Career development

1d

Should you fake your résumé and lie in an interview? This laid off employee's experience has the Internet talking

Hiring bias against resume gaps is driving a surge in "strategic deception." Job seekers now use "ghost companies" and stretched dates to bypass picky recruiters. While some bypass shallow background checks, the risk of "at-will" termination remains high. As AI-driven verification evolves, these shortcuts face a narrowing window. For many, lying is a desperate response to a broken, unforgiving job... market.

For millions of white-collar workers, the post-layoff job market has become less forgiving and far more selective. Since 2023, U.S. employers have cut hundreds of thousands of corporate roles across technology, media, consulting, finance, and professional services. According to data from Layoffs.fyi and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, professional and business services alone have seen repeated waves of reductions, while hiring standards quietly tightened.

At the same time, recruiters increasingly treat résumé gaps as red flags. Even short periods of unemployment can trigger automatic rejections. That reality has pushed some job seekers into uncomfortable territory. One recently laid-off employee says they falsified parts of their résumé, passed a background check without issue, landed a solid job, and now has no regrets.

The story, shared widely online, has ignited a fierce debate. Is résumé embellishment a survival tactic in a broken hiring system, or a dangerous gamble that could backfire later? The experience offers a rare look at how modern background checks actually work, what employers prioritize, and why job gaps have become such a career liability in 2026.

The employee described nearly two years of unstable work after multiple layoffs. Contract roles. Underemployment. Long stretches without steady income. Each gap made job searching harder, not easier. Recruiters asked fewer questions. Interview callbacks slowed. Rejections came faster.

Faced with dwindling options, the worker altered employment dates at a real company and listed a second company that sounded legitimate but did not formally exist. The listed projects and skills were real, drawn from previous roles. A basic website backed up the listing. The goal was simple. Close résumé gaps. Get past automated filters. Reach a human interviewer.

It worked.

A job offer followed. Then came the background check. The employee expected problems. None came.

Hiring data shows that résumé gaps now matter more than ever. Applicant tracking systems often flag unexplained gaps longer than six months. Recruiters, overwhelmed by high application volume, rely on shortcuts. Continuous employment has become a proxy for reliability, even in industries rocked by layoffs.

In practice, this creates a contradiction. Companies conduct mass layoffs. Then penalize workers for being laid off.

Economists note that unemployment stigma rises during uneven recoveries. While overall job numbers may stabilize, white-collar hiring remains cautious. Employers prefer candidates who appear "currently employed," assuming they are lower risk and already vetted by another company.

This bias has consequences. Qualified candidates get screened out before interviews. Long job searches become self-perpetuating. And some workers begin to believe that honesty costs them opportunities they cannot afford to lose.

The most surprising part of the story was the background check result. Despite the altered résumé, the check came back clean. No calls were made to verify employment dates or job titles. No one contacted the listed references. Even the fake company phone number never rang.

This aligns with how many background checks actually work.

For non-executive, white-collar roles, checks typically focus on criminal history and identity verification. Employers want to reduce legal and safety risk. They want to know if a candidate poses a threat to coworkers or the workplace. Employment verification, when done, is often limited to confirming that a company recognizes the individual as a former employee. Dates and titles may not be deeply scrutinized.

Credit checks are also less common than many believe. They are usually reserved for roles with direct access to company funds, sensitive financial systems, or fiduciary responsibility. Most office jobs do not meet that threshold.

Industry insiders say many background check firms rely heavily on automated databases and employer self-reporting. Manual verification costs time and money. In a high-volume hiring environment, depth is often sacrificed for speed.

That does not mean all checks are superficial. Some companies do conduct thorough verifications. Smaller firms and regulated industries may dig deeper. But the process is far less uniform than job seekers assume.

The story has divided opinion online. Supporters argue that companies misrepresent job stability, growth opportunities, and even role responsibilities. They see résumé manipulation as a defensive response to an unfair system.

Critics warn that falsification carries long-term risk. If discovered later, it can lead to termination for cause. It can damage professional reputation. It may create stress for employees trying to maintain a fabricated work history.

Employment lawyers note that consequences depend heavily on company policy and intent. Minor date adjustments are often treated differently than fabricating credentials or licenses. Still, the risk is real.

What the story ultimately highlights is not just individual behavior, but structural pressure. A hiring market that punishes unemployment, relies on automated screening, and values optics over context encourages distortion.

For many workers, the takeaway is uncomfortable. In today's white-collar job market, being honest is not always rewarded. Being continuously employed often matters more than being truthful about how hard the last few years have been. more

2

Albert Kisembo
5h
Tricky sometimes.
George Harvilla
11h
NEVER lie on a resume! Once you compromise your integrity you have undermined your entire career path. Integrity is key in every professional... relationship. more

Career development

6h

Mat-Su students can find 'free' money for school, but must act soon

There's still time for students to get their hands on thousands of dollars in free money for college.

But not much.

Spring is crunch time for scholarship deadlines, with most applications due in the next two months. For high school seniors juggling everything from graduation announcements and senior pictures to prom, the deadlines can seem daunting.

The good news for Mat-Su students and... families navigating the vast landscape of postsecondary education funding is that help is available.

"Education equals opportunity, and helping families afford it is one of the most important things we do," said Rebecca Piatt, a counselor at Mat-Su Middle College School in Palmer.

School counselors are often the first line of help for high school students and their families. MSMCS Principal Greg Giauque said the school begins the financial aid education process during students' junior year. Getting started early is critical because things tend to speed up in a student's final semester.

"Life never slows down during senior year," Giauque said. "Waiting for the 'right time' to apply for scholarships usually means it won't happen."

Piatt said that aside from starting early, students and their families should prepare for the basics.

"Scholarship applications vary, but there are common elements. If students understand those components ahead of time and prepare them early, then when it's time to apply, the hard work is already done."

A handful of items are necessary for virtually all scholarship applications, including the government's Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

"Aside from the application itself, students can expect at least one letter of recommendation, a résumé or activities list, information about financial need, a personal statement -- who they are, what they want to do, and why -- and a transcript."

According to the Education Data Initiative, about $100 billion in grant and scholarship money is awarded nationwide each year, divided between federal financial aid and 1.8 million private scholarships -- funding that local financial advisers say many students don't realize they're eligible for.

Darla Haddeland, a financial aid adviser at Mat-Su College in Palmer, said students are often surprised by the variety of scholarships available.

"There's a ton of funding out there. There are scholarships for people with naturally red hair, Star Trek fans -- we had a student who won $1,500 for writing about her favorite flavor of ice cream."

Piatt and Giauque said keeping students up to date on what's available to Mat-Su students is a critical mission for local educators. The school's database lists scholarships and their deadlines that are specific to Mat-Su students. Both also advise students and their families to check out similar scholarship listings at other area high schools.

"Start with your school's counseling website," Piatt said. "Don't limit yourself to one school; look at multiple high school sites."

Piatt once received an email from a mother whose child had just won multiple scholarships. She said the family was "thrilled and relieved," and it reminded her why helping students with funding is so important.

Haddeland said it's crucial that students cast a wide net when it comes to funding sources.

"The main thing is to get started and reach out for help. A lot of people think financial aid is only student loans, and there's a lot more out there. If someone doesn't want loans, we'll do it with free money. But you have to go out and ask for it."

She also recommended checking online resources beyond local high schools, such as national scholarship search tools and community foundations, to maximize opportunities.

One major source of scholarships for Mat-Su students is the Mat-Su Health Foundation, which has given out more than $2.5 million in scholarships to local students pursuing careers in health care, human services or early childhood education. (The Sentinel receives some financial support from the Mat-Su Health Foundation.)

Foundation scholarship coordinator Adelina Rodriguez said students who haven't decided exactly what career path to follow should still apply.

"Even if you're unsure about applying or going to school in the fall semester, submitting that application is important. It serves as a backup plan," she said. "Once the application closes, we can't open it again. For students who are unsure -- maybe considering military school, staying local or going out of state -- setting yourself financially and having a scholarship to support you is critical to reducing the stress of going to school."

The foundation's deadline for fall academic scholarships is March 5. Of the 537 scholarship applications the foundation received last year, 489 were awarded.

To be eligible, students must be Mat-Su residents, meet the requirements for their field of study and demonstrate financial need. While a federal Student Aid Index is required to show need, Rodriguez said the foundation understands that tax returns and federal need determinations don't always paint a complete picture.

"FAFSA isn't always fully telling of their financial situation at home," she said. "We take that into consideration when reviewing applications."

Rodriguez also emphasized that students don't have to meet every federal guideline to be considered.

"Even if students don't meet all federal guidelines, we still encourage them to apply, because we look at the full context of their situation," she said.

Mat-Su College and the Mat-Su Health Foundation are hosting events in the coming weeks to help students and families seeking financial aid and scholarships.

On Feb. 7, the college will host a Fund Your Future Financial Aid Resource Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"We'll have a FAFSA completion room with a financial aid adviser on hand," Haddeland said. "I'll be doing Financial Aid 101 presentations throughout the day, and I follow those up with emails that include links, dates, screenshots -- very detailed information. We'll also be doing campus tours."

Rodriguez said the Mat-Su Health Foundation has already held two scholarship information sessions, with two more planned for Feb. 5 and 19 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the foundation's scholarship office. In addition to scholarship information, she said participants will be served a meal.

Haddeland emphasized that the events are free and open to all students and families, even those who haven't applied for college yet.

Funding can be one of the biggest barriers to an education, so helping students get set up for college can be one of the most rewarding parts of an educator's career. Giauque said he recently heard from the mother of two former students who are now on the verge of college graduation.

"It's always exciting to see students succeed and know that the funding we helped them secure is going to make a real difference in their lives. Every scholarship awarded feels like a win not just for them, but for everyone who supported them along the way." more

Career development

7h

Gen Z job seekers are bringing their parents to interviews. A career coach explains the new trend.

77 percent of Gen Z job applicants surveyed admit to bringing a parent to the interview.

The stress of job hunting crosses generational lines, but Gen Z is doing things a bit differently. Most of Gen Z is either just entering adulthood or has been there for some time. They are the first generation not to grow up with many analog developmental milestones, such as answering a house phone or asking... strangers for help reading a map. These are all things that help develop social skills that can be used in other settings.

A recent survey from Resumetemplates.com reveals a shocking trend. According to the resume-building website, of the 1,000 job seekers aged 18-23 surveyed, "77% say they have brought a parent to a job interview when they were job searching. About 13% say they always did, and 24% say they often did."

The idea of bringing a parent to an interview may seem laughably outrageous to older generations, but there are a few things to consider before the giggling sets in. Young adults have long relied on their parents for guidance as they enter the adult world, and this is true of every generation. Parents are often called on for help with locating first apartments, learning how to turn on utilities, figuring out health insurance plans, and more.

Expecting parents or a trusted adult to help with new life milestones isn't unheard of, but having a parent attend a job interview seems to baffle experts.

Julia Toothacre, chief career strategist at Resumetemplates.com, tells CBS Miami, "I can't imagine that most employers are happy about it. I think that it really shows a lack of maturity in the kids, in the Gen Zers that are doing this." Toothacre added that while some smaller organizations may not see an issue with it, she does not believe it is the norm.

In response to the survey, Bryan Golod, an award-winning job search coach, sees the results differently. Rather than piling on or dunking on a generation still trying to figure out adulthood, he offers a logical explanation for the phenomenon.

In a LinkedIn post, Golod shares:

"The internet is roasting this generation for lacking independence. But here's what everyone's missing: This isn't a Gen Z problem. It's a symptom of a broken system that never taught anyone how interviews actually work. Most professionals (regardless of age) have no idea how to interview effectively. I've worked with 50-year-olds who couldn't land a single offer after 30 interviews. I've coached VPs of HR who could help others but couldn't help themselves. Interview skills aren't taught in school, at work, or by parents. They're learned through trial, error, and usually a lot of rejection. The real issue isn't Gen Z bringing parents to interviews."

The job search coach explains that employers often no longer train managers on how to conduct interviews or what to look for when interviewing candidates. He also notes that many job seekers expect their experience and competence to speak for themselves, but that does not always translate well in an interview setting. Golod encourages people to ask themselves if they know how to predictably turn interviews into job offers before mocking Gen Z adults.

"Most don't. And that's not their fault... Nobody taught them. Interview skills are learnable. The professionals landing multiple offers with significant salary increases? They learned the rules of the game," Golod explains.

He adds that what truly matters in interviews is "not your credentials. Not your resume. Not even your qualifications. It's your ability to connect on a personal level and create a memorable experience. People bring you in based on data. They hire you based on emotion."

Maybe some Gen Zers are doing it wrong by traditional standards, but just like riding a bike, unless someone takes the time to teach you, you will never truly learn. Otherwise, you are left with scraped knees and bruises while you try to teach yourself. more

Career development

9h

Two-Page Executive Finance CV

I'm looking to transform my existing background into a concise, compelling two-page résumé that positions me for COO / CFO opportunities in the finance sector. The document must project a balanced, professional tone -- authoritative without sounding stiff -- while showcasing strategic leadership, P&L ownership, capital-raising success, and operational optimisation achievements. You will: * Distil... my experience into a two-page CV optimised for both human readers and ATS parsing (Word & PDF). * Highlight quantifiable results, board-level collaboration, and cross-functional leadership relevant to modern finance organisations. * Use clear, high-impact language that matches senior executive expectations and current hiring trends. I'll supply my current résumé, key metrics, and any additional context you need. In return, I expect a polished draft for review, one revision cycle, and final delivery of the approved version in editable and print-ready formats. more

Career development

1d

Recruiter Avoids Hiring Job Candidates Who Think They Can Outsmart This Common Interview Question

Most candidates assume that job interview questions will focus on their past experience and skills. But sometimes recruiters are listening for something else entirely.

That seems to be the case for a global assurance talent leader named Sandra Oliver, who spoke to CNBC Make It about the qualities that she looks for when hiring a potential employee. Oliver admitted that it sometimes boils down... to a single, important question she asks during the interview process.

A recruiter avoids hiring job candidates who try to outsmart questions discussing past failures.

Oliver explained that she'll ask job candidates to give an example of a goal they set for themselves and how they achieved it, as well as one goal they didn't achieve. It can be difficult to talk about failures in a job interview because you want to appear infallible, but that's pretty much why Oliver asks them this question.

"That's the way I like to start the interviews, to see how people think about themselves," she said. "People don't like to ever talk about those things."

Candidates should be willing to talk about their past mistakes.

Rather than candidates trying to skirt around the question, Oliver is instead looking for complete honesty. She wants candidates to take accountability for the things they might've messed up on during past job experiences and share what they've learned from those things. Oliver, who often interviews recent grads, said many were high-performing students who struggle talking about challenges rather than successes.

"They're used to being the best and being successful, and I think it's really important to learn that when you get into the workforce, success is measured differently," she told CNBC Make It. "It's not the exam question, it's not tests, it's working as a team, and sometimes you're not going to know things, and that's okay. Sometimes you may try something or set a goal, and you fail at it, or it doesn't come out how you think."

Oliver continued, "They're so programmed to do everything great that it's hard to really pause and say, okay, how can I learn from the failure?" Accountability in and of itself is already a quality many people look for in someone. Research has shown that initial team accountability is often linked to trust, commitment, efficacy, and emotional identification with the group.

Confronting mistakes helps you grow.

"We can't erase our fear of mistakes -- it's too deeply ingrained in our biology. However, we can choose how we interpret and respond to them. When we begin treating errors as data points rather than disasters, we open the door to personal and collective growth," explained psychologist Sam Goldstein.

The key to overcoming mistakes is not running from them. It shows where your real skills and talents lie, which is what recruiters look for when interviewing candidates. Oliver stressed that "failure kind of is learning."

"It's really important to have that mindset when you're working that you're going to work as a team," she said. "You're going to maybe not have the best idea, or the way to think about it. Somebody's going to have a different idea, and that's going to be good, and you're going to learn from that and take that forward."

It might seem scary at first, but especially when you're in a setting that's purely to judge you based on what you're good at, but it shouldn't be a question that makes you panic. Instead, lean into it. more

Nura Aminu
9h
WHICH TYPE OF TEST

Career development

9h

I'm an AI résumé builder who's helped hundreds of recently laid-off workers. Here's my advice for people looking for work in 2026.

Wright says targeting one job title at a time for up to 15 days can improve interview chances.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sam Wright, a 31-year-old head of growth at Huntr, based in Seattle. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I start my day with at least two, sometimes up to 10, free 15-minute one-on-one job search support sessions.

I get on these... calls with people coming from layoffs at big companies like Amazon and Google, and they've never struggled in the job market before. They don't know what to do.

Job seeking is one of the most vulnerable moments in someone's life, so I started offering these free support sessions last July as an extra way to support those struggling in this job market, and I've now done around 500 calls.

I work at Huntr, an AI-powered résumé builder and job search tracker. Most of our clients are from the tech world: software developers and engineers, UI and UX designers, and product and project managers. We use anonymized data collected from our job search tracker and résumé builder to track the job market and train and develop our AI tools. We've analyzed over 1.2 million applications across over 225,000 résumés.

At the beginning of the year, there's this pent-up energy and renewed optimism in the job market following the end-of-year slowdown. Here are five pieces of advice I tell every job seeker to put their best foot forward.

Did you get hired using a unique hack, strategy, or tactic? If you're comfortable discussing it with a reporter, please fill out this quick form. Business Insider wants to hear from people who've cracked the job market with a bold or unconventional approach: sending personalized slide decks in place of cover letters, Venmoing your boss to get their attention, or a step-by-step process, etc. If you've snagged a job semi-recently (last few weeks, months, or years), we'd love to hear how you did it!

During the early days of COVID, especially in the tech sector, it was a job seeker market. An entry-level software engineer was basically getting handed a job once they finished school. Now, that's not the case.

Many job seekers have applied to hundreds of jobs and still don't hear back. In an employer-favored market, your North Star should be the application-to-interview conversion rate.

Make sure you're metrics-driven in your search approach, because it's ultimately a sales process. You're selling your services and skills, and how often your applications result in job interviews is a measurable way to see how well you're doing this.

Apply to one target job title at a time. You can pivot as needed, but our best practice is to apply to 10 to 15 jobs with a well-tailored résumé that matches the job description, and to do so for the next two to three weeks.

If you aren't getting an interview within 20 applications, and definitely within 50, you need to think about getting feedback on the résumé and taking a second look at where and what you're applying for.

Different job boards also have different application-to-interview conversion rates, so try applying to different jobs using different websites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and more to help increase your conversion rate.

Everybody who posts a job online wants it to be searchable on Google.

Doing a Boolean search on Google should be a routine part of your job search process. Boolean searches are basically just sophisticated searches, with a few different parameters that let you combine keywords and narrow your search.

Simply doing a Google search for jobs aggregates all of the jobs across all of the job boards and can be the best way to start your search. If you search for something like "Data Analyst Jobs" on Google, it will realize the intent is to look for a job posting and show you postings under the dedicated jobs tab at the top of the search.

The jobs are sourced from all over the web because sites want their job postings to be indexed and searchable by Google for SEO purposes.

The page length of your résumé is one of the biggest things that people struggle with. I've seen that across the board, entry-level, mid-range, and senior-level, it doesn't matter. We see a slight increase in responses with two-page résumés.

At the end of the day, it's not about the length of the résumé; it's the quality of the content as it matches the job description to which you're applying.

For example, having a bit more about you in your education section has ultimately been helpful. Awards, accomplishments, and key achievements from school are also helpful, as long as they're relevant to the job description.

Your achievements section of your résumé should look something like, "I did X, which had Y result and Z impact." A lot of people miss the last part, or the 'why it matters,' which is connecting the ultimate impact your achievement had.

Remember that even a hospital janitor is helping save lives in some way. That's an extreme example, but it's all about the framing and how you see yourself in the greater picture.

Do you have a story or advice to share about landing a job in the current job market? If so, please reach out to the reporter at [email protected].

Read the original article on Business Insider more

Ben Weatherford

Career development

6d

I think I blew the interview yesterday because of how I answered one question “What would you do if you were the only survivor of a plane crash?”
I said that if I was fine and no one else needed help, I’d look through the passengers’ stuff to find a phone and call the police or rescue services. That seems pretty logical to me. But the HR immediately asked if that counts as stealing.
That really... made me stop and think, mainly about whether I even want to work there. If they already annoy me during the interview, it’ll probably be way worse once I’m actually working there. What do you think?

more

16

Eliud Mwangi
9h
When given such a situation, the first step is to THINK, for a brief moment, on how you'll tie your answer into the required skills and abilities of... the specific position/ role.
This question is meant to evaluate problem-solving under pressure, adaptability, and composure. Focus on immediate prioritization: assess for danger (ensuring your personal safety), check for other survivors, provide first aid if possible, and then find ways to signal for rescue.
In short, YOU WERE SPOT ON WITH YOUR RESPONSE!! more
1
Anderson Rider
20h
i would fly to the nearest island

Career development

12h

Executive-Level CV Revamp

I want to transform my current résumé into a polished, board-ready document that positions me for a senior-level role in the Energy sector. The content is all there, but it needs to be reorganised, tightened, and elevated so that my leadership experience stands out immediately to hiring committees and executive search firms. While I'm open on format -- chronological, functional, or a blend -- I'm... counting on your judgement to select (and explain) the structure that best markets my background. The finished CV should read fluently, include sharp accomplishment statements, and carry the tone and visual cues expected at C-suite level. Key deliverables: * Fully rewritten CV (Word and PDF) tailored to an Energy-industry head position * A brief rationale for the chosen layout and style * One round of revisions to fine-tune language or formatting Please keep proprietary information confidential and be ready to start from my existing document as soon as I share it. more

Career development

13h

RISEUP, the new career growth tool helping you build what is next

Job burnout is at an all-time high, with about 66 percent of employees experiencing it, according to a FORBES study. RISEUP is a new career development tool designed to help you shape your future and explore career pivots with professional guidance. Here's a closer look at the startup that aims to transform work culture for the better.

A global approach for effective solutions

RISEUP supports... professionals during key moments in their careers. It helps early-career individuals (0-5 years of experience) establish a solid foundation, find their voice, and build confidence to stand out. Mid-career professionals (6-15 years) who feel stuck, burned out, or want to shift toward more meaningful work can also benefit. Returning professionals re-entering the workforce after a break and looking to tell their story confidently and redefine success on their own terms are supported as well. Unlike traditional career programs that mainly focus on landing a job, RISEUP emphasizes growth beyond offers. While many programs focus on interview prep, generic skills, or pre-recorded courses, RISEUP centers on strategic career planning and sustainable workplace development. It combines live webcasts, one-on-one coaching, role-specific tools, simulations, and guided prompts to foster growth in real workplace situations. This approach goes beyond simple job-search tips, offering a comprehensive vision board with practical tools to reinvent your professional story.

Redefining what growth means

In today's world, success is versatile. An employee can be happy with their position, yet want to redefine what is important to them once they start a family. They may need guidance on redefining their responsibilities and communicating their new vision to their employers. Career guidance is not a cookie-cutter art; it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. RISEUP offers personalized solutions. RISEUP helps professionals define growth based on their current values, goals, and energy, not external expectations. The company guides participants to rebuild their resumes and personal brands with clarity and intention, practice high-stakes conversations and interviews in a safe environment, and grow their careers in alignment with both ambition and well-being.

Unique tools rooted in storytelling and unique media practices

RISEUP was established by Dr. Deepak Bhootra, a sales coach, investor, and experienced business leader who helps sales professionals and entrepreneurs win more while reducing stress. With over 30 years of global experience across four countries, he combines psychology, strategy, and practical execution to enhance sales performance. As the founder and CEO of Jabulani Consulting and a GTM & Sales Advisor for SAt SalesTable, Deepak works closely with teams and leaders to develop a strong sales mindset, close larger deals, and build predictable, sustainable revenue streams. He emphasizes that success through transformative decisions needs tailored support and guidance. RISEUP offers this crucial support through personalized one-on-one mentoring.

In an exciting update, RISEUP has teamed up with NYC-based actor Vaibhav Taparia, renowned for his versatile work in stage and film. He not only appears in the coaching videos but also lends his skills to the coaching components of the program.

Your compass for every big professional decision

RISEUP is more than just a career program; it's a guiding light during critical moments in our professional lives. Amidst chaos, pressure, and conflicting expectations, RISEUP empowers young professionals worldwide to pause, gain clarity, and make intentional choices. It offers a powerful framework for evaluating opportunities, navigating difficult trade-offs, and pursuing careers that truly reflect their core values, vitality, and long-term vision -- rather than succumbing to fear or external validation. Whether choosing to say yes, saying no, or redefining success, RISEUP inspires confidence and purpose, helping emerging leaders around the globe step forward with clarity and boldness.

https://www.riseupcareerstudio.com/

Related Items:Career, career growth, Employee, jobs, startup Recommended for you Managing Complexity in Multidisciplinary Engineering Projects: Lessons from an Expert's Career How Career-Focused Online Education Is Reshaping Opportunities for Modern Learners Why AI Startup Funding Does not Equal Commercial Success more

Career development

14h

I'm an AI résumé builder who's helped hundreds of recently laid-off workers. Here's my advice for people looking for work in 2026.

Wright says targeting one job title at a time for up to 15 days can improve interview chances.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sam Wright, a 31-year-old head of growth at Huntr, based in Seattle. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I start my day with at least two, sometimes up to 10, free 15-minute one-on-one job search support sessions.

I get on these... calls with people coming from layoffs at big companies like Amazon and Google, and they've never struggled in the job market before. They don't know what to do.

Job seeking is one of the most vulnerable moments in someone's life, so I started offering these free support sessions last July as an extra way to support those struggling in this job market, and I've now done around 500 calls.

I work at Huntr, an AI-powered résumé builder and job search tracker. Most of our clients are from the tech world: software developers and engineers, UI and UX designers, and product and project managers. We use anonymized data collected from our job search tracker and résumé builder to track the job market and train and develop our AI tools. We've analyzed over 1.2 million applications across over 225,000 résumés.

At the beginning of the year, there's this pent-up energy and renewed optimism in the job market following the end-of-year slowdown. Here are five pieces of advice I tell every job seeker to put their best foot forward.

During the early days of COVID, especially in the tech sector, it was a job seeker market. An entry-level software engineer was basically getting handed a job once they finished school. Now, that's not the case.

Many job seekers have applied to hundreds of jobs and still don't hear back. In an employer-favored market, your North Star should be the application-to-interview conversion rate.

Make sure you're metrics-driven in your search approach, because it's ultimately a sales process. You're selling your services and skills, and how often your applications result in job interviews is a measurable way to see how well you're doing this.

Apply to one target job title at a time. You can pivot as needed, but our best practice is to apply to 10 to 15 jobs with a well-tailored résumé that matches the job description, and to do so for the next two to three weeks.

If you aren't getting an interview within 20 applications, and definitely within 50, you need to think about getting feedback on the résumé and taking a second look at where and what you're applying for.

Different job boards also have different application-to-interview conversion rates, so try applying to different jobs using different websites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and more to help increase your conversion rate.

Everybody who posts a job online wants it to be searchable on Google.

Doing a Boolean search on Google should be a routine part of your job search process. Boolean searches are basically just sophisticated searches, with a few different parameters that let you combine keywords and narrow your search.

Simply doing a Google search for jobs aggregates all of the jobs across all of the job boards and can be the best way to start your search. If you search for something like "Data Analyst Jobs" on Google, it will realize the intent is to look for a job posting and show you postings under the dedicated jobs tab at the top of the search.

The jobs are sourced from all over the web because sites want their job postings to be indexed and searchable by Google for SEO purposes.

The page length of your résumé is one of the biggest things that people struggle with. I've seen that across the board, entry-level, mid-range, and senior-level, it doesn't matter. We see a slight increase in responses with two-page résumés.

At the end of the day, it's not about the length of the résumé; it's the quality of the content as it matches the job description to which you're applying.

For example, having a bit more about you in your education section has ultimately been helpful. Awards, accomplishments, and key achievements from school are also helpful, as long as they're relevant to the job description.

Your achievements section of your résumé should look something like, "I did X, which had Y result and Z impact." A lot of people miss the last part, or the 'why it matters,' which is connecting the ultimate impact your achievement had.

Remember that even a hospital janitor is helping save lives in some way. That's an extreme example, but it's all about the framing and how you see yourself in the greater picture. more

Career development

14h

How Washingtonians are Caring for Each Other During Trump II

During a tough time, many locals are taking care of one another and the city. Here's a look at some of the people standing up and helping out -- and a guide to how you can do your part, too.

Let's not mince words. For many in Washington, it's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. Since assuming power last January, the Trump administration and its MAGA allies have made their presence... felt across our region -- much in the way the President has made his felt across the East Wing of the White House.

We've endured mass firings of federal workers. Masked agents arresting and striking fear into immigrants. A callous crackdown on the unhoused. We've watched Trump call our city "dirty" and "disgusting" and received the "fork in the road" email. We've gritted our teeth through the longest government shutdown ever and shaken our heads at the ham-fisted effort to prosecute the Sandwich Guy for the high crime of sullying a bulletproof vest with onions and mustard.

Our autonomy is under siege. Our economy is under strain. Even the Kennedy Center -- excuse us, the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts -- is kind of a mess. The overall vibes? Not great! And yet: We haven't given up, let alone given in. In the face of hard times we neither caused nor asked for, we've stayed strong -- sometimes by speaking out, sometimes by helping each other out. We're donating our time, money, and skills to feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and helping fired feds get back on their feet. When we're not keeping a watchful eye on ICE, we're busy trolling RFK Jr. When we're not knitting our way through stress (seriously, you should try it), we're making the uniquely supportive counsel of Jewish grandmothers something of a public good.

Oh, and we've also been flying a whole lot of DC flags. Which ought to serve as a reminder: Regimes come and go, because that's the nature of politics. This one is no different. When its time is up, we'll still be here. Strong as ever.

Prior to Donald Trump's return to the White House, Project 2025 architect and current Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought announced a desire to put federal workers "in trauma."

Promises made, promises kept: As part of a nationwide reduction in federal civil servants, more than 14,000 people in the Washington area voluntarily or involuntarily left the government workforce between January and late May of last year. Those numbers -- the most recent available -- don't account for civil servants who departed after May, and they don't count government contractors who have also seen their jobs disappear.

We wouldn't blame fired federal workers if they wanted nothing to do with government again. But some of these mission-driven professionals now have a new calling: supporting alumni as well as those still in federal employ.

"There is this really interesting ecosystem of people stepping up to help," says Jenny Mattingley, vice president for government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service, a DC-based good-government nonprofit. "That's what I think gets lost. These were people who really cared about the government."

Here are ways you can help.

A number of nonprofits support current and former federal employees -- some were founded last year by fired feds determined to give back. All accept donations to continue their work. Among them:

Many of the aforementioned nonprofits could use volunteers. Rise Up, for example, doesn't just need attorneys to go to bat for the fired; it also needs people to screen federal workers who reach out -- asking nine scripted questions, no legal knowledge required.

Have a job opening? Looking for an expert speaker or someone to sit on a board? Formergov.com aims to connect ex-government-and-military professionals to such opportunities.

Another way to help a friend or neighbor who got DOGE'd and is struggling? It may seem simple, Mattingley says, but you could offer to help revise their CV or practice for a job interview, or help them make connections.

"Some of these people haven't updated their résumés or interviewed in years," she says. "You might help them figure out what else they could do with their skills. And introduce them to people. That helps them expand their network and think about what else they might want to do."

Lastly, you could help someone who got into government in order to do good find another purpose.

"One of the things I hear most from federal workers is that they feel the loss of the bigger mission they were in," Mattingley says. "Help them remember that there are other ways to get involved. Invite someone to a community-service activity. That is a way to engage people and make them feel not so alone."

As videos have gone viral showing masked ICE agents and other federal law-enforcement officers detaining delivery drivers and construction workers, many immigrants in our area are fearful -- regardless of their legal status. Here are ways you can help.

Deepa Bijpuria, director of Legal Aid DC's Immigrants' Rights Legal Services Project, says that one of the most important things people who lack stable immigration status can do is meet with an attorney for screening -- in many cases, people don't know they're eligible for immigration relief.

However, legal services can be costly. "People think that it's really easy to find an immigration attorney," Bijpuria says. "It is not. An asylum case on the private market can be $10,000 to $20,000, and oftentimes an individual cannot afford $20,000 to pay an attorney."

Organizations that provide free or low-cost legal services for immigrants include:

Some organizations that offer legal services to immigrants also can help with other needs, such as healthcare and financial eduction. Reputable ones include:

Many of the aforementioned organizations are looking for volunteers -- particularly if you have certain skills or education, such as a law degree. "We know DC is full of attorneys, so there's a big pool of folks that really can support and make a difference," says Laura Trask, director of development at Ayuda. Don't have experience with immigration law? Not a problem. Ayuda and other organizations will train attorneys in how to help.

Similarly, if you're fluent in another language, you can offer assistance to one of the many organizations needing interpreters and help translating documents.

There are other ways to volunteer your time, too: A number of informal local networks have been organizing grocery deliveries to immigrant families who are afraid to leave their homes. Others are walking immigrant children to and from school. One way to get involved with these efforts is to reach out to the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid network -- its website has a form that prospective volunteers can fill out.

Bijpuria recommends that everyone familiarize themselves with their rights when it comes to interacting with ICE and other federal law-enforcement officers -- and share that information with others. These include the right to remain silent in interactions with agents and the right to refuse entry to them unless they have a signed judicial warrant. Bystanders have the right to film a law-enforcement action they witness or to voice opposition, as long as they don't interfere. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has "know your rights" cards that can be printed and distributed at your workplace or a place of worship, school, or other community gathering spot.

During last summer's federal takeover of law enforcement in DC, authorities cleared a number of homeless encampments. Unhoused people were shuffled around the city. President Trump wrote on Truth Social: "The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY."

The result? An ongoing climate of fear. "The trauma induced during that time has had a significant impact on the community," says Claire Wilson, executive director of Georgetown Ministry Center, which provides food and basic services to people experiencing homelessness. "People still can't find shelter. They lost their belongings. People are afraid of setting up tents -- they are literally unsheltered. We are seeing more people come to us for help." Here are ways you can pitch in.

Adam Rocap, deputy CEO at Miriam's Kitchen, encourages people who want to donate money to give to organizations that provide services directly. "That's how we can have the flexible resources to be helping with housing, meals, street outreach," he says. Recommended organizations include:

You can always offer money or goods directly to someone who is unhoused -- although it's a good idea to ask them what they need, because the food, hygiene supplies, and clothing that people offer them without asking often goes uneaten or unused. "We don't need toothbrushes -- I have ten," says Meghann Abraham, whose encampment was among those cleared last summer. By taking the time to chat with someone, you're also building community and familiarity, which is a part of keeping people safe.

"Even if there's nothing concrete that you're able to do, just acknowledging someone -- that they're there and a person -- is really powerful," Rocap says. "Especially at a time like now where the federal language is very dehumanizing and very pejorative towards people who are experiencing homelessness."

Says Wilson: "Get to know their names. Check in on them. More love out in the community is what we need most."

Many of the previously mentioned organizations need volunteers to prepare and serve meals, staff check-in tables, or join outreach efforts. And if you're able to offer even more of your time, the following groups often need help with tasks such as one-on-one job-search mentoring, financial-literacy tutoring, and addiction-recovery group facilitation.

In addition, some organizations need volunteers with highly specific skills:

On a Tuesday night in September, a 19-year-old named Elli unhitches their necktie outside a downtown church, then hops into a friend's SUV to spend the night looking for law-enforcement convoys. Their goal? Find, record, and hold to account the federal agents who have become an increasingly visible -- and, for many, unwelcome -- presence in DC.

A NoMa bar worker who moved here from Tennessee, Elli began filming agents last August. Their Instagram account, @elli_documents, attracted more than 8,500 followers in a month. One video, in which a DEA agent appears to call the Proud Boys "great guys," scored a like from actor Sarah Jessica Parker.

While interfering with an arrest is a misdemeanor in the District, recording federal agents in public is protected by the First Amendment. For the most part, so is heckling. In another video, Elli shouts at a Homeland Security agent, "Why do you have your face covered?"

By heading out almost every night, Elli hopes to set an example for other cities facing federal occupation. "It may not be like 'Oh, wow, I saved someone from being arrested,' " Elli says, but rather " 'Hey, Chicago, this is how you do it.' Shame them."

Ever since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became their next-door neighbor in Georgetown, Jim and Christine Payne have been using their window to send not-so-subtle messages to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Responding to Kennedy's unsupported claims that autism is a preventable disease caused by "environmental toxins" including Tylenol, the couple -- who have an autistic son -- displayed six copies of the book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation, along with a sign announcing a live signing by author Eric Garcia. "Twenty people showed up," Jim says.

For Halloween, the Paynes deployed a skeleton sitting in a chair, holding a sign reading "Wish I had taken my vaccine!" Next to its feet was a bottle of Tylenol. For Thanksgiving, they took aim at the Trump administration's hard-line immigration stance with a sign reading "Let's Learn From The Piscataway Tribe. They WELCOMED Immigrants To Georgetown 1765."

Despite the trolling, Jim insists he doesn't have a "campaign" against RFK Jr. As it turns out, the two men are actually cousins. "He calls me Cuz," Jim says.

When Washington Spirit fans began chanting, "Free DC!" during the 51st minute of a mid-August match at Audi Field -- nodding to the District's long push to become the 51st state -- they didn't expect a stadium-wide roar, let alone the viral moment that followed.

It came at the end of a tense week. Days earlier, the Trump administration had declared a "crime emergency" and seized control of the city's police force, leaving many residents furious and looking for ways to push back.

With little time to organize anything elaborate, supporters chose a simple chant that captured the moment. "It was awesome," says Spirit Squadron president Meredith Bartley. "And I think it was really cathartic for people to be able to scream or chant and bring it back to how this is only happening because we don't have statehood."

Since that night, Spirit and DC United supporters have kept the chant going, adding pro-city banners and raised fists to the mix. "We're not going to tell people when to finish it," Bartley says. "At the heart of it is statehood. I could see this happening until DC is a state."

DC jurors have been unimpressed with some of the trumped-up charges brought against people protesting the federal takeover of their city. Since last summer, grand juries have handed the US Attorney's Office at least eight rejections, refusing to indict a woman who recorded an ICE arrest; the Sandwich Guy; and a disabled man who allegedly threatened the President.

Has jury nullification -- acquitting a defendant out of concern over an unjust prosecution -- become its own kind of pushback? Paul Butler, a Georgetown Law professor and former federal prosecutor, says the grand jurors "may have been sending a message to the US Attorney and to President Trump that they need to withdraw their troops from our city."

For the USAO, the rejections are unprecedented and embarrassing. Grand juries, the cliché goes, will usually indict "a ham sandwich," because the standard is simply that a majority of the 23-person jury must find probable cause. A wave of whiffs, Butler says, suggests that the charging documents were deeply inadequate. When he worked in the USAO, he recalls, prosecutors would ask each other, "How'd it go?" upon returning from court: "If someone had said that the grand jury refused to indict, there would have been peals of laughter. No one would have believed it."

Danielle Romanetti learned a lot during the government shutdown of 2013. When she posted back then on social media that furloughed federal workers could drop by her Alexandria yarn shop, Fibre Space, for free knitting classes, 100 people showed up. "So we had to create registration and have a system in place for furloughs," she says, "which is kind of ridiculous."

In the years since, there have been two more furloughs -- including the 43-day ordeal this past fall that counts as the longest shutdown in history. This time around, Romanetti offered a two-day learn-to-knit class that maxed out at 300 eager beginners, enjoying the stress relief that can come from knitting.

In each session, the furloughed found community, circling the room and saying which agency they worked for. Yet most weren't there to stitch and bitch.

"I would say things were less 'bitch' and more bright," Romanetti says. "It was an opportunity to get their mind off what was going on."

Still, she can't be sure that a civil servant didn't choose a yarn color for a scarf or hat with a future protest in mind. "There is a lot of craftivism going on with nongovernment workers," she says. "But government workers are more quiet about it."

On a Wednesday evening in November, people lined up to ask three Jewish bubbes -- or grandmothers -- the questions most on their minds. Should I leave my job? Should I have ended a long friendship? Should I have major surgery that's being recommended?

"The toughest question was the health one," admits one of the volunteer grandmas, Esther Foer. "I pointed out I'm not a doctor." "What Would Bubbe Do?" pop-ups were launched by Sixth & I in September ahead of the Jewish high holidays to support people of every faith during a hard time in DC. The positive response was so overwhelming that organizers vowed to continue them.

"The basic need to reach out to a total stranger, looking for comfort, speaks to what is going on in the city," says Foer, a former executive director at Sixth & I.

Each session that November night, Foer says, "was supposed to be five minutes, but if you're talking to someone and holding their hand -- I found myself holding a lot of hands. The role of a grandmother is to love and hug and support. It's about helping people move forward."

Monica Elms was scrolling on Instagram when she saw a post about a "scream club" in Chicago. She wasn't a stranger to the idea of people letting off steam by shouting together into the void. "I went to Michigan State and we had an informal 'midnight scream' every night of exam week," she says. "We would all scream out our windows."

Elms reached out to the Chicago club about starting a Washington chapter: "Given the current environment in DC, I thought this was a way I could help."

The first group scream in October drew a dozen people to District Pier at the Wharf. About 20 came to a second shriek at Meridian Hill Park.

Both times, organizers warned those in the vicinity what was about to happen, and some of them joined in. Participants closed their eyes, took a few deep breaths, and, on a countdown from three, let it rip. Then they did it once or twice more.

People aren't asked, when they come, why they want to yell in public, but Elms says some attendees have alluded to politics when interviewed by the media.

"I knew there was a need in this city," she says. "People do feel some sort of relief after."

Early last year, Debbie Kaliel and Maury Mendenhall were heartbroken when USAID programs they'd devoted their careers to were canceled and they were sent packing.

Kaliel had spent 18 years working on PEPFAR, an HIV/AIDS program that has saved 26 million lives worldwide. She couldn't walk away, so she and Mendenhall launched Crisis in Care, a campaign to raise money for HIV organizations in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean that had lost USAID support.

A fundraiser in May was small -- a happy hour with a lot of former colleagues. They decided it was better to laugh than to cry, so the cocktails got clever names: PEPFAR Punch, Out of the Wood-chipper, Doge Eat Dog.

The events grew bigger: A comedy show in November sold out the 900-seat All Souls Church in DC.

In its first eight months, Crisis in Care has raised $100,000 for 18 organizations. It also helped four organizations secure $3 million from foundations and philanthropists.

"We are never going to replace the $1 billion USAID had going to those organizations" annually, Kaliel says. "But even $5,000 can mean 100 to 120 HIV-positive children maintaining access to treatment. We were never doing this work just for a paycheck. It was a calling. And we are finding new ways to keep answering that call."

It's probably not a good sign that when you ask local economic experts about the prognosis for our region, some of them bring up Detroit.

The Motor City is the classic example of a company metropolis hollowed out by the decline of its chief industry. Automation, foreign competition, and an energy crisis slammed the domestic automotive business so hard that the city's population halved between 1950 and 2000.

Our area has generally been considered immune from a similar sort of economic disaster, largely because of the stability of its largest employer, the federal government. After a year of the current Trump administration, however, that stability is no longer a given. Washington may not be a full-blown "company town," but the GOP's sustained attack on civil-service jobs -- combined with the longest government shutdown in US history and a preexisting trend toward remote work -- could trigger a severe decline.

Between January and June 2025, according to the Brookings Institution, the Washington region lost federal jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the country. Similarly, its overall unemployment rate increased more quickly than anywhere else, with the suburbs seeing the largest changes. Last August, the District itself had the highest unemployment rate in America -- for the third consecutive month. Federal jobs have vanished, and private-sector job growth is flat.

Glen Lee, the District's chief financial officer, estimates that the city's economy will shrink by 3 to 5 percent in 2025. The administration's policies are being felt across every sector -- for example, the White House's law-enforcement takeover and street-level deployment of National Guard troops hurt the hospitality industry -- and the only areas of revenue growth for DC, Lee says, are in individual capital-gains taxes and taxes on corporate entities that have a presence in the city but are headquartered elsewhere. Both of those are driven by a booming stock market and increased corporate earnings, not by local prosperity.

Still, could Washington really end up like Detroit? Terry Clower, who monitors the local economy at George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis, says a financial collapse is unlikely. Even in a scaled-down state, the federal bureaucracy remains an economic engine, and one that can't be shipped abroad like a unionized factory. "Our industry, our 'mill,' is not going to completely shut down," he says, adding that the real danger is a stagnant state of "persistent mediocrity."

Right now, Federal Center, Gallery Place, and Crystal City are suffering. However, Clower sees signs of strength on K Street and along the Dulles Toll Road. Business for lawyers and lobbyists will remain stable -- after all, there are no plans to move Congress away from DC. More than 70 percent of the world's internet traffic passes through Loudoun County's Data Center Alley, and there's room for additional growth, even as the centers use massive amounts of water and electricity.

"I am very hopeful about what we can be as a region," Clower says. "The trick is how quickly we adapt to this new market reality. [That] will impact whether we are talking about two or five years of pain -- or is it ten years for us to recover?"

* Volunteer your time, knowledge, or resources to the Washington Area Community Investment Fund, which seeks to strengthen communities by helping entrepreneurs build businesses.

* Support the nonprofit Seed Spot, which helps entrepreneurs from less represented communities launch businesses by connecting them to mentors. Also offered: a ten-week accelerator program.

Despite decades of activism and political efforts, DC statehood seems farther away than ever.

National Guard troops and a smorgasbord of federal law-enforcement agents have been occupying our streets, while House Republicans are pushing to depose our attorney general and forcibly change the District's laws.

Ironically, some statehood advocates see the previous year as a turning point -- one that could make the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, a reality sooner than anyone expects.

"This is one of my favorite topics," DC shadow senator Ankit Jain says. Recent attacks on the District's self-governance could drive home the importance of statehood for national Democrats, he says, making it a higher priority for the party the next time it controls the federal government.

Imagine -- and this is a heck of an assumption -- that in January 2029, a Democratic trifecta is sworn in. If the White House supports a bill from House Democrats, the biggest remaining obstacle to DC statehood will be in the Senate, where the bill would need a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. Short of those numbers, Senate Democrats could change filibuster rules to carve out an exception for voting-rights legislation, something they tried to do in 2021 for a pair of bills designed to make voting more accessible.

That effort failed when former Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted with Republicans. Still, Jain thinks a future push could be more successful, thanks largely to the Trump administration's heavy-handed governance. "Trump is showing that the Democrats were too unwilling to do what is necessary to help people," he says. "We can't rely on norms that don't serve this country anymore."

There's also a distant possibility that before 2029, Trump could successfully pressure Republicans into abolishing the filibuster to advance his legislative agenda. If that happens, Jain says, "DC statehood becomes an inevitability."

What would statehood look like? Within months of a future Democratic President signing a bill into law, the mayor would become governor of Douglass Commonwealth, and the DC Council would become the new state's legislative assembly -- with a special election to seat one more member per ward. The American flag would likely get an extra star.

For any of this to happen, of course, Democrats would have to enjoy an unusual level of national electoral success in 2028, and also display much more commitment to the cause than they have in the past. They may be incentivized by the current -- and presumably ongoing -- wave of state-by-state redistricting, which has seen both parties gerrymandering electoral maps in Texas, California, and elsewhere in an effort to gain congressional advantage. Local voters are overwhelmingly blue; the prospect of adding an additional House seat and two senators could simply be too tempting for Democrats to pass up, particularly in a moment of gloves-off partisan warfare.

Regardless of what might motivate national Democrats to finally make the District a state, says DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice executive director Vanessa Batters-Thompson, the result would be increased representation -- and, with it, more ability for DC residents to chart their own path, instead of being subject to the whims of Congress and the White House.

"Twenty twenty-five has really shown us the limits of our autonomy," Batters-Thompson says. "When we reach the end of this period where we have these heightened democratic threats, there is going to be a large push to promote democracy. I think DC may be part of that response to the moment we're in." more

Career development

19h

These 6 Tech Skills Will Matter More Than Degrees by 2027

Member-only story

The résumé is changing faster than the classroom.

These 6 Tech Skills Will Matter More Than Degrees by 2027

Here are the six skills that will outlast diplomas -- and define tech careers in the next decade.

For decades, a degree was the golden ticket into tech. Computer science, engineering, IT -- pick the right major, graduate, get hired.

That model is quietly breaking.

Not... because education is useless -- but because the pace of technology has outgrown traditional education. By the time a four-year syllabus is updated, entire tools, paradigms, and job roles have already evolved.

In 2027, employers won't ask where you studied nearly as much as they'll ask:

- What can you build?

- How do you think?

- Can you adapt when the rules change?

I've worked with engineers, founders, hiring managers, and self-taught developers across startups and enterprises. The pattern is clear: skills are becoming the currency -- degrees are becoming context.

Here are the six tech skills that will matter more than your degree by 2027. more

Maria Irgens

Career development

2d

I work as a hotel cleaner and suddenly lifted a box of bottled water (we put 2 bottles in each guest room). I pinched a nerve in my back and can barely walk, even though I’m getting pain-relief injections. I stayed home for 5 days and yesterday I went back to work, but I can’t lift anything and hardly move.
Management doesn’t believe I’m in that much pain. They say I’m lazy. I really can’t work... and I’m afraid I’ll be fired. The doctor said five days should be enough to feel better. What should I do?

more

KEY WEST
19h
Pray for Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding
joseph kiawa
1d
Get a sick sheet from the attending Doctor,then plan to visit Kakande Ministries in Uganda for Prayers.
Carry with you, your medical report to allow... you to be put on Prayer Line
Witnessed many with same problem and after being Prayed for are now back to their duties whole and completely healed. more
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