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Skills Over Degrees - A New Hiring Framework is Being Built

The new Skills‐First hiring framework, a temp‐hiring warning bell, AI blind‐spot prompts & the top tools every jobseeker needs

Author

Stephanie Sakoda
April 17, 2025

👋 Welcome, Jobseekers

Buckle up: we’re breaking down Google’s Android axe, Walmart & Microsoft’s Skills‑Over‑Degrees revolution, and a temp‑hiring dip flashing red. Then, wield ChatGPT’s Moonshine prompt to unmask your blind spots and supercharge your hunt with PitchMeAI, Jobbyo & JobJump.

Let’s roll!

  • 📉 Layoff Report: Google lays off hundreds of employees in Android, Pixel teams, Microsoft Weighs Layoffs

  • ⚡️ Quick Hits: OpenAI births more models, Figma IPO, Tarriff Wars

  • 🧑‍✈️ Career CoPilot: Skills Over Degrees - A New Hiring Framework is Being Built

  • 📈 Trends & Data: One Data Point That Should Scare Every Jobseeker (and Every Employer Too)

  • 🤖 AI Prompt of the Week: Discover Your Psychological Blind Spots with ChatGPT’s ‘Moonshine’ memory feature

  • 🔧 Jobseeker Tools: PitchMeAI, Jobbyo, JobJump

📉 Google lays off hundreds of employees in Android, Pixel teams, Microsoft Weighs Layoffs of Managers, Non-Coders 

Source: TrueUp

🫄 OpenAI births more models, Figma IPO, Tarriff Wars

  • OpenAI's New Models: OpenAI announced the launch of two new AI models, o3 and o4-mini, marking significant advancements in AI capabilities. - Read more

  • Figma Files for IPO: Design software firm Figma has confidentially filed for an IPO after its high-profile $20 billion Adobe acquisition was canceled due to regulatory concerns. - Read more

  • Nvidia Faces $5.5B Hit: The U.S. imposed new export restrictions on AI chips to China, leading Nvidia to anticipate a $5.5 billion charge due to halted sales of its H20 AI chips. - Read more

  • U.S. Tariff Revisions: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that certain tech products, including smartphones, computers, and chip-making equipment, would be exempt from the earlier imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, now facing a 20% tariff. - Read more

  • China's Retaliation: In response to U.S. tariffs, China raised tariffs on U.S. goods to 125% and ceased exporting critical rare earth elements, affecting multiple U.S. industries. - Read more

⚡️ Skills Over Degrees - A New Hiring Framework is Being Built

“Whether you’re actively job hunting or plotting your next promotion, the takeaway is clear: skills are your currency.“

Walmart, Microsoft, Blackstone, and others are quietly rewriting the rules of hiring—and it’s good news for job seekers.

The Skills-First Workforce Initiative, led by the Burning Glass Institute and supported by giants like Verizon, Bank of America, and The Home Depot, is pushing a bold idea: what if the most important thing on your resume isn’t your degree—but your actual skills?

📌 What’s New:

  • The coalition just launched Skills-First.org, a public tool breaking down the exact skillsets needed for 9 of the most in-demand roles—including product manager, software developer, customer service manager, and retail supervisor.

  • Each job profile outlines four skill categories (baseline, leadership, role-specific, and specialization), with proficiency levels and even wage premiums tied to high-demand skills like UX design or Python.

  • Employers are adopting this shared “skills language” to increase transparency, retention, and internal mobility—especially in times of economic uncertainty.

📈 Why It Matters:

  • Verizon cut its job titles from 70,000 to 2,100 to reflect skill-based career paths. Their average tenure is now 13+ years.

  • Walmart promotes frontline workers into new roles in as little as 7 months—with some store managers now earning over $500K.

  • Skills-first hiring removes barriers for nontraditional candidates—like veterans or self-taught professionals—by making their real abilities legible to recruiters.

🛠 What It Means for You: 

Whether you’re actively job hunting or plotting your next promotion, the takeaway is clear: skills are your currency. This shift gives you more control over your career path—and tools like Skills-First.org can help you benchmark where you stand and what to focus on next.

✨ Pro tip: Add wage-premium skills (like Kubernetes or UX) to your resume or LinkedIn to stand out in the new talent economy.

💥 One Data Point That Should Scare Every Jobseeker (and Every Employer Too)

Overview:

A quiet warning bell just rang in the labor market—and it’s one that tends to sound before the storm hits.

The Details:

  • Bloomberg reports a drop in temporary hiring, a historically reliable early indicator of broader employment downturns.

  • Employers often cut temp workers first when anticipating economic stress—meaning full-time layoffs may follow.

  • The data aligns with lingering volatility: March's U.S. jobs report was strong on the surface, but cracks are forming beneath it.

  • This trend matters in tandem with Offboard's own research: 70% of laid-off tech workers struggle to find a new job within six months, and 60% report heightened stress and anxiety during that time​Offboard_ B2B2C Pitch D….

  • In 2023 alone, over 285,000 tech employees were laid off. If this temp worker signal is accurate, we may be heading into another wave.

Why it Matters:

Temporary hiring is like the canary in the coal mine for the job market. When those contracts disappear, it signals employers are pulling back on risk—and likely preparing for deeper cuts. For tech workers (and the companies that hire them), this is a cue to get proactive:

👩‍💻 Employees: Don’t wait for the layoff notice. Start prepping your resume, updating LinkedIn, and lining up references. Consider joining job-seeking communities like Offboard's.

🏢 Employers: This is a moment to rethink your offboarding strategy. Don’t get caught scrambling when layoffs become unavoidable. Structured transitions like Offboard’s Layoff Assurance Plans not only reduce brand damage—they support your people when it matters most.

In short? The job market may still look sunny—but there’s a storm system forming on the horizon. Plan accordingly.

🧠 Discover Your Psychological Blind Spots with ChatGPT

Recently OpenAI released a pretty huge feature for its flagship product ChatGPT. Project ‘Moonshine’ brought to us the ability to pull information from any conversation you have ever had with it instead of just the limited ‘Memory’ feature. This takes prompting to a whole other level. From the prompt below, you will truly start to see just how closely ChatGPT has been paying attention to you.

Prompt: 

"Please reference all of our past conversations and tell me what my top 5 psychological blind spots are."

How to use this:

  • Go to chat.openai.com (sign up for a free account if you don’t have one)

  • Copy and paste the prompt above into the input field.

Trigger Warning: you may not enjoy hearing about some of your blind spots…

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