• "Ghost jobs" are roles that employers list as open even though they're not actually trying to fill them.
• Employers may post them for various reasons, but they can waste applicants' time and sour them on the company.
• Here are some tips on how to sniff out these job listings.

We've all heard of being ghosted in the hiring process: You apply for a job and go through a few rounds of interviews, only for a prospective employer to disappear in the end.

But what about jobs that weren't actually there to begin with? So-called "ghost jobs" are roles that employers say they're actively hiring for when they're really not.

And they're a pain point for many job seekers: Between 18% and 22% of jobs listed on Greenhouse in any given quarter are considered ghost jobs, the hiring platform said in its 2024 State of Job Hunting report.

Employers may post bogus job listings for several reasons: They may be trying to give the appearance they're growing or trick overworked employees into thinking they'll get some relief soon. Or, companies may be trying to build their talent pool for real job openings in the future.

Regardless of the reason, there are some signs candidates can look for that suggest a position is likely just a ghost job. One big indicator is if a job post has been up for several months.

"If the job has been posted for 30 days or more, that's something that you could put in the back of your mind and say, 'Well, this posting's been open for a while and they haven't hired anybody yet. Maybe they're not in a hurry to hire,'" says FlexJobs lead career expert Toni Frana. "The sooner you can apply to a job in relation to when it was posted, the better."

If you saw the role advertised on a job site like LinkedIn or Indeed, double-check it's still posted and active on the company's own careers page.

When reading the job post, you want to see as much specificity as possible.

"Sometimes if job descriptions are vague and don't provide a lot of detail to explain what the role actually is, then it's possible that someone from the company may have quickly typed something up and posted it to see if candidates will apply and to see the quality of those candidates," said human resources administrator and former recruiter Jackie Cuevas. "So pay close attention to the actual quality of the job description — the more information, the better."

If you make it to an interview, ask about the timeline for filling the position, says Charnay Horton, a career coach and CEO of resume writing firm Resume Addict. 

You can say, "Can you tell me more about the interview process, and when the hiring manager is looking to make a decision?" or "Can you provide additional insight regarding why this opportunity is available?"

You could also consider asking, "How does this position contribute to departmental success?" to gauge how important the role is and how urgently it might need to be filled.

If your point of contact is dragging their feet throughout the process, it might be a sign they're not actively trying to fill the position.

"When employers are actively hiring, they move quickly, especially if you are qualified for the role," Horton said. "They want to get you in front of the hiring manager quickly so that they do not lose you mid-process. If you get a sense that the company is lagging with responses, they may not be serious about filling the role."

Ultimately, you want to "be as proactive as you can in your search," said Frana.

"It's not just about reading the job postings and applying," she said. "You can find out a lot of information on a company's website, on social pages like LinkedIn and Twitter, or if you just do a Google search of the company hiring and see what results you get. That is all information-gathering that can be really helpful for you as a candidate, and it's one of those action steps that helps job seekers focus on the things they can control in the process when so much of it is outside of their control."

If you’ve ever applied or thought of applying for a job via LinkedIn, you’ll know that the experience can be immediately disheartening: Openings that look interesting typically can see hundreds or thousands of applications in a matter of hours — data that LinkedIn, a social network for the world of work, proudly exposes in its […]

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• Job ads have been getting too lengthy and have long lacked salary details.
• Hiring managers are being inundated with applications thanks to AI.
• The situation is untenable and something needs to change, hiring experts say.

Job ads need an overhaul. They're often too lengthy, too demanding, and may prompt candidates to lean more on their networks to avoid a relentless application-rejection cycle.

With an era of "revenge quitting" on the horizon, companies that want to attract top talent may want to rethink what they post on job boards, use AI sparingly but smartly, and remember that hiring is an inherently human process.

Research from the HR and recruitment software company iCIMS, shared with Business Insider, found that job openings were up only 3% between December 2023 and December 2024, but applications rose by 13%.

Rhea Moss of iCIMS told BI that this underlines a "self-fulfilling prophecy" in the job market: candidates can't help but contribute to the vicious cycle by applying for more jobs.

"There's an interesting confluence that's happening right now, of candidates feeling like their résumé isn't being looked at, and recruiters feeling like they have too many résumés to look at," Moss said. "Something has got to change here."

Too wordy and demanding

Job hunting can be frustrating. Susan Levine, the founder and CEO of the recruitment and advisory firm Career Group Companies, told BI that job ads "frequently paint an unrealistic picture of the roles they represent."

Using buzzwords to draw attention rather than accurate descriptions can contribute to the culture of love-bombing and ghosting in the jobseeking world, where candidates believe they are perfect for a role — only to hear nothing after an interview.

"This practice can mislead candidates, leading them to believe they are a strong match when their qualifications may not align with what the company truly needs," Levine said.

Ads can also be too long and demanding. Data from the recruitment software and hiring platform Applied, shared with BI, found more than a third of "entry-level" job ads sought an average of 2.5 years of experience.

Michael Horn, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and coauthor of "JOB MOVES: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career," said: "Job descriptions are really, really broken at this point."

"They have gotten ridiculous in terms of the number of listed and credentials and qualifications," he told BI. "They read much more like legal documents."

Ashley Ward, the founder and CEO of the recruitment agency W Talent Solutions, said poorly constructed job ads contribute to a frustrating cycle for all involved.

"A job ad should serve as a compelling invitation, not a laundry list of unattainable qualifications," Ward told BI. "Yet, too many ads are designed more as exclusionary gatekeepers than as tools for engagement."

'Soul-crushing' process

Shannon Talbot, a former banking director and VP at an advertising agency turned career coach, told BI that hiring managers often "copy and paste old, potentially irrelevant job descriptions because they're in a rush to fill the role."

"These descriptions turn into wish lists of requirements rather than focusing on what's truly needed. Add to that the lack of transparency around salary and job levels, and it's no wonder candidates feel frustrated."

The language of job ads can be off-putting. The Applied report, which analyzed just over 7,500 ads, found that using masculine wording (including "individual," "challenging," and "driven") reduced the number of women applying by 10%.

There's also no guarantee the jobs being advertised actually exist.

A recent analysis from Greenhouse found that as many as one in five jobs advertised online may be "ghost jobs" — roles that are never filled, and companies may never have any intention of filling in the first place.

"The job market has become more soul-crushing than ever," said Jon Stross, president and cofounder of Greenhouse.

The human touch is missing

AI was supposed to make everything better, with job hunting becoming easier and more efficient than ever on both sides of the process.

But for all its benefits, using AI the wrong way could make everything worse.

Horn said hiring managers may receive thousands of applications, mostly from people wholly unsuitable for the job.

"Individuals applying to things are struggling to figure out, thinking, I don't even know what this means. Am I a good fit for this? I have no idea," Horn said. "Might as well let the AI apply, and then we'll figure it out later."

Meanwhile, good candidates may be automatically rejected by an algorithm.

Rise of the networks

When met with an unfulfilling market, people may instead turn to their networks for their next career move, said Horn.

This could have consequences for DEI. Managers have a tendency to want to hire candidates like themselves, whether they mean to or not. Networks becoming more important could have a disparate impact on underrepresented groups, Horn warned.

Hiring managers can help make the application process more transparent by maximizing automation while maintaining the human touch.

Lisa Frank, the founder and CEO of the recruitment and coaching firm LBF Strategies, said hiring managers should embrace AI but remember that it can't be fully relied on to make decisions.

"You're still dealing with humans, hiring other humans, humans working with other humans, or working for or managing them. We can't turn our backs on that," she told BI.

• Discovering 'The Third Door' led to career success at Google and Meta for Andrew Yeung.
• The concept involves finding unconventional paths to achieve goals and stand out.
• Yeung used four steps to find the "third door" and launch a successful tech and hospitality career.

Up until a few years ago, I thought I was going to have a mediocre career.

School was difficult for me. Math, English, and science were hard. I didn't think I was terribly smart, and I had below-average grades all the way from middle school up until the point I graduated from college.

It wasn't because I didn't try. In fact, I tried pretty hard. My brain just couldn't grasp basic STEM concepts. Beyond that, I lacked the typical traits associated with success, like charisma, confidence, and genius-level intelligence.

No matter how hard I pushed myself, my results were always below average. I'd spend hours studying in school, only to end up with bad grades. This pattern repeated itself throughout college, where I'd spend months applying to jobs without any kind of response.

I realized I needed to change things up, or I'd end up with below-average results for the rest of my life. I had to stop doing what everyone else was doing because it wasn't working for me.

Everything changed for me in 2019 when I came across Alex Banayan's book, "The Third Door." It completely transformed how I did everything and eventually helped me land lead roles at Google and Meta.

What is "the third door"?

Picture yourself trying to enter an exclusive nightclub. There are three doors: one general entrance that everyone goes through, a second door for the VIPs and celebrities, and a third door that nobody tries.

After learning about this idea, I made it a habit to solve every problem by finding the third door.

I became almost allergic to conformity, ignoring common wisdom. Whenever I saw someone do something a certain way, I would try to do it differently, and I was convinced that there was always an easier, unconventional, non-obvious way of getting things done.

Here are the four things I started doing to improve my likelihood of having a fulfilling, high-growth career.

1. I started creating magnets to attract the attention of decision-makers.

I always had trouble getting into the room, whether it was an interview room with the hiring manager, a private dinner with executives, or a boardroom with decision-makers. To get into the room, you often had to know the right people, have a top-tier résumé, or be exceptionally smart or charismatic. I was none of these, so I realized I needed to create the room myself.

Instead of trying to get into the private dinners with CEOs, I hosted my own.

Instead of trying to get on stage and grab the attention of business leaders, I created my own stage and invited leaders I wanted to speak alongside.

Instead of chasing people, I learned to create valuable things that would attract the attention of those I wanted to meet.

2. I started differentiating myself with my speed of execution.

Throughout my career, I've used my execution speed as a competitive advantage, and it's always paid off.

By replying to her email within 10 seconds, I landed an internship with the CEO of a company with over 20,000 employees.

At Facebook and Google, I had the opportunity to work on the highest visibility projects because I was the first person to raise my hand.

I've also made introductions within a minute of being asked. Being faster is the easiest way to differentiate yourself.

3. I started investing in decadelong relationships when everyone else focused on transactional relationships.

In the last few years, I've interacted with thousands of people, and I've observed that most people take a shortsighted approach to building relationships, especially in fast-paced, metropolitan cities like New York and San Francisco.

It makes sense — there's a high density of remarkable people, giving you what seems like infinite options for relationships, but in reality, this false sense of optionality can hurt you.

Early in my career, I was rejected by dozens of hiring managers. Each time, I accepted the rejection with grace, thanked them for their time, and offered to provide value by introducing them to other candidates. Eventually, it came back around.

I graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in finance and economics. My first job out of school came after I was rejected from a company's internship program. I took this opportunity to build a relationship with their hiring manager and nurtured that relationship for over a year.

My path into Facebook was from a cold outreach that turned into a mentorship relationship lasting over three years, and my entry point into Google came from building a long-term relationship with someone I met spontaneously.

The strongest professional relationships are built when you think in decades.

4. I started giving without the expectation of return.

My strategy for gaining access to job opportunities, CEOs, and influential people has always been volunteering my greatest asset: my time. It's been my trojan horse for opening doors, building relationships, and accessing larger opportunities.

In my early 20s, I knew nothing about startups and tech, so I pitched myself to the CEOs of early-stage companies, offering my help and suggestions. Eventually, a few people took me on, and it became my method of breaking into the tech world as a non-tech person. This approach helped build my personal brand as a young, helpful, and hungry operator.

The third door helped me succeed

These four habits eventually enabled me to get access to opportunities, build relationships with prominent tech leaders, and "break" into tech without good grades or a strong résumé.

In reality, I see myself as an average person who isn't particularly gifted or exceptionally smart in a specific area, but I've managed to find some success by discovering the unfair advantages that are uniquely suited to me.

Andrew Yeung is a former Meta and Google employee who now throws tech parties through Andrew's Mixers, runs a tech events company at Fibe, and invests at Next Wave NYC.

• Indeed released its list of the best jobs for the year based on pay and other factors.
• The career site ranked the job list based on the share of postings on its platform.
• Structural engineers, attorneys, and physicians were part of the top 10.

Career site Indeed found that if you're looking for work as a veterinarian, civil engineer, or structural engineer, 2025 could be your year.

Indeed published a list of the best jobs for the year based on growth in job postings, flexibility, and typical salary. To be included in the ranking, jobs needed a median annual salary of at least $75,000, at least 5% of their postings had to have been for hybrid or remote roles, and they had to have had job-posting growth on Indeed of at least 20% between December 2021 and this past December.

"I think we do see a rather large amount of variety on this list, and although they may be somewhat technical or some require more specialized education and training, it's not always a catchall," Gabrielle Davis, a career trends expert at Indeed, said. "There are usually different avenues or different ways to approach some of these different fields as well if you're either interested in breaking out into them or even career changing."

Indeed's post about the results said, "healthcare and engineering endure as dominant sectors." Physicians had a median salary of $225,000, and demand based on Indeed job postings has increased.

"It's kind of showing the need for the workforce to balance both deep technical knowledge and the ability to tackle evolving societal needs," Davis told Business Insider.

While job growth in December was strong, economists who spoke to Business Insider before that data was available think tech job seekers and others may have a hard time finding work this year.

Below are the top 10 best jobs, along with their median posted salaries on Indeed, growth in job postings between December 2021 and this past December, and the share of postings that offer remote or hybrid work. Indeed ranked the jobs by the share of postings on its platform.

10. Structural engineer

Salary: $110,725

Growth in job postings: 127%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 18.8%

"I think one of the biggest trends that pop out is that we're seeing this resurgence and really strong representation of more traditional roles like engineers, physicians, attorneys, nurses," Davis said about the results.

Structural engineer is one of the engineering jobs that made the list. Davis said this job plays a "key role in the infrastructure of different cities or buildings, whether it's more on a corporate versus residential area."

9. Fire engineer

Salary: $110,000

Growth in job postings: 136%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 12.4%

8. Clinical psychologist

Salary: $118,597

Growth in job postings: 75%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 34.6%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said people typically need a doctoral or professional degree for entry into clinical and counseling psychologist jobs. BLS also said there could be different licensing requirements by state to become a psychologist.

"Most psychologists need supervised experience to qualify for licensure, which may include an internship or postdoctoral training," BLS said. "These experiences provide an opportunity for prospective psychologists to use their knowledge in an applied setting."

7. Territory manager

Salary: $80,348

Growth in job postings: 43%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 19.9%

Davis said this job typically involves overseeing sales in a specific area or region, and may also help with training workers and guiding customer service.

"They'll often work with different departments to help increase the sales and revenue," Davis said.

6. Attorney

Salary: $145,168

Growth in job postings: 90%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 28.6%

This typically high-paying job usually requires several years of law school.

"Newly hired attorneys usually start as associates and work on teams with more experienced lawyers," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

5. Estimator

Salary: $99,592

Growth in job postings: 51%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 6.8%

4. Civil engineer

Salary: $100,872

Growth in job postings: 104%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 12.2%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said this job typically requires a bachelor's degree for entry.

"Employers usually prefer to hire graduates of civil engineering programs accredited by ABET," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. "Some students attend schools that have cooperative-education programs (also known as co-ops); others participate in internships."

3. Physician

Salary: $225,000

Growth in job postings: 76%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 5.3%

Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, physicians typically require a doctoral or professional degree, and the typical on-the-job training needed for competency is participating in internships or residency programs.

2. Sales representative

Salary: $182,487

Growth in job postings: 76%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 15.7%

"I always consider one of the greatest entry-level point jobs for folks who are either looking to break into more of the corporate world or career changers," Davis said about sales representatives. "I think it's really common to see a lot of folks that might have been teachers in a past life, for example, switching over to sales."

1. Veterinarian

Salary: $139,999

Growth in job postings: 124%

Mentions of remote/hybrid in job postings: 7.3%

The increase in pet ownership is impacting some Americans' spending and could also be partly behind the demand for veterinarians. Davis said this job has seen substantial growth over the past few years, based on Indeed's data.

"Similar to mirroring the aging human population, there's also this growing and aging population for pets as well, which may kind of contribute to some of the different advancements that we're seeing in veterinary medicine and furthering the need for this care," Davis said.

• About a fifth of recruitment ads in 2024 were "ghost jobs," a Greenhouse report found.
• Ghost jobs frustrate candidates and erode trust, but hiring managers continue to see the benefits.
• Greenhouse and LinkedIn now offer verification features to help identify potential ghost jobs.

Everyone has a story about a role they thought they were perfect for, only to hear nothing back or be ghosted later on.

You may have even been love-bombed during an interview and told you were the ideal candidate, only for it to be crickets afterward.

Greenhouse may have an explanation. It found that between 18% and 22% of jobs listed with it in 2024 were appeals for new workers that never actually got filled.

The hiring platform surveyed 2,500 workers across the US, UK, and Germany, finding that three in five candidates suspected they had encountered a "ghost job."

In analyzing the data, Greenhouse found that about a fifth of the jobs posted on its platform could be classified this way — jobs that go up on boards but don't actually exist.

"The data highlights a troubling reality — the job market has become more soul-crushing than ever," Jon Stross, Greenhouse's president and cofounder, said in a statement.

Spotting a fake job ad

Ghost jobs are not a new phenomenon. Business Insider reported in 2022 on a survey of 1,000 hiring managers conducted by the lending firm Clarify Capital. Half of managers said they kept job postings live even when they weren't actively recruiting because they were "always open to new people."

A Resume Builder survey last May found that seven in 10 hiring managers also think it's "morally acceptable" to post ghost jobs, while three in 10 companies have posted fake listings.

Other reasons for putting up these ads include giving the impression of company growth, placating frustrated staff members, or holding out hope for the perfect "unicorn" candidate.

While hiring managers may see the benefit, in reality, ghost jobs frustrate candidates and erode trust in the process, BI's Tim Paradis reported last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported that in response to persisting ghost jobs, Greenhouse and LinkedIn now have a verification feature to help candidates weed out ads that may be a waste of time.

Some ways to identify a ghost job, BI previously reported, include it being up for 30 days or more, can no longer be found on the company's website, or a vague description of the role and its requirements.

A Washington state Democrat is floating a policy to help protect unemployed illegal immigrants who are unable to receive unemployment benefits.

The news comes as President-elect Trump and his border czar-designate Thomas Homan signal a crackdown on illegal immigration and talk of "mass deportation" plans in a reversal of the Biden-era status quo.

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña is introducing a bill that would ensure Washington residents legally ineligible to work in the U.S. – a group for which illegal immigrants compose the vast majority – have access to assistance.

Saldaña, of Seattle, declined to comment further on her bill to Fox News Digital, but a representative for the lawmaker noted she had previously highlighted "undocumented workers' … substantial contributions to Washington’s economy."

BIDEN'S BORDER CRISIS WREAKING HAVOC ON K-12 SCHOOLS SAYS TOP GOP LAWMAKER

That group collectively paid almost $400 million in unemployment taxes over the past 10 years, and the bill will aim to ensure those who pay into the system are able to rely on it when they need to, her office said.

The representative said Saldaña has reintroduced similar legislation during both Democrat and Republican administrations in the past because the "inequities in our immigration system" are systemic and longstanding.

Saldaña has previously argued that providing unemployment benefits to undocumented workers who qualify will help stabilize the workforce and prevent future cases of poverty and homelessness due to job loss.

It will therefore have lasting positive effects on the Evergreen State’s economy, her office said.

Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said he had not seen the text of the bill as of Monday afternoon but was aware of the proposal itself.

CALIFORNIA BILL AIMED AT MAKING IT EASIER FOR MIGRANTS TO BUY HOMES MAKES MAJOR ADVANCEMENT

"We have a lot of work to do on immigration, both on undocumented immigrants and on legal immigration in our state. That's largely a federal issue," Braun said.

"I look for the folks in D.C. to handle [the immigration issue] and for us [in state government] to stay clear."

Under federal law, illegal immigrants are not eligible to apply for work permits and, therefore, unable to register or file for unemployment compensation. Neither are individuals with expired work authorizations and dependents of people living in the U.S. under several visa classifications.

The excluded visa classes include O – "extraordinary ability"; R – Religious worker; and F – student visas.

According to a 1985 memo from the Department of Labor, "an alien must be legally authorized to work in the United States to be considered ‘available for work’ – Therefore, an alien without current, valid authorization to work from the INS is not legally ‘available for work’ and not eligible for benefits."

The memo referred to the INS, or Immigration and Naturalization Service, a predecessor entity to today’s Department of Homeland Security.

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Elsewhere in the U.S., the Colorado Office of New Americans allows undocumented workers to access a "Benefit Recovery Fund" to help those who have been "separated from employment through no fault of their own" and meet several other specifications.

In California, however, Democrat lawmakers sought to offer assistance similar to that Saldaña is seeking but were blocked by fellow liberal Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom vetoed that legislation in September and also blocked a proposal that would have allowed illegal immigrants better access to home loans and mortgages.

• I've been a college professor for 15 years.
• When I noticed the teacher shortage in my public school district, I decided to substitute teach.
• Although the pay isn't great, I'm happy I get to connect and be with the kids.

I've been a college professor for years, but when I needed a change from the grind of university work, my husband suggested I try substitute teaching in our public schools.

The pay isn't great, but neither was my salary as an adjunct instructor. Plus, I wouldn't have to grade papers. I also knew our local schools were desperate for reliable subs to pitch in, especially if they had teaching experience and actually liked children — which I do.

Schools rely on subs for various reasons, but we mostly step in when teachers are ill, have a medical appointment, or have a family emergency. I've also filled in for teachers who had coaching duties or professional development assignments. Sometimes, teachers just decide to call it quits. They might retire, find a job closer to home, or decide they don't want to be in a classroom.

Whatever the reason, school administrators I know say it's becoming harder to find qualified replacements, including competent substitutes. There just aren't enough new teachers entering the field to keep up with the number of those leaving the profession.

I wanted to help fix this problem in our New Jersey public schools by being a substitute.

I've learned to love subbing in public schools

I'm a high-energy person who liked school as a child. So, if I can give back and help kids succeed, I will. I've been teaching college students for more than 15 years, but nothing prepared me for the mental and physical exhaustion of teaching 22 8-year-olds who think they will implode if they can't go to the bathroom in pairs.

Yet I like subbing so much that I keep signing up for more shifts. I get push notifications on my phone that let me know when there are openings, and there are always openings.

I shy away from subbing at our high school because my older son would prefer it that way. But with six elementary and three middle schools in town, I've got plenty of options.

It's amazing how quickly you can form relationships with the students just by being there and being present. That could mean spending a few extra minutes during morning meetings talking to the kids about weekend plans or, when I'm feeling nostalgic, sharing memories of my beloved third-grade teacher.

Sometimes, the classroom teacher will leave me lesson plans that could rival a White House briefing. Other times, I have to fend for myself. Some days, I'm there as an extra body and spend the afternoon hanging paper snowflakes in the hallway. I've helped students prep for winter concerts and opened thermoses while on lunch duty. I've read aloud to kindergartners and worked with children who have learning challenges. I've quizzed students on spelling words.

When you sub, you see a lot. The good is often amazing: Teachers kicking around a soccer ball with kids during indoor recess, the young student who masters her spelling, fourth graders sharing reports on Latin American icons, watching a teacher delicately handle a student's poor behavior without raising her voice, and my favorite activity: Drop Everything and Read.

Subbing isn't always easy, but it's necessary

Subbing is not without its challenges. It's heartbreaking to watch a child struggle and know that he or she is being underserved. That's not a knock on teachers, but it can happen when schools are understaffed or parents are disengaged.

Plus, the frequent lockdown drills are disturbing reminders of school shootings and the horrors that teachers and students face.

Sometimes, I'm the one who goofs. I've called students by the wrong name and used incorrect pronouns. But I always apologize, and we move forward.

The other day, when it was raining, the 5th-grade students had indoor recess. They were stuck in their classroom because the younger kids get priority in the gym when it rains. They begged to play silent ball. Students toss a foam ball around the class, and someone has to catch it. No talking allowed. This sounded like a bad idea to me; it was a small space with too many tweens. But I decided to lean in and play with them. No one got hurt.

We all had fun and felt energized. It helped to know that my presence there helped them all connect, reminding me that subbing is worth it. It's what our public schools need right now, and I'm happy to help.

On Wednesday, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Future of Jobs Report 2025, with CNN immediately highlighting the finding that 40 percent of companies plan workforce reductions due to AI automation. But the report's broader analysis paints a far more nuanced picture than CNN's headline suggests: It finds that AI could create 170 million new jobs globally while eliminating 92 million positions, resulting in a net increase of 78 million jobs by 2030.

"Half of employers plan to re-orient their business in response to AI," writes the WEF in the report. "Two-thirds plan to hire talent with specific AI skills, while 40% anticipate reducing their workforce where AI can automate tasks."

The survey collected data from 1,000 companies that employ 14 million workers globally. The WEF conducts its employment analysis every two years to help policymakers, business leaders, and workers make decisions about hiring trends.

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• Some Americans are struggling to find work due to a challenging labor market.
• Many have found temporary ways to generate some income while they look for jobs.
• These strategies aren't always enough to prevent significant financial challenges.

Americans who are struggling to land full-time jobs are finding creative ways to pay the bills while they search for work.

Juan Pelaez has been looking for a job for more than two years. To generate some income, Pelaez said he's driven for Uber Eats and Instacart, done some part-time work for his prior employer, and was a background actor in the coming film "Happy Gilmore 2." However, since he was laid off from his account executive job at a marketing agency, Pelaez said he and his wife have taken on tens of thousands of dollars in debt from credit cards and personal loans.

Pelaez, 47, is based in New Jersey and said he earned about $3,500 across roughly 22 days of work for the acting opportunity. Landing the gig has helped him get similar work on a few other productions.

"It has not accounted for a full-time position salary, but it has been a great help," he told Business Insider.

Pelaez is among the Americans who have had a hard time finding work in recent years. Since October, more than 750 recent job seekers between the ages of 18 and 76 have responded to Business Insider's informal, nonrepresentative surveys and shared their stories with reporters through emails. Some said they've faced stiff competition for white-collar roles, while others shared that they couldn't land a job in their industry, despite having an advanced degree.

Their struggles have been driven in part by a widespread hiring slowdown in the US. Excluding a two-month pandemic-related dip in 2020, US businesses are hiring at the lowest rate since 2013. Among the nearly 7 million unemployed individuals as of December, about 1.5 million had been looking for work for at least six months — up from 1.1 million a year prior. To be sure, the unemployment rate remains low compared with historical levels.

The job seekers who BI heard from said part-time employment, gig work, selling their belongings, and other strategies have helped them stay afloat financially, but many continue to face significant financial challenges.

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.

Many earning opportunities don't replace a full-time job

Some job seekers told BI they found part-time roles, but the jobs haven't paid enough to cover the bills.

Rhonda Alexander has been looking for customer success management jobs since being laid off from her tech role in March 2023. To earn some income, Alexander, who's 55 and based in Illinois, started working part-time as an AI content engineer last April. She said the role involved evaluating the quality of AI-generated content.

Alexander said she enjoyed the work but was paid $21 an hour, which she felt wasn't enough to support herself. She said that her contract came to an end in late December.

"It seems that I am back on this miserable roller coaster of seeking a role in order to literally put food on the table and a roof over my head," she said. Going forward, Alexander said she's focused on developing new income streams, including becoming a notary. She's also driven for Uber and DoorDash in recent months.

Amanda Wilson has been looking for work for months. She quit her part-time caregiving gig in July — which she said was unsustainable due to the long commute and the physical demands of the job. She said an injury she suffered last year has limited her.

The 35-year-old, who's based in Arizona, said she's applied to hundreds of jobs — including customer service and management roles — but has only received an offer for one job: a different part-time caregiving gig where she's working 10 hours a week.

To earn some income, Wilson said she sold her Xbox One and a few video games for about $150, as well as three swords from her collection for about $100 each. But this money wasn't enough: Wilson said she's been forced to max out her credit cards and draw upon her savings.

"Right now, I can afford rent and my car payment for this coming month, but that's it," she said in December, adding, "I will probably have to sell off more things."

Meanwhile, Pelaez is hopeful that boosting his skills — and reflecting those changes on his résumé — will help him land a job that matches his experience level. For example, he said he's working toward Google's data analytics certificate through Coursera. While he's continued his gig driving and acting work, he said he temporarily paused his job search in October.

"With the overwhelming ghosting and lack of feedback from prospective employers, it becomes a cycle of never-ending applications," he said.

• Employers see AI and cybersecurity skills as some of the most important in the next few years.
• Employers expect nearly 40% of skills to change or become irrelevant by 2030, a WEF report said.
• Big data specialists and fintech engineers will likely be the fastest-growing jobs.

Employers say AI and big data proficiency are now some of the most important skills for job seekers in the next few years, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report.

The sweeping survey found that employers believe various tech-related skills will grow in importance the fastest, while manual dexterity and reading will decline this year. This highlights the rapid workplace transformation happening across industries.

Over 1,000 employers representing more than 14 million employees worldwide were surveyed for the report, which previews the job landscape for 2025 to 2030.

AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy ranked as the three skills growing the fastest in importance. The AI boom has not only transformed Silicon Valley but also reshaped once-mundane tasks across industries, from legal research to code writing.

A Google Cloud director previously told Business Insider that cybersecurity is one of the most broadly relevant skills, with industries from agriculture to financial services seeking professionals in the space. Yet demand isn't being met, he said, and the field is here to stay.

Survey respondents said they don't anticipate that tech skills alone will be in demand. Creative thinking and resilience ranked No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, on the list of skills growing the fastest in importance.

On the flip side, employers surveyed said they believe manual dexterity, endurance, and precision will decrease in importance. Reading, writing, and mathematics also saw a small dip among respondents. Overall, employees globally can expect that nearly 40% of their current skills will drastically change or become irrelevant by 2030, according to the survey.

Compared to the World Economic Forum's previous reports, tech skills saw the biggest jump in projected importance, with AI spiking in anticipated value across almost all agencies. Though the tech industry has hit a hiring slump in recent years, tech and non-tech companies alike are eager to hire AI roles, BI previously reported.

The fastest-growing jobs in the next five years will likely be big data specialists and fintech engineers, while clerical and secretarial workers will continue to decline, according to the report. With job growth slowing and unemployed Americans staying out of work longer, economists previously told BI that 2025 will prove challenging for job hunters overall, especially those in white-collar industries.

• When Dapo Bankole moved to Canada in 2012, he had years of IT experience under his belt.
• But he struggled to find a professional job for months and did minimum wage work to make ends meet.
• Bankole said he thinks companies weren't hiring him because he lacked Canadian experience.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Dapo Bankole, 47, about moving to Canada from Nigeria. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My Canadian Dream began in 1993. I was living in Nigeria, where I was born, and had to sit an exam. My brother's friend drove me there. A few months later, I asked after him and was told he moved to Canada.

It was the first time I heard about someone relocating to a new country. I dreamed of doing the same.

I studied biochemistry at university and completed a postgraduate program in computer science. I worked in IT for around 12 years in Nigeria, where I gained experience in computer engineering, billing administration, and team management

My desire to relocate heavily influenced my life. When I courted my wife, I told her about my dream because I didn't want it to be a problem for her. I started getting myself ready to move by gaining IT certifications through a Canadian society.

In 2012, I moved to Canada with my wife and two children after successfully applying for permanent residency in the country.

But it ended up taking me around nine months to find a professional job. I struggled to get my foot in the door and provide for my family's basic needs. I feel I was overlooked because I didn't have Canadian work experience.

I applied for professional jobs in Canada but didn't hear back

We arrived in Canada in 2012 and stayed with my sister, who had moved there ahead of me, for two months before we got an apartment.

My wife worked in a bank in Nigeria, but when we moved she decided to pursue her hobby of making clothes, so she went back to school to go into fashion design. Meanwhile, I started job-hunting.

I applied for professional jobs, such as analyst and project manager positions, but it mostly was crickets. I wasn't hearing anything back.

Peers who were also immigrants asked to look at my résumé. I'd put Nigeria all over the place, someone suggested I remove it. When I did, I started getting follow-up calls.

I felt I wasn't getting opportunities because of my lack of Canadian work experience. Recruiters didn't say it directly — it was subtle. In phone conversations, recruiters would ask where my experience was based. I'd explain it wasn't in Canada, and the conversation would continue, but they'd never get back to me.

It became glaring that companies weren't hiring me because I lacked local experience, but I'd never get it if they didn't hire me. It's a chicken-and-egg situation.

I took on minimum-wage work. We struggled with our basic needs.

After a month or so of job-seeking, I started applying to lower-wage jobs as well. Living in Canada wasn't cheap, and I needed to stop depleting my savings.

I worked at a call center for CA $10 an hour for around two months. Then, I got a job as a grocery store clerk doing night shifts. I also did evening shifts unloading cargo from planes at the airport.

I kept my days free to pursue more professional opportunities. I didn't want to get stuck in a low-wage job. But it meant I hardly saw my kids. They were asleep when I got home and went to school when I was asleep. They started speaking to me less, and it made me question why we left Nigeria.

We were comfortable in Nigeria, but we lived in a basement in Canada. We struggled to cover our basic needs. There was a day when I only had around $10 left and had to decide whether I'd use it to buy food or put gas in the car. I'd never been in that situation.

Moving back to Nigeria at that stage would have meant starting all over again there, so we decided to push through the pain of integration.

I received help from a mentorship program and was eventually hired as a business analyst

During my struggle to get a professional job, my confidence levels crashed and I started to doubt myself.

Through an organization that offered loans to immigrant professionals, I received some money to attend a short training course. I interacted with professionals on the course who listened to me. I found myself leading conversations and felt my confidence being restored.

I also joined a mentorship program that reaches out to companies on your behalf. They didn't have a magic wand that automatically gave people jobs, but it leveraged social capital on behalf of immigrants like me.

They helped me get an unpaid opportunity, which led to a full-time offer for a business analyst job. I was able to keep doing my night shift work to make money in the interim and actually kept my grocery store job for months afterward for extra income.

Even though the road isn't completely smooth, it always becomes easier once you have that initial foot in the door.

I stayed in the business analyst role for around two years before I was headhunted by another company to work as a senior business analyst. In 2015, I started my own business. My team of six builds software and consults with organizations on software and implementation.

Employers should give people like me a chance

The program I did gave me an in-route for Canadian experience, but I don't think it's right to filter out candidates who don't have Canadian experience.

You don't need Canadian experience to succeed in Canada. You only need experienced people who are ready to do whatever it takes to fit in and deliver on the work priorities. We should give people a chance to prove themselves.

Immigration shouldn't make people suffer. It should help them transfer their skills, which can positively impact the economy.

Do you have a story about how relocating to a new place impacted your career? Email Charissa Cheong at [email protected]

• A millennial paid off more than $100,000 in student loan debt in two years by juggling two jobs.
• Secretly working multiple remote jobs allowed him to double his income.
• He said being "overemployed" is stressful at times, but the financial benefits are worth it.

Adam paid off his student loan debt last month, after more than doubling his income by juggling multiple remote jobs.

Two years prior, he had roughly $118,000 in student debt and was earning about $85,000 annually from one job as a security risk professional. Adam, who is in his 40s and based in Arizona, was eager to become debt-free as soon as possible. He started looking for ways to boost his income and discovered "overemployment."

Since early 2023, Adam has secretly juggled two full-time remote roles simultaneously. While his overemployed lifestyle has been stressful at times, he said he typically doesn't work more than 55 hours a week across his gigs — and that the financial benefits have outweighed the downsides.

"I would like to be a millionaire before I turn 50," said Adam, whose identity was verified by Business Insider but asked to use a pseudonym due to fear of professional repercussions. "I want the financial freedom to give more time to family and friends."

Adam is among the Americans who have worked multiple remote roles on the sly to boost their incomes. Over the past two years, BI has interviewed more than two dozen job jugglers who've used their extra earnings to pay off debt and travel the world. To be sure, holding multiple jobs without company approval could have professional repercussions and lead to burnout. But many current and former overemployed workers have told BI the financial benefits outweigh the downsides.

Job juggling is worth the stress

In 2022, Adam began supplementing his income by driving for food delivery platforms like DoorDash. But after growing frustrated by his meager earnings, he decided to explore other options. That same year, he watched a YouTube video about people secretly working multiple jobs to boost their incomes.

When Adam began looking for a second remote gig in early 2023, he said his two main goals were to double his income and pay off his student loans within two years. In February 2023, he landed a second remote security risk professional role that pushed his combined earnings to more than $170,000 annually.

Adam said working multiple jobs has been challenging at times. He said it can be difficult to juggle overlapping meetings and deadlines, and that coordinating vacation time across both jobs can be laborious — as each employer has a different policy and approval process. While he's generally been able to manage his workload, he said it can be difficult when colleagues quit or are out of the office, and he's asked to pick up some extra work.

"Managing priorities and ensuring both roles receive adequate attention requires careful planning and adaptability," he said.

While these challenges have been stressful at times, Adam said he's generally been able to avoid burnout. He tries to stay organized and automate his work wherever possible. Outside work, he makes an effort to spend plenty of time with his friends and family. When he needs a break during the workday, he sometimes plays video games.

"I have learned to manage stress pretty well," he said.

Looking ahead, Adam said he has no plans to stop job juggling. His goal is to boost his combined income to at least $250,000 annually by swapping one of his jobs for a higher-paying one or starting a consulting business on the side.

"I do plan on staying overemployed for the foreseeable future," he said. "The way I am overemployed may change."

Are you working multiple remote jobs at the same time and willing to provide details about your pay and schedule? If so, reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Remote work is harder to find. That could push workers to consider small firms or self-employment.
• Some bosses point to a desire for higher productivity, but remote work can boost engagement.
• Some roles, like those with tight deadlines, might be better suited to being in the office.

A couple of years ago, not long after getting divorced, Sherita Janielle wanted to make a big move.

So, she put most of her belongings in storage and headed from her pandemic redoubt in Austin to sunny Lisbon. After more than a month in Portugal's capital, Janielle eventually made her way to Colombia, Uruguay, and Argentina.

"I've been popping in and out of places," she told Business Insider. In between, she often returns to the US to see family and friends — and swap out her wardrobe.

Shifting her career from finance to marketing allowed Janielle to work from wherever, a luxury she's come to prize. It's one that fewer workers might enjoy in 2025.

Only about half of full-time workers can do their jobs remotely, according to polling firm Gallup. And among those, some who work for big-name companies like Amazon are increasingly seeing an end to workdays spent in sweatpants and camera-ready shirts as companies mandate a full RTO.

So, to keep or land remote roles, which are already harder to find than in the pandemic era, workers might have to consider going off on their own or looking to smaller firms.

Productivity worries

There's no consensus on whether a full RTO is "better" than hybrid or entirely remote roles. Bosses demanding that workers show up more in person often cite a desire to maintain culture, spur innovation, and foster collaboration. Some point to concerns about productivity.

Nicole Kyle, who researches the future of work, said that IRL work doesn't actually guarantee increased productivity and performance. However, these metrics can go up when employers allow for more remote or hybrid setups, said Kyle, who's cofounder of CMP Research, in part because workers feel more autonomy.

"Nothing is less engaging to employees than not having flexibility and choice," she said.

Gallup notes that full-time remote or hybrid workers tend to have "significantly higher" engagement than on-site workers.

Even so, there are times when being in the workplace makes sense, said Lisa Walker, a managing partner at the executive search firm DHR Global. She told BI that for roles like those in operations or where there's a short-term deadline, remote work can present challenges.

"You want to walk down the hall. You need an answer. You need to react," Walker said. That's harder on Slack.

Going off on your own

A decade ago, after years spent working in offices at big agencies, Curtis Sparrer cofounded a fully remote PR and marketing firm. Too often, he said, startups had to choose between paying rent or making payroll.

"I said, 'What if we never had to make that choice?'" he told BI.

Sparrer and his business partner have grown the firm, called Bospar, to about 70 people. In the early days, the company relied on conference calls and text messages to keep workers connected. Now, it uses tools like Slack and video calls.

The firm's productivity isn't a worry, Sparrer said, because workers are in frequent contact with each other. If someone does slack off, managers will address it, he said. Otherwise, he sees the quiet of home as a boon to productivity.

"When it comes to thoughtful, focused work, nothing beats work from home because that's the way you cut down on distractions," Sparrer said.

To help keep workers connected, the firm occasionally brings people together in person, though not to work.

"They want to do all the cultural things, but they absolutely do not want to work," he said. That's because the firm's employees report they do better work independently. So, they instead use in-person gatherings to connect with colleagues.

Focus on output

Deborah Perry Piscione, cofounder of Work3 Institute and coauthor of the forthcoming book "Employment is Dead," told BI that focusing on output rather than where the job gets done can be savvy for employers.

"I don't understand what the fear is. At the end of the day, this is not about control. It's about output and productivity," she said.

Piscione said that early in her career, working in Washington, DC, there was an expectation that employees should be at their desks from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., no matter what. She said she never understood why she had to stick around if she was more efficient or skipped lunch to wrap up her work early.

Increasingly, Piscione said, employers and employees need to view work as a partnership. That's especially important in the face of technology like artificial intelligence that could eliminate roles or rejigger how people do their jobs.

Besides, she said, workers have more ways of getting by than only a few years ago.

"We're in this hyper, super gig economy where I don't have to take your crap anymore," Piscione said, referring to overbearing employers.

For Janielle, the globe-hopping marketer who describes herself as an older millennial, an additional remote job looked enticing: chief nomad officer. She applied for and got the role at Shift, which makes a web browser aimed at boosting productivity. The goal of her work is to demonstrate that it's possible to get a lot done from anywhere, she said.

Janielle said she enjoys showcasing what's doable. She's been to some 45 countries and said the more she travels, the more she meets others who are succeeding outside the office without sacrificing productivity.

"There's still a lot of space in the economy for these remote workers to thrive," she said.

Do you have something to share about remote work? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our workplace team from a nonwork device at [email protected] with your story, or ask for one of our reporter's Signal numbers.

• Economists talked to Business Insider about what they expect to happen in the job market this year.
• Getting a white-collar job could still be hard, and more people may have to return to the office.
• Changes under a new administration could affect hiring and turnover.

Getting a job was tough for many Americans in 2024. If a career shift is your New Year's resolution for 2025, you might still find it challenging.

Job growth has slowed, unemployment has been historically low but rising, and unemployed Americans are staying jobless for longer.

"Heading into 2025, it is going to be a little harder for job seekers across the board," Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said in December. "We've seen that just about every category on Indeed has come down year over year in terms of the number of job postings. So that suggests that employer demand has cooled."

Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, described the labor market in 2024 as unusually stable and quiet. She pointed to steadily low layoffs and a drop in voluntary turnover amid cooler hiring.

"The stasis is rather abnormal, and I think it's going to make it tough for workers who are looking for new opportunities to find them," Richardson said.

Here's what economists expect when it comes to finding a job, wages and promotions, and other aspects of work life in 2025.

A new administration could bring uncertainty

One reason it's still going to be hard for job searchers to land a job is employers may want to see what policies President-elect Donald Trump pursues early in his second term.

"While business sentiment has picked up somewhat since the election, there is still a lot of uncertainty about future policy changes that will likely make businesses hesitant to ramp up hiring, particularly in the first half of 2025," Dante DeAntonio, a labor economist with Moody's Analytics, said in a written statement.

A potential crackdown on immigration could affect industries with a higher share of immigrant workers, like the construction sector. DeAntonio said those industries "may find themselves scrambling for workers if material changes to immigration policy are enacted." DeAntonio noted the leisure and hospitality industry and agriculture as two others that have historically depended on immigrant labor and could be affected by changes.

The new administration could also affect government workers and job seekers. Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is figuring out suggestions for cutting federal spending and regulations.

"A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal.

Employment growth in the federal government has cooled down. Between November 2022 and November 2023, the federal government added 77,000 jobs but just 49,000 the following year.

"Depending on how things go with the new administration, we may see a lot of government workers either losing their jobs or quitting," Brian Rose, senior US economist for UBS's chief investment office, said. "This could be an opportunity for private sector companies to pick up some skilled workers."

Getting a job in a white-collar industry may still be a challenge

Richardson said white-collar job seekers, like those searching for tech roles, should be ready to network and for it to take more time to get a job.

"It's not that these jobs don't exist, and it's not that there's not opportunities out there, but the opportunities that people had gotten used to prior to 2024 have slowed," Richardson said. "This economy coming out of the pandemic really thrived on tech jobs."

DeAntonio said white-collar industries "are likely to remain at the top of the list as difficult for job seekers to enter as those firms have been some of the most cautious in terms of hiring."

Stahle said there are still a lot of jobs available in construction and manufacturing, even if opportunities have slowed from a year or two ago. However, Stahle said software development, marketing, and other knowledge-work jobs "have been hit much harder" by the job market slowdown.

"I think it's going to continue to be kind of a divergence in the labor market where some job seekers will have an easy time next year, albeit a little harder than last year, and then some are going to have a harder time than they've had in a few years," Stahle said in a 2024 interview.

Healthcare, manufacturing, and construction will probably be good places to look for work

Rose said the difficulty of landing work depends on someone's job experience and field of work. While hiring might continue to be rough in finance and tech, construction is one industry that needs workers.

Rose said construction and skilled workers for smaller companies are in high demand. He also thinks lower-paying jobs are in demand.

"If you're in healthcare or the skilled trades, you're in the right place," Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said. "If you're anywhere else, you might want to reevaluate your career choices and look into re-skilling and broadening your search."

Healthcare has had large job growth relative to other industries and has largely maintained its growth rate even as broader hiring has slowed.

Richardson sees a hopeful outlook for the interest-rate-sensitive manufacturing sector as the Federal Reserve has cut rates in its last few meetings.

"As we're seeing the Fed continue to try to draw down rates, manufacturing might benefit from that, and new sources of technology and tech advancement, that leads to more hiring in the sector," Richardson said.

More workers might have to head back to the office

AT&T said in December that it wants its office workers fully back to the workplace. Amazon also told employees they need to fully work from the office, but it has delayed the January 2 deadline for some.

"We are likely to see a continuation of the mixed bag of workplace policy changes that occurred this year," DeAntonio said. "Some firms will undoubtedly make a stronger return to office push, especially now as workers seem less inclined to switch jobs as they have in recent years."

Despite those moves, the share of white-collar employees working outside the office has risen. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed that 46% of management, business, and financial operations occupations worked remotely at least part of the time in November 2024, up from 41% a year prior.

Real wage growth could be strong this year

Stahle said the "outlook for raises and compensation is promising." However, he also said, "we don't want to see wages necessarily pick up to a point where they could fuel inflation."

Stahle said hiring needs to pick up, particularly for roles that haven't had robust growth, to have a soft landing, where inflation slows to the Fed's 2% target while unemployment and layoffs stay steady.

"We want to see people continuing to have decent wage growth, especially wage growth that keeps their purchasing power up and above inflation," Stahle said.

The year-over-year increase in average hourly earnings was 4% in November, down from the growth rate in 2022 and the roughly 4.4% increase at the start of the year, although it's outpaced cooling inflation since mid-2023. Rose thinks wage growth will likely moderate further.

"There's just better balance in the labor market, so less need for companies to raise their wages to attract workers," Rose said about the current slowdown.

However, DeAntonio said if immigration policy changes occur, the labor market may become even tighter, "which will increase leverage for employees in seeking bigger pay increases."

The job market may be unfavorable for new college graduates

Stahle said the job market could be challenging for young people. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates aged 22 to 27 has been ticking up, but it falls short of the rate for those without a degree in this age group.

Rose thinks "recent college grads who went to some private college and spent a lot of money and looking for a high-paying, entry-level job to justify that investment" are having a tough time in the job market.

Are you worried about the job market in 2025, making a career change, or have an interesting career story to tell? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Nvidia's Jensen Huang admitted he gets stage fright despite his cool persona in tech.
• Huang's nerves are shared by other tech leaders like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
• Many have worked meticulously to lessen the pressure of public speaking.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is considered a "cool guy" in the tech industry, but he revealed in a recent interview that being onstage still makes him nervous.

Huang's "60 Minutes" interview aired on December 29. The Nvidia co-founder said walking out to a big crowd at last year's GTC AI Conference was a scary experience.

"I'm an engineer, not a performer. When I walked out there, and all of the people going crazy, it took the breath out of me," Huang said after giving his keynote. "I'm still scared."

He's at the helm of a company valued at over $3 trillion, and Huang's style (like his signature black leather jacket) and his meteoric success in the booming AI field have earned him a cool guy reputation in Silicon Valley. Still, Huang acknowledged his nerves around delivering a speech — something he will have to confront again when he presents a keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas on Monday.

He's not the only tech founder to struggle with public speaking. Steve Jobs, the Apple cofounder known for leading iconic launch events, might've appeared like a natural at public speaking but reportedly planned them out months in advance.

His effortlessness was envied by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who said Jobs had a talent for looking unrehearsed while on stage. Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli wrote in their 2015 book "Becoming Steve Jobs" that he actually spent entire days going over a presentation.

"I'll never achieve that level," Gates said on an episode of the Armchair Expert podcast.

Other leaders have been open about their nerves when addressing large crowds onstage. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg turned 40 in 2024, and he said he "didn't know anything about running a company, communicating publicly, etc" when he founded Facebook as a teen.

However, age and experience have made him more comfortable being himself in public, Zuck said on Threads.

Elon Musk was one of the most outspoken voices in 2024. As the owner of X, formerly Twitter, Musk uses his account to post almost daily. Before he owned the platform, he was still an active tweeter but admitted his lack of skills in public speaking in 2019.

Warren Buffett, billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO, once said his fear of public speaking would've been detrimental to his career.

"I had been terrified of public speaking. I couldn't do it," Buffett said in the 2017 documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett."

Instead of letting his anxiety get in the way of his career, Buffett said he enrolled in a public speaking course after graduating from business school in 1951. Decades later, he still credits the course with changing his life.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is taking aim at the controversial H-1B visa program, arguing that it replaces "good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad" — just as the program is at the center of a debate within the Republican Party.

"The main function of the H-1B visa program and other guest worker initiatives is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad," Sanders wrote on X. "The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make."

The self-described democratic socialist has a history of opposing the program, which allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations. It is predominantly used by the tech industry, but has faced criticism mainly from the right that it brings in cheap labor from abroad to replace American workers.

TRUMP SAYS HE'S NOT CHANGED HIS MIND ON H-1B VISAS AS DEBATE RAGES WITHIN MAGA COALITION

The program recently became part of an intra-Republican debate when Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, argued for the importance of foreign workers for tech companies.

"The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B," Musk said on X.

That reopened a rift between those on the right over the program and whether it is being used to attract the best talent or being used by companies to bring in cheaper labor, primarily from India, who are tied to their job by the visa.

Sanders cited statistics to show that in 2022 and 2023, the top 30 corporations using the program laid off over 85,000 American workers, while hiring over 34,000 H-1B workers, and that 33% of new IT jobs are filled by foreign national guest workers. He also pointed to layoffs at Tesla, one of Musk’s companies.

ERIC SCHMITT BLASTS ‘ABUSE’ OF H-1B VISA PROGRAM, SAYS AMERICANS ‘SHOULDN’T TRAIN THEIR FOREIGN REPLACEMENTS'

"If this program is really supposed to be about importing workers with highly advanced degrees in science and technology, why are H-1B guest workers being employed as dog trainers, massage therapists, cooks, and English teachers?" he said. "Can we really not find English teachers in America?"

Sanders conceded that there may be labor shortages that could be filled by H-1B workers, but he called for substantially increased guest worker fees in order to pay for opportunities for Americans, as well as other reforms, including increased minimum wages and the ability to easily move jobs.

"Bottom line. It should never be cheaper for a corporation to hire a guest worker from overseas than an American worker," he said.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOVES TO CHANGE H-1B GUEST WORKER PROGRAM TO PRIORITIZE HIGHER-WAGE APPLICANTS

Sanders said that the "economic elite and political establishments" promised in the 1990s that a loss of blue-collar jobs due to free trade agreements would be offset by more white-collar IT jobs.

"Well, that turned out to be a Big Lie. Not only have corporations exported millions of blue-collar manufacturing jobs to China, Mexico, and other low-wage countries, they are now importing hundreds of thousands of low-paid guest workers from abroad to fill the white-collar technology jobs that are available," he said.

Sanders comments come days after President-elect Trump, who had railed against H-1B abuse during the 2016 campaign, said that he has always supported the program. 

"I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program," he told the New York Post.

• 32-year-old Taelor Salmon is the CEO of a government contracting company called TJS Group.
• She said around 50% of her contracts come from funds set aside for socially disadvantaged businesses.
• She doesn't know exactly how DOGE will impact small business set-asides, but she's bracing for change.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 32-year-old Taelor Salmon, the CEO of TJS Group. Her employment and identity have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm the CEO of TJS Group, and we've been in business providing services to the government for about nine years now.

We have about 19 employees and provide everything from IT security to facilities maintenance and repair support. But our main focus is administrative and facility support.

Our success isn't tied to the president at this point. It's correlated to the regulations projected by the Small Business Administration, including in programs like the 8(a) Business Development program and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business certifications.

The 8(a) Business Development program was established to give at least 5% of all federal contracting dollars annually to disadvantaged small businesses. The 8(a) program can establish you or your business as socially and economically disadvantaged. We got ours in November 2021, and it's a nine-year program that you apply for with the SBA. There are a lot of requirements in it, and I got denied three times before.

We got our first contract around 2017 when Trump was president. We did well under Trump, but better under Biden simply because TJS Group received its 8(a) certification under him. While this could've happened under Trump, the program has helped us tremendously.

My biggest concern is DOGE, or the SBA, wanting to remove the 8(a) and the funding set aside for minority businesses. My company has significantly benefited from those "set-asides" over the past 3 years. Losing the 8a set-aside would be scary, as much of our contract value has derived from this for our small business.

SBA program funding makes up a large part of our revenue

The SBA's job is to support and assist small businesses. SBA initiatives require Congress to spend a certain amount of taxpayer dollars toward different types of small businesses. Some of the initiatives are for minority-owned, women-owned, or veteran-owned companies. It's the government's way of making sure taxpayer's dollars are funneled back into the economy in a fair way where it's not just going to powerhouses.

About 50% of our revenue is derived from 8(a) program awards.

The 8(a) certification is great because you can get directly awarded contracts without competition. Some people like that, some people hate it, some people think it's unfair. But again, these programs are to help small businesses establish themselves. In the beginning, these programs, or set-asides like 8(a) or EDWOSB, weed out other competition to level the playing field. The goal for these small businesses is to grow into well-established companies in the future so that these very same businesses won't need to rely on set-asides.

I don't know what DOGE will bring, but I'm preparing to be impacted

While TJS Group did well under the prior Trump administration, we're not certain how this administration will treat or change small businesses. I'm not as hopeful as I have been in prior years, given the conversation around the Department of Government Efficiency.

The SBA's 8(a) program has already been in question for the past year or two, so there's strong reason to believe it may not be around in the next 10 years. The program has faced scrutiny, and in 2023, a ruling challenged it. The program now requires applications to be processed with an additional social disadvantage narrative requirement. Prior to the ruling, race served as a qualification for being socially disadvantaged. Now, you have to provide an example of being socially disadvantaged and explain how it impacted your entry into the business world.

As we all know, any major decision, specifically regarding small businesses, requires a lot of change, and that could take months or years. I don't believe DOGE will have a lasting effect, but it has the potential to negatively affect small businesses like ours. The way you reduce that fear and uncertainty is to prepare, be knowledgeable, and fine-tune your strategy.

It's like in basketball — you live by the three-pointer. TJS Group cannot simply rely on our 8(a) status or EDWOSB for awards, we must competitively bid on opportunities to stay competitive. So we try to be proactive about also pursuing opportunities with federal agencies that anybody could pursue.

We're also exploring pursuing partnerships with larger companies, which can have subcontracting goals and requirements that necessitate partnering with small businesses. These partnerships can provide opportunities to expand service offerings and access new customers for small businesses.

We're also looking into opportunities that have the potential to become commercial so that we're not just relying on the government.

Every contract based on government funding is uncertain. Often, contracts remain for all base and options years if there's funding and if you provide good services. So, you could have it for the base, but if they say we don't have funding for the next four years, you can only have it for that year.

My advice to other government contractors would be to pursue opportunities competitively and focus on a niche that aligns within both federal and commercial industries so you're not solely relying on government opportunities.

Government contracting isn't for the weakhearted. You need to plan your business around a worst-case scenario just in case this happens. You're running a business, and you're managing it. And so that's a whole nuance in itself that you have to be prepared for.

There's also never a clear answer with administration change, so it's important to focus on things we, as small businesses, can control.

President-elect Donald Trump claimed this week that he has not changed his mind about the controversial H-1B visa program and that the U.S. needs "smart people" coming into the country, amid a furious intra-Republican debate on the visa program.

"I didn't change my mind. I've always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country, and we need competent people," Trump said at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening. "We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in. We're going to have jobs like we've never had before."

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the tech industry. However, it has long been controversial for some conservatives, who say it is abused by tech companies to bring in cheap, predominantly Indian, labor to replace American workers.

ERIC SCHMITT BLASTS ‘ABUSE’ OF H-1B VISA PROGRAM, SAYS AMERICANS ‘SHOULDN’T TRAIN THEIR FOREIGN REPLACEMENTS'

The program hit the headlines last week when Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, argued for the importance of foreign workers for tech companies.

"The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B," Musk said on X.

That re-opened a rift between those on the right over the program and whether it is being used to attract the best talent or being used by companies to bring in cheaper labor, who are tied to their job by the visa.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said on Fox News Sunday that H1-B visas are being "abused."

"I think the abuses of the H-1B program have been evident, where you have sort of the sons and daughters of those factory workers who lost their jobs, got white collar jobs as accountants, and they're, you know, training their replacements, the foreign workers who are undercutting their wages," he said.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOVES TO CHANGE H-1B GUEST WORKER PROGRAM TO PRIORITIZE HIGHER-WAGE APPLICANTS

Trump has previously shown skepticism about the H-1B visa program. During his 2016 presidential campaign, he promised to tackle the abuse of the program and pointed to allegations of companies forcing Americans to train their cheaper replacements.

"The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements," he said in 2016.

"I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions," he said.

He also said that his companies use the H-1B program "and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it."

His administration immediately began looking into reforms to the H-1B visa program, and, in 2020, it proposed a sweeping rule that would prioritize the selection of higher wage applicants for the approximately 85,000 visas allocated annually.

That rule would have required that registrations at the highest of four wage levels get to apply for the visa allocation first. Once those at the highest level have applied, then the process would turn to level III, and so on until the spaces are filled.

"Put simply, because demand for H-1B visas has exceeded the annual supply for more than a decade, DHS prefers that cap-subject H-1B visas go to beneficiaries earning the highest wages relative to their [Standard Occupational Classification] codes and area(s) of intended employment," the rule says.

TRUMP SAYS HE IS A ‘BELIEVER’ IN H-1B VISAS FOR SKILLED WORKERS AS RIGHT SPARS ON IMMIGRATION: REPORT 

The rule was not put into effect due to the Biden administration, which abandoned it and has since proposed a rule of its own. However, it was greeted favorably by immigration hawks. Other rules put forward during the Trump administration proposed narrowing the definition of "specialty occupation" and making changes to the way the "prevailing wage" is set in order to make sure U.S. wages are not undercut.

The incoming Trump administration has not said specifically what it will do in terms of H-1B and whether it will resurrect its first-term efforts. However, Musk proposed "raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically. "

"I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform," he said on Saturday.

At the same time, Trump told the New York Post that the program is "great."

"I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them," Trump said.

"I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• AI is reshaping job searches, offering speed and automation for rudimentary tasks.
• There are pros and cons for recruiters, who are now getting more applications than ever.
• Candidates should use AI as a tool, experts say, adding personal touches to stand out.

AI is transforming job searches for both candidates and recruiters.

But with all the tools that make the application process easier and faster than ever, there are traps you can fall into.

Andrea Miller, the founder of LeadWell Company, a global leadership consultancy that helps organizations navigate the future of work, told Business Insider that while AI can save time and effort by streamlining applications, optimizing resumes, and improving interview preparation, it also comes with some challenges.

"Generic, AI-generated applications can fail to stand out," Miller said, "And relying on AI without reviewing its output can lead to mistakes or misrepresentations."

Recruitment and AI pros explained to BI the dos and don'ts of using these tools and how candidates can make the most of the technology available when job hunting.

Mock tests, interviews, and portfolios

James Uffindell, the founder and CEO of the graduate recruitment platform Bright Network, told BI that AI can be very advantageous in the job hunt, especially for underrepresented and neurodiverse candidates.

"It helps level the playing field by offering better preparation opportunities, such as practice assessments and mock interviews, that may not have been otherwise available," he said.

Candidates can take advantage of many tools, such as CV builders like Kickresume and mock interview platforms like Interview Warmup by Google. Indeed's Pathfinder also helps people discover career paths that fit their skills.

Jason Heilman, the senior VP of product, automation, and AI at the staffing industry software company Bullhorn, told BI the company has a screening agent where candidates can conduct their first interview with an AI — something that could one day replace resumes entirely.

"You really get to see so much more," Heilman said of the technology. "It unlocks so much more of the person's potential beyond what a résumé could ever capture."

Heilman said it benefits candidates to be responsive and open to changes, even if it feels a bit strange at first.

"Be willing to try out these screeners," he said. "Lean into the opportunities to respond, and lean in when you are faced with new AI tools like this."

Cori Lunnen, the VP of recruitment marketing operations at HireClix, told BI that candidates should not hesitate to use AI tools to create a résumé, cover letter, or portfolio.

"The future is undeniably AI-driven," she said. "So some recruiters will want to see examples of how a candidate can successfully integrate AI-generated content with their own creativity."

The goal should be to use AI as a starting place, Lunnen said, "but then ultimately create something more unique or tailored to the opportunity it's designed to engage."

Be careful with prompts

According to Jennifer Burns, director of career development of Cornell University's executive MBA program, learning to put in the right prompts is crucial.

She advises candidates to put their resumes into ChatGPT along with the job description and ask a question like: "What are the 10 most important skills and keywords a hiring manager will look for to fill this role?"

"For the most useful output, you want to begin with input. For example, you can provide details such as your degree, your major, and your past experience," Burns told The Wall Street Journal.

"You can also input information about your major accomplishments, some of your highlights, and what motivates you, thinking about what you're good at and what you like doing. Then, after you share that information, you can ask specific questions."

Burns said AI tools can also help you determine good questions to ask at the end of the interview.

But she warned that candidates must ensure that everything makes sense and that they have a thorough understanding of the role. "Just putting in keywords for the sake of putting them in to match a job description isn't going to serve you well," she told the publication.

A personal touch is still important

On the recruiter's side, implementing AI can free up mental bandwidth, previously dominated by administrative tasks like scheduling, so recruiters can focus on providing a better experience for the candidates who move to the next stages.

But this has its downsides too. Uffindell said some recruiters are seeing a 500% increase in the number of applications, which makes it important to still stand out.

"It's important to view AI as a tool to support, not replace, your own words," Uffindell said. "While AI can help streamline the process, relying on it too heavily can lead to generic applications that fail to showcase a candidate's unique qualities."

Vrijen Attawar, a former career coach and now the founder and CEO of the AI-powered career guidance platform Careerspan, told BI that in this current environment, candidates should apply to fewer jobs so as to "not contribute to the application spam pile."

"Avoid the temptation to use easy apply or other similar tools to apply for jobs," he said. "Instead, save your time and sanity for the opportunities you can verify are real and excite you."

All AI tools have limitations. Some make things up or exaggerate information, so it is a candidate's responsibility to proofread everything and ensure it is accurate before submitting an application.

"ChatGPT 4's knowledge cut-off is April 2023, for example," Uffindell said. "So any major industry updates or company changes since then won't be included in ChatGPT outputs, so you'll need to do your own research, too."

Uffindell said personalizing each application to the specific role is still crucial because employers are looking for candidates who can communicate their strengths well and who have good soft skills.

"The strongest applications will combine AI's efficiency with the candidate's own knowledge," he said. "Showcasing not only the right skills but also the ability to navigate AI's limitations."