Career Briefs: Job Search Smarter

In this issue: Succession planning strategies, new labor laws, job search accountability calendar, AI job market and more

Author

Sarah Johnston
August 26, 2026

Dear Reader:

My kids went back to school this past week. I love my kids. Truly. But I love my kids more when we have structure and routine.

And you know what? We all do best with routines.

September is when we typically see an uptick in job search activity. A lot of people wait until the kids are back in school, summer travel is over, and life feels a little more predictable.

But here's the thing: job searches thrive under structure.

Don't just tell yourself you're going to "start looking" this fall. Put some structure around it. Set aside time each week for networking, applications, research, and follow-up.

Your job search doesn't need to consume your life.

It just needs a place on your calendar.

Sarah

Ps. Download my free weekly job search accountability calendar and checklist. It was written for an unemployed job seeker prioritizing job search intensity, but you can adjust it for an employed job seeker with limited time to search. Remember: time spent on purpose is more valuable than time simply spent.

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“An Alumni network only has value if you use it.”

LinkedIn released a ranking of the 50 best colleges for long-term career success based on the strength of the alumni network.

But after working with hundreds of job seekers over the years, I’ve learned that being part of a strong alumni network and knowing how to leverage it are two very different things.

My latest article gives very practical guidance on how to leverage an alumni network in a mid-career job search.

Be honest: Is your college network actually working for you?

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Step Out Of Your CEO’s Shadow When You’re A Succession Candidate

The fact: Russell Reynolds reports that 234 CEOs left their roles in 2025—21% above the eight-year average. As boards face more leadership turnover, the bar for CEO succession is getting higher.

But there's an interesting trap for internal candidates: the very relationship that puts you on the succession radar can work against you.

If you've spent years closely aligned with the current CEO, the board may wonder: Are we getting a new CEO—or an extension of the current one?

The practical takeaway: If you're a potential successor, don't just prepare to explain what you've accomplished. Be ready to articulate what you would do differently. What are your two or three signature priorities? Where does your judgment differ from the current CEO's? What do you see about the future that requires a different approach?

You don't have to criticize the sitting CEO. In fact, you can honor what you've learned from them while making it crystal clear that you've developed your own point of view.

My hot take: The goal of great mentorship isn't to create a clone. It's to create someone who can eventually outgrow the mentor.

If you're going after the top job, loyalty is important. But borrowed identity won't get you there.

The board needs to see you.

More Changes to Non-Competes

I've been tracking the continued changes to non-compete laws across the country, and two recent developments are worth noting.

Virginia recently enacted Senate Bill 170, adding a new condition for enforcing non-compete agreements. If an employer terminates an employee without cause and does not provide severance pay, the non-compete will be unenforceable. As of July 1, 2026, any severance or other monetary payments that support enforcement of a non-compete must also be disclosed when the agreement is signed.

One interesting wrinkle: Virginia law does not establish a minimum dollar amount or formula for the severance that must be provided.

Tennessee also enacted House Bill 1034, which makes non-competes void for employees earning less than $70,000 in annualized compensation.

I am not a proponent of non-compete agreements. They can limit your future job options, reduce your earning power, and restrict your ability to grow your career.

And this is an area worth watching because the rules continue to evolve state by state.

If you're interested, check out the Economic Innovation Group's interactive map of current state non-compete laws, tracker of proposed non-compete reform bills, and state-level income dashboard showing how income thresholds affect who is exempt from non-compete restrictions.

Google’s AI Team Tells Job Seekers Its Job Search Filters Are Unreliable

It really is harder to get an interview—and AI may be part of the reason.

A recent Bloomberg report revealed something ironic: Google DeepMind's AI safety team is encouraging candidates to submit an additional form so a human actually sees their application.

An internal document reportedly warned that the company's application system has a "non-trivial probability" of incorrectly screening out CVs or taking too long to surface them.

Google disputes that its systems incorrectly filter applicants. But the bigger point remains:

AI is increasingly sitting between you and the person who might hire you.

Read the article: Google’s AI Team…

Peanut Butter Raises

Great news! Your reward for another year of hitting goals, taking on more responsibility, and keeping the wheels on the bus is… 2.5%.

Welcome to the peanut butter raise.

Peanut butter raises are across-the-board pay increases, spread thinly across the workforce like peanut butter on bread. Everyone gets a little something, regardless of performance or contribution.

The phrase dates back to 2006, when Yahoo SVP Brad Garlinghouse used “peanut butter” to describe the danger of spreading resources too thinly in his now famous manifesto.

Payscale recently called peanut butter-style increases “one of the most closely watched compensation trends for 2026.” And I understand the appeal. They’re simple, predictable, relatively inexpensive, and eliminate the headache of designing and explaining a merit-based system.

Everyone gets a little peanut butter. Problem solved.

Except… not really.

If your highest performers receive roughly the same increase as everyone else, the message can be pretty demotivating: Performance doesn't matter that much here.

If you receive a small, across-the-board raise this year, don't automatically assume it reflects your market value.

Look at the bigger picture:

  • Has your scope increased?

  • Are you delivering significantly more value than you were when your salary was set?

  • Has the market value of your role changed?

  • Are you being paid for the job you actually do—or the job you were hired to do?

If the answers point to a meaningful gap, that's a conversation worth having.

The AI Job Market Is Growing Fast. But Who Is Getting the Opportunities?

LinkedIn data scientists Matthew Baird, Mar Carpanelli, and Silvia Lara just released two new reports on the AI labor market, and together, they tell a fascinating—and somewhat concerning—story.

First, the growth is enormous.

AI job postings have roughly doubled in recent years, and the typical AI job posting now lists a salary of $177K, compared with $80K for the typical non-AI role.

Some of the biggest growth is happening in emerging AI occupations. VP of AI postings have increased roughly sixfold, while Data Annotator, Generative AI Engineer, and Forward Deployed Engineer roles have grown by thousands of percent, albeit from much smaller starting bases.

The composition of the AI workforce is changing, too. AI Engineer and Machine Learning Engineer remain the two largest categories, together accounting for nearly two-thirds of AI job postings. But in 2025 and 2026, AI Engineer overtook Machine Learning Engineer as the more common title.

And Forward Deployed Engineer has quickly become the third most common AI occupation.

But here's the part that really caught my attention:

The opportunity isn't being distributed equally.

Women account for just 26% of new hires in AI roles, compared with 50% in non-AI occupations. Approximately 91% of AI roles are held by workers with a bachelor's degree or higher. And the leadership numbers are even more striking. Women hold just 13% of executive AI roles at AI companies across 27 countries.

For job seekers, this is a reminder to pay attention not just to today's most recognizable AI titles, but to the emerging roles and skills where demand is accelerating. For women in particular, it's also a reminder that getting into the AI talent pipeline now may matter enormously for future leadership opportunities.

Read the reports:

Everyone Is Using Claude To Co-Write Their Resume

Every single executive that I talked to last week had a resume written by Claude. ALL of them. It’s almost like an executive memo went out ranking the best AI builders, and Claude was at the top.

And they all looked exactly the same.

I’ve said it time and time again: Different is better than better.

If everyone is using the same AI-generated resume—same structure, same language, same predictable look—and yours looks and reads completely differently, who do you think is going to stand out?

ALSO OF NOTE: In response to an EU law, Anthropic, whose flagship product is Claude, just announced they will watermark AI-gen content. The catch? The watermark won't be visible to readers.

Writing Is Thinking

I have a good friend who just added an auto note to the bottom of her emails.

It says, "I own all of these typos, just like I own all of these words. Consider them my gift to you. I intentionally paused to think about my words."

I’m not throwing shade at people who use AI to help them write emails—I sometimes do it too, and I own that.

But I really appreciate what she’s saying here: writing is thinking.

And that if she outsources her writing-- even something as simple as her emails-- she's less intentional.

Food for thought: Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to.

Can you do me a favor?

I’m on a mission to help job seekers land amazing jobs. Would you consider doing one of the following:

  • Forward or use the referral link below to share this newsletter with your job-searching friends or post about it on social media. This small act really helps!

  • Consider sharing my company name with your HR leadership. We are a great “white-glove” boutique option for executive outplacement

  • Recommend me as a paid speaker for your company events on networking, job searching, or leveraging LinkedIn

  • Recommend my services to high performers wanting to work one-on-one with an executive resume writer / or experienced interview coach

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