boosting victories over North Carolina, NC State, Virginia Tech and others with another big one against SMU on Wednesday, knocking the Mustangs down in the ACC bubble pecking order (see below). Miami's at-large chances (93%) and national résumé quality ranking (inside top 30) are now well on the right side of the bubble picture within the ACC. Louisville is no slouch to close the regular season against, but the Canes are in great shape.

The Mustangs sat at 94% in the consensus at-large chances a little over a week ago, but a three-game losing streak to Cal, Stanford and Miami -- coupled with other developments across the bubble -- has dropped them to below 70%. They are now fighting to remain in the eighth position of what is shaping up to be an eight-bid ACC. They have a cushion over Cal and Virginia Tech in terms of overall résumé quality, but they've lost to the Bears head-to-head, and the Hokies have more high-quality wins. The Mustangs still have the edge, so they will try to get back on track against Florida State ahead of the conference tournament.

Virginia Tech kept its tournament hopes alive with a win over Boston College on Tuesday, its second victory in three games after previously losing four of five. The Hokies' consensus at-large chances are still low, rising to just 23% with the victory. They do own a pair of Quadrant 1 wins and a résumé rating inside the nation's top 50, so their case could get interesting if they can knock off Virginia in the regular-season finale.

The Golden Bears got back to winning against Georgia Tech on Wednesday, prevailing by 11 for their fourth victory in five games. It improved their at-large chances, but not by enough to pull to within striking distance of SMU despite the Mustangs' own loss. The Bears currently sit outside the top 50 nationally in the résumé ranking -- borderline bubble territory -- and have four Quadrant 1 wins. They have a chance to add one more in the regular-season finale at Wake Forest.

Barely clinging to the bubble, the Pirates salvaged their bid (for now) by stifling Xavier with a 19-4 second-half run that helped them win for the fourth time in six games. Their at-large chances still sit a tick below 20% in the forecast composite, and they're still stinging from the missed opportunity to add a much-needed résumé boost against UConn on Saturday. They rank outside the top 50 nationally in résumé average with only a couple of Quadrant 1 wins. A case will be hard to make if the Big East receives only three bids, which is the current Bracketology expectation.

The Billikens hit a speed bump the past couple of weeks -- they lost to Rhode Island and Dayton, needed a comeback to defeat VCU and narrowly beat Duquesne -- so it was important they handled business as massive favorites against Loyola Chicago the way they did Wednesday. They have been a great story in their second season under coach Josh Schertz, and with an 84% conditional probability in our consensus forecast, they have a strong chance to make the field as an at-large team if necessary. They are still top-30 nationally in the résumé rankings, with a pair of Quadrant 1 wins, and rank even better in the predictive ratings.

The MAC hasn't received multiple bids since 1998-99 -- fittingly, the same year Wally Szczerbiak led Miami (Ohio) to the Sweet 16 after knocking off Washington and Utah in the first two rounds. Could history repeat? Miami has been living dangerously recently, rallying to beat Western Michigan last week and then surviving a tight battle with Toledo on Tuesday to remain the sole remaining unbeaten team in Division I. The forecast models don't quite know how to handle the RedHawks, though they rank inside the top 40 on résumé; there have been just two instances, since 1985, of the committee excluding an eligible team with fewer than four losses in a non-pandemic season; and Miami made the field as an at-large team during a recent NCAA-ran mock selection exercise. It's true that the RedHawks are a mid-80s team in the predictive ratings (Akron actually still ranks higher in the MAC) and had just the 317th-toughest schedule in the nation. But wins matter. And they are now only one away from an undefeated regular season, at which point it's difficult to imagine they would be excluded as an at-large selection if they were to lose in the MAC tournament.

The Santa Clara and Saint Mary's comparisons will be constant as we debate whether the West Coast Conference could get three bids, which has happened only once in the past 13 seasons. After beating Oregon State to finish the regular season Saturday, the Broncos still have model chances nearly in the 70% range and a top-40 résumé ranking nationally, but their fate appears to hang almost entirely upon what they do in the conference tournament and/or whether the selection committee will send that extra WCC at-large team to the Big Dance.

VCU hasn't made back-to-back NCAA tournaments since the Will Wade era nearly a decade ago, and the forecast models (which sit around a 35% consensus at-large chance) remain less than bullish on that streak ending this season. That's in part because the Rams are 1-5 against Quadrant 1 opponents, including a recent collapse at Saint Louis that hurt their at-large case. They are still right in the middle of bubble territory in overall résumé (mid-40s nationally), though, and they just keep winning -- they've now won 12 of 13 after holding off George Mason on Tuesday. They also could add a second Quadrant 1 win over Dayton on Friday. But it remains to be seen if the A-10 will get a second bid (which has happened in three of five years).

Heading into Wednesday's contest versus Colorado State, New Mexico had been asserting itself to be the committee's second choice coming out of the Mountain West as an at-large (if necessary). But a loss hosting the Rams complicated the MWC bubble picture more than ever. The Lobos' updated chances (18% conditional at-large odds) are still higher than San Diego State's (16%), based on New Mexico's borderline top-50 national résumé ranking, but neither team is in good shape ahead of the conference tournament. The Lobos would figure to still own the edge, as they have more Quadrant 1/2 wins than the Aztecs, and recently evened the head-to-head scales. But a strong closing regular-season statement against Utah State is suddenly high on New Mexico's to-do list.

Aside from a win over conference leader Utah State by 17 last month, the Aztecs are sliding out of the bubble picture with losses in four of five games. The latest: Tuesday night's defeat at Boise State, which dropped their consensus at-large chances to just 16%. Already borderline top 50 nationally in the résumé ranking, they are on the wrong side of the bubble right now. The Mountain West hasn't sent fewer than three teams to the tournament in five seasons -- and although there's enough of a gap in at-large chances between SDSU and the next-best teams on the list, the chances of the Aztecs sneaking in as the league's third representative look increasingly unlikely.

Bubble Watch's latest newcomer, the Bulls have now won 11 of their past 12 games -- including eight straight -- after outlasting Memphis on the road Thursday. Their consensus at-large chance remains in the teens, so it's not clear they've done enough compared with the other teams on the bubble. The Bulls are 22-8 overall with a couple of Quadrant 1 wins, and they rank 51st in the national résumé average. They are undeniably on a hot streak, and they're the BPI's favorite to win the American tourney (with a 42.8% chance), but Joe Lunardi has the conference down to send only one team to the Big Dance at the moment. more

Career development

 17h

Relocating for a job? 5 things you should ask before making the move


Moving is a pain. Even if you're doing it for the job of your dreams.

You'll have to get new a driver's license, switch off the old utilities, switch on the new, sleuth a new doctor, find a new place, sell or sublet your current one -- oh, and deal with the physical acts of actually packing, moving, and unpacking. If you got tired just reading that, imagine doing it.

Still, CareerBuilder found... that 44% of people are "willing to relocate for a career opportunity." I am one of those people. Despite my loathsome distaste for the evils of moving, I have relocated my family three times in nine years. (And they still love me!)

While I'm not sure if that demonstrates my inner tendencies toward masochism or psychosis, the one thing of which I'm certain is that relocating is always easier if your prospective employer helps with the move. While the days of Cartier-style, full-blown relocation packages and outright home purchases for high-demand employees have passed, there are still relocation benefits worth asking and negotiating for before you accept a job out-of-state. Like these.

1. Location scouting trips

One of the keys to an easy relocation is to make sure that you, your significant other, and your family are all on board with the decision. As a precondition for accepting my respective offers, I asked that each company allow my family to take two or three "reconnaissance" trips to the new state to look for permanent housing.

Even if you don't find the perfect residence during those trips, they are invaluable to ensure that you get a flavor and sense of the new area. A new favorite restaurant or cultural attraction can go a long way in feeling more comfortable about your decision and getting buy-in from anyone who will be moving with you.

2. Temporary housing

If available, this is a great benefit. A month or two rent-free can ease the pressure of a new security deposit or buying a new home ASAP. If you have a family, it gives you time to learn the area and local school districts before committing to a new place.

In my experience, the duration of the benefit is negotiable, but usually runs 60-90 days after you start the new job. The company often puts you up in an executive condo, apartment, or home that's used for relocation purposes. Once, a company gave me a lump sum payment of $10,000 for three months worth of housing and living expenses. I immediately went out and bought the most expensive suit I could find to wear on my first day. Kidding! I decided to book a three-room extended-stay suite while house hunting.

Note: If you're moving for a higher education position, know that universities will have some housing set aside for visiting professors or transitioning staff. It might be a bare bones, multiple-roommate situation, but it's better than signing a lease on an apartment sight unseen.

3. Whole-house pack and transport

If your employer has a relocation package, make sure you know exactly what it entails. Some arrangements only cover the physical transportation of your home goods, while others may include the actual hand-packing and subsequent unpacking of your boxed chattel.

The first relocation we had included everything, so I knew what to negotiate for on each subsequent move because I hated the idea of packing wine glasses and such myself.

If your new employer provides a lump sum, be sure to keep all receipts having to do with your move -- from boxes, to packing tape, to movers, to gas for the U-Haul. If you move more than 50 miles, you may be able to get a tax deduction for any additional moving expenses you personally absorbed.

4. Storage of home goods

It can take some time to find the perfect place to live in your new area. I once spent several months looking for a new home because our first deal fell through. So, you can only imagine how happy I was that I had negotiated storage of our home goods for up to six months after my job started. It's one less stress during a very stressful transition.

All of our belongings were safe, secure, and insured at the transportation company's warehouse, while we took our time finding the right place to live.

5. Cash stipend for miscellaneous expenses

During every move, unforeseen expenses will pop up. Because, life. During my most recent relocation, the company gave us a $5,000 stipend upfront for miscellaneous use. Because we had planned well and had zero out-of-pocket expenses, we were able to apply that entire lump sum toward the closing cost on the purchase of our new home at the time.

It was completely legal under the terms of that specific relocation package -- and was clearly very helpful.

Other uses for this sort of money might include additional rent or mortgage payments if one family member has to stay behind, transportation to your new location, or even a rental car if you only have one and your family is split in two locations.

I don't know anyone who looks forward to uprooting for a new job, but sometimes it's necessary. That's why it's so important to know relocation packages vary greatly from company to company -- and some of them include some pretty great perks to ease the move. So, once you have an offer in hand, be sure to ask about the specific relocation details and components.

There's an old proverb that states, "You don't have, because you don't ask." Now you'll at least know a few things to ask for when it comes to relocating for a new gig. more

Career development

 21h

The Algorithm That Decided You Didn't Get the Interview


You submitted an application. The AI read your résumé in 0.03 seconds. It decided you weren't a fit. You never heard back.

A human being never looked at your application. Nobody made a decision. A model -- trained on historical hiring data from a company whose historical hires were not representative of you -- scored you and moved on.

This is not a hypothetical. This is standard operating... procedure at most major employers in 2026.

Modern enterprise hiring has been almost completely automated at the top of the funnel. A typical Fortune 500 hiring process now looks like this:

In high-volume roles, human review doesn't begin until stage 6 or 7. AI has already made all the gatekeeping decisions.

The AI systems doing this work are not one product. They're an ecosystem: Workday, Taleo, Greenhouse for ATS; HireVue, Pymetrics, Paradox for AI interview analysis; Eightfold, Beamery, SeekOut for candidate matching and sourcing. Each layer adds algorithmic filtering.

HireVue is the most documented and most criticized AI hiring tool. Used by Unilever, Delta Air Lines, Goldman Sachs, and hundreds of other major employers, HireVue records asynchronous video interviews and analyzes them using AI.

HireVue's AI analyzes:

The system generates a score. That score influences whether the candidate advances.

Facial expression analysis has no scientific validity for employment prediction. This is not a fringe position -- it reflects the scientific consensus in psychology and AI research.

The American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and AI Now Institute have all published analyses finding that facial expression analysis systems:

HireVue announced in 2021 that it was removing the facial expression analysis component following sustained pressure from researchers and regulators. The company maintains that its remaining linguistic and vocal analysis tools are valid predictors. Independent validation of these claims in peer-reviewed literature remains limited.

People with conditions that affect facial expression, vocal characteristics, or communication patterns are systematically disadvantaged by HireVue-style systems:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidance in 2023 noting that AI hiring tools may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act if they use physical or behavioral characteristics to make employment decisions without valid evidence that those characteristics predict job performance.

Before AI scores you, your résumé must survive the parser.

ATS systems convert your résumé PDF into structured data: name, contact info, employment history, education, skills. They do this imperfectly -- and the failures are not random.

Non-standard formatting: Creative résumé designs, graphics, tables, and two-column layouts frequently parse incorrectly. Skills appear in education sections. Employment dates disappear. The parsed output that the AI scores bears little resemblance to the document you submitted.

Non-Western names: Multiple studies have documented that ATS parsers misparse names from certain linguistic traditions -- names with multiple given names, names with diacritics, names that don't conform to "First Last" conventions. If your name doesn't parse, your application may fail to associate with your profile.

Employment gaps: Standard ATS parsing logic flags employment gaps. The reason for the gap -- caregiving, illness, layoff, education, a global pandemic -- is not parsed. The flag is.

Non-traditional career paths: ATS systems are optimized for linear career trajectories. Freelance work, portfolio careers, entrepreneurship, and career pivots create parsing challenges that translate into lower scores.

The résumé parsing layer creates systematic bias before the AI scoring layer even runs.

AI hiring tools are trained to predict "successful" hires. The training data is historical hiring and performance data from the company.

This creates a compounding feedback loop:

Amazon's scrapped AI recruiting tool is the canonical example. Amazon trained a model on 10 years of résumé data. The tech industry is predominantly male. The model learned that male candidates were more likely to resemble successful hires. It penalized résumés that included words like "women's" (as in "women's chess club") and downgraded graduates of all-women's colleges. Amazon discovered the bias and shut the tool down in 2018. It had been operating for years before anyone audited it.

Amazon's case became public. How many similar tools are running without audits?

Pymetrics (now Harver) takes a different approach: instead of analyzing résumés or interviews, it has candidates play a series of neuroscience-based games. The games measure traits like risk tolerance, attention, memory, and emotional response. The measured traits are then compared against profiles of current top performers.

The approach is sophisticated. The bias problem is identical: if your current top performers are demographically homogeneous, the model learns to prefer candidates who score like demographically homogeneous people score on these games.

Cognitive assessments have documented differential performance across demographic groups on tasks that measure certain traits. Using cognitive game scores as a hiring filter -- where the benchmark is set against existing employee performance -- can systematically screen out candidates from groups underrepresented in the existing workforce.

Pymetrics publishes bias audits conducted by external researchers. The audits show the system does not show bias for gender and race in the tested populations. Critics note that the audits test against demographic categories but not against the more subtle proxy-based discrimination that emerges from training data composition.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Crucially, it applies to both disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and disparate impact (practices that are facially neutral but disproportionately affect protected groups).

AI hiring tools that produce disparate impacts on protected groups are potentially unlawful under Title VII -- regardless of intent. The employer must demonstrate that the selection criterion is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

The challenge: proving disparate impact requires data. Employers control the data. Candidates don't know what factors the AI used. The opacity of AI decision-making makes disparate impact litigation significantly harder than traditional employment discrimination cases.

The EEOC's guidance on AI and algorithmic decision-making in employment confirmed:

The EEOC lacks enforcement resources to audit AI hiring tools proactively. Enforcement is complaint-driven -- which means affected candidates must first know they were screened by AI, must know it produced a discriminatory result, and must be willing and able to file a complaint.

Illinois passed the first law specifically regulating AI video interview analysis. Requirements:

New York City followed with Local Law 144 (effective 2023), requiring bias audits for AI employment decision tools and public disclosure of audit results.

These are the exceptions. Most jurisdictions have no laws governing AI hiring at all.

For job seekers, AI hiring creates a kafkaesque experience:

In tight labor markets, companies receiving tens of thousands of applications per role argue that human review of every application is impossible. This is true. The alternative -- transparent, validated, auditable screening criteria -- is possible but expensive and uncomfortable, because it might reveal that the screening criteria are discriminatory.

The invisible AI gatekeeper is convenient for employers. It eliminates the paper trail of explicit discriminatory decisions. "The algorithm decided" is offered as an explanation that forecloses accountability.

Mandatory bias audits: Before deployment, AI hiring tools must undergo independent bias audits testing for disparate impacts across protected categories. NYC Local Law 144 provides a model.

Candidate disclosure: Candidates must be informed when AI is making or influencing hiring decisions. They must receive a summary of what factors were assessed and how they were weighted.

Validation requirements: AI tools must demonstrate validity -- that the factors they measure actually predict job performance -- before use. The validation must be specific to the role and employer, not just generic claims.

Right to human review: Candidates who receive AI-generated rejections must have the right to request human review of their application.

Vendor liability sharing: When an employer uses a vendor's AI tool, both the vendor and the employer share liability for discriminatory outcomes. Current law places all liability on the employer, which creates perverse incentives for employers to avoid auditing their vendors' tools.

Data access: Candidates must be able to request the data that was used to assess them -- including parsed résumé data, assessment scores, and the factors that influenced the decision.

Hiring AI has been marketed as a solution to human bias. The pitch: humans are biased, algorithms are objective. Remove humans from the loop and you remove bias.

The reality: algorithms are not objective. They're encoded historical preferences. When those preferences were shaped by discrimination, the algorithm perpetuates discrimination at scale and with plausible deniability.

Human bias in hiring is episodic and inconsistent. Algorithmic bias is systematic and consistent. At scale, a biased algorithm causes more harm than a biased human reviewer -- because the algorithm applies its bias to every single application, with perfect consistency, forever, until someone audits it and discovers the problem.

Amazon's tool ran for years. Nobody looked. Nobody checked. The assumption that computational process equals fairness delayed discovery by years.

Every day that unaudited AI hiring tools operate, they make decisions about who gets interviews, who gets jobs, who has access to economic mobility. The decisions are made by black-box models, trained on historical data, operating without meaningful legal constraint, invisible to the candidates they screen.

That's not removing bias from hiring. That's encoding bias into infrastructure. more

Career development

 23h

The AI That Decides If You Get Hired (And Then Watches You Every Second You Work)


In 2019, HireVue was used by Unilever, Goldman Sachs, and dozens of major employers to screen job candidates. An AI analyzed applicants' facial expressions, vocal patterns, and word choice to generate a score. The score determined whether a human recruiter ever saw their application.

HireVue quietly dropped facial expression analysis in 2021. But the AI hiring and surveillance industry has grown... exponentially since. Today, AI doesn't just screen your résumé -- it scores your interview, monitors your keystrokes every 30 seconds, analyzes your emotional state, flags your bathroom breaks, and generates behavioral profiles that shape your career.

More than 99% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS systems. Applicants who don't game the system get screened out before any human sees them.

The bias is documented:

AI video interview platforms (HireVue, Modern Hire, VidCruiter) score recorded responses based on vocal attributes, word choice, and facial expression sequences. Applicants have no access to their score, no explanation of criteria, no recourse.

What research actually shows (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2023 meta-analysis of 12 platforms):

The EEOC has explicitly warned these tools may violate the ADA -- vocal analysis that penalizes stutter patterns is disability discrimination regardless of intent.

For hired employees, surveillance begins on day one:

In 2020, the employee monitoring market grew 78% in one year. By 2024, 60-80% of companies with remote workers used some form of monitoring software.

The core problem: productivity scores reward activity, not output. A developer thinking through an architecture problem -- staring at the screen -- gets flagged as idle. A worker rapidly clicking through email scores high. The metric is a surveillance artifact.

For gig workers, algorithmic management operates without even thin labor law protections:

What exists:

What doesn't exist: Federal law requiring disclosure of AI hiring tools to applicants, or employee monitoring to workers. Most U.S. workers have no specific AI employment protections.

EEOC investigations found most employers couldn't answer:

Vendors protected model architecture as proprietary. Employers purchased systems they couldn't audit, making legally consequential decisions using criteria they didn't understand.

Your ATS score from 2019 may still be in a vendor's database, affecting how their system ranks you today. Your HireVue score may be shared across employers on the same platform. Your productivity scores may follow you across employers.

None of this requires disclosure. None requires deletion when you leave. Most isn't covered by existing law.

Workers are held accountable to AI-generated assessments they cannot see, cannot contest, and often don't know exist.

That is not HR technology. That is algorithmic control. more

Career development

 1d

Healthcare Executive CV Revamp


I need an experienced CV writer to polish my existing résumé so it is compelling for a senior-level job application in the healthcare sector. The document already outlines my accomplishments, but it needs sharper language, stronger metrics, and modern formatting that will resonate with hospital systems and health-tech employers alike. Here is what I am looking for: * A thorough content audit to... spot gaps, remove redundancy, and highlight leadership achievements. * Powerful, industry-specific wording that passes applicant-tracking systems yet still reads naturally to hiring managers. * A clean, professional layout with clear section hierarchy, optimized for both PDF and Word export. Once the draft is complete, I would like one round of revisions based on my feedback to ensure it aligns perfectly with the targeted roles. If you have a track record of crafting senior healthcare CVs and understand current ATS best practices, I'd love to work with you. more

Emilia Allen


Career development 2d
Hi everyone! Today my boss scolded me for reading a book and eating a sandwich at my desk. He said I wasn’t working. I told him it was my lunch break. But he said that if I leave the office for lunch, that’s fine, but if I’m at my desk I should only be working.
I’d gladly go read in the park but it’s still too cold outside. Now I’m not sure what to do. What do you think?

1   

  • Randall Giancaterino

    1d

    Ask your (un)supervisor if he can create a break room. It sounds as though it is your boss' personal pet peeve, rather than official written company... protocol.  more

  • S K Bridges

    1d

    I’m a past Supervisor. In some offices there should be a designated place for you to eat. If not, it’s understandable that you eat lunch at your desk.... Read your employee Handbook. Talk with HR and EEOC.
    In my office, we ate at our desk or in the lunch room. It was our choice.      more

    1
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Career development

 1d

Job Application Document Prep


I'm gearing up for a new career opportunity and need polished application materials that help me stand out. Once I share my background, achievements, and the role I'm targeting, I'd like you to craft (or refine) the necessary documents -- whether that ends up being a résumé, a persuasive cover letter, a concise portfolio overview, or a combination of all three. You should be comfortable with... modern, ATS-friendly formatting, keyword optimisation, and tailoring content to different industries. A sharp eye for grammar and clarity is essential, as is the ability to present information in a clean, engaging layout using tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Canva. Deliverables * Professionally formatted documents in both editable (Word/Google Docs) and PDF versions * Content calibrated to the role we choose, rich with relevant keywords * One revision cycle after my feedback to ensure everything meets my expectations Acceptance criteria: the final files must be error-free, visually consistent, and ready to submit immediately. I'd like the first draft within three days of providing my information, so please be prepared to move quickly while maintaining a high standard of quality. more

Career development

 1d

Mathew Knowles Considering Legal Action After Tina Knowles Question Clip Leaks, Tina Timely Shares Resumé Reminder


LISTEN LIVE. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.

A pretty perturbed Mathew Knowles is considering legal action after an interview where he questioned how much Tina Knowles contributed to Destiny's Child's success leaked. Meanwhile, Beyoncé's superstar mom is offering a perfectly timed reminder of her extensive résumé.

As previously reported, Mathew's irritation ties back to a January 30... chat with PIX11's Kendis Gibson for "Kandid With Kendis." The interview was framed as a promo moment, where Mathew could talk about legacy, Destiny's Child history, and a Destiny's Child tribute concert/tour he's been pushing.

Now weeks later, a clip resurfaced showcasing Gibson giving Mathew his flowers while crediting Tina Knowles as part of the foundation that shaped Destiny's Child behind-the-scenes.

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Apparently perturbed by that, Mathew immediately pushes back with a question that made the room go cold: "What work did she put in?"

Gibson starts listing specifics like the hair, the clothes, the styling/costumes, and Mathew agrees before abruptly ending it with a quick "We'll stop now" and a walkout.

That's the uproar in a nutshell: online, many folks heard that first question as Mathew trying to downplay Tina's role in Destiny's Child -- and that's a sensitive lane because Tina's contributions to the group's look and early branding have been talked about for years. In the past, Tina has shared a story about the name "Destiny's Child" coming to her (and Mathew adding "Child"), which is part of why people felt the shade so loud. So once the clip hit the timeline, it turned into a debate about credit, ego, old family wounds, and who really helped build what in those early Houston days.

While Mathew was catching heat, Tina's energy was way more "I'm not about to argue with y'all on the internet" -- but she still made her point.

Instead of a direct clapback, a post started circulating that basically gave her flowers and highlighted her résumé: not just as "Beyoncé's mom," but a designer, philanthropist, and a real architect of the group's image/branding in those early years -- the kind of subtle response that says her "uncrowned queen" work speaks for itself.

After it went viral, Mathew tried to reframe what happened, explaining that the interview was supposed to be about the tribute concert and that the conversation had been steered into Tina-related territory.

According to PageSix, Mathew is stunned by how people took it, saying it's been "a complete misrepresentation," and he even said he's "evaluating all legal remedies" as he sees it as a situation that was spun the wrong way. He also made a point to say he doesn't even like calling Tina his "ex-wife," preferring "former wife," because he considers "ex" a negative label and says he's always been respectful about her publicly.

So what happens next? Realistically, this could go a few ways: the clip will keep doing numbers for a while, Mathew will keep doing damage control (and possibly push the "legal remedies" talk if he feels it was edited or presented unfairly), and fans will keep arguing in circles about intent vs. impact.

But the bigger thing is this: when a family's history is this public -- and Destiny's Child is this iconic -- one awkward moment can turn into a whole cultural conversation overnight. Whether Mathew meant shade or not, the internet already decided how it felt, and that's usually the part you can't un-viral.

Mathew Knowles Considering Legal Action After Tina Knowles Question Clip Leaks, Tina Timely Shares Resumé Reminder was originally published on bossip.com more

Martin Firth


Career development 3d
I’m on a trial period at work and I’m not sure if I want to stay at this company. Our workday ends at 7 PM and I go home on time. But my coworkers don’t understand why I don’t stay late. They say I’m not interested in the company and that I don’t care about my job.
I honestly don’t understand, are they jealous or do they just want to control me?

4   

  • Sheila Milburn

    1d

    Why are you entertaining what they say? Work hard, leave on time. Worry when your lead/ supervisor says something directly to you.

    1

  • Mutoni Janviere

    1d

    Try to be patience may be there is reasons for that you just stay calm and positive every day no matter what comes on your way.

    1
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Career development

 1d

Make your résumé stand out in an AI-first job market


In this environment, a résumé must be designed to pass automated screening. Because the sheer volume of applicants for a single role can reach the hundreds, these systems evaluate candidates before a human ever sees a résumé. These AI-driven frameworks can be up to 11 times faster than traditional manual review methods.

It's critical to remove ambiguity. If an ATS cannot quickly determine that... you meet hard requirements -- such as seniority, scope, and tools -- the résumé simply won't move forward.

1. Structure your résumé as machine-readable data

Your résumé shouldn't look robotic, but it should be explicit and unambiguous. Modern hiring systems use pattern recognition to identify seniority and skill categories. more

Career development

 1d

How I Rebuilt My Developer Portfolio Using Next.js


Building a portfolio is one of the most important projects for any developer. In this article, I share how I built my portfolio, what I learned, and why I decided to rebuild it with a better approach.

A portfolio is more than just a collection of projects. It represents a developer's potential, hard work, and the way they think while solving problems.

Why Every Developer Should Build a... Portfolio

A portfolio is often one of the first real projects many developers build. It becomes a place to experiment, learn, and showcase growth over time.

While a résumé lists skills, a portfolio shows them in action. Recruiters and hiring managers often prefer seeing real projects because they reveal how someone approaches problems and builds solutions.

Beyond job opportunities, a portfolio also helps you build your personal brand as a developer. It becomes your corner of the internet where people can explore your work, your ideas, and your journey as a builder.

With that in mind, I decided to build my own portfolio to showcase my work and skills.

My First Portfolio (React Version)

My first portfolio was built using React. At that time, my goal was simple: create a clean place to showcase my projects and experiment with UI ideas.

Tech Stack

For this portfolio, I used a small and simple tech stack.

- React + Vite -- for building the interface

- Animista -- for simple CSS-based animations

Design Approach

The design followed a fixed-width layout, similar to platforms like GitHub or LinkedIn. This means the content stays within a defined width instead of stretching across the entire screen. It makes the layout more consistent and easier to structure.

I focused on keeping the interface minimal and clean, avoiding overly complex animations or heavy design elements. The goal was to keep the experience simple so visitors could quickly explore my projects without distractions.

What It Did Well

Since it was my first attempt, I learned a lot while building it. I experimented with different layout ideas and animations, which helped me understand how things work in practice and improve my creativity.

The portfolio was simple and clean. It focused on showing my projects without adding too many complex designs or features, which made it a good starting portfolio for a beginner.

What It Lacked

However, over time I realized the first version had some limitations:

- SEO was limited, since it was a typical client-side React application.

- It wasn't very scalable when I wanted to add new sections or features.

- As the portfolio started growing, the overall structure felt less flexible and harder to maintain.

These limitations made me realize that the portfolio needed a stronger foundation. Rather than trying to fix everything in the existing version, I decided it was the right time to rebuild it from scratch.

Why I Rebuilt My Portfolio

My first portfolio felt more like an introduction card than a complete website. It showed my work, but it didn't fully represent the kind of experience I wanted to create.

As I continued learning and building more projects, I started thinking about how I could improve it -- not just visually, but also technically.

There were a few reasons why I decided to rebuild it:

- Better performance -- I wanted faster loading and a more optimized website.

- Learn Next.js -- rebuilding the portfolio felt like a great opportunity to explore Next.js in a real project.

- Add missing sections -- my previous portfolio didn't include some sections like a skills section or an articles section, which I wanted to add.

- Improved UI/UX -- I wanted the design and interactions to feel more polished.

- A more dynamic experience -- instead of a static portfolio, I wanted something that felt more interactive and modern.

Rebuilding the portfolio wasn't just about redesigning it. It was about creating a better foundation that could grow as I continue learning and building new things.

Tech Stack I Chose

For the new portfolio, I wanted a stack that would give me better performance, smoother interactions, and a more scalable structure. Here are the main tools I used:

- Next.js -- the main framework for building the portfolio, providing better performance and improved SEO.

- Tailwind CSS -- used for fast and flexible UI development.

- Framer Motion -- for creating smooth and interactive animations.

- Lenis -- to implement smooth scrolling and improve the overall browsing experience.

- FastAPI -- used as a lightweight backend to handle a custom email service.

- Vercel -- for deployment and hosting, making it easy to publish and manage the site.

Key Features I Added

Some of the key features I added include:

- Smooth animations and scrolling -- animations powered by Framer Motion and smooth scrolling using Lenis to create a fluid browsing experience.

- Fully responsive layout -- the portfolio is designed to work smoothly across different screen sizes, from mobile devices to large desktops.

- Project showcase section -- a dedicated section where visitors can explore my projects and understand what I've built.

- Scroll progress indicator -- a small visual indicator that shows how much of the page has been scrolled.

- Notes section -- a section where I share small insights, ideas, or important notes that might be helpful for others.

- Dark / light mode -- users can switch between dark and light themes based on their preference.

Challenges I Faced

Like most projects, rebuilding the portfolio also came with a few challenges. Some features took more experimentation than expected.

Here are a few challenges I faced during development:

- Responsive layout problems -- making sure the layout worked well across different screen sizes took extra adjustments, especially when balancing design and usability.

- Project image grid alignment -- arranging project images in a clean grid while maintaining consistent spacing and proportions required careful layout handling.

What I Learned

How to build more informative websites -- I started thinking more about storytelling and how information is presented, not just about showing projects.

Simplicity matters -- clean and simple interfaces are often more effective than complex designs.

Performance matters -- a fast and smooth website creates a much better user experience.

Rebuilding projects accelerates learning -- rebuilding something you've already made helps you notice mistakes, improve your approach, and apply new knowledge.

Overall, rebuilding the portfolio helped me think more carefully about how I design, structure, and build websites. more

Career development

 1d

Last/JobScout: Job search that detects ghost jobs before applying


LastJobScout automates the tedious parts of job hunting. It searches dozens of job boards at once, reads every posting, and scores each role against your resume so you can focus on strong applications and interviews. Ghost job detection and source verification flag expired or spammy listings, while Scout Reports provide company research and skill gap analysis. Triage opportunities on mobile with... swipe actions, dive deep when ready, and track application status in one place. more

Maria Kristoff


Career development 3h
Hi! I work at the front desk with clients. It’s the season when many people get sick, so my colleague decided to eat garlic every day to stay healthy. His desk is about two meters from mine, but the smell is very strong and it’s hard to breathe. I tried joking that he could eat spinach or radishes instead, but he believes only garlic will protect him from illness. I’m not sure how much longer I... can handle it and the smell might scare our clients too.
How can I politely ask him not to eat garlic before work? Thanks

 more

Monica Hills


Career development 1mo
Hey everyone! I’m a mom on maternity leave. I’ve been home for a year already. My job was expecting me to come back on March 1, but I’m pregnant again and told them I’m going on maternity leave again, so I won’t be returning yet.
They said I can stay home for 4 more months and then that’s it, otherwise they’ll fire me.
Is that even allowed? Can they fire someone who’s pregnant and on maternity... leave? Thanks!

 more
5   

  • STEPHEN ANGURIA

    1d

    You are a true believer!! Go.....produce and fill the world. How I wish the next pregnancy are triplets or quadruplets because it seem you pay more... attention to manufacturing more children than valuing your job more

  • Sheila Milburn

    3w

    Yes, they can. And you cant just decide to stay home another year. Do you have Drs orders or a documented medical reason to be home during this... current pregnancy?
    Paid or unpaid Maternity leave (ML) is for after you give birth. You have 1 baby and 1 year of ML. Being pregnant does not equal ML. Go back to work until you deliver your next baby. Then you can go back out on ML.
    If you want to be a stay at home mom, quit and stay home. Stop taking up space on the roles and preventing your employers from filling the spot and getting work done.
    As others have stated, you should read your employee manual.      more

    2
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Career development

 1d

Writing an effective résumé


Pam Abbott is managing director at SteppingStones recruitment agency in the Cayman Islands. Here, she shares her top tips to make your résumé stand out.

A résumé is your first introduction to a potential employer, and your chance to make a strong impression before you step into an interview.

A well-crafted résumé doesn't just list your past jobs; it highlights your achievements, skills,... and the value you can bring to a company. In today's competitive job market, where recruiters may spend only a few seconds scanning each résumé, the quality of your résumé can make all the difference between getting noticed and getting overlooked.

Creating a standout résumé doesn't have to be complicated. With attention to detail and a focus on relevance, you can craft a document that communicates professionalism and purpose.

Here are some top tips to help your résumé rise to the top of the pile:

Keep it concise. Your résumé should be short and focused, offering a clear snapshot of your skills, experience and accomplishments. Aim for two to three pages if you have extensive experience.

Highlight your most relevant experience. List your previous positions in reverse chronological order, placing your most recent and applicable roles first. Employers are most interested in what you've done lately and how it relates to their opening.

Show your achievements. Don't just describe responsibilities, quantify results where possible. Use strong action verbs to show how you solved problems or improved processes.

Tailor it to your target job. Define your goal clearly and adapt your résumé for each position. Focus on the skills and experience most relevant to that role, and remove anything unrelated that might distract from your strengths.

Include key sections. At minimum, list your contact details, education, and employment history. You can also include certifications, technical skills, or relevant volunteer work that adds value.

Use a clean, readable layout. Keep your format simple and professional with consistent fonts, spacing and headings. Avoid large blocks of text and ensure everything is easy to read both on-screen and on paper.

Be cautious with creative designs. A visually designed résumé can stand out, but it's best for situations where you'll hand it out in person such as career fairs or networking events. Many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which may struggle to read graphic-heavy résumés. For online applications, stick to a plain, text-based version that's ATS-friendly.

Proofread carefully. Errors in spelling or grammar can quickly undermine your professionalism. Review your résumé thoroughly or ask someone else to look it over before sending it out.

Include a thoughtful cover letter. Accompany your résumé with a short, personalised letter explaining your interest in the role and why you'd be a great fit.

By following these tips, you'll create a résumé that not only presents your qualifications clearly but also positions you as a confident, capable professional ready for your next opportunity.

This article originally appeared in Compass Media's 2026 Careers Guide. more