Career Thought Leaders

Career Thought Leaders A think tank of career industry leaders working together to support colleagues and job seekers
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09/03/2026

LinkedIn is an important part of professional visibility, but it has limitations.

Everyone works within essentially the same structure, and it can be difficult for clients to show their work, separate their branding from their employer's, or tell a more targeted story.

A virtual portfolio site can give them more space and control over the narrative.

And creating one doesn't have to mean hiring a web designer, learning to code, or spending weeks building a website.

SPECIAL DAY: Join us Thursday, Sept 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET for FridAI in Career Services

We'll start with a few simple options: Google Sites and Canva Sites

They allow someone without web design experience to create a basic professional landing page. We'll look at what belongs on the site, how to organize it, and ways clients can demonstrate their capabilities even if they don't work in a traditionally "portfolio-friendly" profession.

Then we'll look at the possible benefits of stepping it up using an AI tool.

While AI isn't necessary to create a site, your clients may want to use it. AI tools can help identify what to feature, develop case studies from real accomplishments, organize the content, and even build a website.

We'll explore:

- The benefits of a landing page in the new era of hiring focused on proof of skills.
- What clients in non-creative fields can include in a portfolio.
- How to turn accomplishments and projects into evidence of capability.
- How to build a simple landing page with Google Sites or Canva Sites.
- Where AI can help with positioning, content, case studies, and portfolio planning.
- A look at AI website builders such as Lovable for clients who want to take it further.
- How to connect a portfolio with LinkedIn, resumes, networking, and interviews.

As career pros, we don't need to become website designers! But after this session, you'll have a few options to help clients show what they can do instead of telling people what they've done.

Remember, we're meeting on a special day this week: Thursday, September 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Join us live or view the recording:
YouTube: https://careertl.com/youtube
LinkedIn: https://careertl.com/marielinkedin
Facebook: https://careertl.com/facebook

Integrate AI Into Your Career Services Work Ethically & Effectively

AI-Savvy Career Practitioner Microcredential Program
Learn how to ethically and strategically integrate AI into career coaching, resume writing, job search strategy, interviewing, and career services.
� https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/aicareerpro

09/01/2026

For decades, futurists and career development thought leaders have predicted a shift in how work is organized. Daniel Pink wrote about the rise of the "free agent" workforce 25 years ago. Alexandra Levit predicted the growth of independent work and people coming together around work that needed to be done. Mark Savickas talked about work moving from jobs to projects.

It snuck up on us ... and the future is here!

MBO Partners estimates that full-time independent work essentially doubled between 2020 and 2025. The number of Americans doing some form of independent work grew ~74% between 2018 and 2025.

Temporary employment, after falling roughly 22% from its 2022 peak through the end of 2025, has now increased for seven consecutive months.

Is traditional employment going away? Not necessarily. But this data suggests our clients may have too narrow a focus when thinking about finding a job.

In this Trend Tuesday Live, we'll look at what's changing and what it means for the way we help people navigate their careers.

Share your thoughts as we go through:
- The latest data on temporary, independent, and entrepreneurial work.
- Why temporary employment and independent work have been moving in very different directions.
- How work can happen through permanent employment, temporary roles, contracts, projects, fractional work, consulting, freelancing, entrepreneurship, or a combination.
- How to redefine career stability and help clients shift from searching for openings to discovering opportunities.
- What these changes mean for career coaching, career exploration, job search, and the skills we help clients develop.

Not everyone needs to become an entrepreneur or give up on finding a traditional job.

Let's help clients expand their definition of career opportunity to match the way work is actually getting done.

Join us live at 4 pm ET or view the recording:
YouTube: https://careertl.com/youtube
LinkedIn: https://careertl.com/linkedin
Facebook: https://careertl.com/facebook

Our Facilitating Career Development (FCD) program starts September 10. Build the skills to help clients navigate careers and the changing world of work. Learn more: https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/fcd

Want to go deeper into the job search side? Get the recording of Where Job Seekers Are Finding Opportunities in 2026: https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/products/where-job-seekers-are-finding-opportunities-in-2026

08/25/2026

Career professionals spend a lot of time helping clients become more findable.

We optimize LinkedIn profiles. Add the right keywords. Build stronger professional brands. Help clients demonstrate their expertise online.

All of that still matters.

But being findable still depends on someone else looking for you.

And while recruiters are getting increasingly sophisticated tools to search for candidates across LinkedIn and the broader web, job seekers have access to more digital intelligence, too.

They can research companies experiencing change. Find the people connected to those organizations. Discover where peers and hiring managers are having conversations. Identify professional communities. Follow industry problems. Trace connections through associations, conferences, alumni networks, social platforms, suppliers, partners, and more.

So why are so many clients still spending most of their digital job search optimizing profiles, searching job boards, applying, and waiting?

In this Trend Tuesday Live, we’ll look at the other side of digital job search and how career professionals can help clients use the digital ecosystem more proactively.

We’ll explore:

- Why being findable should support a job search, not become the job search
- How recruiter search is expanding beyond traditional applications and profile keywords
- How to flip the digital footprint and research employers, people, conversations, and connections
- How to use a client’s positioning and capability themes to search for companies and people who need what they do
- Where relationships, visibility, and discoverability each fit in a proactive digital strategy
- How AI can help clients map professional ecosystems and identify paths into target organizations

Listen in to learn how clients can use digital tools to find the right people, get into the right conversations, build relationships, and become known along the way.

Missed Where Job Seekers Are Finding Opportunities in 2026?

Get the 60-minute master e-session + lifetime access to the recording. We look at where hiring conversations are happening now, how to identify the platforms and communities that matter for a client's search, and how AI can help uncover paths to opportunity clients may never have considered.

https://careertl.com/jobopps26

Ready for the Full Process?

The Digital Tools in Job Search Strategy Microcredential starts Thursday, August 27.

DTJSS goes beyond teaching clients to optimize profiles and wait to be discovered. You'll get a structured coaching process plus scripts, checklists, platform maps, AI prompts, and customizable resources to help clients research their professional ecosystem, build relationships, increase visibility, and conduct a more proactive digital job search.

You'll also have access to monthly strategy office hours and updates for the year to help you keep pace as platforms, sourcing tools, and algorithms change.

https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/dtjss

08/21/2026

Getting an application in front of the right person has become harder.

Ashby’s 2026 recruiting data shows applications per hire tripled between 2021 and 2024 and remained above 300 throughout 2025. Candidates are now 50% less likely to get an interview from an application than they were five years ago.

But referrals continue to deliver.

Ashby found that referrals accounted for roughly 17% of hires. In a recent Huntr survey, among the 503 respondents who landed at least one interview, 38% got it through a referral: 14% through an employee referral, 13% through a recruiter

Job seekers know relationships are increasingly important. But “go network” isn't particularly helpful advice.

Who should a client talk to? Where can they find people connected to their target companies?

This is where AI can be useful (without sounding like AI wrote the message).

In this FridAI in Career Services session, we'll look at practical ways career professionals can use AI to help clients research the people and relationship paths to their target opportunities.

Join us live Friday at 1:30 pm ET as we go through:
� Using AI to map potential referral paths into target companies
� Looking beyond recruiters to identify peers, hiring managers, alumni, former colleagues, association members, and other potential connectors
� Finding meaningful points of connection before reaching out
� Using AI to research where people in a client's field are actually gathering and having conversations
� Identifying better questions and reasons to start a conversation
� Using AI to prepare outreach without creating generic, transactional messages
� Turning research into a manageable relationship-building plan clients will actually execute

Let's show clients how AI can make networking research faster and more strategic, so they can spend more time having real conversations.

Join Us Live or Catch the Replay
YouTube - https://careertl.com/youtube
LinkedIn - https://careertl.com/marielinkedin
Facebook - https://careertl.com/facebook

Want to help clients uncover more paths to opportunity?

Join us Monday, August 24, for Where Job Seekers Are Finding Opportunities in 2026. We'll identify where hiring conversations are happening, how to find the communities and platforms that matter for a client's search, and how relationships, visibility, and discoverability work together in today's digital job-search ecosystem.
https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/products/where-job-seekers-are-finding-opportunities-in-2026

Want the full system?

The Digital Tools in Job Search Strategy Microcredential starts August 27. We'll build a practical process for researching a client's ecosystem, improving LinkedIn visibility and discoverability, finding digital communities, and building relationships across the platforms that matter. You'll get scripts, checklists, prompts, and ongoing updates as recruiting technology changes.
https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/dtjss

A little bit of good news for job seekers: small businesses want to hire! According to July 2026 NFIB data: 20% of small...
08/19/2026

A little bit of good news for job seekers: small businesses want to hire!

According to July 2026 NFIB data:

20% of small business owners plan to create jobs in the next three months

36% have jobs they cannot fill

85% (!!) of those trying to hire reported few or no qualified applicants

So how do we help job seekers plug into these opportunities?

First, be careful not to turn labor market data into a list of “growing jobs.”

That can actually limit the possibilities we help clients see. Instead, look for the bigger story.

If an HVAC company can’t find technicians, what else is happening in that business? Could it need help with project management, scheduling, recruiting, training, sales, customer service, or operations?

If a manufacturer is growing but struggling to find machinists, could it also be investing in automation, workforce development, maintenance, supply chain, or process improvement?

If a transportation company has trucks sitting idle because it can’t find drivers, what other operational or business problems does that create?

Then expand the search again. What about the suppliers, vendors, staffing firms, consultants, training providers, technology companies, and other businesses supporting these employers?

We go beyond: “Where are there job openings for my target title?”

And get curious about: “Where are organizations experiencing change, growth, shortages, or problems that create a need for what I do?”

That shift can uncover target companies they hadn’t considered, adjacent industries, new networking conversations, and opportunities that aren't obvious from the job boards.

How are you helping clients stay targeted while expanding where they look for opportunity?

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