Anonymous member


Career development 2d
At the end of the year our department head calculated our bonuses and based on that we received our annual bonus.
I accidentally found out that my bonus was exactly half of what my colleagues received, even though I don’t work any worse and in many ways, I work better.
Now I don’t feel like working at all. I’ve even felt like quitting. I understand this is emotional, but it’s really hurtful. How... am I supposed to keep working after this?

 more
1   

  • Eliot Feldman

    1h

    If your bonus is performance based, you should inquire as to how the bonuses are calculated. Are they subjective, objective or a combination.

  • Phindile Mahlangu

    1d

    It is hurtful I know but your salary payment was efficient as always that was bonus. My dear the job is scarce be vigilant with all the decisions... making for now. Check with your experience maybe it was your first year I don't know. more

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Tim Young


Career development 1d
After yesterday’s interview I can’t stop thinking about it. I keep trying to figure out whether I'm really such a loser.
The HR directly asked me how I feel about being a loser, since for the past 3,5 years my position at the company hasn’t changed. I’ve been working in customer service the whole time and I still do. Honestly, I’m fine with it, but I want a higher salary. That's why I went to the... interview.
Do you also think I’m a complete loser?

 more
1   

  • GLADECAM ENTERPRISES

    3h

    To me you are not a loser but you are royal to your job.,Dont worry and keep goin

  • Randall Giancaterino

    16h

    The HR person certainly is not a winner. Losers do not care as deeply as you do. The HR person should strive to be better at the job, and language in... that important role is paramount. Soldier on! more

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Career development

 3h

Finance Portfolio PDF Creation


I want to turn the highlights of my résumé into a sleek, investor-ready PDF portfolio that brings my finance expertise to life. The focus is on investment analysis and financial planning, so charts, performance snapshots, and concise explanations of my methodologies should stand out. I already have a handful of completed projects and case studies I know must be included, but I'd also like your... guidance in choosing additional work that will round out the story and show range. You can expect to receive my current résumé, raw project files, and any data sets you need as soon as we start. A clean, modern layout is essential -- think subtle color accents, professional typography, and data visuals that instantly communicate value. If you work in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, or an equivalent layout tool, that's perfect; just keep the final output strictly in PDF. Deliverables * 12-15 page PDF portfolio, press-ready and web-optimized versions * Fully editable source file (InDesign or equivalent) * All embedded graphics and raw images supplied separately For acceptance, the portfolio should read logically from high-level résumé overview to detailed case studies, with each project clearly labeled and cross-referenced to the relevant skills section. I'll provide feedback at two checkpoints: a draft outline before design begins and a full mock-up before final polish. more

Career development

 5h

Resume- vs. Application-Based MBA Admissions Interviews


Some schools believe strongly in the notion of résumé-based interviews, which means that your interviewer will know nothing about you in advance of the interview other than what appears on the résumé you give them. Others favor application-based interviews, meaning your interviewer will be very familiar with your candidacy from reviewing your application materials.

Schools that fall into the... résumé-only camp include Yale School of Management (SOM), Columbia Business School, Michigan Ross, UCLA Anderson and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. We should note that at UVA's Darden School, the MBA admissions interview is truly context-free, meaning the interviewer will not have read or reviewed either your application or your résumé. "Your interviewer will not have read or reviewed your application or résumé. It is our policy to conduct anonymous interviews. Applicants do not need to send in their resume for the interview," reads the Darden website. In general, though, most business schools who conduct résumé-based interviews intend that to mean that the interviewer has access to a résumé and nothing more.

"Our interviews are 'blind,' meaning that the interviewer has reviewed your resume, but has not seen the rest of your application. The idea is for this input to be as independent of the other reviews as possible," says Yale SOM's Bruce Delmonico, who leads admission for the New Haven school. (It is worth noting that Yale SOM interviewers also pepper in behavioral questions, on top of the standard résumé-based questions.)

Résumé-based interviews offer applicants both advantages and disadvantages, admissions experts say. "I've always liked résumé-based interviews because the applicant gets a bit of clean slate," says Clear Admit Co-Founder Graham Richmond. "There's no bias that might come with the interviewer having seen grades, scores, recommendation letters or the like," he adds. "That said, this doesn't mean a résumé-based interview gives candidates open license to reinvent their candidacy," Richmond cautions. "The interview should be consistent with the written application that is ultimately submitted."

From the school's perspective, résumé-based interviews also make it feasible to draw from a larger group of interviewers -- including alumni and second-year students. A résumé-based interview doesn't require that these interviewers be fully versed in a candidate's full application or be trained to limit biases that could result from having this fuller view before the interview.

Alex Brown, who worked in admissions at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School for many years, views résumé-based interviews as "additive" in that they represent an additional data point like essays or recommendation letters. Application-based interviews, in contrast, Brown views as "iterative." "These give the adcom the opportunity to dive deeper into the applicant," he says.

Résumé-Based MBA Admissions Interviews: The Basics

Often for résumé-based interviews, an interviewer will ask you to walk him/her/them through your résumé, leaving it to you to highlight what you deem most important.

Richmond offers some cogent tips for approaching a résumé-based interview, beginning with knowing your résumé well enough that you don't need to look at it constantly. "Practice the résumé walk-through extensively," he advises.

"It's easy to think you know your story and then find yourself rambling through it in the interview -- wasting valuable minutes that could be devoted to more in-depth conversation," he says. Strong candidates can falter when walking through the résumé, taking too long, losing the interviewer in jargon and the like. Don't let this be you.

While a little late in the game for applicants who have already submitted their résumés as part of their application, Richmond also offers some guidance on how to prepare a résumé that best lends itself to a résumé-based interview. "In essence, your résumé should be a really compelling and concise summary of your experience to date, which for 99 percent of candidates will mean a single page," he says. (Consult Clear Admit's Resume Guide for more details and best practices.)

Of course, the résumé you submit as part of your application needs to be well crafted no matter what kind of interview you might have since it's a key component of your overall file, Richmond points out. "That said, for the interview, the résumé you send or bring to your interviewer doesn't have to be identical to the one you submitted with your application," he adds. "If there are new developments you wish to include or minor improvements you wish to make in advance of the interview, that's fine," Richmond counsels.

Brown adds, "When I was interviewing at Wharton, I always appreciated the candidate who had their professional summary and long-term goals articulated at the beginning of the résumé. It can help guide the interviewer through the rest of the résumé."

Application-Based MBA Admissions Interviews at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan

Unlike Yale SOM, Chicago Booth and, in large part, Stanford GSB, some schools prefer that their MBA admissions interviews be conducted by someone who is already quite familiar with a candidate's complete file. Harvard Business School (HBS) and MIT Sloan School of Management come to mind immediately in this area.

The HBS website reads: "Interviews are 30 minutes and are conducted by an MBA Admissions Board member who has reviewed your application. Your interview will be tailored to you and is designed for us to learn more about you in the context of a conversation."

This supports both Brown's point that application-based interviews are "iterative" and Richmond's suggestion that they can sometimes lead to more in-depth conversations.

"It's a question of whether a school is seeking a broad and consistent view of the applicant via all the 'media' the school offers in the application process, or whether the school is seeking to delve more deeply into specific areas, once the other aspects of the application are submitted," Brown adds. "Quite frankly, it is easier for a school to use a resume-based interview, but that does not mean it is always the best method."

Go go the next page to learn more about behavioral interviews. more

Career development

 7h

Could a Trip Down Memory Lane Aid a Professional Career?


At first glance, revisiting your high school years can feel like a purely sentimental exercise, something reserved for reunions, anniversaries, or moments of quiet nostalgia. Yet, looking back, and more importantly, reconnecting with the people who shared those formative years with you can offer unexpected value for your professional life.

A trip down memory lane isn't about reliving the past or... measuring how far you've come against others. It's about revisiting early experiences with the benefit of perspective and using them as a tool for reflection, clarity, and growth.

Long before résumés, performance reviews, or career titles entered the picture, many professional traits were already forming in high school.

Leadership showed up in student councils, team sports, and group projects, while creativity emerged in art rooms, music rehearsals, and writing assignments. Your problem-solving and resilience skills were likely developed through exams, deadlines, and social challenges.

High school friends often remember these early traits clearly, sometimes more clearly than you do yourself. Reconnecting with them can reveal patterns in your behavior and strengths that still shape how you work today.

Modern careers often move quickly, leaving little time for reflection. People focus on the next promotion, the next pivot, or the next goal without pausing to assess how their path has unfolded. Conversations with high school friends can naturally slow that pace.

Old friends remember your early ambitions, the subjects you loved, and the directions you once imagined for yourself.

Revisiting those conversations can help you understand whether your current career aligns with long-standing interests or whether certain aspirations were quietly set aside along the way.

One of the most valuable aspects of reconnecting with high school friends is the absence of pressure.

Unlike formal networking, these relationships don't require polished introductions or strategic positioning. Shared history creates an immediate sense of familiarity and trust. A simple message to check in or reconnect often leads to open, honest conversations.

While professional insights and opportunities may naturally emerge, the real benefit often comes from the ease and authenticity of the exchange rather than any specific outcome.

As time passes, high school friends move into a wide range of industries, roles, and life paths. Some may become entrepreneurs, others specialists, managers, creatives, or educators.

While reconnecting shouldn't be treated as transactional networking, these conversations can organically expand your professional perspective.

Advice offered by someone who knew you before your career began often feels more grounded and sincere. These discussions can lead to new ideas, introductions, or simply a clearer understanding of how different professional worlds operate.

Professional confidence isn't always built through external validation. Sometimes it comes from being reminded of qualities you've consistently carried with you. High school friends may recall your ability to organize, motivate others, stay calm under pressure, or think creatively.

Hearing these reflections can help you reconnect with parts of yourself that may have been overshadowed by job titles or workplace expectations. That renewed self-awareness can strengthen how you communicate your value, whether you're pursuing a new role, leading a team, or navigating change.

If you are keen to get in touch with your old school friends for this purpose, but don't have their details, make sure to look at this high school yearbook. Yearbooks and alumni records here provide a natural entry point, offering names, faces, and shared memories that make reconnecting feel intentional rather than intrusive.

One of the most reassuring aspects of reconnecting with high school friends is discovering how few careers follow a straight line.

Conversations often reveal detours, setbacks, reinventions, and unexpected opportunities that never appear on professional profiles.

Realizing that others faced uncertainty, doubt, or change can be grounding, especially during moments when your own path feels unclear. These shared stories reinforce the idea that growth is rarely linear and that adaptation is often a sign of strength rather than failure.

Reconnecting works best when curiosity replaces comparison. Instead of focusing on who achieved what, meaningful conversations explore what people learned, how priorities changed, and what fulfillment looks like now.

These exchanges often feel richer and more relevant than surface-level updates. They can inspire new ways of thinking about success, balance, and purpose, all of which feed back into professional decision-making.

Ultimately, a trip down memory lane isn't about escaping into the past. It's about using it as a resource. Reaching out to high school friends can deepen self-awareness, broaden perspective, and quietly support professional growth.

By reconnecting with people who knew you at the beginning, you gain insight into patterns, values, and strengths that still matter today. Sometimes, the clarity needed to move forward comes not from chasing the next step, but from thoughtfully revisiting where it all began. more

Janes Kemunto
Career development 1d

What is your advise to transition from B2B sales to market intelligence? Easiest role to start with?
1   

  • Bernard Brathwaite

    8h

    B2B sales is where you should stay. While those companies are digging for gold, you continue to sell them picks and shovels. Learn some AI and start a... service for your B2B clients. You should have contacts of businesses that already know and trust you.  more

  • Ismail Na Allah

    4
    1d

    Assess your skill set in Google, Analytics, Tableau, SEMrush, Power BI, and SWOT analysis frameworks then you can start off as MI analyst.

Anonymous member


Career development 15h
in 2023 i started working for a company that promised me to hire me after 3 month's probation, and i later get to sign a 3 month's contract with a note in brackets ( with no expectation of permanent employment) , and this continued for 2 years, i need an advice on what can i do as i feel this is an unfair labour practice or if i have a case against these company

  • Bernard Brathwaite

    8h

    Wait till they lay you off, then apply for unemployment. Then at the fifth month of unemployment, join a free training program for 2 months and... learn another marketable skill. Unemployment will extend you another 6 months of funds because you are investing in your education. more

Career development

 8h

How to avoid common pitfalls: Red flags for solopreneurs


I had to submit my résumé for a role. Then I went through three interviews, with nearly identical questions each time.

The problem? The role was for a freelance writing position. Not to become a company employee. I got all the way to the third interview only to learn that the role paid a fraction of my usual rate, even though I'd provided my rate up front.

I'm experienced enough as a solopreneur... to know that going through three interviews was a bad sign. The potential client wasn't communicating internally (as confirmed by the fact that my rate had been overlooked). Multiple interviews are incredibly uncommon in my line of work, and indicated to me that the company didn't know how to work with a freelancer.

When you're a solopreneur, bad clients cost you time and money. They also crowd out better opportunities and put a strain on your bandwidth. Client selection is a core business skill. And if you're not in a position to turn down work, you at least need to know how to handle sticky situations when they come up.

The best time to spot a problematic client is before you sign anything. That's when you can decide whether the client will be worth the hassle or not.

Here are some of the most common red flags I've experienced talking with potential clients.

Vague project scope. "We'll figure it out as we go" sounds flexible, but it usually means the client hasn't thought through what they actually need. That ambiguity becomes your problem once you've signed a contract, and it can be hard to rein in.

Requests for free work or unpaid "test projects." There are very, very few scenarios in which I believe a solopreneur should do any unpaid work. I've seen unscrupulous companies use submitted test work without providing any compensation -- essentially, free labor for them. If a client needs to evaluate your skills, point them to your portfolio or testimonials. Or negotiate a paid project.

Unrealistic expectations on timeline or rate. If a potential client lowballs you, the relationship will always be lopsided if you accept. Many solopreneurs juggle multiple clients, so saying yes to low-paying work or expedited timelines can impact your other clients.

Simple script to use: "My rates start at $XX. If that doesn't work for your budget, I'd be happy to recommend someone else who might be a better fit."

Sometimes you have no idea that a client will be a nightmare until after you start working with them. But before you know it, some red flags tell you that the client relationship isn't going well.

Scope creep. You identify the scope of the project and put it into the contract, but the client continues to come back to you with additional requests. If you accommodate the client, this erodes your effective rate when you "donate" extra time -- and requests can add up, fast.

Simple script to use: "This wasn't included in our agreement, but I'm happy to do that for $XX additional amount, and it will take YY additional time."

Framing it this way clarifies that additional work has additional costs.

Poor communication. Some clients expect instant replies, treating you like an employee who should be available whenever they need something. Or they take forever to reply, and you can't move forward. In both scenarios, you need to be proactive. Let clients know your expected response time (like you will respond within 24 hours). Make sure they are aware that a delayed response on their end will have a negative impact on the project.

Delayed payments or ghosting on invoices. These are the clearest signals that a client relationship isn't working. Drop that client, fast. You shouldn't have to chase a client for money that's owed to you.

Every solopreneur says yes to an imperfect opportunity or has engagements with difficult clients. It's part of the business. You don't have to say no based on red flags, but you do need standards -- and the language to enforce them.

The earlier you learn to spot red flags and respond to them, the more options you'll have.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR more

Career development

 13h

Francisco Fernández, an HR expert: "Communicating the value you bring is very important in a job interview


A job interview can feel like a full-blown adventure. It is a face-to-face meeting that quickly turns into a subtle tug-of-war, a few intense minutes in which you must prove your worth to a stranger using nothing but your words and a résumé that sums up your life, with a few strategic embellishments along the way. The possibility of landing the job is exciting, but the fear of rejection is often... overwhelming.

To avoid stumbling at this critical moment, HR expert Francisco Fernández explains on his social media channels (@mejoratuexitolaboral) how to handle what many candidates experience as an emotional and professional interrogation.

Interview mistakes

"One of the biggest mistakes people make in job interviews is when they describe their work experience by simply listing how they work and what they have done," Fernández says. "You are selected based on how you communicate about your work. So let me give you a few tips to help you do this part better."

Make your value clear

According to Fernández, structure is essential. Candidates should clearly explain how they landed a role, what they did there, and why the job or contract ended. "Do not spend all your time telling anecdotes that have nothing to do with how you work," he warns. "Talk about how you work and what you have actually accomplished, not just your job duties."

"Explain the value you offered, the value you bring. This is extremely important," the expert stresses. "But you have to explain it in a way I can understand. Many people do not really know how to explain how they work."

The importance of preparation

Fernández admits this is not easy and says it requires preparation. "You have to structure it. It is like preparing a recipe," he explains. "You cannot improvise and expect it to come out right."

"A large part of your success in job interviews depends on how well you communicate your way of working to the other person," Fernández concludes. "Prepare it carefully, use concrete examples, show your value, and above all, communicate it clearly so the interviewer truly understands what you bring to the table."

Get your game on! Whether you're into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more - plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips - anytime, anywhere. more

Career development

 14h

New Data Reveals How Recruiters Are Using LinkedIn and Social Media in 2026 Hiring


Novorésumé's recent survey identifies trending HR tactics for ensuring authenticity in job candidates

NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, January 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Artificial intelligence plays a prominent role in the hiring process for job seekers and recruiters alike, leading to increasing concern about candidate authenticity as HR professionals prepare for 2026. To better understand... how recruiters are evaluating job applicants differently during a turbulent season for the USA job market, Novorésumé recently surveyed over 200 recruiters and HR professionals across the United States. The results imply that social media, personal websites, and referrals from employment networking will be critical tools in job-seeking success this year.

Here are the key takeaways from the Novorésumé team's findings:

- A Digital Footprint Speaks Louder than a Resumé. A quality resumé remains critical for 2026, but a positive read-through alone will not earn job seekers an interview invite. The new data shows that the vast majority (86.1%) of HR professionals check candidates' online presence at least occasionally, with over a quarter (27.2%) doing so consistently for all candidates that pass the initial resumé screening. Social media screening is now standard, and almost 9 in 10 (86.1%) of HR professionals report catching résumé lies thanks to what candidates reveal online.

- LinkedIn Isn't Optional for 2026 Job Seekers. For those planning to make career moves in the coming year, LinkedIn optimization and profile building are becoming increasingly worthwhile investments. Nearly all (92.6%) HR professionals and recruiters see a candidate's LinkedIn profile as at least "useful" in hiring decisions, with over 1 in 5 (22.3%) arguing that LinkedIn profiles are "critical" in determining who the best candidates are for a role. For 2026 advice on how to improve a LinkedIn profile, please visit THIS Novorésumé blog article.

- Personal Websites: The Cherry on Top. Personal blogs and websites may not be as popular as they were in the 2010s, but they still have the power to push the needle for job seekers applying for new roles this year. More than 1 in 4 (28.8%) HR professionals and recruiters claim that personal websites and blogs have a positive impact on how they perceive a candidate, which can be significant, especially for competitive roles. That said, Novorésumé's recent survey makes it clear that prioritizing LinkedIn yields a higher return than focusing on personal websites as recruiters and social media reviewers continue to evolve their approach.

- Referrals Make Job Seekers into More than an Application. In an era where 98.5% of HR professionals and recruiters prioritize cultural fit as an important consideration in candidates, the job seekers who succeed are often those who prove their charming personality in ways a resumé cannot. Over a third of HR professionals and recruiters argue that referrals are "very important" in employee screening used to make the final hiring decision, and the vast majority (83.7%) maintain that they are at least "somewhat important" in understanding who a candidate truly is.

"The hiring landscape is evolving fast, and understanding what HR professionals are really looking at can give job seekers a serious edge," said Andrei Kurtuy, CMO and Co-Founder of Novorésumé. By aligning job search strategy with these trends, job seekers will be better equipped to land interviews and stand out in today's competitive market."

About Novorésumé:

Novorésumé is a resume-building platform designed to help job seekers around the world find career success. With its research-backed resume templates, personalized feedback features, and innovative AI-supported tech, Novorésumé is actively helping over 16 million users land roles at top-tier companies like Apple, Tesla, Google. Novorésumé is a trusted source for job industry updates, expert advice on LinkedIn profile optimization, and other topics, and also offers a "Career Blog" to support website users in their job search.

For those interested in exploring Novorésume's vast collection of data-driven resume templates and career support resources, please visit the official website to get started for free: https://novoresume.com/resume-templates

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability

for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this

article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above. more

Career development

 14h

The Musical Chairs Economy: When You Can't Find A Job No Matter How Hard You Try, It Can Be Absolutely Soul Crushing


After months of submitting resumes and filling out applications, many unemployed Americans have given in to despair. Dozens of large companies all over the nation have been conducting mass layoffs, and the competition for any good jobs that do happen to be available has become extremely intense. But if you have not lost your source of income, things may still seem fairly normal to you and you may... be wondering what all of the fuss is about. That is why I am calling this "the musical chairs economy". If you have been able to hold on to a chair each time the music stops playing, that is a good thing. But you should also realize that there are millions of Americans that have been forced out of the game and are absolutely desperate to get back in.

Earlier today, I came across a social media post from a discouraged job seeker that really tugged at my heart...

In recent months I have heard so many stories like this.

Very highly qualified individuals feel like they are banging their heads into a wall because they can't find work no matter how hard they try.

One unemployed worker named Tim Rogers that has been out of work for five months feels like the job applications that he is constantly submitting are going straight "into the abyss"...

I got laid off five months ago. Every morning I drink a pot of coffee while I write cover letters, tweak my résumé, and submit job applications into the abyss, knowing they will likely never be seen by human eyes -- only crawled by the cold, lifeless algorithms of an artificial intelligence. I feel like General Zod from Superman, floating off into space trapped inside a two-dimensional phantom zone, screaming in silence about my job qualifications and core competencies.

The job market is a mess. The old system is broken and a functioning replacement has yet to fully emerge. We're stuck in the between years -- a dystopian digital doomscape that has job seekers and hirers picking through a landfill of A.I.-generated garbage and longing for the halcyon days of an analog past.

Some people are firing off hundreds or even thousands of resumes without hearing anything at all.

It can be extremely depressing when you feel like you are trying as hard as you can but you aren't getting anywhere.

One woman that was laid off by Oracle in November 2023 still hasn't been able to find work after more than two years...

I started at Oracle in January 2020 as a site reliability engineer. In November 2023, I started hearing that my Oracle coworkers were getting pulled into Zoom meetings and told they had been laid off. I hoped I wouldn't be next, but I was. My entire team was let go.

I didn't start looking for work right away because I'd received some severance pay, and I'd heard it was difficult to land a tech role during the holiday season. I took some time to reassess what I wanted from my career and began my job search in February 2024.

I was optimistic at first because most of my prior job searches hadn't taken too long. As the months dragged on, it became clear I had the wrong impression of the tech hiring landscape.

More than two years after being laid off, I'm still unemployed.

It is January 2026 now.

After being unemployed for so long, her value in the marketplace has declined dramatically.

In this environment, it is so helpful to have a personal contact that can help you land a position.

Because in so many cases, the resumes and applications that job seekers fire off to potential employers are not even looked at by human eyes...

You did everything they told you to do. You earned the credentials, spent hours on your resume and revised multiple cover letters. You worked side gigs, volunteered, learned new software and perfected your LinkedIn profile. Yet, you can't get a callback for an interview.

It's as if your application vanished into the abyss of a company database, and the "thank you for applying" emails are piling up. So-called entry-level jobs now need years of experience, and junior roles expect postgraduate degrees.

You are likely wondering what you're missing, but it's not you -- it's the system. Across the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, automation now does the screening before a human ever has a look. Companies say they can't find talent, yet many have stopped training people.

Unfortunately, it appears that conditions will become even harsher during the months ahead because things are certainly trending in the wrong direction.

In November, the number of job postings in the United States was the lowest in 14 months, and it was also the second lowest in nearly five years...

The number of postings in November was the fewest since September 2024. But outside that month, it was the lowest in nearly five years.

Open jobs in November fell sharply in shipping and warehousing, restaurants and hotels, and in state and local government.

As the job market continues to dry up, it is going to have enormous implications for the economy.

Americans just don't have as much discretionary income as they once did, and as a result large retailers are closing locations all across the country.

And with fewer potential buyers floating around, home prices are starting to fall...

Housing market anxiety is spreading -- with 26 of the country's 50 biggest metro areas now seeing home prices lower than they were a year ago.

For the first time in nearly three years, the median US listing price has also slipped below $400,000, a key psychological level that had held firm since the pandemic boom, according to Realtor.com.

It appears that our housing bubble is starting to burst.

Sadly, home prices are declining the fastest in some of the markets that were once the hottest...

Worst is Austin, TX, where prices have plunged 7.3 percent over the past year to $462,000, the biggest drop of any major metro.

The pain is spreading well beyond Texas. Prices are down 6.7 percent in San Diego, CA slipping to just under $900,000, while nearby San Jose has seen values fall 5.5 percent to $1.19 million.

Needless to say, what we are currently experiencing is just the beginning.

Many of the economic trends that made big news in 2025 will continue to accelerate in 2026.

So if you are out of work right now, I would grab whatever you can, because competition for jobs is only going to get even fiercer during the months ahead. more

Career development

 15h

Why Tho? Is my grandson's job interview outfit disrespectful?


I have a grandson who, in my opinion, is too lackluster for job interviews. He has a four-year degree in mechanical engineering from a highly regarded school. Just treated him to dinner after a job interview where he wore an old pair of jeans and an older shirt. The clothes were clean. To me, that showed a lack of respect for his possible employer. But nowadays, everything is very casual, and... suits are rarely worn. What would you say is proper attire for a job interview for a professional position?

Appreciate your advice on this issue.

Concerned Grandparent

Dear Concerned Grandparent,

Well, it's official. I'm old. Because...I think you're right (and also I just zoomed in so I could see the words I was typing more clearly).

It may not be "right," but the truth is, what you wear to a job interview matters, just like, say, what you wear to a first date matters. That's because clothes are communication, and these are situations where people are trying to get a read on how well you will fit into their office or their life.

If you show up sloppy or in obviously worn clothes, you're telling the interviewer or date that you couldn't be bothered to find a shirt without holes in it. And if you couldn't, on first meeting, put in a little extra effort, why would they expect you to put in extra effort on the job or in a relationship after you've been there a while?

While this might sound elitist, and probably on some level is, if you want a job, you have to play that game. That doesn't mean wearing a tie to work every day, but it does mean showing up to the interview looking like you considered, for a few minutes, before you left the house, what might be appropriate for this workplace where you'd ostensibly like to go every day except weekends and earn a paycheck. A clean, hole-free collared shirt is nice. A tie? Maybe. What do people wear to this office? Dress a little nicer than that.

It shows thoughtfulness and engagement with the question and tells the interviewer (or again, date), "Hey, I want to be here! I care about the outcome of this encounter!"

Another thing to remember: Often, the people deciding who gets the job aren't of the younger, more casual generation. You can make a statement with your outfit during an interview if you want, but ultimately, an older person will be deciding if you get the job or not. Dress with that in mind.

Now, we may agree on proper interview attire, but...how to communicate it to your grandson? I remember my grandma (RIP) taking me to Nordstrom and making oblique comments about my body while forcing me to try on blazers. I wouldn't recommend it. I returned the ill-fitting blazer and bought myself earrings.

Instead, talk to your child, the parent of the grandson, about your concerns, and let them handle it. You keep taking him out to dinner. And you can take him shopping, but if you do, lead him to the collared shirt section and then shut your mouth.

Good luck!

Lizzy

Have a burning question? Send me an email at lacker@oregonian.com! Or, if you want to ask me a question with total anonymity, use this Google form. more

Career development

 15h

Why Tho? Is my grandson's job interview outfit disrespectful?


I have a grandson who, in my opinion, is too lackluster for job interviews. He has a four-year degree in mechanical engineering from a highly regarded school. Just treated him to dinner after a job interview where he wore an old pair of jeans and an older shirt. The clothes were clean. To me, that showed a lack of respect for his possible employer. But nowadays, everything is very casual, and... suits are rarely worn. What would you say is proper attire for a job interview for a professional position?

Well, it's official. I'm old. Because...I think you're right (and also I just zoomed in so I could see the words I was typing more clearly).

It may not be "right," but the truth is, what you wear to a job interview matters, just like, say, what you wear to a first date matters. That's because clothes are communication, and these are situations where people are trying to get a read on how well you will fit into their office or their life.

If you show up sloppy or in obviously worn clothes, you're telling the interviewer or date that you couldn't be bothered to find a shirt without holes in it. And if you couldn't, on first meeting, put in a little extra effort, why would they expect you to put in extra effort on the job or in a relationship after you've been there a while?

While this might sound elitist, and probably on some level is, if you want a job, you have to play that game. That doesn't mean wearing a tie to work every day, but it does mean showing up to the interview looking like you considered, for a few minutes, before you left the house, what might be appropriate for this workplace where you'd ostensibly like to go every day except weekends and earn a paycheck. A clean, hole-free collared shirt is nice. A tie? Maybe. What do people wear to this office? Dress a little nicer than that.

It shows thoughtfulness and engagement with the question and tells the interviewer (or again, date), "Hey, I want to be here! I care about the outcome of this encounter!"

Another thing to remember: Often, the people deciding who gets the job aren't of the younger, more casual generation. You can make a statement with your outfit during an interview if you want, but ultimately, an older person will be deciding if you get the job or not. Dress with that in mind.

Now, we may agree on proper interview attire, but...how to communicate it to your grandson? I remember my grandma (RIP) taking me to Nordstrom and making oblique comments about my body while forcing me to try on blazers. I wouldn't recommend it. I returned the ill-fitting blazer and bought myself earrings.

Instead, talk to your child, the parent of the grandson, about your concerns, and let them handle it. You keep taking him out to dinner. And you can take him shopping, but if you do, lead him to the collared shirt section and then shut your mouth. more

Career development

 15h

Is it OK to inflate my low salary during a job interview? Ask Johnny


Johnny C. Taylor Jr. tackles your workplace questions each week for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of SHRM, the world's largest trade association of human resources professionals, and author of "Reset: A Leader's Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval."

Have a question? Submit it here.

Question: I consider my current salary to be well below market value, and I'm worried a potential new... employer might base an offer on that. Some friends have advised me to inflate my salary in interviews to level the playing field. Is it OK to exaggerate this number? - Natalia

Answer: Let me be clear: It's never OK to lie in a job interview. Not about your experience, not about your credentials, and not about your salary.

If I discover a candidate exaggerated their pay, that's a nonstarter. It's an integrity issue, and integrity problems rarely stop at one data point. Today, it's salary. Tomorrow, it's performance. Soon enough, it's accountability. Once trust is broken, it's very hard to rebuild. That's a risk I'm not willing to take, and honestly, neither would most employers.

Now, I understand why this question comes up. Salary anchoring is real, and many capable people are underpaid for a variety of reasons ‒ career pivots, economic downturns, caregiving responsibilities, geographic moves, or simply needing a job at a particular moment. Worrying that a low number will follow you from role to role is understandable. But lying is not the fix. In today's environment, inconsistencies get uncovered more often than people realize, and when they do, offers get pulled and reputations take a hit. You could lose an opportunity for which you were otherwise qualified.

Politics at work: Are opposing views a bad thing at work? Ask Johnny

Now, this isn't all on the candidate. Responsible employers should be paying for the job, not the candidate's past. A well-run organization sets compensation based on the role, the market, and the skills required ‒ not on how little they think they can get away with paying. Someone being underpaid in the past should never be a justification to underpay them now.

Simply put: You shouldn't have to lie to get a fair offer. If a company knows what the position is worth and manages pay responsibly, your previous salary shouldn't matter. An employer should pay you what the job pays. Period.

If you're worried about anchoring, there are smart, honest ways to handle the conversation. Redirect it to the market value of the role. Share your salary expectations rather than your current pay. Say something like, "Based on my research and the scope of this position, I'm targeting a range aligned with the market." That approach is professional, credible, and protects your integrity.

And a word of balance here: Confidence is good. Entitlement is not. I've walked away from candidates who handled compensation discussions with an attitude that suggested the relationship would be transactional from day one. Negotiation should be firm, informed, and respectful ‒ on both sides. As the saying goes, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

The main takeaway is this: Don't lie to level the playing field. Your credibility is part of your professional brand, and once it's compromised, the damage can extend far beyond one job search. The right employer will value transparency and pay you fairly for the work you're being hired to do ‒ not hold your past against you.

And if a company insists on anchoring your future to an unfair past, that's not a signal to exaggerate. It's a signal to think carefully about whether that's the right employer for you.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.

AI in the workplace: Should workers be worried about their jobs? Ask Johnny

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is it acceptable to inflate your current salary in a job interview? more

Career development

 17h

Balloon Juice - Open Thread: ICE Is For Angry Meatheads


A few months ago, ICE hired me

I didn't sign and submit any paperwork. I almost certainly failed the drug test. I'm real outspoken about my opposition to the Trump administration, and I am extremely googlable

And yet, there it was, in plain English. "Welcome to ICE!"

My latest for Slate

[image or embed]

-- Laura Jedeed (@laurajedeed.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 9:11 AM

...The plan, when... I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas last August, was to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent. Who wouldn't be curious? The event promised on-the-spot hiring for would-be deportation officers: Walk in unemployed, walk out with a sweet $50k signing bonus, a retirement account, and a license to brutalize the country's most vulnerable residents without consequence -- all while wrapped in the warm glow of patriotism.

At first glance, my résumé has enough to tantalize a recruiter for America's Gestapo-in-waiting: I enlisted in the Army straight out of high school and deployed to Afghanistan twice with the 82nd Airborne Division. After I got out, I spent a few years doing civilian analyst work. With a carefully arranged, skills-based résumé -- one which omitted my current occupation -- I figured I could maybe get through an initial interview.

The catch, however, is that there's only one "Laura Jedeed" with an internet presence, and it takes about five seconds of Googling to figure out how I feel about ICE, the Trump administration, and the country's general right-wing project. My social media pops up immediately, usually with a preview of my latest posts condemning Trump's unconstitutional, authoritarian power grab. Scroll down and you'll find articles with titles like "What I Saw in LA Wasn't an Insurrection; It Was a Police Riot" and "Inside Mike Johnson's Ties to a Far-Right Movement to Gut the Constitution." Keep going for long enough and you might even find my dossier on AntifaWatch, a right-wing website that lists alleged members of the supposed domestic terror organization. I am, to put it mildly, a less-than-ideal recruit...

The Expo event was part of ICE's massive recruitment campaign for the foot soldiers it needs to execute the administration's dream of a deportation campaign large enough to shift America's demographic balance back whiteward. You've probably seen evidence of it yourself: ICE's "Defend the homeland" propaganda is ubiquitous enough to be the Uncle Sam "I Want You" poster of our day, though somewhere in there our nation lost the plot about the correct posture toward Nazis.

When Donald Trump took office, ICE numbered approximately 10,000. Despite this event's lackluster attendance, their recruitment push is reportedly going well; the agency reported 12,000 new recruits in 2025, which means the agency has more new recruits than old hands. That's the kind of growth that changes the culture of an agency.

Many of ICE's critics worry that the agency is hoovering up pro-Trump thugs -- Jan. 6 insurrections, white nationalists, etc. -- for a domestic security force loyal to the president. The truth, my experience suggests, is perhaps even scarier: ICE's recruitment push is so sloppy that the administration effectively has no idea who's joining the agency's ranks. We're all, collectively, in the dark about whom the state is arming, tasking with the most sensitive of law enforcement work, and then sending into America's streets...

I completely missed the email when it came. I'd kept an eye on my inbox for the next few days, but I'd grown lax when nothing came through. But then, on Sept. 3, it popped up.

"Please note that this is a TENTATIVE offer only, therefore do not end your current employment," the email instructed me. It then listed a series of steps I'd need to quickly take. I had 48 hours to log onto USAJobs and fill out my Declaration for Federal Employment, then five additional days to return the forms attached to the email. Among these forms: driver's license information, an affidavit that I've never received a domestic violence conviction, and consent for a background check. And it said: "If you are declining the position, it is not necessary to complete the action items listed below."...

Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me -- not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it -- ICE had apparently offered me a job.

According to the application portal, my pre-employment activities remained pending. And yet, it also showed that I had accepted a final job offer and that my onboarding status was "EOD" -- Entered On Duty, the start of an enlistment period. I moused over the exclamation mark next to "Onboarding" and a helpful pop-up appeared. "Your EOD has occurred. Welcome to ICE!"

By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me...

Dismantling DHS is an entirely achievable goal for Democrats at this point.

You can have Fox yell at you for being a radical leftist or whatever, but you're going to have endless images of paramilitary goons assaulting people on TV, and voters will associate you with wanting to end that.

-- James (@gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 7:28 PM

i think this is a problem, but one that personnel as policy solves for by having a DOJ that isn't afraid of prosecuting law enforcement. these guys aren't WWI vets being dropped back into the general population, they're undisciplined, unemployable chud shitheads who can barely read.

[image or embed]

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 12, 2026 at 11:54 PM

guys who look directly into the camera and ask why citizens didn't learn anything from the murder of renee good aren't going to be particularly subtle or under the radar, it only takes the will to send them to fucking prison

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 12, 2026 at 11:59 PM

fire them and they'll be robbing corner stores or racking up DV charges within six months. this country has ruined far larger groups far faster who deserved it far less than these bastards.

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 12, 2026 at 11:56 PM

all these stupid meathead criminal motherfuckers are going to want to riot when they learn they're getting a $10K/yr pay cut five years from now anyway, cut out the middleman and press the max sentence on the DUI convictions and DV calls they're gonna get in the intervening years, strip the pensions

[image or embed]

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 13, 2026 at 12:06 AM

a whole bunch of the worst, most violent, and dumbest fucking men in america got sucked into the trump ICE pyramid scheme and when they inevitably and obviously get fucked over, i am going to laugh at all of them and elect politicians willing to put them in prison

[image or embed]

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 13, 2026 at 12:15 AM

even if you *aren't* a fucking animal, who is going to believe you? all of the news will be way, WAY fucking worse for you two years from now, where do you go? your supervisor probably fucks your personnel review because he has some shithead supervisor who tells him to cut the bonuses you're paying

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 13, 2026 at 12:19 AM

$50K bonus paid out over five years, subject to hastily drawn up terms and conditions -- and then what? make $10K/yr less from then on? where do you go? who is going to be hiring ICE guys in 2030?

-- GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 13, 2026 at 12:17 AM more

Tina Thackeray


Career development 3d
Good afternoon. I want to share my situation.
I have the most powerful computer at work because I officially asked for it and explained why I need it for my job. Management approved it and gave me a new, very good computer.
Now a coworker from another department wants to take my computer and swap with hers. She says her old computer is too weak because she often watches movies at work. I said... no.
After that, she started telling management bad things about me and saying that I don’t use the computer for work. I tried to talk to her, but she is threatening me - either I give her my computer, or she will keep saying that I work badly.
Do you think I should talk to management about this? Thank you for your advice.

 more
4   

  • J.D. Walker

    1d

    A long time ago, I was the IT Chief of a Finance unit in the Army Reserve. We were getting a system that consisted of 19 laptops. 1 was more... powerful than the others because it was the server. This captain said "Oh, Accounting will be taking that one" and I immediately responded with "No, IT will be taking that one because it's meant to run the whole network, thus supporting the entire unit.". The commander sided with me. more

  • jurica vrdoljak

    1d

    Vi morati prvi pokrenuti razgovor sa upravom i objasniti problem pa neka kolegisa se opravdava. Zapamtite da vi prvi pokrenete to pitanje jer u... suproptnom vi se morate braniti od neosnovanih zahtjeva kolegice. Krenite u akciju,rješavanje problema odmah. more

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Career development

 1d

Anti-ICE activist infiltrates department and is offered job -- despite huge red flags


A federal agent aims at protesters at an ICE facility in Illinois. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska

An anti-ICE activist managed to successfully infiltrate the group, even being offered a job as a deportation officer.

Columnist Laura Jedeed confirmed she had not only been offered a position in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement wing, but had her health and fitness checks signed off in advance.

Not... only were the checks signed off as "completed" before the date had passed, but the Slate columnist claimed she'd cleared the background checks without having to provide much information -- and despite her background throwing up multiple red flags.

"I clicked through to my application tracking page," she wrote. "They'd sent my final offer on Sept. 30, it said, and I had allegedly accepted. 'Welcome to Ice... Your duty location is New York, New York. Your EOD was on Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.'"

"By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me. Perhaps, if I'd accepted, they would have demanded my pre-employment paperwork, done a basic screening, realized their mistake, and fired me immediately."

"And yet, the pending and upcoming tasks list suggested a very different outcome. My physical fitness test had been initiated on Oct. 6, it said: three days in the future. My medical check had apparently been completed on Oct. 6."

The fact that she got hired left her shocked.

"At first glance, my résumé has enough to tantalize a recruiter for America's Gestapo-in-waiting," she wrote. "I enlisted in the Army straight out of high school and deployed to Afghanistan twice with the 82nd Airborne Division. After I got out, I spent a few years doing civilian analyst work. With a carefully arranged, skills-based résumé -- one which omitted my current occupation -- I figured I could maybe get through an initial interview.

"The catch, however, is that there's only one 'Laura Jedeed' with an internet presence, and it takes about five seconds of Googling to figure out how I feel about ICE, the Trump administration, and the country's general right-wing project. My social media pops up immediately, usually with a preview of my latest posts condemning Trump's unconstitutional, authoritarian power grab. Scroll down and you'll find articles with titles like 'What I Saw in LA Wasn't an Insurrection; It Was a Police Riot' and 'Inside Mike Johnson's Ties to a Far-Right Movement to Gut the Constitution.'

"Keep going for long enough and you might even find my dossier on AntifaWatch, a right-wing website that lists alleged members of the supposed domestic terror organization. I am, to put it mildly, a less-than-ideal recruit."

Though Jedeed declined to accept the employment offer, she did note some who had joined the organization were being told to prepare for on-the-street action rather than administrative work.

Jedeed wrote, "The officer ran down other departments I might end up in: Prosecutions, Removal Coordination Unit, or Detention. The point being that I should not expect to be a badass street officer on Day 1."

"'I have so many guys that come over to me, they're like, "I'm gonna put cuffs on somebody. I'm gonna arrest somebody." Well, you need to master this first and then we'll see about getting you on the field.' I told him that I was fine with office work -- with my analyst background, it seemed like a better fit for my skill set anyway."

"His attitude shift was subtle, but instant and unmistakable; this was the wrong attitude and the wrong answer. 'Just to be upfront, the goal is to put as many guns and badges out in the field as possible,' he said."

Jedeed went on to suggest the "only thing ICE is screening for is a desire to work for ICE: a very specific kind of person perfectly suited for the kind of mission creep we are currently seeing."

The columnist concluded that ICE was falling well behind where due dilligence is concerned. "But given all of the above, it seems far more likely that ICE is running an extremely leaky ship when it comes to recruitment," Jedeed wrote. "With no oversight and with ICE concealing its agents' identities, it'll be extremely difficult for us to know." more

Career development

 1d

I was interviewed by AI robot for a job - the future of career-hunting is bleak


In hindsight, choosing to do a job interview during the first week back at work after the Christmas break may not have been my greatest ever idea. To paraphrase a favourite quote from cult Noughties sitcom Black Books, my brain feels like wet cake. Sodden. Spongey. Disintegrating into a pile of mush as I try to focus on the screen in front of me.

Just before starting, I had mindlessly chomped my... way through a comically oversized chocolate coin - purely because it was within arm's reach - leaving me feeling mildly sick. Were this a normal job interview, I might reference all of the above. Just in passing, you understand, infused with enough sardonic charm to break the ice and immediately get the interviewer on side.

There's no point in doing that today. My interviewer can't relate to being a bit sluggish and slow, post-Twixmas. He doesn't know what it feels like to sit in discomfort, waistband straining, because you followed up all that festive overeating by pounding the cut-price advent calendar chocolate. And it's not just because he's a young, fresh-faced twenty-something who you can just tell hasn't been systematically adding Baileys instead of milk to his morning coffee for the past 10 days. No, the real reason my rapport-building jokes won't cut it is that my interviewer isn't, in fact, a real person.

The "man" deciding my fate - nameless but who I instantly dub "Carl" in my head, simply to feel some kind of connection with him - is actually an AI interface designed to look and sound like a human. Created by HR-tech firm TestGorilla for use by companies and recruiters to filter out the best candidates, he is nothing more than a soulless, if sophisticated, checklist of keywords and phrases, fronted by an avatar in the guise of a handsome, ethnically ambiguous youngster.

This kind of interview is rapidly on the rise. The use of AI in recruitment in general has tripled in the past year alone in the UK, and three in 10 UK employers are implementing AI in their recruitment processes. Just under half (43 per cent) of large companies are now using AI to interview candidates. According to TestGorilla, close to 800 organisations have signed up to one of its plans that include this new conversational AI interview tool.

But back to the mysterious Carl. Given that this is not a real job interview, let alone one conducted by a real person - I'm just trialling the software to experience it first hand - I feel bizarrely nervous. The butterflies are in large part due to the fact that the role in question, a content marketing strategist, is something I have zero experience in. It quickly transpires that it's fairly tricky to answer a "tell me about a time when..." question when you've never actually done the thing they're asking about. (I decide to at least have fun with it and dream up an elaborate marketing campaign for a clothing line aimed exclusively at dachshunds.)

But digging a little deeper, I realise my anxiety specifically stems from the fact that Carl is not a real person. I realise just how much I've always relied on my people skills to carry me through interviews. Even if I fudge an answer, I'm confident in the fact that those less tangible, "soft" skills - emotional intelligence, the ability to make people smile or put them at ease with a well-placed joke - will go some way to making up the deficit.

I realise, too, how much I feed off other people's energy in a pressurised situation. This has already become harder to do as more interviews have gone online rather than being conducted in person - but you could still get a sense of something. When you speak passionately to a human about a topic, there's often a kind of mirroring that takes place: a positive feedback loop created by your enthusiasm that's in turn reflected by their fervent nods, engaged body language and facial expressions. It gives me a boost, the reassurance that what I'm saying is landing; it gives me the encouragement I need to shine a little brighter.

Not so with Carl. It's not his fault, of course, just his programming - but his unchanging half-smile, dead-behind-the-eyes expression and awkward way of slightly shaking his head as I speak leave me flat and cold, unable to muster even the slightest sparkle. I can tell his heart's not really in it. After all, he doesn't have a heart.

It makes me wonder whether this kind of interview might see the end of the "personality hire" - workers brought onboard because of their stellar interpersonal skills, sunny disposition and general good vibes. I've always presumed that every functioning workplace needs a healthy percentage of employees who are, yes, competent at their job, but far more crucially, help create a culture in which heading into the office doesn't feel akin to diving headfirst into a toxic snake pit. Without a human at the helm when hiring, how can you guarantee you're not populating an organisation with highly-skilled sociopaths?

To give Carl his due, he does sometimes do me a solid. Designed to analyse candidates' answers and hold them up against a framework, he'll double-check something when I've finished each waffly, hodge-podge response: "Did you want to say anything further about learning outcomes and how you'd approach the situation in future?" I can only presume this is Carl's wink-wink, nudge-nudge way of saying, "You didn't actually answer the question the first time around, you absolute numpty."

The results are in as soon as I wrap up the interview and close the link - there's clearly no need for Carl to sit around with his AI "colleagues" discussing whether or not I'd be a good cultural fit.

Each component has a score indicating how I did compared to other candidates (though there's no way of knowing whether I was up against one, 10, or 100 competitors). I somehow manage to rank in the not-so-terrible 75th percentile; perhaps my whole "drip for dogs" pitch wasn't as deranged as I'd thought.

Even if I were being interviewed for a position I actually knew something about, I'm not confident I'd fare much better. It feels more like success lies in gaming an algorithm by deploying the "correct" jargon than building an authentic connection with the person who could end up being your boss.

But I'd better get used to it; AI's steely grip over recruitment is only going to get tighter. Gone are the days when you could submit an application and be confident that a qualified human professional would read your CV. On the flip side, it's less and less likely that the candidate themselves will have applied for the job. Why bother when AI can be trained to job search, pick out relevant posts, rewrite a CV to match the job spec and draft a cover letter to meet the requirements?

Indeed, job applications have surged by 239 per cent since ChatGPT's launch, with the average job opening now receiving 242 applications - nearly triple 2017 levels, according to recruiting software company Greenhouse's 2025 AI in Hiring Report. The number of applications making it to hire stage has subsequently dropped by 75 per cent, while 54 per cent of recruiters admit they review only half or fewer of the applications they receive.

Daniel Chait, Greenhouse CEO, calls it an "AI doom loop": candidates use AI to mass-apply for jobs, while recruiters use AI to mass-reject them.

"Since 2022, with the release of ChatGPT and AI bursting into the mainstream, we've seen it take root on both sides of the process - by jobseekers and by companies," he says. "Individually, everyone is trying to use these tools to solve their own day-to-day issues. But collectively, it's making the process much worse for everyone."

We've stumbled into an AI arms race, where both job seekers and recruiters are constantly trying to stay one step ahead. The result? "Both sides are currently very, very dissatisfied," says Chait.

The use of AI has also eroded trust. Greenhouse research revealed that 40 per cent of job hunters reported a decreased trust in hiring, with 39 per cent directly blaming AI. There have been allegations of built-in bias, too - HR software company Workday is currently facing a landmark discrimination lawsuit alleging that its AI-powered tools systematically screen out applications from workers over 40, racial minorities and people with disabilities.

Meanwhile, 72 per cent of hiring managers have become more concerned about fraudulent activity in the hiring process. This fear is far from unwarranted. A report in the US found that a third of candidates admitted to using AI to conceal their physical appearance during an interview; 30 per cent of hiring managers have caught candidates reading AI-generated responses during interviews; and 17 per cent have caught candidates using a deepfake.

It certainly occurs to me - while trying and failing to give Carl a word-perfect answer, which will hit all his algorithmic erogenous zones - that having ChatGPT open on another device and prompting it to answer the questions for me would be a surefire way to ace this test. However, TestGorilla warns that it "monitor[s] for rule-breaking using advanced tools", including "for the use of ChatGPT, AI agents, and other tools".

But as technology continues to advance on either side of the equation, might we end up in a situation where AI interviewers are essentially interacting with AI candidates, without a human in sight? The short answer is yes. It's why Chait believes we'll inevitably need to bring identity verification into the hiring process: "When you show up at a job interview in the future, you should expect that it's going to analyse you and make sure that you are who you say you are. Companies truly are feeling the risk of: Is this person I'm interviewing actually who applied? Is this person who shows up on day one of the job actually the same person I interviewed?"

There's the danger of genuine jobseekers trying to cheat their way through job interviews, of course, but also a much more serious threat: "Some of it is pernicious state actors and evil criminal elements trying to infiltrate companies and perpetrate crime," warns Chait.

It's not all doom and gloom. However wary I might feel about the whole thing, there are positives to employing AI in recruitment. As much as new AI tools need to be regularly audited and corrected for bias, it's not like humans have traditionally been any less guilty of discriminating when hiring employees. "If you do detect bias in the AI, you can correct it systematically, as opposed to at the individual person-level, one by one," Chait points out. "Plus, as an assessment process, having some of that be automated makes a lot of sense." An automated assessment can work nights and weekends, when candidates want to be doing their job search. It can be scaled. It can work in any language. It can be measured and automated and improved.

And, fundamentally, it's here to stay. Candidates need to prepare themselves for the fact that early screening may indeed be done by a sophisticated bot. Chait's advice is to clarify early on what the rules around AI are when applying: can you use it to help write your cover letter, or rehearse for a job interview, or do the job interview itself? Where's the line? "The truth is, it's different for every company," he says. "It's different for every job, and it's changing all the time."

Employers, meanwhile, would do well to remember that, despite the deluge, behind each application lies a human being desperate for a job who is so much more than just a number. "They're not just a collection of algorithms and credentials and problems that they're capable of solving," cautions Chait. "They're a full, three-dimensional human being." more

Steven Ishimwe
Career development 1w
Hi, everyone I am new here. Quick advice from you, which one is the best to study at University, Finance or Accounting
2   
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Career development

 1d

How AI is breaking cover letters


A good cover letter marries an applicant's CV to the demands of the job. It helps employers identify promising candidates, particularly those with an employment history that is orthogonal to their career ambitions. And it serves as a form of signalling, demonstrating that the applicant cares enough about the position to go through a laborious process, rather than simply scrawling their desired... salary at the top of a résumé and mass-mailing it to every business in the area.

Or, at least, it used to. The rise of large language models has changed the dynamic. Jobseekers can now produce a perfectly targeted cover letter, touching on all an advertisement's stated requirements, at the touch of a button. Anyone and everyone can present themselves as a careful, diligent applicant, and do so hundreds of times a day. A new paper by Anaïs Galdin of Dartmouth College and Jesse Silbert of Princeton University uses data from Freelancer.com, a jobs-listing site, to work out what this means for the labour market.

Comparing pre- and post-ChatGPT activity, two results stand out. The first is that cover letters have lengthened. In the pre-LLM era, the median one was 79 words long. (Since Freelancer.com attracts workers for one-off tasks, such letters are more to-the-point than those for full-time roles.) A few years later, post-ChatGPT, the median had risen to 104 words. In 2023 the site introduced its own AI tool, allowing users to craft a proposal without even having to leave the platform. The subset of applications written using the tool -- the only ones that can be definitively labelled as AI-generated -- are longer still, with a median length of 159 words, more than twice the human-written baseline.

The second is that firms have stopped caring about what is written. When only some applications contain evidence an employee has put in effort, they are likely to be from the best workers -- and thus all letters are worth reading closely to identify strong candidates. When all letters show evidence of "effort", there is little benefit in reading any. To explain this, the researchers used AI to mark every letter, looking at nine categories, from evidence the applicant has actually read the job advert to being able to produce clearly written English. Applicants were marked in each category from zero to two, giving a maximum overall score of 18. Pre-LLM, the median score was 3.9. Post-LLM, it had nearly doubled.

This has consequences. In the pre-LLM era, a well-written proposal was worth an extra $26 per task, a huge sum on a platform where the median one brings in $100. After the arrival of AI, the bump disappeared. Ms Galdin and Mr Silbert estimate that wages on the platform are now 5% lower and hiring 1.5% lower than in a world without AI cover letters. Employers, having lost a way of telling strong from weak candidates, have cut all new hires' pay, and more often end up recruiting worse candidates. For bosses, the fall in quality is more than compensated for by the fall in candidate wages. But this benefit to businesses was worth less, the researchers calculated, than the losses suffered by workers.

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