Hiii,

Happy Wednesday from NYC! 🗽

Lots of travel lately…by the time I unpack, I’m already throwing things back in the suitcase for the next obligation.

At this point, my carry-on just lives open on the floor as a permanent lifestyle choice next to a stack of books, but I can’t complain!

You know you can right now? Recruiters. 😅

They’re drowning in 300+ applications per role, and companies are still missing hiring goals.

On top of that, the traditional career path has officially been pronounced dead. 

And for those who are working? 59% of them say their job is actively hurting their mental health.

That’s what we have on the agenda for today, folks!

🗞️ Here's the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied

📈 Recruiters see job applications triple to more than 300 per role

The TL;DR: Applications per open role have tripled since 2021, and recruiters are now fielding 300+ applications per position. Candidates are 50% less likely to land an interview than they were five years ago, but hiring teams are actually getting more productive despite the chaos. Scheduling is still the biggest bottleneck.

My POV: If your recruiting team is underwater, now is the time to have a convo around your process and tools! 

The fact that 90% of companies missed hiring goals last year while applications are at an all-time high should tell you that more applicants don't mean better outcomes. 

And the AI piece is worth watching closely, too! 

Candidates are actively opting out of processes that feel too automated, which means the way you’ve built the candidate experience might be costing you the talent you’re looking for.

🎙️Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied

“A traditional career implies some level of stability and loyalty and progression that you can predict and work towards and understand. That’s gone.”Copy anchor linkCopied

On the mic this week: Cassandra Babilya is a communications professional, author, and creator of Make Work Suck Less. After leaving a career at the CIA, she pivoted into communications and now helps burned out professionals rethink career paths and redefine success on their own terms. Her work focuses on career transitions, modern work culture, and helping people navigate an increasingly unstable world of work. 

Pin this: 

• The traditional career ladder is collapsing under the weight of layoffs, AI disruption, and changing worker expectations.
• Portfolio careers and side hustles are basically becoming survival strategies.
• Skills like curiosity, critical thinking, adaptability, and communication matter more than titles.
• HR systems are still built for the Industrial Revolution, while employees are already living in the AI era.
• More people are redefining success around flexibility, values, family, and fulfillment instead of status and titles.

My H*ly Sh*t Moment:  The systems we use to define careers and success were built for a world that no longer exists. Now, HR is being forced to redesign work in real time while employees themselves are questioning whether the traditional concept of a career even means anything anymore! 

▶️ Press Play

📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied

Stat: 59% of workers say their job harms mental health 

My spiral: A stat like this should be a waaay bigger deal, considering the MAJORITY of employees are living in what can only be described as normalized chaos??

HR leaders are being asked to build cultures of wellbeing while simultaneously managing layoffs and budget cuts.

If your engagement scores look fine, but nearly 6 in 10 of your employees are suffering in silence, then the data isn't telling you the whole story.

🛠️ In Your Toolkit Copy anchor linkCopied

Have you marked your calendar for Oct 13–16th yet? 📅

Safe Space Summit will be here before you know it!

For 4 days, 200 senior HR leaders will gather at a beachfront resort in Huntington Beach to talk honestly about leadership, burnout, hiring, AI, careers, and the absolute psychological warfare of modern work.

And yes, your flight, hotel, and most meals are covered. 😏 

We’re also doing yacht tours, yoga, cooking classes, beach walks, and book club by the pool because if we’re surviving corporate America, we deserve to have some fun too.

Spots are limited…but, for real though. Not some fake scarcity thing. 

So if you fit the criteria, I’d love to see you there!

Apply for your spot

🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF

We spend a lot of time upholding the systems we have at work, which makes us occasionally forget to question whether those systems are actually working.

It’s kinda funny, because we know exactly where all the cracks are too, which inspired my question today:

“What's a policy you enforced that you knew, deep down, was the problem?”

🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:

Some of the most underutilized talent in your org is probably sitting right next to you!

When you’re used to people having a certain routine, you don’t always think about what else they’re capable of doing.

Tomorrow, ask a peer: 

"What's a skill you have that no one here really knows about?"

👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE

The audacity of rejecting feedback and then restating it word for word like they just cracked the code is kinda sending me! 🥴

Read what members had to say here.

See ya on Friday!