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"Pain is the universe’s way of demanding that you continue to learn. The more pain you can tolerate, the more you can learn." -Authors Phil Stutz and Barry Michels

👋 Welcome, Jobseekers

This week we’re tackling the rise of the AI portfolio as your new resume, breaking down why showing measurable impact with AI can unlock interviews and higher pay. We’re also tracking major layoffs at Accenture and beyond, while zooming out on the frozen job market where almost no one’s being fired, or hired. To help you stay sharp, we’ve pulled in fresh tools like Jobright for instant job matches and Reforge for leveling up your AI and growth skills. Whether you’re rebuilding, re-skilling, or reapplying, we’ve got the trends, tools, and tactics to give you an edge.

• 🧑‍✈️ Career CoPilot: Your Resume is Dead. Your AI portfolio just got you the job.

• 📉 Layoff Report: Accenture’s layoff tally surpasses 11,000

• 📈 Trends & Data: Frozen Job Market: Why almost no one’s getting fired… or hired

• 🔧 Jobseeker Tools: Jobright, Reforge

Accenture’s layoff tally surpasses 11,000; CEO Julie Sweet cites AI, restructuring efforts 

• Google cuts more than 100 design-related roles in cloud unit 

• Paycom lays off over 500 employees due to AI-driven technologies and automation strategies 

• Just Cause Developer Avalanche Studios Announces Studio Closure 

• Accenture’s layoff tally surpasses 11,000; CEO Julie Sweet cites AI, restructuring efforts 

• Just Eat to lay off around 450 employees, partly automating operations 

• Amazon reportedly lays off over 150 delivery drivers, union claims it's illegal 

• Government shuts down after Trump and Congress fail to reach deal

• OpenAI releases Sora 2 

• Anthropic releases the ‘Best coding model in the world’ with Claude Sonnet 4.5

Your Resume is Dead. Your AI Portfolio Just Got You the Job.

Overview

An AI portfolio is now the fastest way to stand out in tech hiring. Roles mentioning AI pay more, and top firms like BCG already bake AI fluency into performance reviews. If you can prove team-level impact with AI, you move up. If not, you disappear.

The Details

• 70%+ of companies report using generative AI, with adoption still climbing [McKinsey & Company, 2025].

• Roles mentioning AI skills pay a premium across functions, not just IT [Lightcast, 2025].

• At BCG, nearly 9 in 10 employees use AI daily, and usage is now part of evaluation [Business Insider, Sep 2025].

• Many firms still fail to see company-wide ROI from scattered AI pilots [Work Life by Atlassian, 2025].

• Hiring managers look for business outcomes, reproducibility, and team value, not just tool knowledge [IT Pro, 2025].

Why It Matters

This isn’t about knowing ChatGPT shortcuts. It’s about showing you can ship measurable wins with AI that benefit your team. Employers are explicitly rewarding it, and pay gaps are opening for those who can prove it.

Signals by role:

• PMs/Ops: AI triage and workflow redesign = faster delivery, fewer duplicates.

• Designers: AI PRD-to-spec reduces handoff pain, a top hiring signal.

• Sales/Marketing: AI-led briefs = measurable lift in replies or organic clicks.

• HR: Faster screening + better candidate fit = leaner hiring cycles.

Actions You Can Take

• Build one AI case study this week using public data (e.g., sample PRDs, open datasets, or your own notes) so you’re not blocked by employer access.

• Record a 2-minute Loom demo of the workflow and result, then share it in your LinkedIn Featured section.

• Create a simple Google Doc with before/after metrics (e.g., screening time cut from 30 mins → 5 mins) and link it in your job applications.

• In interviews, lead with: “Here’s a project where I applied AI to improve a real workflow; here’s the outcome.”

Bonus Content! 🎁 

OpenAI released 'Prompt Packs' on their OpenAI Academy page, but it's one of the quickest ways you can level up your AI abilities for whatever tech roles you may be in. If you're in Sales, they have a library of Sales prompts that you can get familiar with. If you're in product, HR, IT, management, customer success, engineering, marketing, finance, etc they have prompt packs for all of those as well.

Seriously though, browse them.

Frozen Job Market: Why Almost No One’s Getting Fired… or Hired

Overview

Churn is cooling. The August JOLTS report shows low firing, low hiring, and fading confidence, per the official BLS release.

The Details

• Job openings were 7.23M; openings rate 4.3% (BLS news release).

• Hires rate held at 3.2%; total separations also 3.2% (BLS PDF tables).

• Quits fell to 1.9% (3.1M), the year’s low (BLS; Advisor Perspectives chart).

• Layoffs stayed at 1.1% (1.73M) (BLS; Reuters recap).

• Sector moves: quits down in accommodation/food (-140k); separations down in leisure; up in state/local gov ex-education (+27k) (BLS tables).

• Context: Private payrolls fell 32k in September, per ADP.

Nerd note: JOLTS tracks flows (openings, hires, quits, layoffs). It’s about market dynamism, not just job totals.

Why It Matters

This is a “stickiness” story. Low layoffs protect incumbents, but low quits and hiring mean slower advancement, fewer backfills, and narrower on-ramps. Expect longer searches and more internal mobility over external hops.

• Engineers/PMs: Fewer net-new reqs; more backfills paused. Target teams tied to active product bets or regulatory deadlines.

• Sales/CS: Churn-sensitive services are defensive. Pitch retention and expansion roles over net-new logo hunting.

• Design/Marketing: With quits low, hiring skews to must-have skills; contract-to-hire and paid pilots gain ground.

Actions You Can Take

• Prioritize steady sectors. Build a 10-company list in healthcare and gov-adjacent vendors using JOLTS state/sector tables (BLS toc).

• Exploit low-quits pain. Message a hiring manager about “stalled roadmap” risk from fewer joiners; propose a 2-week deliverable tied to a metric (BLS release).

• Backfill watch. Set alerts for roles with higher separations (support/ops) and apply within 24 hours (BLS tables).

• Internal first. Draft a scope-increase proposal you can land in 30 days; promotions are cheaper than new hires (JOLTS overview).

• Localize asks. Where public-sector separations ticked up, pitch civic tech or ed-adjacent vendors with one targeted intro (BLS tables).

• Signal stability. In outreach, highlight tenure, on-call reliability, and cost savings—catnip in a low-churn market (BLS release).

Jobright AI

AI Job Matching, Resume AI, Insider Connections, and Orion (your AI assistant)

Get matched jobs, tailored resume, and recommended insider connections in less than 1 min!

Reforge

Online courses taught by tech experts

Reforge courses provide the product, growth, and AI expertise you need to unlock step-change growth in your career.

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