I’m a LinkedIn Executive. I See the Bottom Rung of the Career Ladder Breaking.

There are growing signs that artificial intelligence poses a real threat to a substantial number of the jobs that normally serve as the first step for each new generation of young workers. Uncertainty around tariffs and global trade is likely to only accelerate that pressure, just as millions of 2025 graduates enter the work force.

We saw what happened in the 1980s when our manufacturing sector steeply declined. Now it is our office workers who are staring down the same kind of technological and economic disruption. READ MORE

Why spreadsheets aren’t going away anytime soon

In the quest for modernization, some CFOs face the temptation to abandon spreadsheets in favor of cloud-based ERP systems and other more recent technology innovations. Common reasons for moving away from spreadsheets include limits to scalability and the need for more robust data management and collaboration features.

Yet, using financial planning software (FPS) as an example, recent research indicates that 51% of finance leaders still opt for a detailed bottom-up planning process using spreadsheets and then load those sheets into the FPS. Using spreadsheets for core finance tasks like this is not optimal but there is also more nuance than simply stopping their use altogether. READ MORE

Inflation expected to surge to 7.3% in a year, fueled by tariff worry

Consumer sentiment and inflation expectations have worsened this year even as so-called hard data reveal stable price pressures and robust hiring.

U.S. payrolls rose 177,000 last month, with unemployment holding steady at a historically low 4.2%. READ MORE

Maybe Disclosure Doesn’t Work

I used to think that disclosure laws had the potential to change corporate behavior.  The idea is that if businesses have to publicly disclose what they are up to, then they will be shamed into changing their conduct.  The problem is that much like the current President, corporate leaders seem increasingly immune from any sense of shame. READ MORE

Tariffs put execs in ‘gray rhino’ risk territory

Executives must “avoid failures of imagination” and prepare to deal with unexpected fallout from levies, a PwC trade expert said. 

President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff stance and his April 2 levy barrage  — which imposed, before later pausing, a 10% tariff on nearly all countries’ imports except China — has routed markets and shaken up global economic playbooks.  READ MORE

Where Does the Power Lie in the Employer-Employee Relationship?

In the tug-of-war of who has the upper hand in the U.S. labor market — employers or employees — many observers and participants believe the power today is largely back with employers.

The days of the Great Resignation, “quiet quitting,” labor shortages and heightened workplace flexibility (i.e., remote work) may be at least partially in the rear view, as the workplace atmosphere shiftsOpen in a new tab in the face of economic uncertainty — even amid continued job growth and low unemployment. READ MORE

Companies tend to hire based on vibes, not skills, study shows

Despite a recent emphasis on skills-based hiring, organizations are hiring candidates they deem to be the “most likable” or those they have the strongest “gut feeling about” — not the candidate whose skills and experience best match the job requirements, according to an April 29 report by Textio. 

In what the software company referred to as “vibe hiring,” Textio found that candidates who received an offer were 12 times more likely to be described as having a “great personality” than those who were rejected. READ MORE

More than half of leaders who laid off workers due to AI admit to screwing up

Fearful of being left behind, employers have leaned heavily into AI over the past year. 

Part of that approach has been a zeal for replacing humans with AI. Earlier this month, Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify, sent a memo to employees informing them new workers would not be hired unless teams could “demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI.” In a similar memo, Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman warned employees that AI would be “coming for” them if they did not become “exceptional.” READ MORE

93% of employees say retirement benefits influence whether they’ll take a job. How to design a competitive plan

It might be counterintuitive, but thinking about retirement may be one of the best tools small businesses has to attract young talent. 

In fact, 93% of employees say that retirement benefits influence their decision about whether to join a company, according to research from Guideline, a small-business retirement platform. A separate report from payroll service provider Gusto found that offering a 401(k) plan can lead to more than $100,000 in annual savings from employee turnover. Yet 40% of small businesses do not offer the benefit. READ MORE

Federal workers are flooding the talent market. What does that mean for recruiting?

With the election of Donald Trump, the myth of the good government job may be disintegrating. Since the inauguration in late January, more than 120,000 federal workers have been fired, per CNN analysis of FedScope data. 

One of the hallmarks of the Trump administration has been the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which has publicly gutted federal agency workforces in the name of recouping operating costs. As a result, Indeed reported last month that the number of applications by workers at federal agencies under DOGE review rose by 50%. READ MORE

Class of 2025 grads are experiencing disconnect between job expectations and reality, study finds

Class of 2025 graduates’ expectations seem to be clashing with reality during their job search, especially when it comes to pay, job preferences and beliefs about the job market, according to an April 23 report from ZipRecruiter. 

For instance, some graduates have found that the job search is taking longer than they expected. About 82% of those about to graduate expect to start work within three months of graduation, but only 77% of recent graduates accomplished that, and 5% said they’re still searching for a job. READ MORE

1 in 10 workers are clocking out for micro-retirement, survey finds

Workers cited mental health, a relief from work stress and a desire to have more life experiences as primary reasons for wanting to take an extended leave. However, concerns about financial insecurity, career setbacks and losing healthcare and benefits gave them pause. 

But roughly a third of millennials and Gen Z workers said they believe micro-retirement will become a standard career practice in the future, the study found. Already, companies have turned to more flexible benefits and time off policies to accommodate workers, such as expanded parental leave, ‘pawternity’ leave and paid leave for military spouses to help with moves. READ MORE

Social Media Trend Drives More Young Adults to Take ‘Micro-Retirements’

For young people in the early stages of their career, the idea of waiting 40 years or more to retire might feel like a marathon. For those already feeling burnt out, it can be an excruciating thought.

So – why not take a break or two somewhere along the way? READ MORE

A strategy that breaks down workplace silos

For decades, companies have been structured around rigid functional silos—finance, HR, sales, engineering, marketing, R&D and customer service. “Structurally, the way companies have been set up—certainly as long as I’ve been working—is in functional silos or functional job families,” industry analyst Josh Bersin said in his recent HR Tech Europe 2025 keynote.

Organizational silos emerge from fragmented data systems, disconnected communication channels and lack of unified vision. Bersin emphasized that this segmented environment significantly impacts career development as well. READ MORE

Tech Jobs In 2025: Goodbye Lavish Perks, Hello Flexibility

Startup and tech jobs are harder to come by these days.

Between large-scale industry layoffs and a growing pool of applicants for positions that are available, jobseekers find themselves in an increasingly competitive landscape. Employers, not so much. READ MORE

The job market is ‘frozen.’ That’s not a good sign for DOGE casualties

The Trump administration’s culling of government programs and agencies has resulted in an unprecedented wave of federal workers joining the ranks of job seekers — and new data shows a spike in job applications from agencies impacted by the Department of Government Efficiency.

Those job hunts are coming at a time when rising uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s economic agenda is clouding businesses’ decision-making and further slowing hiring — especially for specialized and white-collar roles. READ MORE

Retirement surge is a demographic time bomb. Can tech boost the expertise transfer?

As the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age in record numbers, organizations face a significant challenge in maintaining their expertise pipelines. This phenomenon, known as “Peak 65,” coincides with rapid technological changes that are reshaping workplace dynamics and increasing the urgency for expertise transfer solutions. READ MORE

Record number of Americans working more than one job

At least 5 percent of the American workforce has a second job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In a release earlier this month, the BLS reported that a record high of approximately 8.9 million Americans stated they work multiple jobs. That is the highest rate since the Great Recession in April 2009. READ MORE

For unbiased performance management, employees prefer ‘bots over bosses’

The use of artificial intelligence in performance management continues to be debated, but studies show that demand for AI in this area is coming from an unexpected place: employees.

Emily Rose McRae, senior director analyst at Gartner, says HR leaders need to recognize that the “performance of performance management is low.” An October 2024 Gartner survey of nearly 3,500 employees found that 87% of employees think that algorithms could give fairer feedback than their managers. An earlier Gartner survey of more than 3,300 employees revealed that 57% believe humans are more biased than AI when it comes to making compensation decisions. READ MORE

Quiet Quitting Is Out. Now Gen Z Is Revenge Quitting.

Long gone are the days of “sucking it up” in the workplace. Workers are tired of being overworked and underpaid, and they’re no longer staying silent about it.

In today’s economy, it’s common for many to spend years getting a college degree, putting themselves in incredible amounts of debt, only to secure a “stable” career that barely pays the bills or allows for any sort of work-life balance. Ah, the American dream. READ MORE