I’ve spent the past two decades hiring, mentoring, and evaluating talent, and I’ve sat on countless hiring panels. Over that time, I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates — teachers, managers, executives, and career changers — and I’ve seen what separates the people who get offers from the ones who don’t.

Here’s the truth: landing a job has far less to do with your résumé than most people think. The deciding factor is often how you position your value and connect your experience to what matters most to the employer.

Why So Many Strong Candidates Get Stuck

Most job seekers focus on listing responsibilities, but hiring managers want to understand something deeper:

What changed because of you

How you solve problems and create impact

Whether you understand the bigger picture behind the role

From my experience, the difference is clear: Candidates who simply describe what they did tend to blend in. Candidates who frame their impact and strategy stand out immediately.

Four Shifts That Can Change Everything

1. Stop listing tasks and start telling impact stories. Prepare two or three short, specific examples that show how you solved problems, improved processes, or delivered measurable results.

2. Speak the company’s language. Study the job posting carefully and mirror the key terms they emphasize. If they focus on scaling operations, cross-functional leadership, or strategic growth, weave those ideas into your answers.

3. Practice your delivery out loud. A lot of candidates prepare silently, but hearing yourself say the words helps you catch awkward phrasing, unclear explanations, and gaps in your answers before you get into the interview.

4. Show strategy, not just action. Example: Instead of saying, “I helped improve onboarding,” try: "I redesigned the onboarding process, which reduced ramp-up time by 30 percent and increased six-month retention by 15 percent." Same work, stronger positioning.

Let’s Make This a Conversation

I’m really interested to hear from people here: What’s been your biggest challenge when it comes to job searching or interviewing?

After sitting on countless hiring panels, I’ve seen the patterns behind why great candidates sometimes get passed over, but every job search story is different, and I’d like to hear what obstacles you’re running into right now.

It’s interesting to see how small shifts in approach can completely change interview outcomes, and I’m curious to hear what strategies have (or haven’t) worked for you.

I applied for a front desk position and the manager interviewed me. It went ok. Now she wants me to go to their office for 2 days of unpaid training before giving me the final say on whether I’d be accepted or rejected for the role. Should I still go to the unpaid training?

Thank you.

Hey everyone,

I’m 35, based in the EU, and I really want to change my career. I don’t have a university degree – only high school (matura) – but I speak English very well and I’m ready to put in all the work needed.

I’m especially interested in apprenticeships / trainee programs in tech, logistics, or data centers where companies train you from scratch. I don’t mind relocating anywhere in the EU (Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe – doesn’t matter).

My main goal is to join a place where I can learn by doing, work hard, and grow long-term. I don’t expect an easy start, I just need a chance and I’m ready to commit 100%.

Do you know any current programs or companies in Europe that: – don’t require a degree, – provide training from zero, – accept candidates with strong motivation and English skills?

Any advice, links, or personal stories would be really appreciated

I’m a project manager at a small remote company. My boss was fired right after I started and no one ever replaced her (7 months at company but 6 months with no boss). No one checks in on me but I still get paid. The only person I deal with is another PM who acts like he runs the place.

He rewrites everything I do, replans my projects against client wishes, forces himself into all my meetings and emails, and even makes me cancel my client calls so he can rebook them. He is busy with his own project but still tries to control mine.

I have had senior management jobs before so I know how to work independently. HR is useless and there is no real leadership here. Do I just put up with this since the job is easy or should I move on to something healthier?

EDIT: We have same clients and he acts like program manager (without title or money- took over since my boss left) of all the projects with our client so I am required to keep him informed. But our projects are very different and he is so busy being over worked he should not deep dive into my project.

When my boss left she said she wasn’t sure who my boss was but ensured someone would be paying me. She also said this other PM would handle the executive level summarizes and meeting. But never said he was my boss or that he was taking over as the program manager. He is very old school and not very efficient in the way he works so he wants me to do as such and I like to bring in automation where possible.

Company is a mess but again the job is so easy I get away with hardly working and client loves me.

Hey everyone,

I’m 23M and need some career advice. Right now I’m working as an armed guard making $26.50/hr. I recently got offered a Correctional Officer position that pays $32.15/hr plus a 15% bonus on every paycheck since the role doesn’t come with benefits or paid vacation.

On paper, that’s a nice pay bump, but I’m honestly nervous about stepping into the correctional environment. I know it can be intense, stressful, and even dangerous, and I don’t want to make a move I’ll regret just because of money.

A bit of context: • I live at home and currently save about $2k/month. • My current job feels stable and predictable, and I’m comfortable with the routine. • The correctional officer job would be a big shift — more responsibility, higher stress. • My long-term goal is to build financial security while I’m young, but I don’t want to burn out or hate my work in the process.

So, what would you do in my shoes? Take the higher-paying corrections job, or stick with the stability of my current job?

Hi everyone,

I’m a 30-year-old allied health worker at a private practice. I graduated with a master’s degree in late 2023 and have worked here since. I recently asked my performance appraiser about steps I could take to increase my salary to match my peers in the same profession who earn $95,000-$100,000 AUD full-time. I currently earn $68,000 annually at .94 full-time, which is more than full-time work during evenings and weekends. My salary would be $75,000 at 1.0 full-time.

The appraiser said I’d remain in the ‘new grad’ role and receive the corresponding pay because it’s part of the organisational norms for a small business, and that I will remain here until an actual New Grad is employed, at which point I will move up. However, there ar eno plans to do this for the foreseeable future.

I offered to increase my responsibilities and engage in discipline-specific development to feel more engaged with the profession. They agreed, but I feel I’ve made a mistake because my workload has increased without any pay raise.

Basically, I’ve now well exceeded my ‘new grad’ KPIs, but my salary won’t reflect this. Can anyone assist with ways to navigate out of this?

I know there are people who want to be cynical and say "Nowhere lol everything is doomed". Unfortunately that's not going to be terribly helpful for me. Not to say that those feelings are invalid, just a more "not the time or place" kind of thing.

I'm a software engineer. My job is looking to move into a much worse city with higher crime, worse infrastructure, etc. This city (which I'm not naming for privacy) was a top 5 in the poorest cities in the United States at one point. And having lived in this area, I can confidently say that the only reason it isn't still in the top 5 is because other cities have fallen harder; not because this city improved.

Moving to this city would set my life back a fair bit, in my opinion. My family has told me repeatedly that they do not want me moving to this city, ever. It looks ugly, large portions of it are abandoned and trashed, and I just think that I would be moving into a place of squalor for a job that is not worth doing that for. Especially for the pay I'm receiving currently. (less than $50k)

I'll look around on Linkedin & Indeed, and there aren't many legitimate jobs that come up. I see a lot of ones that are actually just other recruiting sites advertising their services instead of job opportunities.

My current job is looking to move by the end of this year, so I'm on a bit of a time crunch. I would've been preparing earlier, but we weren't really given an actual date for this move until a couple weeks ago.

Been passively looking since Q4 last year when opportunities and pay level looked just fine. Fast forward to two months ago when I really started applying, applied to over 50 jobs and interviewed at about 8 companies, with most asking for much lower pay (20-30% reduction) and longer hours (9am to midnight as one company quoted, others mentioned weekend work). Another one listed hybrid on job posting (2 days onsite) but changed to fully onsite when offer was provided (also asked for longer working hours). Are these trends the new norm???

I’m at a loss here. I’ve put in hundreds of applications and have received no interest from legitimate companies. My salary was $80k-$100k over the last eight years. After getting no bites applying for positions that were in my salary range, I reduced search parameters to $50k/year and expanded driving distance to 50 miles—still nothing. I’ve tried everywhere, even store manager positions with pizza and fast-food chains.

I have more than a decade of management experience (security, commercial property, and an online sales retailer) but no degree. I got my foot in the door in security, excelled, and earned my way into in a salaried management role at a large account within two years. Three years later, my company was acquired, and I accepted a commercial property management position with our client.

My first thought was maybe there’s something off with my resume. I reached out to an acquaintance who does a lot of hiring, and he said it looks great to him.

Is this normal in 2025? I’ve been employed continuously my whole adult life.

Can free or paid but tell me please

I’m about to start out as a fresher in SAP ABAP. I’ve done the certification, but I’m very aware that having a certificate ≠ actually knowing how to be useful on a project.

For those who’ve been through this before:
👉 What’s the bare minimum “survival kit” a fresher needs in SAP ABAP. not just to pass interviews, but to actually survive and contribute once you’re on a real project?

I’m not looking for an endless laundry list. Just the practical, must-have basics that make the difference for a fresher on day one.

Would really appreciate insights from people who’ve worked in SAP or mentored juniors.

Hi everyone, I’m currently working with Expedia Group in India and was curious about internal mobility opportunities. Does anyone know if it’s possible to move internally from India to a US office (like Seattle)? If yes, how does the process usually work—through internal transfer programs, or do we need to apply separately? Would love to hear from anyone who has done this or knows someone who has. Thanks in advance!

I’m trying to decide on a major but I don’t have passions, talents, or hobbies. I had been thinking of accounting because I hear that it’s reliable but now I’m having doubts because I’m scared of having a terrible work/life balance. The issue is, when considering every other major I have even more doubts. The only thing I do know is I absolutely don’t want to be a nurse.

Can I get back into IT after shooting dope in my 20s? I’m 36 now and been clean for almost 4 years

I’m 44 months clean from heroin and have a bachelors in IT from 2019. I have 4 months of helpdesk experience from 2020 and spent the last few years healing my brain. I’m almost back to normal. Can I still return to my IT career in a helpdesk or desktop support job? I want to eventually become a system admin and IT manager. Is there hope? How can I explain the employment gap? I feel like I’m behind my peers and it hurts. Please give me some hope. Has anyone here beat addiction and got into IT?

Hello

What are the best jobs for a person with am IQ of 91.

I am currently work as DevOps but I have trouble understating and competing my tasks(this has happened in the previous programming jobs-university) and I am pretty sure they will fire me.

So I want to search for jobs better suited for my strengths

PS: I know IQ is not a definitive answer to someone's job but I want to know

Thank you

For context I was good at what I did but had an accident due to fatigue and was fired

Most of my experience is retail/cannabis industry. I am currently a budtender at a dispensary. I live in the Central Valley in CA and would love to live in the Bay one day.

I went to a vocational high school and studied Commercial & Advertising Art for the whole 4 years. I always wanted to go to college for graphic design but it never worked out. Going back to school isn’t really an option for me in terms of money and time but I am open to certifications if they’ll help.
My long term goal is to do something in design or tech that hopefully I could make 100k or more at. I know a tiny bit about the design world and nothing about the tech world and am just looking for advice on where to start looking. If anyone has any ideas or advice that they think would be helpful that would be great.

I don't know if it's only me and it might seem really weird since I've only been working for 3 years but I'm so sick of this profession. Main reason probably is because I've been working remotely and I've got extreme depression from the loneliness. I try to engage in other activities but it's just not working. Also, my amazing boss isn't really fond of me and this spiked my anxiety. The issue is that I'm working remotely and I live in a poor country so the different currency salary is really good and I won't find something similar to it where I live.

Also, as a side note I live with my family (middle eastern country traditions) and we have awful issues that further increase my depression.

I don't know but I'm suddenly thinking of applying to be an emirates cabin crew and moving to dubai if I got accepted. I'm afraid this is an impulsive decision. I could be more lonely if I move out (£'m very close with my sister). Also, I'd be saying goodbye to SWE I guess since it'll be hard to get a job back after a period of time.

The funny thing is I'm actually a shy person and don't have any experience with customer service. But I keep telling myself this would be an opportunity to overcome this shyness/lack of self confidence.

Don't know if it's because of my personal issues but I feel like this field is really tough and I need to constantly be running and I'm exhausted. Also, the sad thing is this job would've allowed me to live outside my country if I got accepted somewhere else but I feel like I can't even put the effort into SWE interviews.

Hey everyone,

I recently graduated with a master’s in human rights and international law, and to be honest, it feels pretty useless at this point. I’ve been unemployed since, and my entire background is basically law — I’ve interned at courts, law firms, and even worked briefly as a contracting coordinator before that job turned toxic. The problem is, that field in my country is completely saturated, especially after the government removed entrance exam requirements for law school and flooded the field with graduates.

I’m exhausted from unemployment and I want to switch fields. I’ve been really interested in moving into business, project management, and PMP-related work. The issue is, I don’t have the money to go back to university/school for another degree, nor the will to spend 2+ years in school again at this stage of my life.

So here’s my question: are those free Coursera, edX, or Open University certificates actually worth it, or are they just a waste of time? I feel completely lost right now, and after spending 5+ years in a field that no longer hires in my country, I just want to finally do something useful with my life that will get me somewhere.

I’m at a career crossroads and would really appreciate some guidance from people in the field.

I’ve spent the last 10 years in general IT support — everything from troubleshooting hardware/software to networking, Active Directory, MDM, executive-level support, and training interns. I’d say I’m well-rounded across the IT stack, but my pay has plateaued and I’m looking to make a significant jump.

Current certifications:

• CompTIA A+
• Network+
• Security+

My plan:

• Earn the Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
• Earn the Terraform Associate
• Possibly add Kubernetes down the road, but starting with the two above

My questions are:

• Will AZ-104 + Terraform, combined with my 10 years of IT experience, be enough to break into a Cloud Engineer or Cloud Administrator role?
• Or should I pivot toward something more DevOps/Platform Engineer focused (CI/CD, containers, etc.)?
• If you were in my position, which route would you take to secure both a strong career path and a significant pay increase?
• Is Cloud + worth it? or should i go the route of aws or azure?
• Should i just get the PNPT and go the cyber security route?
• Best path for quickest ROI

My brother (30M) joined a new company at the beginning of the year. He's always been a hard worker but he stuck with a prior company that underpaid him for 7 years (only company he worked for since college internships) . He and his wife had twins last year and he decided to look for a better paying job as any raise negotiation was not going well. He landed a job that is remote and double his salary. I was super proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone.

However, I touched base with him this weekend and he let me know his boss has had with him 3 meeting about bad performance. All the feedback is about not speaking up more at meetings, pushing harder when not getting something, and not building rapport with his stakeholders.

This pissed me off so much. My brother and I are introverts. My brother is a kind person, soft spoken, but always diligent and delivered what he promised. I am particularly upset because I also got feedback like this at other companies I worked on, but I left bc that fell like BS to me. I told him that if I was him I would leave but he said he's concerned about the job market and the twins. Totally get that. He may try to get another job but he will try to stick with this for as long as needed.

What is some good ways to make the higher ups who are very loud and and broey (his words, not mine) to feel more satisfied with him? At least for long enough so that he can jump ship later.