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If you have been on the job market recently, you know how challenging it can be. Lots of tech companies, for example, are pulling back on hiring. Federal workers are being laid off by the thousands. And some types of jobs are simply not as available as they once were. Particularly in short supply are those prized white-collar positions paying $94,000 or more. So, any serious job seeker must sharpen their skills to land a job. You can increase the likelihood of a successful search by avoiding the following six big job search mistakes: Mistake No. 1: Applying for too many jobs The first mistake is applying for too many jobs and, as a result, not giving enough tim…

Six families are suing TikTok after their children died emulating the so-called “blackout challenge” they had seen on the social media platform. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s algorithm exposed the teenagers, ages 11 to 17, to content that encouraged them to choke themselves to the point of passing out. Each of the children were found dead with some form of binding around their neck, hanging or otherwise attempting the challenge, according to the lawsuit. Filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, the lawsuit names two TikTok legal entities and its parent company, ByteDance. ByteDance and one of the entities, TikTok LLC, are incorporated in Del…

The Postwar design phenomenon known as mid-century modernism has been back—and thriving—for years now. In addition to a steady stream of new products from major retailers that cash in on the clean curves of the past, people continue to buy originals, reissues, and knockoffs of icons like the Eames Lounge Chair in droves. But if there’s one person I’d wager loves it just a bit more than the rest of us, it’s journalist Dominic Bradbury. In the wake of his tomes Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces and Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses, today Bradbury is back with another book: Mid-Century Modern Designers, a hulking A to Z chronicle of 300 design pioneers known an…

It’s a . . . well, weird job market out there, to put it diplomatically. If you’ve suddenly found yourself looking for work among what feels like a never-ending onslaught of layoffs, you’re not alone. Now more than ever, standing out is essential to landing your dream job. In that spirit, LinkedIn Learning offers a variety of free courses that can help you sharpen your skills, boost your confidence, and navigate the job-seeking landscape with ease. Here are six free LinkedIn Learning courses that can assist you in finding a new job. Polish up your résumé This 2.5-hour course covers everything you need to know about creating a résumé that showcases your…

It seems that change and volatility are the only things that are certain when it comes to the labor market. Jobs and professions that once seemed ‘stable’ are not immune to the forces of artificial intelligence and other technological advancements. At the very least, AI is changing the nature of what jobs look like and will likely continue to do so at a fast rate. All of this can make it difficult to know what to do to foolproof your career. Liz Tran is a leadership coach to CEOs and founders and the author of AQ: A New Kind of Intelligence for a World That’s Always Changing. After two years of conversations with founders, CEOs, and leaders, Tran found that those who …

With a new streamlined application, it’s easier than ever to apply to Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. Here are six reasons why you should apply to our seventh annual BWFI program. 6 reasons to apply 1. Brand exposure. Every company ranked in the top 100 or earning honoree status in a category will appear in the fall (September) issue of the magazine and on fastcompany.com. 2. Talent retention. Public recognition as a Best Workplace for Innovators honoree provides powerful third-party validation that enhances your ability to recruit and retain top talent. 3. Editorial access. Fast Company editors will review all applications; the application …

A streamlined application makes it easier than ever to apply to Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. Here are six reasons why you should apply to our eighth annual BWFI program. 1. Brand exposure. Every ranked company and all those earning honoree status in a category will appear in the fall (September) issue of the magazine and on fastcompany.com. 2. Talent retention. Public recognition as a Best Workplace for Innovators honoree provides powerful third-party validation that enhances your ability to recruit and retain top talent. 3. Editorial access. Fast Company editors will review all applications; the application represents an opportunity to highl…

While a side hustle can be a great way to start a business or boost your income, many options do have start-up costs. However, there are several that you can essentially start with just the tools and materials you already have (assuming you have an internet connection). “There are so many ways to get started with no money,” says Shaun Ghavami, founder of 10XBNB, which co-hosts short-term rentals and also offers courses on the topic. “You just need to get creative, and you need a niche.” Ghavami started that way. He launched his co-hosting side hustle with no investment, reaching out to landlords that were not having luck renting their furnished properties and offe…

We live in a world that seems to get busier and busier! Not only do we have our daily work tasks but we also have more meetings, longer commutes, and more interactions with more people in more locations than at any time in the history of work. In addition to the many real and present external distractions, there are also internal obstacles to great listening. Our internal worlds can be loud. At times, they are a blaring noise of emotion, attitude, and motives that can make it impossible for us to give others our full attention. As two positive psychology experts, we’ve identified six of the most common internal barriers that can interfere with your ability to l…

Most brands still buy attention. The impactful ones earn devotion, the kind people will rally behind and fight to protect. Consumers want a role in movements, not just transactions. When brands focus solely on economics, spark and engagement disappear. Consequential brands ignite a shared spirit, tapping into values, not just wallets, and building communities of advocates. But how do you actually build cultural power? For my forthcoming book Branding as a Cultural Force: Purpose, Responsibility, and Resonance (Columbia University Press, 2025), I interviewed creative leaders worldwide to find out. Across those conversations, six clear strategies emerged—actionable …

February is here. The “New Year, New Me” energy has officially worn off, replaced by a much more realistic “New Year, Same Me, But Freezing” thanks to a very disrespectful wind chill a heating bill that’s starting to look like a phone number. But we live in the future! We have technology! Here are six actually useful gadgets that’ll keep you toasty without burning up a ton of cash. Rechargeable Hand Warmers (~$20) Disposable hand warmers are fine, but they’re wasteful and, frankly, kind of gross after a while. These rechargeable ones, on the other hand (pun intended), are basically big batteries that get hot. They charge via USB-C, include one cord that…

I’ve served the NASA space program for many years as an adviser, research scientist, flight surgeon—and astronaut. My career has encompassed both in-flight and non-flight contributions to NASA, supporting space missions, space medicine, and research in advancing human space flight. Space exploration encompasses a fair amount of uncertainty by nature. The space program’s early days were fraught with a number of crew losses, including the Apollo 1 mission, and the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle missions. The challenges of space flight were on full display during the Apollo 13 crew’s near-disastrous mission on the way to the moon in 1970. We all know those infamo…

The irony of modern work life hits you somewhere between your third consecutive hybrid meeting and the moment you realize you’ve been holding your breath for the past hour. We’ve engineered every process for maximum output, yet reports consistently show that workplace burnout is affecting us more than ever. As someone who followed the straight-A path from childhood—chasing perfect grades, moving from one goalpost to another through MBA to big tech product executive—I’ve witnessed this optimization obsession firsthand while shaping experiences for over half a billion users. But what if the solution isn’t another wellness program or time management technique? What i…

The Christmas holiday season is a time to step back from the busy pace of modern life and connect with our nearest and dearest instead of screens, apps and chatbots. Here are some suggestions on how to unplug from the online world for the next few weeks as you sit down for a festive meal, exchange gifts or take time out for some self-reflection. Do not disturb me Your phone already has built-in features that can help you stop getting distracted. To temporarily silence all those attention-seeking notifications, use the Focus setting on your iPhone or Android device. This mode is designed to stop interruptions when you want to concentrate. You can customize it by b…

Moments after Daniris Espinal walked into her new apartment in Brooklyn, she prayed. In ensuing nights, she would awaken and touch the walls for reassurance—finding in them a relief that turned to tears over her morning coffee. Those walls were possible through a federal program that pays rent for some 60,000 families and individuals fleeing homelessness or domestic violence. Espinal was fleeing both. But the program, Emergency Housing Vouchers, is running out of money—and quickly. Funding is expected to be used up by the end of next year, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and obtained by The Associated Press. That would le…

More than 60,000 federal workers were dismissed during the first two months of the The President administration with more staff reductions expected in the coming months. Many are mid-career employees who have worked for the government for a decade or more, making it more challenging for them to make the case that their skills are transferrable to the private sector. “It’s an identity shift,” says Arianny Mercedes, founder of Revamped, a New York City-based career consultancy. For many of these professionals, their roles weren’t just jobs; they were commitments to public service, she says. “When someone’s identity is deeply tied to government service, being laid off or…

Six hundred employees just packed up their desks and quit their jobs at Paramount Skydance. The mass exodus happened after the company, formed by Skydance Media’s takeover of Paramount Global, told employees that they were instating a five-day back-to-office mandate, set to begin on January 5. The company, led by new CEO David Ellison, let staffers know that if they didn’t plan to come back to the office, they could take a buyout deal starting on September 15. However, the media giant likely didn’t expect to be handing out quite so many severance packages. According to company disclosures filed on Monday, around 600 employees in the Los Angeles and New York …

If you’ve bought bottled water from Trader Joe’s, you’ll want to be aware of a recent recall published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). That’s because the recall involves water in glass bottles that present a laceration risk. In total, about 61,500 bottles are included in the recall. Here’s what you need to know. What is being recalled? The recall involves select lots of Gerolsteiner brand sparkling water sold at Trader Joe’s. The water was manufactured by Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH & Co. KG in Germany. Here are the details of the recalled product: Product name: Gerolsteiner 750ml Sparkling Water Bottles Lot numbers: 11/28/2024 …

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. During the pandemic housing boom, housing demand was running so hot—and homes sold so quickly—that listings barely even registered as active inventory. Indeed, in February 2022, there were only 346,511 active homes for sale, according to Realtor.com’s data series. That was a staggering 68.5% below the 1,102,660 active listings in February 2019. At the end of February 2022, not a single one of America’s 200 largest housing markets had more inventory than in pre-pandemic February 2019. Fast-forward to the end of February 2026, and there were 914,86…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. While homebuyers and home sellers still see headlines telling them it’s a seller’s market and national home prices are reaching all-time highs, a deeper look reveals that several regional housing markets have shifted, giving homebuyers some power. During the Pandemic Housing Boom, from summer 2020 to spring 2022, the number of active homes for sale in most housing markets plummeted as homebuyer demand quickly absorbed almost everything that came up for sale. Fast-forward to the current housing market, and the places where active inventory has rebound…

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. It’s the time of year when we all make promises to ourselves. I’m committing to read more, procrastinate less, and squeeze in an extra hour of piano practice a week. I asked other CEOs to share their 2026 New Year’s resolutions; here are seven responses, in their own words. Omar Abbosh,…

Over the past several years, the art of the rebrand has increasingly become a spectacle sport. From cultural institutions like the Philadelphia Art Museum, which reportedly fired its CEO over a poorly received rebrand this year, to the furniture brand La-Z-Boy, which was widely praised for its modern revamp, the internet’s attention economy has meant that almost no notable rebrand is safe from social media’s deluge of hot takes. In 2025, that was more true than ever. Brands that rolled out a new look this year were scrutinized for everything from their font and color choices to the potential ideological implications of their visual pivots. In September, after the desi…

Getting invited to a first-round interview is exciting. It’s a chance to highlight your interpersonal skills, tell your story, and share how you would be an asset to their team. “The first interview is your chance to make a great first impression—but more importantly, it’s where you can build a genuine connection,” says Niki Jorgensen, general manager of client implementation at Insperity. To make the most of your first interview, experts recommend researching the company, practicing common interview questions so that you allow your personality to shine through, and create a connection with your interviewer. But here are some other ways to give yourself an extra edge—…

Let’s be honest: When you first started working from home, your “office” was probably a shaky card table and a chair that had a personal vendetta against your lower back. Maybe you’ve upgraded, maybe you haven’t. Either way, we’re all acutely aware that small irritations add up to big productivity sinks. But you don’t need to drop a grand on an Aeron chair or a 49-inch curved monitor to make your workspace feel like a place where actual, focused work gets done. Sometimes it’s the little things that punch way above their weight without ransacking your wallet. Here are seven simple, sub-$40 upgrades that can genuinely transform your day. USB-powered mug warmer …