Hiring managers aren’t looking for candidates who know their way around Microsoft Word or a fax machine. Those days are out the door, along with shoulder pads. Today, employers want skills in technical AI and AI business strategy, according to LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise list for 2026. AI fluency is in high demand.

Nearly 90% of organizations now use AI in their operations, according to McKinsey’s State of AI report. But 42% of leaders say organizations lack the talent and skills to fully implement AI, a Gartner survey finds. This large gap is your window of opportunity to stand out. Here are three tools worth learning that will help you land your next job.

Gamma: Create quality decks and documents for presentations in less than an hour.

Claude: Research, summarize, draft and outline content like a pro.

ChatGPT: Generate ideas, draft emails and streamline daily tasks.

If you master these tools and skills, and you’re willing to embrace AI as an asset, you’ll soon make hiring managers stop in their tracks and give you a chance in 2026.

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Practical insights and advice from Forbes staff and contributors to help you succeed in your job, accelerate your career and lead smarter.

Wondering why someone else got promoted instead of you? Leadership expert Benjamin Laker outlines the unspoken rules that often decide who moves up at work.

If you’re worried about AI taking your job, business futurist Robert Tucker shares five steps you can take right now to protect your career.

Looking for a pay raise this year? Start by recording clear and measurable evidence of your value to make a business case for a raise, career coach Sho Dewan advises.

Many workers are high performers. Career expert Nell Derick Debevoise Dewey has advice on how to stop overworking and assess your efforts before diminished returns and burnout set in.

What It Takes To Build A Career Worth Keeping: A Conversation With Jeanelle Teves

I recently sat down with Jeanelle Teves, chief commercial officer at Bugaboo Global and founder of Work Lunch, a career brand helping professionals thrive in corporate work. Whether you’re climbing the ladder or holding steady, this Q&A is for you.

Colleen Batchelder: You’ve built a thriving personal brand while leading at the executive level. What’s one mindset shift that made it work?

Jeanelle Teves: The best advice I can give is that simply starting, plus consistency, is the secret formula. For years, I thought about creating behind-the-scenes work content, and the moment I finally began, my career trajectory changed.

What’s something you wish more managers understood about the newest generation of people entering the workforce?

Ask where they want to be in the next two to three years. Give them projects that expose them to these competencies and, more importantly, explain clearly the bridge to get there. Asking questions, actively listening and allowing them to feel heard will go a long way.

From your vantage point inside corporate leadership and entrepreneurship, how can great talent thrive?

In any stage of a company, people stay where their work feels meaningful and where their contributions matter. When leaders can connect the dots between someone’s strengths and the greater mission at hand, it creates a sense of purpose.

What’s one piece of advice you would share with every leader and every professional in the workforce right now?

Build your relationship capital. The great manager who advocates for you? Pay attention. The teammate you collaborate well with? Treasure that. These people will become your personal board of directors as you inevitably move on and grow in your career, and it’s invaluable.

News from the world of work.

Financial tech firm Block—the owner of Square, Cash App and Afterpay—announced last week it will cut more than 4,000 employees, reducing its workforce by nearly half. In a letter to shareholders announcing the layoffs, cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey said he expects a “majority of companies” to make similar structural changes as AI boosts efficiency, adding that firms that haven’t reduced headcount yet are “late.”

In other layoff news, e-commerce giant eBay said Thursday it will cut 800 jobs worldwide—about 6% of its workforce—as part of an effort to “reinvent” the business. The move comes roughly a week after the company announced plans to acquire secondhand fashion platform Depop, popular among Gen Z and millennial shoppers.

As baby boomers retire, roughly 6 million small and midsize U.S. businesses are expected to change hands by 2035 in a coming “great ownership transfer.” A report published last week by the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility notes that these firms employ more than 60 million workers—and that many owners lack formal succession plans, raising the risk of closures instead of sales.

In significant news for gig workers, the Labor Department has proposed a rule that would make it easier for companies to classify workers as independent contractors, the Wall Street Journal reported. The proposal drew swift backlash from worker advocates and Democrats, who warn it could leave more people ineligible for minimum wage and overtime protections. “Employers will take advantage of anything that makes it easier to classify workers as independent contractors,” said Samantha Sanders of the Economic Policy Institute.

Thanks for reading! This edition of the Careers newsletter was edited by Anjelica Tan, Chris Dobstaff and Jeffrey Marcus.

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