“Unfair advantages are found in the things that anyone could do, but very few choose to do.”
TL;DR
42% of recent job applicants in a 4,263-person survey edited their CV or LinkedIn to look younger, and most used AI to do it.
Qualcomm is planning a worldwide “performance-focused reduction,” eBay is cutting about 1,100 jobs, and EA about 400.
Move of the week: cut your resume to the last 15 years and delete your graduation year. Every date you keep stays exact.
📊 Poll of the Week
Did you get an interview this week?
🚨 The Big Story
42% edited their age out. Most used AI.
What happened: In a survey of 4,263 people who'd applied for a job in the past year, 42% said they'd edited their CV or LinkedIn to look younger or less senior, and 72% of them used AI to do it. Among applicants 45 and older, 53% of women and 35% of men made changes. 43% of the editors say interview invites went up afterward; 10% say they went down. AI company Use.AI ran the survey and the results are self-reported, so read the 43% as a signal. Digital Journal
Why it matters: If you're mid-career, you suspected this already. AARP's latest poll found 64% of workers 50 and older have seen or experienced age discrimination at work, and 33% say older workers get pegged as less tech-savvy. AARP Software is in the story now too. In Mobley v. Workday, a federal judge let applicants 40 and older proceed as a group with claims that Workday's AI screening filtered them out. Workday denies it, and the next class hearing is set for March 2027. Lawyer Monthly
Our take: Trimming your resume for age is a sane response to a broken filter. Stop volunteering information an employer doesn't need, and Colorado and Connecticut already bar employers from asking for graduation dates on initial applications. The line is accuracy. Dropping a 2003 graduation year is editing. Changing a date, a title, or a degree is lying, and background checks verify exactly those; 62% of hiring managers now use them, up from 53% in Checkr's previous survey. The survey also skips the interview, where your face shows up and so does the “overqualified” question. Have that answer ready too.
What to watch:
Mobley v. Workday. The March 2027 hearing decides whether the case widens. Every employer using AI screening is watching.
More states. Oregon passed its own limit on age questions in 2025. Expect more.
Your move:
Before you apply anywhere this week, run the 15-year edit in Career CoPilot below.
📣 From Offboard
Rehearse the ‘overqualified’ question
Interview practice in Offboard
The resume gets you in the room. The interview is where age comes up, often as “aren't you overqualified?” Rehearse your answer out loud until it sounds like a pitch.
Interview practice is on Offboard's Free plan. Try it
📉 The Layoff Report
Qualcomm's ‘performance’ cut, eBay's 1,100, EA's BioWare
Qualcomm: October 19 memo. A worldwide “performance-focused reduction” after annual reviews; notices start in November, no number given. In California, where it's based, a performance cut isn't misconduct, so on its own it doesn't block unemployment. CNBC
EA: October 21. About 400 people, 3% of staff, and BioWare's Edmonton studio is closing, ending work on the next Mass Effect. It's EA's first big restructuring since the $55 billion buyout by Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners closed August 4. Variety
eBay: October 21. About 1,100 jobs, 9% of the workforce, its second round this year after 800 in February. CEO Jamie Iannone's memo says “Our strategy is working.” Affected staff hear in the coming days. Reuters
Headspace: October 16. Post-merger cuts, including director and senior roles, about 2 weeks after Sword Health's acquisition closed October 1. No headcount disclosed. Same pattern as Airtable last week: the clock starts at close. Behavioral Health Business
Smaller cuts, same week: TomTom (about 200, after a revenue miss), Ubisoft (about 100), plus PandaDoc and TradingView with no numbers disclosed.
Bottom line: TrueUp counts 194,800 tech workers laid off in 2026 across 657 events, up about 600 since last week, and as of Wednesday it hadn't logged eBay or EA. Still no Airtable number: we said we'd print one when a WARN filing lands, and we haven't found one yet. TrueUp
☀ The Bright Spot
Ramp raised $1.85B and posted 170 jobs
Ramp raised $1.85 billion at a $60 billion valuation on October 15, with annualized revenue past $2 billion. Its careers page lists 170 open roles, 35 in engineering and 68 in sales, based in New York with relocation help. A company this size hiring in the open: more of this, please. Ramp careers
💰 Benefits You're Missing
Your 401(k) and HSA have exit rules
Your 401(k) and HSA leave with you, and both have rules that start on your last day. Miss them and you can pay tax you never owed.
Your HSA is yours. The IRS says it “stays with you if you change employers or leave the work force.” You can spend it tax-free on COBRA premiums, or on health coverage while you're collecting unemployment. IRS Pub 969
A health FSA runs the other way. You can claim your full annual election at any point in the plan year, regardless of how much you've paid in. Book appointments and refills before your last day.
401(k) loan. Leave with a balance and the plan can offset it against your account. You have until your tax-filing deadline, extensions included, to roll that amount into an IRA so it doesn't count as income. IRS
Turning 55 this year or older? Withdrawals from that employer's 401(k) skip the 10% early penalty. Roll it into an IRA and you lose that exception.
Cashing out? A check from the plan comes with 20% withheld. A direct rollover to an IRA or your next plan skips the withholding.
Your move: Log in to your 401(k), HSA, and FSA portals this week and download statements, your loan balance, and what's left in the FSA.
🧑✈ Career CoPilot
The 15-year edit, without lying
Most age signals on a resume are things you volunteered. Here's how to take them back in an afternoon, with AI doing the grunt work and you keeping every fact intact.
Cut to 15 years. Fold anything older into one line (“Earlier roles at X and Y”) or drop it.
Delete graduation years. Keep the degree and the school.
Prove you're current. Name tools you've used in the last 2 years, AI included, each tied to a result. It answers the “less tech-savvy” assumption before anyone makes it.
Match LinkedIn. Recruiters check both. Hide the same older roles there and update the photo.
Keep facts exact. Dates, titles, and degrees are what background checks verify.
Prompt to try: “Which lines in this resume reveal my age or seniority? Rewrite them without changing any fact, date, or title.”
👀 Companies to Watch
Daytona's agent cloud, Harmonic's US-UK build, Suki
Daytona: Raised a $60M Series B at a $1B valuation October 20 for infrastructure where AI agents run code. 13 open roles, mostly San Francisco, some open to Croatia: sandbox engineering leads, PMs, designers, a controller. Careers
Harmonic Security: Raised a $50M Series B October 14, led by Crosspoint. 90+ people, adding engineering and go-to-market teams in the US and UK. It sells controls over how employees use AI tools, a budget line that keeps growing. Announcement
Suki: Raised a $90M Series E October 13 for AI that handles clinical paperwork, and says it's expanding its commercial team. A fit for SaaS sellers who want healthcare. Fierce Healthcare
✅ Your Moves this Week
Trim your resume, rehearse ‘overqualified,’ apply
Cut your resume to the last 15 years and delete your graduation year. Every date you keep stays exact. This is the move of the week.
Run the Career CoPilot prompt on your resume, then on your LinkedIn.
Rehearse your answer to “aren't you overqualified?” in Offboard's interview practice.
Leaving soon? Download your 401(k), HSA, and FSA statements before your login goes away.
Apply to one role at Daytona, Harmonic, Suki, or Ramp.
Answer the poll at the top: did you get an interview this week?
Take one evening off from every job board. All of them.
Twenty years of experience is the asset. Put it on the page on your terms.
Stay sharp.
The Offboard Team