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Guides

Long reads, free. Each one is a real part of a book, given away in full.

  • Do applicant tracking systems really reject your CV?

    The famous 75 percent figure traces to a 2012 article quoting a company that sold CV optimisation, and the claim got stronger every time it was retold. Here is what the software vendors actually document, and where applications genuinely do die automatically.

    September 17, 2026

  • How long should a CV be? The evidence is thinner than you think

    One study says a recruiter reads your CV for 7.4 seconds. Another says four minutes. They differ by a factor of thirty, they are quoted in the same articles, and both were run by companies selling something to job seekers.

    September 17, 2026

  • Should you name your salary expectation first?

    Never say a number first is the most confidently repeated rule in job hunting. A study with 256 real recruiters found disclosing raised offers by about 7.5 percent and cut callbacks at the same time. It is a trade, not a rule.

    September 17, 2026

  • What actually happens to the company data you paste into an AI tool

    Most people sort AI tools into free and paid and assume paid means private. That is the wrong axis. ChatGPT Plus is a paid plan that trains on your conversations by default, and the real line runs somewhere else entirely.

    September 16, 2026

  • Can AI writing be detected? What the detectors actually measure

    OpenAI built a detector, published its accuracy, and switched it off six months later. The research on why is more interesting than the decision, and it explains who these tools get wrong and how easily they are beaten.

    September 16, 2026

  • Can your employer see what you type into ChatGPT?

    The answer turns on two separate things people run together: whose account you are signed in to, and whose device you are typing on. One is about OpenAI. The other has nothing to do with OpenAI at all, and it is the one that catches people.

    September 16, 2026

  • The salary range they advertise is not the range they pay

    Pay ranges are in job adverts now, and most candidates read them wrong. A published band is written to avoid problems, not to tell you what you will be offered. Here is how to find the real number.

    September 12, 2026

  • How employers actually find out you are job searching

    Almost everyone worries about the profile update. That is the wrong fear. The real leaks are your own behaviour, the people you tell, and a CV sitting in a database your employer may be paying to search.

    September 12, 2026

  • Are the Blue Zones real? What the demographic data actually shows

    The most famous longevity map in the world has a records problem. Okinawa, the case everyone cites, eats the fewest vegetables in Japan. Here is what the demography shows, why the story survives anyway, and the one number that is larger than any of it.

    September 12, 2026