Articles - The Voice of Job Seekers

The 2026 Job Search Playbook: How to Stop Landing and Start Building Leverage

About ten years ago, I recorded an episode called “Mistakes Job Seekers Make in Planning His or Her Career Trajectory” with Melissa Cooley. We offered an idea that most people plan for the sprint and not the marathon.

We plan for the exercise, not for the workout.

We plan to lose weight, not to gain muscle.

You know where this is going.

That advice hasn’t aged. If anything, it’s more urgent now. Unfortunately, It might be irrelevant or misunderstood.

What we got right (and job seekers still ignore)

In that conversation, we talked about language that quietly reveals mindset—like “I finally landed something.” The problem isn’t the phrase. It’s the attitude behind it.

Allow me to pontificate.

This is the truth job seekers universally reject. Adaptation is a skill you’ll need to implement regularly. The job you’re hired for today may not be the one you quit. The college freshman’s major today will likely be obsolete if the college doesn’t adapt.

So, it will be on the freshmen to keep their eyes on the books, and not the degree. I would even suggest that some may leave college to adapt to today’s career landscape.

And if we’re being honest, this is something most parents often have no clue about. Look at their career, and it will tell you a narrative you’ve never seen before.

We also shared a few timeless truths:

A job is a pit stop, not a tent you pitch. Treat each role like a platform for skills, relationships, and receipts (proof).
Transferable skills matter more than job titles. Titles change. Skills stack.
Textbooks are static; mentors are dynamic. Mentors update you in real time—especially when industries shift fast.
Apprenticeships and real-world reps beat “perfect training.”

Back then, we referenced how many students were chasing careers that no longer existed. You can listen to the episode here:

The bigger point was this:

Your career trajectory can’t be built on assumptions.

What changed since then (and why trajectory is harder now)

1) Skills expire faster—so your “trajectory” must be skill-driven

The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs work found employers expect 39% of key job skills to change by 2030.
They also cite skill gaps as a major barrier, with 63% of employers saying it’s a big obstacle to transformation.

Translation: if you’re not regularly updating skills, your career plan is already outdated. It’s not just conjecture, it’s happening now, as you’re reading. And there’s little time to wait for an ideal scenario to adapt.

2) Most workers don’t stay long enough for titles to “save” them

BLS data show median employee tenure was 3.9 years in January 2024 (3.5 years in the private sector).
Your career stability can’t rely on one employer’s org chart, or budget plans for next year, or your performance review six months from now. If you were just hired last year in tech-reliant industries, the end of this year’s review could be a rude awakening if your expectations were to review your job description.

3) “Skills-based hiring” is real… and also more marketing than execution

A hard reality check from research coverage: Harvard/Burning Glass findings have been summarized as less than 1 in 700 hires benefiting from degree-requirement drops (despite widespread talk of skills-based hiring).

So yes—build skills. But also: learn how to prove skills in ways employers will accept (projects, assessments, portfolios, referrals, outcomes).

4) Hiring is more cautious, and job seekers feel it

Recent reporting points to a slower hiring environment to close out 2025 (a “low-hire, low-fire” feel), which makes planning your next step more competitive.

They may face some hiring interruptions as fake job candidates clog their pipelines. If you’re ready to read more on that, then read my “The Job Scam Report” articles. Employers are investing in tech solutions for verification and risk control to prevent fraudulent hires.

If you’re looking for a new job, hopefully you’re considering what adaptation means for your industry and how those who seem to keep getting hired seamlessly adapt.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Good Side Hustles To Buffer The Bills Right Now

I know, it’s been a while on this platform. I’ve been busy with “The Job Scam Report” as a lot has been happening over there (with good reason). The questions I’m asked never stop. They may get postponed, but I got a few I’ll do over the next several weeks.

Please continue to send me job search and career questions. Here’s a question I responded to last fall.

What viable side hustles can I pursue while working an underpaying job?

Here are a few potentially viable side hustles. While success may take time, they could play the long game. The strongest one is number one because it is proven and an ongoing process.

1. A business to help disabled veterans, an underserved group, can fill gaps the federal government may not fill as quickly, or possibly abandon with imminent budget cuts and RIFs. Side hustles, helping this group survive, and securing grants could be beneficial once needs are reset through administrative changes.

2. Some grants serve lower-income older Americans who wish to get back to work. One reason is the Medicare cuts (or anticipated ones). Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). If an organization or educational institution applies for and is approved for the grant, it can pay the facilitator the funds from the grant.

3. Colleges offer non-accredited classes or workshops on the weekends (you’ll need to research because not all do this). They often need facilitators for those classes. Colleges experiencing federal cuts may be open to these opportunities. The requirements vary, but the possibilities are many. They may need an AI specialist or a swimming instructor. The more creative you are with your offerings, the more opportunities you create.

4. Online notaries are becoming more common, but not universal for all types of notary needs. To succeed, networking is essential for securing frequent opportunities. In industries such as real estate, successful notaries work with a team that has an efficient workflow and a comprehensive understanding of the entire process.

I hope this helps.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Not All Career Advice is Good For You

For any bad career advice given, someone will defend it, and others will claim it worked for them. Then there is the career advice police who will collectively say why you shouldn’t follow that advice. Most career advice is general, unless you fit the counselor or adviser’s intended audience or have paid someone for specific guidance tailored to you. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all career advice.

As a career professional who writes and speaks about careers and is often asked for career advice, policing all the advice I hear is exhausting. I stay in my lane more often than not. However, hundreds of thousands are currently offering career advice under the guise of being a career coach. And much of it isn’t good. However, I believe there are many positive aspects to consider. I am willing to focus on and celebrate the valuable and practical, regardless of who or where it comes from.

Scrutinize all career advice. If you don’t, conflicting advice can become quite messy. The bottom line is often what you want to do and where you want to do it when it comes to your next job. The lack of clarity becomes a journey for both career professionals and job seekers (or clients).

Successful job candidates today must understand more than the job they want. Become critical thinkers of how the employer expects success. It would be best if you epitomized what employers want. As I said before, “be the prescription to the employers’ job description.”

Most career professionals these days wouldn’t suggest the old-fashioned “Objective” statement on a résumé. Yet, the church that’s been looking for a secretary for six months will hire someone with skills, even if they have an “Objective.” Not to mention if the person with the “Objective” is referred by a church who was that person’s former employer. Referrals often eclipse errors on résumés.

I’ve suggested job seekers replace the “Objective” with a “Contribution Statement” on a résumé. It’s not just what you bring to the table. It’s the culmination of thoughtfulness, research, and listening to what employers and recruiters say are the problems. You don’t treat a cold with Ibuprofen, and you shouldn’t apply Neosporin to the skin if someone complains of a stomachache. It truly takes an examination on the job seeker’s part to understand and communicate they have the skills to solve the problem. It’s up to you, the job seeker, to apply best practices to align with your goals, motivations, and career objectives.

“Don’t be late” is said to adults as it is to kids, but it is a best practice in all industries. It’s preached from sermons to elementary school. That doesn’t mean someone can’t call to say they will be late. Or if it’s overlooked, if someone vouches for you. Some of you will think this is petty advice, and it is petty on all levels. It sounds good, but it may not be suitable for you.

People in government sectors who’ve had long careers will still give the old, cut-and-paste-the-job-description-into-your-resume trick. And people have gotten interviews and jobs from that strategy. I witnessed this firsthand in a recent conversation. Generally, it doesn’t work well, but for someone, it did. We can call it an anomaly. However, it’s not a good practice, considering that I’ve heard of a thousand other people who tried and failed with the same strategy.

My friend Hannah Morgan has suggested over the years we call informational interviews something else. Contextually, she is told to stop approaching people: “Can I conduct an informational interview with you?” She’s right. She has several articles in which she makes it clear it needs to be a conversation. I call it informational interviews countless times, and I’ve qualified it by saying it’s a business or informal conversation. Not always, but you get the point. Maybe I should say stop taking career and job-search advice so literally?

Career professionals offer career advice on how they would if they were the job seeker, without hearing what they are saying. What they say isn’t always in words, nor is their story a literal translation. Within those stories are feelings, and the words they speak are louder than unspoken. The career practitioner must listen for the unsaid as diligently as they interpret what is said. People who need advice are rarely straightforward, specific, and aware in their approach to job search, and are not always sure what they want.

Many will argue they don’t have to customize their résumé to each employer. That’s arguable in this instance, despite best practices, but you will need to customize your approach if the company’s values and philosophies differ. Everyone prefers a different way to be charmed. You must respect their preferences if you want to be noticed.