Stefanie Costi knew the pressure was mounting for her boss.

As a family-law attorney in Australia, Costi was used to tense situations. Trials were always stressful at the firm, but leading up to a major case's court date, last-minute tasks added to the strain. One day her boss was standing in his office trying to organize some files when he had an outburst. "Here, you fix it!" he shouted, she recalls. He threw the case file at her head, she jumped away, and it hit a bookshelf, bursting open and scattering papers and folders across the floor, she says. Costi stared at her manager in disbelief.

Costi recalls that behavior like this was all too common at the firm. Managing partners like her boss routinely belittled employees. One even put up a sign in the hallway that said "No whining about the long hours. If you can't cope, we'll replace you in a heartbeat." Costi says multiple colleagues described having panic attacks.

She reported her boss' behavior to HR but found those managers dismissive and ineffective. Eventually she decided she'd had enough and left the firm. Then some time after she landed at another firm, she decided to share her experiences on the platform where she may find a future employer: LinkedIn.

"Once upon a time, there was a bright young lawyer. She was bullied at work. It ruined her confidence," her post began, before revealing, "That lawyer was me." Costi's vulnerability stood out amid the job listings, team camaraderie, and humblebragging. It garnered more than 1.2 million views and nearly 10,000 likes. Many of the more than 1,500 people who commented on the post (and the thousand who messaged Costi directly) shared their own stories of toxic bosses and workplaces.

Costi was overwhelmed by the response. "It hit me hard how many others are suffering in silence," she says. She began posting more stories about toxicity at her former firm and shared advice on how to handle workplace bullying and harassment. She changed her LinkedIn title to The Anti-Bullying Lawyer.

Today the 34-year-old has more than 80,000 followers. A few times a week she publishes a post — often several hundred words — and a selfie in which she's holding up a whiteboard with a handwritten summary of that post, like "A toxic boss will use a performance improvement plan to control you, not to help you." A toxic boss, she writes in one post, will "shower you with praise when you meet their expectations but withhold recognition" and "exploit your fear of failure to push you beyond reasonable limits." Each post typically gets thousands of comments (most empathetic, some disparaging) from workers around the world.

Costi is far from alone. Amid a fracturing social-media landscape and the decline of company loyalty and other evolving tensions between employees and employers in the wake of the pandemic, LinkedIn has grown looser and weirder, more personal and more combative. To some, the professional networking platform has become a dating site; to others, a comedy club. Now a new type of LinkedIn influencer has also emerged, one who instead of touting how to maximize your productivity and get the best out of your workplace shines a light on the darkest corners of work.

This growing cadre of influencers and their followers share advice on identifying, navigating, and escaping toxic workplaces. Posts from professionals telling stories about their "awful," "horrible," and "terrible" bosses abound. They tend to see human resources as an extension of corporate dogma meant to reinforce company policies. "There's nothing human or resourceful about HR in a toxic workplace," Costi writes in one post. "Why HR Isn't Your Friend in Uncovering Toxic Work Cultures," begins a post from a Canadian career coach with nearly 200,000 followers. Instead, they see a better path to healthier workplaces in forming a community of empathizers on LinkedIn, where workers can share their stories and commiserate.

The HR professionals I talked to, meanwhile, were alarmed by the uptick they'd seen in posts about bad bosses and noxious office behavior. They caution that if workers bypass HR and take complaints to LinkedIn, they risk doing more harm than good.

Workplace toxicity — a broad term encompassing infighting, intimidation, belittling, and other affronts — harms the productivity and mental health of employees across the workforce. In a 2023 survey from the American Psychological Association, 22% of workers said they had experienced mental harm at work, and the same percentage of workers said they had experienced harassment. The APA said that in the 2024 version of the survey, 59% of respondents indicated their employer "thinks their work environment is a lot mentally healthier than it actually is." A 2024 report by the human-resources software provider HR Brain said that 37% of workers suggested they experienced a toxic workplace daily and that 32% identified their boss as a primary source of stress and anxiety.

"Toxic behavior in the workplace is an ever present issue with the power to significantly undermine company culture, team morale, and performance," says Joe Galvin, the chief research officer of the executive coaching firm Vistage. "The rise of remote and hybrid work has blurred traditional boundaries, making it easier for toxic behaviors to slip by unnoticed." Email and messaging is more common with remote workers who otherwise might just talk out a problem in person at the office, Galvin says.

Toxic behavior in the workplace comes in all shapes and sizes. Costi connected me to several colleagues, clients, and followers who had experienced a toxic workplace.

Beverly (who asked me to use a pseudonym for fear of retribution) was an up-and-coming lawyer at another firm in Australia. One day she approached a senior partner for advice on what it takes to excel and be promoted at the firm. "She invited me into her office and asked me to close the door," Beverly recounts over email. "She tried to convince me that I couldn't succeed in her practice area" and pressured Beverly to watch graphic footage from one of her cases, "including a prison gang rape in an effort to scare me off." Afterward, Beverly says, "she warned me that she would sue me for defamation if I told anyone about her actions and threatened to make my life difficult at the firm."

Eventually Beverly decided to leave the firm, but she remained concerned about the senior colleague. Beverly says she thought that if she stayed at the firm the colleague "would have harassed me outside of work," adding that she has started to share her story more and will often comment on Costi's LinkedIn posts.

Helen Pamely, an attorney in Spain, also turned to LinkedIn as a place to talk about toxic work culture and help others dealing with bad behavior at work. "People don't quit companies. They quit bosses," she wrote on LinkedIn recently. She now has more than 30,000 followers and posts often about the lessons she learned in her legal career. She says the community the legal-industry LinkedIn posters are building represents a "real turning point" for the industry.

"I'm in a unique position — no longer tied to a firm — so I can speak pretty openly about cultural and systemic issues others can't," she says. "The number of messages I receive thanking me for being that voice is overwhelming. The messages come from people of all levels of seniority." She adds that "real, positive change can only happen through honest and open conversations and helping people realize they aren't alone."

Costi says people are turning to LinkedIn because they aren't seeing results from channels like human resources.

"HR is often more about protecting the company's interests than supporting employees," Costi says. "Reporting toxic behavior can backfire, labeling you as a 'troublemaker' and potentially putting your job at risk. The sad reality is that many toxic bosses are untouchable, insulated by the very system that's supposed to hold them accountable."

For Costi, as she often advises on LinkedIn, what works is thoroughly documenting behavior. "Keep meticulous records of every incident, every conversation, every email," she says. "This isn't just about protecting yourself. It's about building an undeniable case that even the company can't ignore. If HR won't take action, you can use this evidence to escalate the issue, either through legal channels or by finding a new role where you won't have to constantly look over your shoulder." Costi says LinkedIn is a good place to find a community — though she does caution to avoid specifics like names or your place of work.

Not everyone agrees that LinkedIn is the right venue to tackle toxic workplaces.

"Publicly airing grievances can erode respect within a team and contribute to a negative work environment," Galvin says. "Leaders play a crucial role in fostering a culture of open, constructive communication and guiding employees to address concerns through appropriate internal channels. Regular check-ins, mentorship programs, and conflict-resolution strategies can help prevent issues from escalating to public social media."

Tim Glowa, the founder and CEO of HR Brain, says that "rather than venting online, reporting helps build a proper case while ensuring confidentiality and protecting your professional reputation," adding, "What you post online can follow you indefinitely." LinkedIn representatives declined to comment on the record about toxic culture and posting.

Some experts argue that HR can be valuable, and there are certainly cases where it makes sense to look into legal counsel.

Nicole Brenecki, an employment attorney in New York, says that airing your dirty laundry about work on LinkedIn might be OK if you keep it vague. "However, I would advise against publishing any factual statements regarding a specific company in the event there is litigation in the future stemming from the employee's allegations of a toxic workplace environment," she says.

Brenecki also notes why it might make sense to go to HR. If you're experiencing harassment, discrimination, or other bad behavior at work, the company likely prefers that you go to HR so it can handle the situation according to state employment laws. If you don't go to HR, the company could later be found legally liable for allowing discrimination or retaliation.

"If such a company does not maintain a properly functioning HR department, any violations of employment law, particularly intentional ones, will be their liability," she says.

Workplace experts say workplace toxicity ultimately won't be resolved by HR, the courts, or LinkedIn. They made the case for employees working out issues together and holding each other accountable.

"Technology has given us more convenient escapes from the vulnerability required to solve relationship problems," says Joseph Grenny, a cofounder of the corporate training company VitalSmarts who wrote the book "Crucial Conversations." "Our interpersonal muscles are atrophying, which accounts for some of the loneliness, alienation, and disconnection that characterizes today's world." He suggests that the answer might be found through tough, direct conversations with colleagues.

"An important predictor of your capacity to be heard is how psychologically safe the other person feels," Granny says. "If they believe your agenda is to hurt them, they will use their power against you. If they believe you care about their interests and concerns (as well as your own), they are far less likely to be defensive."

Costi argues that workplace toxicity is just too prevalent and that people don't feel safe going to HR or dealing with the issue themselves.

Last July, she founded a startup called The Rising Heard, which provides legal advice, coaching, and education to people who have experienced toxic workplaces. She plans to continue posting her whiteboard comments for all to see.

"I've faced trolling from those who deny the existence of such issues," she says. "While I've considered these warnings, I always respond with: Standing up for what's right might be risky, but staying silent in the face of injustice is a far greater loss."

John Brandon is a journalist who has published over 15,000 articles on social media, technology, leadership, mentoring, and many other topics. He has published two books including his latest, The Seven Minute Productivity Solution.

Never in the history of work has anyone actually enjoyed looking for it. But the frustration, exhaustion, anxiety, anger, and despondence I've heard from white-collar job seekers over the past year have been unlike anything I've encountered in my 15 years of reporting on the economy. They went to good schools. They worked at reputable companies. They've looked for jobs before, and they thought they knew the drill. But now, in the current job market, they're utterly baffled. None of their tried-and-true approaches to the job hunt seem to work anymore. It's as if they went to sleep in one world and woke up in a scarier one.

In a sense, they have. We're in the midst of a deep white-collar recession, which is generating more unemployed professionals than job openings. And technology has simplified job applications to a single click, flooding employers with way more candidates than they can possibly hope to process. Those two forces have combined to create the mother of all traffic jams, breaking the job market as we know it. Sticking with the same old job-search techniques is a surefire recipe for disappointment. "Do not just apply and hope to get a callback," says Kyle Minton, a longtime recruiter in tech and manufacturing. "I promise you are being buried. We are living in a new age."

But there are ways you can break through the gridlock. To assemble the best job-search advice, I spoke with two dozen experts — recruiters, HR executives, career coaches, résumé writers, and those who run applicant tracking systems and job boards. I asked them for every pro tip they could think of, for every stage of the hiring process — the kind of insider insights they would offer their best friend. They debunked common myths, explained the mindset of recruiters and hiring managers, and provided specific tools for getting ahead. Taken together, their advice offers a concrete guide for navigating the chaos of today's job market. Call them the new rules for job searching — a blueprint for standing out in a world that makes you feel like giving up. "In this environment," Minton says, "I cannot stress enough how imperative it is to go above and beyond."

LAY THE GROUNDWORK

Start by looking within.
If you're still employed, don't assume that the only good jobs are outside your current company. According to data from Greenhouse, an applicant tracking system, internal applicants are five times likelier to land a job than external applicants who have a referral — and 41 times likelier than external applicants without a referral. To get a leg up on your competition, scout out jobs at your company before they're publicly posted. Invite colleagues who are doing the job you want out for coffee and ask them to let you know if they hear of any openings on their team. Networking begins at home.

Make a list of your dream companies.
Given how terrible the job market is, you might assume it's best to play the volume game — to spray and pray, as they say in the marketing business. But that's exactly the wrong approach. Paradoxically, the fact that the market is bad right now means you have to be extra intentional about narrowing your scope. If you're at the entry level, then yes — apply for everything in sight. But if you've got more than a few years of experience, you need to start by thinking hard about the companies you actually want to work for, because you're going to funnel a lot of your time and energy into landing a job at those places.

Keep the list short.
Matt Tague, a tech recruiter turned career consultant, tells his clients to aim for a surprisingly short list of five dream employers, max. "It takes a lot of time to properly research a company," he says. "More dream companies = lower quality research."

Don't be afraid to cold call.
Look at the companies on your list and identify the managers running the teams you hope to join. Even if there are no job openings posted, message the managers and ask to have a quick call with them. The goal is not to ask them for a job — it's to learn about their team and establish a rapport. Not sure what to say? Try using this sample DM created by Tague:

Enlist the help of everyone you know.
Friends. Former colleagues. Neighbors. College classmates. Dog park acquaintances. That guy you met in line for coffee two months ago at that really boring industry conference. Everyone.

GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER ON LINKEDIN

Embrace the cringe.
No one wants to be that person who spends all their time on LinkedIn. But keeping an active presence on the platform is essential: Recruiters and hiring managers rely on it, both to search for candidates and to evaluate applicants. Post and comment frequently — that shows you're engaged in your career and available to respond to a recruiter's DM in a timely manner. And buy a Premium Career subscription. It costs $29.99 a month, and it gives you more messaging credits. You'll need them for all the networking you'll be doing.

Smash that subscribe button.
Remember that list of dream companies you made? Make sure you follow every single one of them on LinkedIn. Recruiters often filter for people who already follow the company, so this is an easy way to make sure you pop up on their radar. "It shows a bit more of that initiative, that resourcefulness, that motivation," says Jenny Diani, a senior director of global technical recruiting at Autodesk. "We want to look at who's really motivated and interested in working at our company."

Optimize your profile with these 4 simple tricks.

1. List your skills. Recruiters want to see more than job titles. Choose five skills to highlight in each job you've had.
2. Fill in the "About" section. Yes, it really matters. Summarize your key qualifications and list the top five skills that are most relevant to the kind of role you want to land.
3. Make the visuals pop. First impressions are key. Post a good headshot, set a cover photo, and make sure the logos of your employers show up.
4. Hide your age. Age discrimination sucks, but it's real. If you're over 40, don't specify the year you graduated from college.

Let your Open to Work flag fly.
Worried recruiters will think something's wrong with you if you use LinkedIn's green banner to signal your availability? Think again. Recruiters not only don't mind #opentowork, but some even prioritize candidates who use it. So turn it on — and then post about it. Do's: articulate the kind of role you want; highlight your skills and key accomplishments; be positive. Don'ts: disparage your previous employer or former colleagues; mention your fear of losing your house.

PUNCH UP YOUR RÉSUMÉ

Hire a professional résumé writer.
"I don't think anybody came out of the womb good at writing a résumé," says Jon Stross, a cofounder of Greenhouse. So hire an expert who knows how to do it right. Prices range from a few hundred dollars for a basic makeover to a few thousand dollars for help with networking strategy and interview prep. I've spoken with quite a few successful job seekers who credit their new gig to their professional résumé writer. But there are a lot of scammy ones out there, so do some Googling to see whether the person is legit and knows what they're talking about.

Beat the AI bots by customizing your résumé for every single job you apply to.
Companies are increasingly using AI to score candidates based on how well their résumés match the job description. And recruiters often prioritize résumés by filtering them for keywords from the job posting. So make sure you use those exact same words in your résumé, and list achievements that demonstrate you've already done what the company says it's looking for. "If you don't take the extra time to tailor your résumé to the job listing," says Avani Prabhakar, the chief people officer at Atlassian, "you stand no chance."

Use a bot to beat the bots.
Customization is time-consuming, but there are online tools that can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Teal, for example, compares your résumé to job listings and suggests new bullet points to make them match up more.

But for God's sake, don't put the keywords in white.
For some reason, the internet has become convinced that you can game applicant tracking systems by sneaking extra keywords onto your résumé in a white font that will be visible only to the software. There's apparently a small chance it might work. But some recruiters actually check for "white fonting," and then reject you as dishonest. If you think a keyword is important, stick to black type.

Be careful with the boss vibes.
Many companies are cutting back on the ranks of middle managers, which has forced a lot of senior-level professionals to apply to lower-level jobs. If that's you, don't emphasize your managerial skills in your résumé — you don't want recruiters to think you're above getting your hands dirty. Instead, says Saba Siddiqui, the head of talent acquisition at Gusto, position yourself as a player-coach. Highlight all the ways you continued to pitch in as an individual contributor, even when you were in a supervisory position.

Don't get your heart set on working from home.
Given the return-to-office push, most companies are advertising only for in-office or hybrid roles. Many recruiters don't even bother to look at candidates who live far away. On your résumé, make sure you specify the city and state where you live at the top. If that's far from a company's offices and you're willing to relocate, indicate that next to your current location.

But if you do apply for a WFH role, emphasize the W.
Tailor your résumé to prove you're good at working remotely. After all, WFH is a skill of its own. "We really look for people who are autonomous, who can manage their time in an efficient way, who feel comfortable working in ambiguity, and don't require people holding their hand," says Anastasia Pshegodskaya, the director of talent acquisition at Remote. "These are the skills you would like to see on the CV." Note the roles you've had that were fully remote, and showcase your experience working with far-flung teams.

Ditch the cover letter.
No one reads it. For companies that require one, send in something generic, but don't spend too much time customizing it. The résumé is the far more important document.

START APPLYING

Get to the front of the line.
Many applicant tracking systems present candidates in the order they applied. Recruiters often don't get through all the candidates. And the companies that actually commit to reviewing every résumé will take down the job listing as soon as they get enough applicants, which can happen within days. So make sure you apply as soon as you can. Pro tip: Set up job alerts for your dream companies on LinkedIn so you get a notification the moment a new listing goes up.

Jump the line.
Unless a company specifically tells you not to, send a DM or email introducing yourself to the hiring manager or recruiter. Worried it might annoy them? "I would take that risk," says Steve Knox, the global head of talent acquisition at Dayforce. "Show that you're taking initiative." Nine times out of 10, Knox says, the manager will be curious enough to click on your LinkedIn profile — and if they like what they see, they'll put you on the fast track. Here's a DM one job seeker sent to a recruiter right after she applied for a position. The recruiter wrote back to set up a call, and the enterprising applicant ended up beating out more than 1,500 other candidates to land the role:

Do everything you can to get a referral.
With a referral, according to Greenhouse's data, you're nine times more likely to get hired than a candidate without one. A referral from someone who knows you well is best. But if you're not close to anyone at your dream companies, circle back to those people you cold-called and ask if they can put you in touch with their colleagues on the team you're hoping to join. And don't be shy about asking whether they'd be open to putting in a word for you with the hiring manager — many companies offer referral bonuses for their employees.

Don't be afraid to apply for a job cold.
Can't find a connection at the company? Give it a shot anyway. In one analysis, Greenhouse found that 68% of the hires made by its clients were external applicants without a referral. Your odds will be insanely long, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Pitch your own job.
Four years ago, when I was looking for a new job, I had a bunch of networking calls with editors at Business Insider. I wasn't right for any of the positions they were advertising for, so I pitched them on the job I really wanted: to write features about the American workplace. They liked the idea enough to create a whole new role for me to do exactly that. Not only did it enable me to land my dream job, but it also afforded me a distinct advantage: I was the only applicant.

Infiltrate your target.
Full-time jobs are hard to come by — so consider getting your foot in the door as a contractor. Use this website to look up which staffing agencies your dream companies use, and then contact those agencies directly. "Since their product is people," says Minton, the recruiter, "they are generally more likely to connect with you." Once you're a contractor at a company, you can network on the inside and work your way up to a full-time position.

ACE YOUR INTERVIEWS

Do your homework.
There was a time when senior professionals could wing their interviews on charisma alone. Not anymore. "Right now there's an expectation that you have done extensive research," says Frank Burgoyne, an interview coach for experienced professionals. "And that goes beyond the company website." Read every news article about the company. Watch as many of its obscure sales presentations on YouTube as you can stand. Be ready to show that you already understand the problems the company is wrestling with and why you're uniquely qualified to solve them.

Apply to some "maybe" jobs before the dream ones.
Think of them as preseason warmups. Says Tague, the career consultant: "You're going to get that interview practice in a safer environment, with lower risk, than your one shot at Google."

Get ChatGPT to help.
Give it the job description, your résumé, and your interviewer's job title, and ask it to spit out a bunch of sample questions for you to answer. You can even have it critique your answers, but don't recite its suggestions verbatim. Recruiters can tell when you're regurgitating canned, robotic answers.

Use the STAR method.
If an interview question starts with "tell me about a time that you," your answer should be structured in four steps: situation, task, action, result. "It used to be a nice-to-have," Burgoyne says. "But now companies expect that 100%." Burgoyne tells his clients not only to prep their answers, but also to keep a running spreadsheet of stories formatted in the STAR method. "You'll have that spreadsheet for the rest of your career," he says. "And you should be adding to it regularly."

Don't answer "What's your biggest weakness?" with "I'm a perfectionist."
It's lame, and recruiters will see right through it. Instead, talk about something that was once a weakness and then explain how you overcame it.

Send a thank-you email after every interview.
And not a generic "thank you so much for the interview yesterday." Mention something specific from the conversation that impressed you, or an additional thought you had about something they asked you. Bonus points if you can tie that back to the contribution you hope to make.

Collect your failures.
Got rejected? Treat it as another networking opportunity. Send your interviewers a request for a LinkedIn connection. And ask the recruiter if you can follow up in a couple of months to see if more jobs have opened up. "I can think of quite a few people that have been hired at Autodesk who did not get the first role that they applied for," says Diani. "They followed up either with that hiring manager or the recruiter, and were put in process for another role."

KEEP YOUR COOL

Stay organized.
It's common for job seekers to keep a spreadsheet of the jobs they've applied to. But even more important is keeping a spreadsheet of all the people you talked to along the way. Include where they work, how you met them, a summary of the conversation you had, and when you spoke. Then follow up with them every few months — and hit them up for a referral when there's a job opening at their company.

Don't take rejections personally.
Datapeople, a provider of recruiting analytics, has found that nearly a third of all job postings never result in a hire. "Hiring happens within the context of a whole big messy company with decisions and priorities and delays and personalities," says Tague, who led recruiting teams at companies like Microsoft and Lyft. "Very rarely are they digging into it like, 'Oh, if only she'd said this.' It's not really like that on the inside. There could be internal people you don't know about. There's all kinds of factors that can come into play, but the candidate doesn't see that." So stop obsessing over the reason you were rejected — it probably had little to do with you. Move on.

Build a support group.
You know how married people don't understand the hell that is modern dating? Employed people don't understand how miserable job searching is these days. Make sure you surround yourself with folks who actually get it. Don't think you're alone, because you aren't.

Take breaks, weekends, vacations.
Job-searching burnout is real. Keep it sustainable by not doing it all the time.

Congrats! You got a job!
But if you're smart, you're not done with the job search. Keep networking at your dream companies. Work the room at industry events. Tague recommends setting a goal to connect with two new people a month. The more legwork you do while you've got a job, the easier it'll be the next time you find yourself looking for one. Here's hoping that's not for a long, long time.

Aki Ito is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.

For months, popular fighting game YouTubers have been under attack. Even the seemingly most cautious among them have been duped by sophisticated phishing attacks that hack their accounts to push cryptocurrency scams by convincingly appearing to offer legitimate sponsorships from established brands.

These scams often start with bad actors seemingly taking over verified accounts on X (formerly Twitter) with substantial followings and then using them to impersonate marketing managers at real brands who can be easily found on LinkedIn.

The fake X accounts go to great lengths to appear legitimate. They link to brands' actual websites and populate feeds with histories seemingly spanning decades by re-posting brands' authentic posts.

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• Reid Hoffman discussed on "Diary of a CEO" the lack of work-life balance in startup culture.
• He said startups needed to be intense and competitive to achieve success.
• Sacrifices that come with startup work include dinner at the office and working on the weekends.

Reid Hoffman got real about the lack of work-life balance when you're trying to build a company.

The LinkedIn cofounder said during an episode of the "Diary of a CEO" podcast that startup employees shouldn't expect that if they want their business to take off.

"Work-life balance is not the startup game," Hoffman said.

Before it became a large platform for professionals, LinkedIn was a startup. Hoffman said early employees with families were allowed to spend time at home — with the expectation that they'd also be getting work done.

"The people who think it's toxic don't understand the toughness of the startup game, and they're just wrong," Hoffman said.

The nature of building budding companies is intense, he said, and that intensity is necessary at any startup if its workers want it to be a success. That often means working on Saturday mornings and sacrificing time for a personal life.

"We served dinner at the office at PayPal, and that was a deliberate thing," Hoffman, who was a part of the company during its early days, said.

He added that there were only two instances when startup employees could balance their lives and work more evenly: a supersmall startup that doesn't have much competition or a startup where employees have worked hard enough to outpace competitors by a long distance.

Recently, business leaders such as Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky have popularized the term "founder mode" to describe being a present and detail-oriented leader. Chesky previously said that founders go wrong by letting go of their product and delegating tasks instead of getting into the details of their company.

Startup culture may sound toxic, but it's a choice, Hoffman said. He compared it to training to become an elite athlete — swimming only two hours a day probably won't lead you to an Olympic team.

"Choose what your life's about," he said. "No one says you have to do that."

• Reid Hoffman said he'd faced threats after Elon Musk fueled a baseless conspiracy theory about him.
• Musk has amplified claims that the LinkedIn cofounder was a client of Jeffrey Epstein.
• Hoffman said he regretted his past association with Epstein and had hired security after threats.

Reid Hoffman, a cofounder of LinkedIn, said he had received threats of violence — and had to hire security — since Elon Musk fueled a baseless conspiracy theory about him.

Musk, the Tesla CEO who worked with Hoffman at PayPal, replied earlier this month to an X post in which a user implied Hoffman had visited the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's private island.

He replied with the "100" emoji to a post saying: "This guy is TERRIFIED about Trump releasing the Epstein Client list after all his visits to Epstein Island."

Musk also made the claim during an October interview with the former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, in which he said Hoffman was among the "billionaires behind Kamala" who were "terrified" by the prospect of Epstein's client list being made public.

Speaking with the British newspaper The Sunday Times, Hoffman said Musk had developed a "conviction with no evidence" that he had a close relationship with Epstein.

"Elon's defamation makes me angry and sad," he said. "Angry because it is an ugly assault. Sad because it comes from someone whose entrepreneurial achievements I continue to admire."

He added that he didn't want to "dignify" the threats he had received by sharing any details but said, "I've hired security staff as a result."

After Epstein's suicide in jail in 2019, Hoffman apologized for inviting him to a dinner party in 2015 with other tech tycoons — including Musk, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Palantir's cofounder Peter Thiel — while fundraising for MIT's renowned Media Lab.

Hoffman said he was told Epstein's involvement in raising donations had been vetted and approved by MIT. But he later wrote in an email to Axios that he regretted not conducting his own research into Epstein, who died while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

"My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015," Hoffman said in the email. "Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful."

He told The Sunday Times that he "went to no Epstein parties" and that he "didn't even know who he was."

Hoffman is a major Democratic donor who used X to voice his support for Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. "My message for American voters and Russian bots: don't vote for the guy too busy selling you a scamcoin," he wrote in a post on X on Election Day. Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, launched his own crypto coin, World Liberty Financial's wlfi, in October.

Musk has become a close ally of Trump, having been tasked with leading a new advisory committee, the Department of Government Efficiency, alongside the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Susie Moore, a life coach, moved to NYC and landed a tech job by leveraging mutual connections.
• Networking to set yourself up for a future opportunity is especially effective during the holidays.
• She suggests setting intentions, creating ping lists, and attending events to expand your network.

When I was 25, I moved to New York City from Sydney without friends, career prospects, or a college degree. Despite being what some might call unprepared, I knew I would land a job because I excel at connecting with people and taking initiative.

Within two months, I started working for a tech company because I leveraged a mutual connection, an industry peer in Australia whose company had an NYC office. I asked for an introduction to her US team, and she gave me one. A single warm email connection was all it took to get me in the door.

Networking is simply building relationships by being proactive, and it doesn't have to be a cringe-worthy chore. It can be fun, graceful, and extremely rewarding, and the holiday season is the perfect time to do it. There's an undeniable "holiday glow" to people in December.

Now, as a life coach of over 10 years, I encourage my community to expand and nurture their networks no matter their career choices or future goals. If you want to step up your networking game as 2025 fast approaches, here's a checklist to seize the season before the year ends.

1. Set an intention

What do you want your networking efforts to accomplish? Are you seeking a new position in the new year? Do you want to attract new clients to your business? Do you want to kick off a side hustle? Or do you simply want to strengthen your network for the future?

A measurable goal is ideal, but networking is valuable even without a specific goal. A mentor of mine once told me she has a spreadsheet of 50 people she emails casually every quarter for no reason but to say hello and keep the relationship alive. So few people do this!

We let so many relationships go to waste because we make too little effort, so those who keep in touch win because we stand out and are top of mind when opportunities roll around — and they do. My connections have brought me investment opportunities, speaking engagements, and book deals.

2. Get into the holiday spirit

The season of goodwill is a great time to reach out and express gratitude. Most people are reflective and slow down a bit this time of year, so it's the ideal time to send a short gratitude note, text, or DM like this:

"Thanks for your help with X project this year — it meant a lot. Wishing you the best holiday break and start to 2025!"

"I'm lucky to have worked with you this year, and I hope the new job at X is going great! Hi to (spouse name)."

"I just found the coolest candle shop/whisky tasting/tennis memorabilia site (insert picture/link of the thing the person likes). Happy holidays to you!"

Sincere, short, sweet, personal messages go a long way in letting people know how they've encouraged, inspired, or helped you — or even that you're just thinking of them.

3. Create a custom ping list

Success can come down to volume and some experimentation. It's easier to start with people you know, but you can also include some people you'd like to know — for example, I might include 5-10 people I admire with mutual connections.

When I moved to NYC, I looked up connections of my friends on LinkedIn and used that as a way to introduce myself:

"Hi name! You and I are both friends with the lovely (friend's name).

I've just moved to NYC and this city is just beautiful in December. Perhaps we could have a latte if you have 20 minutes free next week? It would be great to share some industry information and connect. I'll gladly come to (part of the city where that person lives/works).

Happy holidays!"

Aim to reach at least 30 people before year-end based on your intention. These can be former coworkers, members of your running or book club, friends of friends, or anyone you'd like to know better.

Not everyone will respond to you, but the right people will. A few Decembers ago, I met up with a fellow entrepreneur who had recently moved to Florida. We've enjoyed more than one business collaboration since, and she's also become a client of mine.

4. Get out there

December is a social season. I've made many connections at apartment lobby parties, holiday celebrations, and New Year's Eve gatherings.

If you're more introverted, be selective about what you attend — just keep returning to your intention (a tech mixer might be worthwhile, for example, but drinks at your next-door neighbor's place may not). Generally, it's worth showing up if you feel on the fence about an invitation. A little face-time goes a long way in nurturing connections.

People are also less busy around the holidays than you think, particularly during the last two weeks of December when schedules slow down. This can be a great time to suggest meeting for coffee, a cocktail, or even a walk. This can also mean a lot to folks in an age of increasing isolation.

5. Underthink it — do it now

The reach-out part is fast. Attacking your ping list doesn't require blocking out hours on your calendar. You can act on it in small pockets throughout the day — waiting for an Uber, in line at CVS, when you have five minutes to spare before a meeting. Ditch the social media scroll and do something valuable with these idle minutes.

Doors open for those willing to knock. It's no secret that those who create and maintain sincere relationships experience more opportunities over time. Your network provides a safety net and a steady foundation for information-sharing, mutual support, and fun, so stay connected.

Susie Moore is a former sales director and startup advisor, a life coach and advice columnist, and the host of the Let It Be Easy podcast.

• LinkedIn has been gradually rolling out a TikTok-like video feed.
• Some creators say making videos has supercharged their engagement on the platform.
• LinkedIn is encouraging creators to post "short" and "snappy" videos.

LinkedIn is taking aim at TikTok — and creators are intrigued.

Since the spring, the Microsoft-owned platform has been gradually rolling out a TikTok-style vertical video feed that features career advice, industry news, and other creator content. A LinkedIn spokesperson said "most" users now have access to it. Videos can also appear in the app's main feed.

Meghana Dhar, a creator with 15,000 LinkedIn followers, said her LinkedIn "engagement has just exploded" since she started posting videos. She added that LinkedIn moving toward video "indicates that they're taking creators really seriously."

Several creators, including Dhar, told BI that they often see much more engagement and impressions on their video posts than on their text or photo ones. Engagement refers to interactions with a post, such as a like, while impressions are how many people view a piece of content.

Dhar said, for example, that a recent text post she shared on LinkedIn got about 10,000 impressions, while a video of her talking to the camera hit over 2 million impressions. Marketing strategist Caroline Giegerich found that her LinkedIn video posts reached three times as many people as her text posts did.

A LinkedIn spokesperson said video posts — including videos shared from individual profiles and pages — get 1.4 times as much engagement on average as other posts on LinkedIn.

While the concept of LinkedIn video might feel strange to some users, it could be a key for the platform to cement itself as a core platform for creators, unlock more ad revenue, and keep people checking their feeds regularly. The top platforms for creators, such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, are all heavily focused on video.

"I am on a personal mission to make LinkedIn a daily habit for people," Jamé Jackson, a LinkedIn community manager, told BI. "We are so much more than just a platform for job searching."

This isn't LinkedIn's first attempt at video. In 2019, LinkedIn launched its live video product. In 2020, it launched a "Stories" feature, which lets users share disappearing videos (that shut down in 2021).

Still, there is some indication that this current, TikTok-like push might be what finally breaks through.

"Our investments in rich formats, like video, strengthen our leadership in B2B advertising and amplify the value we deliver to our customers," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the company's October earnings call. "Weekly immersive video views increased 6x quarter-over-quarter and total video viewership on LinkedIn is up 36% year-over-year."

LinkedIn's do's and don'ts for video

So, what makes a good LinkedIn video?

Jackson said to avoid creating content that "feels way too sales-y and promotional" and to keep the video to under two minutes: short, snappy, and actionable.

"The call to action is important because I always like to secretly tell people that the comments section is the liquid gold of LinkedIn," Jackson said. "The way you do that is by inviting people to the party, inviting them to the table after you've created that video, asking them to share in the comments things that they have learned."

LinkedIn has also seen an uptick in "faceless video content," where people aren't front and center, Jackson said, adding that it had generally performed well.

The platform has encouraged CEOs and executives to talk about breaking news as well, Jackson said.

Creators are using video to grow audiences but monetization lags

Creators generally say that compared to other platforms like TikTok and Instagram, LinkedIn is much less saturated — and that's an opportunity to build audiences.

"I've been posting on LinkedIn almost daily, certainly every weekday for a couple of years now," said Avi Gandhi, who has 23,000 LinkedIn followers.

Gandhi has recently focused on short-form video content, posting three to four times a week and often promoting his newsletter by calling out the name and including a link to subscribe at the end of the text post.

Career coach and creator Jahleane Dolne said she often uses LinkedIn to post podcast clips. While her largest following is on TikTok (about 34,000), Dolne said her podcast clips are a better fit for the LinkedIn audience.

Despite the audience growth for some creators, the ecosystem for making money on LinkedIn isn't yet fully developed. That may be changing, though. Three of the creators BI spoke with said they were either already working on LinkedIn-focused brand deals or actively reaching out to potential sponsors. And earlier this year, the marketing agency Creator Authority launched with a focus on LinkedIn.

However, the platform has not yet introduced a monetization program similar to those on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube that directly pays creators.

"If LinkedIn launches monetization for videos where you could start making money from the videos that you post, that would be huge," Gandhi said. "That would be incredible and that would make it all worth it."

YouTube is experimenting with multiplayer mini-games under its collection of lightweight, free games dubbed “Playables.” Currently, Ludo Club and Magic Tiles 3 support multiplayer mode. “We’re beginning to test a new multiplayer feature for a few select games on YouTube Playables. Multiplayer on Playables lets you play games in real-time with other users,” the company […]

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• A group of early 2000s PayPal employees and founders came to be known as the "PayPal Mafia."
• The members have all gone on to impact Silicon Valley by founding and developing major companies.
• The group includes Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and the founders of both YouTube and Yelp.

What do the founders of YouTube, Yelp, Tesla, and LinkedIn have in common?

Apart from creating some of the biggest companies in tech, they all share a common résumé line item: they've all worked at PayPal.

Many of PayPal's early employees went on to become major names in tech and the venture capital world, founding, funding, and otherwise developing successful companies. This elite group came to be known as the "PayPal Mafia," a nickname that gained popularity after Fortune used the term in a 2007 piece alongside a photo of some of the members dressed in gangster attire.

Members of the group include Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and over a dozen others. Here's a rundown of the most prominent members of this exclusive group and what they're up to over two decades later.

Peter Thiel: PayPal's founder and the so-called "don" of the PayPal Mafia

Peter Thiel cofounded the company that would become Paypal — called Confinity — in 1999 alongside Max Levchin and Luke Nosek. Confinity was launched as a developer of security software for hand-held devices like the PalmPilot, but it later pivoted toward digital money transfers. 

Thiel served as CEO of PayPal until October 2002, when eBay acquired the company for $1.5 billion. Thiel's 3.7% stake was worth a $55 million, according to SEC filings.

Thiel went on to cofound Founders Fund, a venture capital firm that has helped launch companies like SpaceX and Airbnb.

Thiel, now a billionaire with a net worth of $15.9 billion, according to Bloomberg, cofounded the big data analysis firm Palantir in 2003. He was the first major outside investor in Facebook and contributed early funding to Yelp and LinkedIn, along with a number of other ventures launched by his PayPal peers. Thiel's also a partner of Founders Fund, a venture capital fund based in San Francisco.

Thiel has also drawn criticism in recent years for his support of President Donald Trump and for secretly funding Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media, which resulted in the company shutting down Gawker and selling the company's assets.

After facilitating talks between Trump and now Sen. JD Vance, Thiel gave a record-breaking $15 million to Vance's campaign, the largest donation ever given to a single senate candidate. 

Thiel later told The Atlantic he was taking a break from politics. Business Insider later reported that he served as an FBI informant.

While his and Trump's relationship has reportedly soured, Trump's recent announcement of Vance as his vice president pick has put Thiel back to playing kingmaker.

Max Levchin: PayPal cofounder and Chief Technology Officer.

Max Levchin is sometimes called the "consigliere" of the PayPal Mafia — in "The Godfather," a consigliere is an advisor to the boss.

Levchin made significant contributions to PayPal's anti-fraud efforts. Together with PayPal technical architect David Gausebeck, he helped create the Gausebeck-Levchin test, an early version of a CAPTCHA for commercial applications.

Levchin now serves as the CEO of Affirm.

After PayPal was bought by eBay, Levchin founded a media-sharing service called Slide that was later bought by Google. He was also an early investor in Yelp — at one point he was the company's largest shareholder — and he served as chairman of Yelp from its founding in 2004 until July 2015.

He founded fintech company Affirm, which allows consumers to finance online purchases at the point of sale and pay for them over time. Affirm went public in 2021, raising $1.2 billion in its IPO. Levchin is also the chairman of Glow, a fertility-tracking app that helps users improve their odds of conceiving.

Ken Howery: PayPal cofounder and CFO from 1998 to 2002.

After eBay bought PayPal, Howery stayed on as eBay's director of corporate development until 2003. After PayPal's acquisition, he served as cofounder and partner of Founders Fund alongside Peter Thiel.

Howery recently served as US ambassador to Sweden.

He was appointed by former President Trump in January 2019 and confirmed in September of that year. He also donated $1 million earlier this year to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC created by fellow PayPal mafia member Elon Musk.

Howery is active in several nonprofits and serves as a founding advisor to Kiva, an organization that facilitates loans to low-income entrepreneurs. Kiva was founded in part by Premal Shah, PayPal's former product manager.

Howery is reportedly still good friends with Elon Musk. 

Elon Musk: founder of (the other) X.com, which merged with Thiel's Confinity to become PayPal

In 1999, Elon Musk founded a payments company called X.com, which merged with Thiel's Confinity in 2000. He briefly served as CEO of PayPal before he was ousted by the board in September 2000 and replaced with Thiel. But as the company's largest shareholder, he still walked away from the PayPal sale to eBay with a cool $165 million.

Musk is currently the world's richest person.

Perhaps the best-known of all the members of the PayPal mafia now, Musk's estimated net worth is $362 billion.

Since his PayPal days, Musk has moved on to oversee companies like Tesla, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and Neuralink. He also bought Twitter and renamed it X, after buying back the X.com domain name from PayPal. 

Musk, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and donated more than $200 million to Republican election efforts, will also co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump announced after winning the election.

Luke Nosek: PayPal cofounder and vice president of marketing and strategy.

Nosek was also reportedly the person who clued in Peter Thiel to cryogenic preservation, which Thiel has since invested in heavily.

Nosek explored angel investing.

In 2005, Nosek joined Thiel and Howery as a partner at Founders Fund. In 2017, Nosek left Founders Fund to launch investment firm Gigafund, which helped raise money for SpaceX.

Nosek was also the first institutional investor in SpaceX and is a board member. He also joined the board of ResearchGate, a platform where scientists and researchers can ask questions, follow topics, and review one another's papers.

Roelof Botha: PayPal's director of corporate development, vice-president of finance, CFO

Botha went to school to be an actuary. He said he never planned to get into tech, but when he saw the opportunity in Silicon Valley, his intuition told him it was where he needed to be.

He started as PayPal's director of corporate development, went on to become vice-president of finance, and later served as CFO.

Botha is now a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital

Botha is now considered one of the top tech investors in the world.

Sequoia Capital has funded tech giants like Apple, Google, YouTube, and Instagram. 

Botha as served on the board at more than a dozen companies, including Square, EventBrite, Weebly, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, as well as 23andMe, which he resigned alongside the rest of the board in September over CEO Anne Wojcicki's proposal to take the company private.

Reid Hoffman: board of directors at PayPal, COO

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman served on the board of directors when PayPal was founded.

He eventually joined the company full-time as PayPal's COO. In a New York Times interview, Peter Thiel referred to Hoffman as PayPal's "firefighter in chief," noting that there were many fires that needed putting out in the company's early days.

When PayPal was acquired by eBay, Hoffman was the company's executive vice president.

Hoffman cofounded LinkedIn and is one of Silicon Valley's most prolific angel investors.

Hoffman was an early investor in Facebook, Flickr, Care.com, and many more. In 2017 he joined the board of Microsoft.

Hoffman has coauthored several books on startups and professional development. He hosts the "Masters of Scale" podcast, on which he interviews founders about how they launched and scaled their companies, and is a partner at VC firm Greylock Partners. He was an early investor in OpenAI and used to serve on its board, and cofounded Inflection AI.

Hoffman has also recently criticized business leaders, including his fellow PayPal mafia members, for supporting Trump.

 

David Sacks: PayPal COO

Like Hoffman, Sacks also served as COO at PayPal. Previously a management consultant for McKinsey & Company, David Sacks joined PayPal in 1999.

After PayPal was bought by eBay, Sacks produced and financed the box office hit "Thank You For Smoking," which would go on to be nominated for two Golden Globes. In 2006 he founded Geni.com, an online tool for building family trees.

 

Sacks founded several companies, became an angel investor, and was named Trump's AI and crypto 'czar'

In 2016, Sacks was briefly interim CEO at Zenefits, an HR software firm that was plagued by scandal, including allowing unlicensed brokers to sell insurance to its customers. In 2017, Sacks cofounded the early-stage investment firm Craft Ventures. 

Sacks is a serial entrepreneur and investor, with angel investments in Airbnb, Postmates, Slack, and many more. 

He's also a member of Elon Musk's inner circle and, like the Tesla CEO, is an avid Trump supporter, hosting a fundraiser for the president-elect at his home. Sacks reportedly urged Trump personally to choose Vance as his running mate, whom he was introduced to by fellow Paypal mafia member Thiel.

Trump said in December that he is appointing Sacks as his White House AI and crypto czar.

 

 

 

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen met at PayPal during its early days.

Karim and Chen were engineers, while Hurley was a web designer.

In 2005, the trio launched the video-sharing platform YouTube. Karim uploaded the platform's very first video, "Me at the zoo," an 18-second clip of Karim in front of the San Diego Zoo's elephant exhibit. It's been viewed over 292 million times.

Today, Karim, Hurley, and Chen remain active entrepreneurs and investors with a hand in projects from finance to music.

Karim launched venture fund YVentures in 2008, through which he invested in Palantir, Reddit, Eventbrite, and Airbnb.

Hurley stepped down as CEO of YouTube in 2010. Since then, he's backed education startup Uptime and invested in several sports teams.

Chen invested in actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt's musical collaboration platform HitRecord, which in February secured $6.4 million in Series A funding.

Andrew McCormack: assistant to Peter Thiel at PayPal

McCormack joined PayPal in 2001, working as an assistant to Peter Thiel as the company prepared for its IPO.

In 2003, McCormack started a restaurant group in San Francisco. In 2008, he joined Thiel Capital and worked there for 5 years.

McCormack went on to launch VC firm Valar Ventures

McCormack partnered up with Thiel again in 2010 to found Valar Ventures, a venture capital fund.

Valar Ventures has invested in technology startups well beyond Silicon Valley, including some in Europe and Canada. In August, Crunchbase reported the firm had closed on a $150 million funding round for a new venture capital fund, Valar Fund V.

McCormack continues to serve as a managing partner of the firm.

 

Keith Rabois: PayPal's executive vice president

Entrepreneur Keith Rabois served as PayPal's executive vice president from 2000 to 2002.

He would go on to join his PayPal colleague Reid Hoffman at LinkedIn as its vice president for business and corporate development from 2005 to 2007. He was an early investor in startups like Square, where he spent two-and-a-half years as COO. 

Rabois joined Thiel, Howery, and Nosek as a partner at Founders Fund.

Rabois is the CEO of OpenStore and has served on the board of directors for Yelp, Xoom, and Reddit.

He was a general partner at Founder's Fund, where he cofounded OpenStore, before returning to Khosla Ventures in early 2024.

Russel Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman: worked on technology at PayPal.

Simmons was an engineer and Stoppelman was the vice president of technology after joining PayPal from X.com.

In 2004, the pair came up with the idea for a platform where users could leave recommendations about businesses in their area. They pitched the idea to Levchin, who provided an early investment of $1 million, and Yelp was born.

Simmons left his official role at Yelp in 2010, while Stoppelman continues to serve as Yelp's CEO.

Simmons served as CTO at Yelp from 2004 until he left the role in 2010. Stoppelman is still CEO of Yelp, and has publicly spoken out in support of political issues like women's reproductive rights.

Jack Selby: PayPal's vice president of corporate and international development.

After leaving PayPal, Selby partnered with Thiel to start Clarium Capital Management.

In 2017, Selby was revealed to be the generous tipper behind "Tips for Jesus."

Selby later helped manage Thiel Capital, the Thiel's family office, and started his own venture capital fund, AZ-VC, where he serves as managing partner. He still serves as managing director at Thiel Capital.

Starting in 2013, Selby began anonymously leaving tips for unsuspecting waitstaff, ranging into the thousands, and signing them "Tips for Jesus." His identity was confirmed by a New York City bartender who served him prior to receiving a $5,000 tip.

Dave McClure: PayPal's director of marketing

McClure served PayPal's director of marketing as for four years beginning in 2001.

According to McClure's LinkedIn, he began a program called the PayPal Developer Network, which consisted of about 300,000 developers that were using PayPal. 

McClure left PayPal in 2004.

He had a brief stint at Founders Fund before launching 500 Startups, an early stage venture fund. McClure stayed at 500 Startups until June 2017, when he was accused of "inappropriate behavior with women" in a New York Times report and stepped down from his role at the firm, writing an apology post titled "I'm a creep. I'm sorry."

He's since become an investor and owner in a professional sports league for ultimate frisbee and cofounded Practical Venture Capital, according to his LinkedIn.

 

Several more former PayPal employees went on to have careers both in and out of tech.

• Yishan Wong was an engineering manager who later served as CEO of Reddit from 2011 to 2014. He then founded the reforestation company Terraformation in 2020, where he now serves as CEO.
• Jason Portnoy worked in finance at PayPal, and went on to work at Clarium Capital and Palantir. He's now a partner at VC firm Oakhouse Partners. 
• Premal Shah was a product manager at PayPal beginning in 2000, then went on to work at technology nonprofit Kiva. He's now president at financial-services startup Branch. 
• David Gausebeck was a technical architect at PayPal. Now, he serves as chief scientist at 3D modeling company Matterport. He cofounded 3D modeling company Matterport, where he now serves as chief scientist.
• Joe Lonsdale started his career as a finance intern at PayPal before moving into venture capital — he's worked at VC firms Clarium Capital, Formation 8, and 8VC. Lonsdale also cofounded Palantir, and has reportedly contributed to a Trump PAC.
• Eric Jackson was director of marketing at PayPal and went on to write a book about the company called "The PayPal Wars." He's currently the CEO of CapLinked. 

• Remote workers are slightly more likely to have side gigs than in-person or hybrid peers.
• Extra time from remote work may enable more side hustles like consulting or rideshare.
• Some data shows employees who choose where to work are more productive.

Remote workers are more likely to have side gigs than their office-based peers — 34% versus 29% — according to a new LinkedIn Workforce Confidence survey of 8,606 US professionals.

The trend toward additional income streams appears strongest among those with flexible work arrangements. While only a quarter of full-time employees reported having a side gig, the number jumps to 52% for freelancers and 46% for both contractors and self-employed workers.

Side gigs include working as consultants, rideshare drivers, and rental property managers.

Remote workers' higher participation in side hustles could stem from increased time savings from not commuting. GPS data from traffic analytics company INRIX shows supercommuting — or traveling over 75 miles to work — has been on the rise over the last few years. The same trend applies to commutes over 40 miles for the country's 10 largest cities.

The higher rate of side gigs among remote workers, though small, could also stem from some evidence that productivity slows when workers are pushed to return to the office.

LinkedIn cited a May 2024 Great Place to Work survey of 4,400 US employees, which found that workers who could choose where they work were more likely to exceed expectations and have better relationships with their bosses.

However, the data is complicated, as various remote work studies have different conclusions. Stanford economists found 10% lower productivity for fully remote work compared to fully in-person work. Meanwhile, a separate Stanford report found that hybrid work had no effect on productivity or career advancement compared to in-person work.

Dozens of employees with side hustles, particularly those in remote roles, have told Business Insider about their strategies for maximizing their income. Some particularly successful side hustlers said content creation and selling on Etsy were simple ways to grow their income while working full-time.

Some remote workers told BI they drive for Uber or DoorDash while working as accountants or analysts. Dozens of drivers have told BI over the last year that falling earnings and growing competition have made it challenging to make enough, though many value the flexibility to drive during lunch breaks or before or after their full-time jobs.

Both remote and in-person workers previously told BI that real-estate side hustles have been particularly fruitful. Jesse Singh, 29, worked two nursing roles, which he used to fund his real estate company. Once he sold a $2.2 million property, he cut his nursing hours.

Some said they quit their in-person corporate roles for full-time remote positions, which allowed them to better craft their schedules and add in other income streams. Some turned their remote reselling side hustles on sites like eBay into full-time positions.

Natalie Fischer left her corporate job in 2023 to grow her business as a finance content creator and is now bringing in over $150,000 in revenue in 2024. She's diversified her revenue through user-generated content and money workshops, and she's looking to secure speaking engagements.

BI has also reported on dozens of "overemployed" remote workers who secretly work multiple jobs to earn six-figure incomes. Many said they don't feel guilt for working multiple remote positions, even as remote roles become scarcer and harder to get.

Patrick, a millennial in California, previously told BI that because his remote account manager role didn't give him enough work for an eight-hour workday, he took on an additional full-time role and freelance work, bringing his income to nearly $200,000.

• A 28-year-old used an AI tool called AIHawk to apply for hundreds of jobs on LinkedIn.
• He said AIHawk helped him land a software engineering job.
• Using AI tools during the application process comes with risks.

Applying for jobs can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, and some job seekers are using AI to try to make it more tolerable.

Guilherme, a 28-year-old based in Brazil, began looking for a software engineering role after he was laid off in April. In October, after little luck, he learned about AIHawk — a tool that allows users to easily apply for up to hundreds of jobs per day. One month later, AIHawk had submitted more than 1,300 applications on Guilherme's behalf and he landed a job.

"This the type of job I was looking for," said Guilherme, whose identity was verified by Business Insider but asked to use a pseudonym. "It was certainly a byproduct of AIHawk."

Guilherme is among the people who have struggled to find work over the past year and turned to AI tools to help them write résumés and cover letters, prepare for interviews, and apply for jobs.

To be sure, relying on AI during the application process comes with risks — including a résumé littered with mistakes — and it could be a dealbreaker for some HR departments. Additionally, in the quickly evolving AI landscape, there's a lack of clarity over how employers and job platforms view candidates' use of these tools.

Automating the job search process can save time

Federico Elia created AIHawk earlier this year, and in August, he published the code hosting platform GitHub so anyone could use the tool. AIHawk automates the application process for LinkedIn's easy-apply jobs — which pulls info from a user's profile to fill in an application. To date, AIHawk has been "starred" — or bookmarked — on GitHub by more than 22,000 people globally. There are more than 6,300 members of the AIHawk community on the messaging service Telegram, where users critique the tool, share tips on how to use it, and provide updates on their job searches.

AIHawk is one of many AI job application tools on the market. While it can be installed and used without any cost, users previously told BI that doing so requires some familiarity with the programming language Python.

Guilherme's tech background made it easier to use the tool. He said AIHawk typically applied to about 50 jobs a day and that some of these applications turned into interviews.

Guilherme ultimately was hired for a job he didn't apply for using AIHawk. He said he learned about the role after someone from the company reached out to him via LinkedIn. However, Guilherme believes AIHawk played a major role in the outcome of his job search. When he started using the tool, he said he began hearing from several recruiters about jobs he'd never applied for.

"I got several LinkedIn InMails a day, every single day, since mid-October, from recruiters, hiring managers, and C-suites of companies," he said, adding, "This was something that never happened to me before."

Guilherme said that he believes applying for so many jobs "boosted" his LinkedIn profile in the platform's algorithm — making it easier for recruiters to find him.

"With my account's activity being through the roof, my profile was boosted up in searches, which led to my new boss finding me," he said.

A LinkedIn spokesperson told BI that applying to more roles would not make a person's profile more visible to a recruiter. The spokesperson said that job seekers who keep their profiles up to date are more likely to hear from recruiters.

The spokesperson said that the company doesn't permit the use of third-party software — such as bots — that scrapes or automates activity on LinkedIn.

Guilherme recommended that AIHawk users spend time filtering out job titles that aren't a good fit and use interviews as an opportunity to practice their communication skills — which could help them land a job down the road.

Overall, Guilherme said the biggest perk of AIHawk was the time it saved him.

"Imagine if I had to do this manually?" he said, referring to the resumes he submitted with AIHawk. "I'd probably go insane."

Are you looking for a job and comfortable sharing your story with a reporter? Did an AI job tool help you land a job recently? Please fill out this form.

• Madeline Mann, a career coach, advises job seekers to be careful about what they post online.
• Mann said job recruiters will check a candidate's LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
• She said sharing about your current job search journey on LinkedIn could backfire.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Madeline Mann, a 32-year-old career coach and CEO of Self Made Millennial from Los Angeles. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been a career coach for about six years. As the CEO of Self Made Millennial, my career coaching service, I want people to feel confident in selling themselves and ultimately land the job offer.

When it comes to job hunting, I tell my clients that recruiters will definitely check their LinkedIn profile — but they might not stop there. It's very likely they'll search for candidates on other social media platforms too.

For that reason, when looking for work, there are several things you shouldn't share online. Here are four of them.

1. Don't share your job search journey

When you're job searching, I'd heavily advise against documenting your journey. There has been a surge of people on LinkedIn, sharing what it's like to apply for jobs in today's market.

They say things like, "Oh, I just went through this company's interview process, and I didn't get the job," or, "Look how silly this job application is — and here's how I feel about it."

While it might get you some good engagement, understand employers are watching, too. As a job seeker, you don't want them to think, "Oh no, if we put this person through our interview process, what are they going to publicly say about our company?"

Although the job search journey can be pretty isolating, and it can feel good to talk about it, you really want to be cautious here.

2. Mental health

Similarly, I would advise against sharing your mental health journey online. This is something that has become a much more mainstream conversation and for such good reason.

But understand, it's something that an employer could make snap judgments on. Those hiring might question your ability to do the role, and you might not know it — as they won't tell you that.

Sharing things about depression, or anxiety, might make an employer wonder, "How is that going to impact our business?" and "Are they going to be capable of this job?"

Even if you're being uplifting and reflective, it's very risky. Instead, I'd try to keep this more to your inner circle, where you can control who has access to knowing.

3. Don't share your résumé online

On LinkedIn, there's an option to share your résumé — and I wouldn't recommend doing that.

If you share the same résumé everywhere online, you're missing the chance to tailor it to what that company is looking for. This is especially important if you have diverse interests in different roles; that one résumé could send the wrong message.

Instead, I suggest only sharing your résumé with the company you're applying to, rather than making it public on your website or LinkedIn profile.

4. Consider not sharing political campaigns

If you've worked on a political campaign, it's important to consider whether you should actually include it on your LinkedIn profile.

Yes, you likely gained valuable experience, but before posting it, think about the cities you want to work in, the role you're applying for, and the jobs you'd like to pursue.

Many people struggle to separate their beliefs and may make assumptions based on who they think you voted for. These differences can cloud someone's judgment, and when you're applying for jobs, you don't want that to happen.

Even if they shouldn't, small biases can make a big impact. In the end, you don't want to give people the ability to quickly judge you before they get to know you.

Protecting your accounts

When applying for jobs, go to Google, type in your name, and see what comes up. A recruiter will usually start there. They might see your LinkedIn profile, but they could also come across your X and Instagram accounts, too. If those platforms appear, they'll likely click on those links.

To protect yourself from that happening — you can do a few things. First, you can put your social media accounts on private, which isn't necessarily foolproof, but a start, or you can set your social media accounts to include just your first and middle name, so your last name doesn't appear.

You can also slightly misspell your last name. For example, I saw someone whose last name starts with "W," but he used two "V"s instead. That way, if someone searched his last name, it wouldn't show up.

But just as a general rule, know that if someone does get through your privacy settings, there are ways to see what you've liked and who you follow.

Before posting, ask yourself is this the right way to portray myself? Should I just send this in a group text to my friends instead? Really consider those things before posting.

If you're a career coach who would like to share helpful job searching tips, please email Manseen Logan at [email protected].

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