AI Is Killing “Elite” Credentials & Warping How We Apply for Jobs

Additional Resources

• YouTube: Palantir CEO Interview
• ManpowerGroup Talent Barometer
• Monster’s State of the Resume 2026

Transcript

Pete Newsome: 0:00

Welcome to Cornering the Job Market for Wednesday, January 21st. Today’s headlines include the state of resumes in 2026 and the results of a new global workplace study. But first, yesterday, Palantir CEO Alex Carp sat down with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at Davos to discuss AI, where they touched on how it will impact jobs. It’s clear that he thinks there will be winners and losers. What I just heard you say we’re going to need more vocational men and women. And they may they’re going to be but are you also insinuating we’re probably going to need less white collar? I think like I think what we need to do is yes. He continued by saying there needs to be more focus and effort when it comes to matching aptitude with career choice, which I couldn’t agree with any more strongly. It is a huge gap in our current education system. And on that note, it’s safe to say CARV doesn’t believe all degrees prepare students equally for the professional world. It will destroy humanities, jobs of like, you know, you went to an elite school and you studied philosophy. Use myself as an example. Um I did too. Yeah. You it hopefully you have some other skill. That one is gonna be hard to market. Now this wasn’t a gloom and doom conversation. He was very optimistic about the future value of specific technical and vocational roles. There are will be more than enough jobs for the citizens of your nation, especially those with vocational training. He claims those workers will be very valuable, and he predicts AI will expose the true economic value of some roles versus others. Now you can take out the cost structure, make the workers more important. So the actual workers, not the fat kind of in the middle. Look out, middle management. AI’s coming for you. But as always with AI these days, there are countless opinions from the Terminator scenario to full optimism. And the reality is we don’t know exactly how things will play out. No one does. But one thing is for sure, we’re all going to find out soon. In the next headline, Manpower Group surveyed workers across multiple countries to measure worker sentiment. In the U.S., overall sentiment came in at 72%.

2:16

That doesn’t sound great, but it’s not so bad when you compare it to the global average of 67%. And poor Japan, they’re the only country that came in under 50%. Their labor market is in complete disarray, and unfortunately, there just doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of that tunnel. For well-being, the U.S. came in at 71% versus 67% globally. And for job satisfaction, 77% for the US versus 62% globally. I will say that for the most part, this is a boring report. The numbers just don’t change much from year to year when you look back at the history. But a couple things did jump out at me that I’ll share. Job security in the US fell 10 points versus 2024, and job satisfaction fell eight points. So we’re heading in the wrong direction there for sure. Also interesting, 64% plan to stay with their current employer. That sounds kind of high, but that means 36% intend to leave. But 60% are still job hunting. So 64% plan to stay, 60% are still looking anyway. That’s like saying, I’m planning to stay married, but I’m still gonna use dating apps to keep my options open. It seems like a disconnect to me.

3:29

And let me just offer this the whole quiet quitting thing that we hear so much about lately, that becomes really obvious to managers. So tread carefully. If you’re showing up to work with one foot out the door, your manager or your your employer may end up making that decision for you. So listen, I I’m all about keeping your options open. I encourage everyone to do that. You always should if you’re an employee somewhere. But if you’re actively job hunting or quiet quitting, in other words, acting like you’re doing the bare minimum, like you don’t want to be there, just know that it’s kind of hard to disguise. So just be aware of that if you’re an employee somewhere. And finally, for today, here’s a contradiction. Job seekers are putting more into their resumes because they think nobody’s reading them. Monster just published their 2026 State of Resumes report. I found it super interesting. Here are some of the facts. The one-page resume is no longer the default. 49% of job seekers now use resumes longer than one page. Basically, candidates are stuffing keywords into their resumes to satisfy automated filters and applicant tracking systems.

4:35

77% of job seekers worry their resume is filtered out before it ever reaches a human, and only 6% believe resumes are read thoroughly. Most think recruiters skim them. That’s correct. That’s absolutely what happens. I’ll tell you how I’ve described it over the years. Picture that you’re standing in line at a grocery store where you see the rack of magazines, you scan the headlines, right? They all try to catch your attention that way. And if you see something that’s interesting enough, you’ll grab it, you’ll flip it open, you’ll see what’s inside. Well, that’s how recruiters look at resumes. So when you’re writing one, if you’re a job seeker, think headlines. You only have a few seconds to catch someone’s attention. I think everyone knows that by now, but focus on that, right? Focus on standing out in the fewest number of words and lines possible so that recruiter will be interested in digging a little deeper. Monster also shared some outdated resume elements that are still hanging around. 57% of resumes still list a full street address. You don’t need to do that.

5:34

No need. In fact, there’s reasons not to. 49% still include the words references available upon request. That’s unnecessary too. Every recruiter who wants references will ask you for them. You don’t need to offer that in advance. And for some reason, 10% still are including pronouns. Don’t do that. It’s a terrible idea, and it will definitely work against you. So there’s my very direct statement on that. No pronouns on your resume, please. Not if you want to be successful in your job search. Now, I also noticed before we go that Monster today published that they’re offering a free resume builder and free resume templates. I haven’t looked at it firsthand, but I assume it’s quality coming from Monster. They’re a big organization. They’ve gone through some financial troubles lately, but they’ve been doing this a long time. They used to be the big 800-pound gorilla in this space. So we’ll see if they get back there. But listen, free is always a good thing when you’re looking for a job. So check it out. Monster.com, free resume builder. Sounds like a good thing.

6:44

Those are the headlines for today. But before we go, here’s a fun fact. Blue collar versus white collar comes from the 1920s. Manual laborers wore durable blue denim, while office workers wore white shirts that showed dirt easily. I’m not sure why you’d want to show dirt easily. That doesn’t make sense to me. I mean that’s a reason not to wear it if you’re working in the dirt, but I don’t want to show dirt easily. I had a white car once, never doing that again. If you’ve no, you know white cars are a mess. White shirts, same thing, although I think we do a little better job of keeping shirts clean than the cars. Anyway, that’s it for today. Thank you for listening. Please like, subscribe, share with anyone who you think might be interested, and I will look forward to talking to you tomorrow.