Job Search Articles
Articles, guides, and playbooks on job search.
What to Do in the First Week After a Layoff (2026)
A layoff starts several clocks at once, and most of them start the day you find out. Here is what to protect in the first week, how the deadlines look in the US, Germany and the UK, and the questions people ask next.
Applying Through iCIMS: What It Does Differently and What That Costs You
iCIMS puts a talent portal, and often an account step, in front of the form. That makes the first application to an employer more expensive than the same one on Greenhouse or Lever, and every application after it cheaper. Here is what changes and what it costs you.
When Is the Best Time of Year to Apply for a Job?
The hiring year has a shape, and it comes from two ordinary things: whether the money for a role has been approved, and whether the people who have to interview you are at their desks. Here is what changes month by month, how to read a careers page in about a minute, and the one question worth asking a recruiter.
Unpaid Take-Home Assignments: How to Push Back Without Losing the Role
A flat refusal usually kills the thread, because the person who sent the brief is a coordinator with no authority to remove the stage. A counter-offer gives them something they can forward. Cap the hours out loud, offer a live call instead, and ask who reviews it and when you will hear back before you start.
Ghost Job Laws in 2026: Where Fake Postings Are Now Regulated
Ontario already makes employers say whether a vacancy is real. New York passed a bill and it is waiting on the Governor. A jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction look at ghost job law in 2026, what each one requires, and what it gives a person applying this week.
SmartRecruiters, Workable, Breezy and Rippling: The Application Guide
A source-backed field guide to SmartRecruiters, Workable, Breezy and Rippling. Identify each by URL, see what employers can configure and preserve the right proof after submit.
ATS Account Walls and Verification Emails: How to Get Through Them
Workday, iCIMS and Breezy can add employer-specific accounts or email verification to an application. Learn which steps are configurable and how to prove the role was submitted.
Company Careers Site vs Job Board: Where Your Application Really Goes
A company careers page is the source route into the employer’s hiring system. A board-hosted application depends on an integration that may collect a different field set.
Job Application Confirmation Emails: How to Tell Real From Fake
The email that arrives a minute after you apply is the most useful message in your job search, and the one scammers imitate most. What a genuine one contains, which systems send them, and the tells that mark a fake.
Your Job Offer Was Rescinded: What Actually Happened and What to Do Next
Most rescinded offers are legal because the offer was conditional. The real causes are usually administrative, background-check errors are correctable, and the first forty-eight hours matter more than anything after.
Counter-Offers and Resigning: When to Take One and How to Leave Well
A counter-offer only works if money was genuinely why you were looking. How to tell, what accepting one costs, and the sequencing rule that keeps a resignation from going wrong.
Reference Checks: When They Happen and What Actually Gets Asked
Reference checks run before the offer in most US hiring and after a conditional offer in the UK and EU. The questions asked, what a former employer may legally say, and why you should not resign until the condition is cleared in writing.