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Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

· professional-skills

Bookmark: Gen zers are being branded as unemployable. Here’s what they can learn from the top 1% of applicants

Gen Z can boost their employability by learning from the top 1% of candidates. Discover key strategies for success in a challenging job market.

Gen Z faces a tough job market with employers hesitant to make hires due to perceived deficiencies in professionalism and communication. Insights from Shaan Patel’s piece in Fortune reveal how this generation can take cues from the top 1% of candidates to overcome biases. Key strategies include developing self-awareness and curiosity during interviews. By honing these skills, Gen Z can more effectively compete and succeed in today’s evolving workplace.

A notable quote from the article is: “Self-awareness is pivotal as early as the interview phase.” This line underscores the significance of self-awareness in creating favorable first impressions, which is critical for Gen Z candidates as they navigate the job market.

Gen Zers are being branded as unemployable. Here’s what they can learn from the top 1% of applicants

Why customer tools are organized wrong

This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how customer support tools are designed—organizing by interaction type instead of by customer—and explains why this fragmentation wastes time and obscures the full picture you need to help users effectively.

Infrastructure shapes thought

The tools you build determine what kinds of thinking become possible. On infrastructure, friction, and building deliberately for thought rather than just throughput.

Server-side dashboard architecture: Why moving data fetching off the browser changes everything

How choosing server-side rendering solved security, CORS, and credential management problems I didn't know I had.

The work of being available now

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The practice of work in progress

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Manual fluency is the prerequisite for agent supervision

You cannot responsibly automate what you cannot do manually. AI agents speed up work for people who already know how to do it. They do not replace the need to learn the work in the first place.

The gun you didn't need

Every organization has loaded weapons lying around that nobody remembers loading. The most dangerous capability in any system is the one you built 'just in case.'

Nobody promotes you to operator

There's a moment in every project where the work stops being about building and starts being about keeping things running. Nobody announces this transition. Nobody gives you new tools for it. And most people keep building long past the point where they should have stopped.

Bookmark: A psychologist explains what gen z should be striving for at work (hint: Not happiness)

Gen Z should prioritize workplace engagement over fleeting happiness to achieve lasting career fulfillment and drive organizational success.

Bookmark: 5 reasons why ‘gen z’ is struggling in the workplace— by a psychologist

Explore the key challenges Gen Z faces in the workplace and discover how managers can adapt to support their unique needs for success.

Bookmark: Gen z workers think showing up 10 minutes late to work is as good as being on time

Explore the clash between Baby Boomers and Gen Z over punctuality in the workplace, revealing how attitudes towards time impact productivity and collaboration.