Ten Good Applications Beat a Hundred Rushed Ones
The math of response rates explains why volume applying feels productive and almost never is.
Job Search
Platforms, referrals, recruiters and the mechanics of a search that does not burn you out.
What to Do With a Rejection
A rejection carries far less information than candidates extract from it, and the useful signal only appears across five or six of them.
How and When to Follow Up After Applying
One well-aimed follow-up at ten days moves applications; the second rarely does, and the third actively costs you.
How to Ask for a Referral Without Making It Awkward
The people most likely to refer you are not close friends but the ones who barely know you and have nothing at stake in saying yes.
Which Job Boards Are Worth Your Time
Most boards are a mirror of other boards, and the useful signal is not which listings exist but which ones are fresh.
How Recruiters Get Paid, and What It Means for You
A recruiter's incentives are visible from their fee structure, and they explain almost everything candidates find confusing about the process.
Networking for People Who Hate Networking
The version that works is not events or small talk. It is fifteen named people, a four-sentence message, and a small ask.
How to Job Hunt on LinkedIn Without Telling Your Boss
The platform is built to broadcast. Here is what is actually visible to whom, and how to run a search that stays quiet.
Elsewhere on the Desk
Interviews
The 12 Questions Hiring Decisions Actually Turn On
Interviewers ask thirty questions and decide on about four of them. These are the ones that carry the weight.
Interviews
Panel Interviews: How to Read the Room
A panel is not one interview with more people. It is three or four separate scorecards, and each panelist is grading something different.
Turning Points
Laid Off: What to Do in the First Two Weeks
An ordered fourteen-day plan, from what to get in writing before your access is cut to the rhythm your search should settle into.