Blog
Debra Wheatman, President of Careers Done Write, provides expert insight to the job search process that puts your career in gear with tips for interviewing, networking, job search strategies and how to create a winning resume and cover letter.
Perishable Code, Enduring Minds
This week, Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, was booed as he delivered a commencement address to the University of Arizona’s graduates. He told graduates that AI would "touch every profession" and urged them to embrace it, famously saying, "When someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on." To a stadium full of roughly 10,000 graduates facing an incredibly daunting entry-level job market, the message was widely criticized as tone-deaf "AI cheerleading." Students felt the billionaire tech investor was minimizing very real economic anxieties about automation, eliminating the exact jobs they had just spent four years training for….
The Myth of Meritocracy
The term “meritocracy” has undergone a radical and perhaps tragic linguistic evolution. Coined not as a goal to be achieved but as a warning to be avoided, the concept originated in Michael Young’s 1958 satirical novel, The Rise of Meritocracy. Young’s dystopian vision of a future Britain was organized by a rigid social formula: Intelligence + Effort = Merit. In this world, social status was no longer determined by the circumstances of birth or aristocracy, but by objective metrics like IQ. Yet, this shift did not create a more just society; instead, it created a more arrogant one. Young’s primary thesis was that meritocracy is not a solution to inequality, but a more sophisticated way of justifying it….
The Downfall of Betamax and Why “Best” Is Subjective
Our story begins in the early 1970s, when several electronics companies were experimenting with ways to bring video recording into ordinary households. Before videocassette recorders, consumers had little control over television viewing. Programs could only be watched when they aired unless someone had access to expensive professional recording equipment….
Managing Your Career within the Paradox of Productivity
The history of technology is often defined by a frustrating lag between innovation and economic realization. In the late 1980s, the economist Robert Solow famously remarked that the computer age was visible everywhere except in productivity statistics. Today, we are witnessing a digital déjà vu. According to a recent Fortune magazine study that surveyed nearly 6,000 CEOs and executives, approximately 90% of firms report that AI has had no measurable impact on productivity or employment levels over the past three years. For a professional looking to future-proof their career, this productivity paradox is not a sign of AI’s failure, but rather a blueprint for how to remain indispensable in an era of work-slop, which is what happens when people use generative AI to increase their output without applying human oversight….
Kairos: Use the Force to Land Your Next Job
The ancient Greeks defined three primary modes of persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, which focus on the speaker's credibility, the audience's emotions, and logical facts, respectively. Aristotle argued that a truly effective argument does not rely on just one of these pillars, but rather a balanced integration of all three. Beyond these primary modes, the Greeks emphasized Kairos, the opportune moment to deliver a message. While the three primary pillars provide the substance of an argument, Kairos acts as the glue that ensures an argument succeeds by being delivered in the correct context….
Chasing the White Whale: How Corporate Jargon and the Myth of Perfection Stifle Innovation
The corporate landscape is often described as a “fast-paced, agile environment,” yet anyone who has sat through a 90-minute steering committee meeting knows the reality is frequently the opposite. While technological aspects of business may have accelerated, a secondary, self-imposed weight has begun to grind the gears of industry: corporate jargon. Far from being a harmless linguistic quirk, the proliferation of buzzwords such as synergy, digital ecosystem, and disruptive alignment acts as a cognitive tax. Recent research and organizational observations suggest that excessive jargon is not just a nuisance; it is a primary driver of sluggish decision-making and can serve as a convenient mask for incompetence….
From the Ashes: Women Leaders Who Transformed Tragedy into Justice
This week marks the 115th anniversary of the deadliest industrial accident in the history of New York City. On March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women and children, died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Greenwich Village. At the time of the fire, Frances Perkins was having tea with friends at a townhouse around the corner from the factory. When they heard the fire engines and the commotion, they rushed outside and witnessed a horrific scene firsthand. Perkins watched as workers, trapped by locked exit doors and failing fire escapes, began jumping from the factory’s upper floors. She later described the experience as a “searing” moment that changed the course of her life….
Misogyny + HR Hell=Millions Awarded to Employees
We all know that HR is not on the employees’ side. HR is a function that exists to protect the company from risk and liability associated with hiring, managing, and firing employees. HR, although reviled by multiple stakeholders in any organization, is a crucial department that mitigates risk. What happens when a corporate culture that is imbued in institutional misogyny merges with ineffective or unempowered HR? Bad things for the company….
Historical Feminization of Jobs and the Devaluation of the Degree
International Women’s Day is a day set aside to acknowledge women’s contributions to history, technology, business, art, and the world. It’s celebrated each year on March 8, and in conjunction with that, I generally write a blog post on the state of the gender pay gap. However, I’d like to highlight a different issue this year. I have noticed rhetoric within public discourse regarding the “usefulness” of a college degree. This argument is that college degrees have low ROI because higher education does a poor job of preparing students for career readiness, and that, given the cost of the degree, the compensation does not justify the expense. These arguments are rooted in the fallacy of incomplete evidence, which occurs when someone selectively highlights data points that confirm their position while ignoring a significant portion of related data that contradicts it. Higher education is not job training. The purpose of higher education is to enhance critical thinking skills and improve expertise in a given subject. And, although entry-level wages may have a negative relationship to the one-time expense of a degree, over the course of 40 years, those who hold bachelor’s degrees will, statistically, outearn those who don’t….
The Staples Baddie Rewrites the Rules of Retail Marketing
A charismatic associate named Kaeden (known online as @blivxx) has done more than just trend on TikTok. She has provided Staples with a masterclass in organic brand revitalization. At a time when legacy retailers struggle to remain relevant to Gen Z, this employee-led movement has fundamentally shifted the brand's perception from that of a dusty office supply closet to a creative destination….