Hidden job market, negative glassdoor reviews, and more!

In partnership with

Start learning AI in 2025

Everyone talks about AI, but no one has the time to learn it. So, we found the easiest way to learn AI in as little time as possible: The Rundown AI.

It's a free AI newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the latest AI news, and teaches you how to apply it in just 5 minutes a day.

Plus, complete the quiz after signing up and they’ll recommend the best AI tools, guides, and courses – tailored to your needs.

Sign up to start learning.

If you like my newsletters, it’s free to click and show our sponsors some love! 🙂 

Career Resources

• Find our job board, a referral link to Zapier, and more here.

• Reminder to join Twill so you can support your community with referrals!

• Fantastic example of using your layoff announcement to sell your skills here.

• Bryan Hines-Lucas is offering referrals to well qualified people for a soon-to-be-posted role at Meta - reach out to him directly if you think this is a fit!

• Speaking of unposted jobs, just some important info on that so called “hidden job market”.

In the News

• Some big cuts to Google’s search team are coming

• Meta is offering 7-9 figure packages to recruit AI talent so Meta can go faster here. We’re still early, and there’s so much opportunity for those who learn this space quickly!

• Trump wants to be a strong man but he’s a weak man. Really, just wanted to share the headline. 🙂 

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

Thanks for the kind words! I’ll try to answer everything:

I’m not sure of your background/experience, but something I would note is that the market is very competitive and companies have a lot of options, particularly remote companies who get a high app volume. So a certification may not be sufficient if they have people with extensive experience using the product.

My recommendation in this market continues to be that you need to stick as close to your previous experience as you can, and target one move at most - so that could be moving to a slightly different type of role within the same industry, transitioning industries in the exact same role, etc.

For example: A teacher might be well positioned to transition to a learning and development role at their local school district, it will be tougher to obtain a learning and development role in a corporate setting.

I also recommend targeting local/onsite roles vs remote ones (like mine!) - there’s less competition so you have a better shot when trying to make a career pivot of any type.

As for resume support, I am not a resume writer, I do have an option for booking resume feedback, but if you’ve put a lot of energy into your resume, then it’s unlikely that this will yield a significantly different outcome - the biggest challenge is the job market right now.

YES!!! 100% YES! Especially if you work together and therefore really have insights into what they look for. I think these messages carry less weight when you’re recommending someone whose work you don’t really know, but if you have knowledge of their work, and of what the role is looking for and can connect those dots, or highlight other things (like someone’s work ethic, creative thinking, ability to work through complex challenges, etc.), this goes far.

I have seen hiring manager consider many candidates who don’t meet the exact profile on the basis of a strong recommendation from someone they trust.

I have a few thoughts on this rating. Transparently, when I took my job, my company was around a 4.6 - 4.7, and stayed that way for my first 1.5 years. The day we did a re-org, that number plummeted and has been slowling climbing. Personally, my experience has stayed fantastic and we have high retention…I just think that major changes hit people hard. It’s possible the company went through layoffs, or there was one bad manager whose team members swarmed the reviews, and they’ve since made changes. And it’s also possible that there are some really negative things about working there!

A few things I’d consider:

• Are there themes in the reviews (like multiple people complaining about compensation or a re-org)? This could help you highlight it’s something that will affect you.

• How many reviews are we talking about? If they have 5 reviews, and 3 are scathing, that may not really reflect the experience working there. People tend to mostly leave reviews when they are upset - especially if it’s something the company doesn’t monitor, and therefore hasn’t pushed people to address.

• When are the negative reviews from? If they are a few years old, they may not be relevant anymore.

Two approaches you could take:

1. Ask directly: “I noticed some critical Glassdoor reviews, I know often there’s two sides to every story so I take this with a grain of salt, but I’m curious if you could shed some light on the culture, and what steps you all have taken based on the feedback.

2. You could ask questions about themes you observed. For example, if people complain about long hours, you could ask about flexibility.

One caveat: personally, I avoid discussing topics like balance and such until the late stages so as not to come across overly focused on this.

_{For more resources to support you in your search, check out my Linktree.}
My content is seen by over 8 million people each month. Need help getting the word out about your brand? Let’s connect!