📰 In this issue

🔹 Insider: Exclusive for our community

🔹 Opportunity: 7 Sizzling Niche Skills to Supercharge Your Tech Game

🔹 Trends: Skills Over Seniority for the gazillionth time

🔹 Tools: Which AI Sidekick Wins the Job Search?

🔹 Sparks: iPadPro vs. MacBook, Tattoos & Cancer, Inflation, the Fed and Jobs

🗃Insider

The Candle AI Disruption Score

This month, in our new insider section, meet the Candle AI Disruption score.

This new tool allows you to upload your resume and receive FREE insights and a personalized analysis that help you remain competitive in today's changing workplace. Try it today!

ResumeResponseGPT

While you’re at it, if you’re actively looking for a new job, you’ll find the ResumeResponseGPT Chrome Plugin an indispensable tool. With over 10,000 job listings analyzed, 800+ users, and a 5.0 Rating, this is a keeper.

🚀 Opportunity

Unlock Your Career Potential: 7 Sizzling Niche Skills to Supercharge Your Tech Game

Are you ready to take your tech career to new heights? Mastering these cutting-edge niche skills will make you an invaluable asset and open doors to some dynamite opportunities. Here are seven hot skill sets to focus on:

Applied Deep Learning: Leverage the power of deep learning to solve real-world challenges across industries like healthcare, finance, and robotics. Companies need experts who can implement this advanced AI technology effectively.

Practical ChatGPT Applications: Go beyond just understanding Gerative AI and become adept at using this conversational tech across various functions and industries to drive business value.

Ransomware and Cyber Extortion Expertise: With ransomware attacks on the rise, companies urgently need incident response experts skilled in monitoring networks, containing damage, and mitigating these threats.

Generative AI and Cybersecurity: As generative AI evolves, organizations require professionals who can secure systems against potential AI-driven threats and cyberattacks.

ESG for Supply Chains: Gain expertise in technologies and strategies that optimize supply chains while ensuring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance and sustainability.

Operational Technology (OT): Develop skills in managing and securing the hardware and software that interact with physical environments and automated systems across industries like manufacturing and healthcare.

CRM Systems and Sales Technology: Master leveraging customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation (SFA) tools to drive customer engagement, retention, and revenue growth.

By specializing in these niche areas, you'll position yourself as a highly valuable professional, ready to tackle the most pressing challenges in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

🔥 Why You Should Care - The niche positions cross industries - all growth
 
🔑 Key Point - Skill sets cross industries and allow for greatest job security

📎 Related Resource

• Top 10 Jobs in AI and the Right AI Skills

• 10 Best AI Career Paths 2024: Securing a Future in AI

• The Top 10 Fastest Growing Industries in 2024

📉 Trends

Skills Over Seniority: Groundbreaking News! Or Is It? We've Mentioned This a Few Gazillion Times

Remember when we talked about the shift towards skills-based hiring? Well, that trend is still going strong, and it's time to revisit it because more and more employers are prioritizing niche skills over specific years of experience, especially for high-wage positions.

You might recall we previously discussed how various factors like cost control, changing labor market dynamics, and the rise of online learning platforms are driving this movement. But let's recap with some fresh data to underscore the point.

According to a recent study by Indeed, only 30% of job postings in April 2024 specified a certain number of years' experience, down from nearly 40% in April 2022. USA Today reports that this decline was most prevalent in higher-paying sectors that traditionally required advanced education, such as banking, scientific research, and information design.

These fields have seen a dramatic reduction in both educational and experience requirements, with year-specific experience mentions in job postings falling by more than 20 percentage points for high-wage sectors (from 66% to 44%) since April 2022. The shift was less pronounced but still significant for low and medium-wage jobs.

Researchers at Indeed's Hiring Lab suggest that this skills-first hiring practice is a tactic by companies to broaden their candidate pool and manage labor costs more effectively. However, it's not just about cost-cutting; it's also about improving the quality of hires.

Again, years of experience don't always translate to proficiency. A worker who uses a skill or technology daily will likely be more adept than one who uses it occasionally, even if they have the same number of years under their belt.

The decline in experience requirements is also linked to broader economic trends. As the labor market has slowed, the number of people quitting jobs to take new positions has dipped below pre-pandemic levels. Companies have enough veteran workers and are seeking college grads or others with less experience to reduce labor expenses. By not specifying an experience level, they may also attract more seasoned workers willing to take lower-paying positions.

So, as we've discussed before, the trend towards skills-based hiring continues unabated. It's time to double down on developing those in-demand niche skills and showcasing your expertise to stand out in this evolving job market landscape.

🔥 Why You Should Care - Skills, you need skills, AI skills - End.
 
🔑 Key Point - Skills-based hiring continues unabated.

📎 Related Resource

• Could Skills-Based Hiring Ease the Higher Ed Enrollment Crisis?

• New survey indicates significant pivot toward skills-based and AI-backed hiring

• What Companies Get Wrong About Skills-Based Hiring

🚀 Tools

Battle of the Bots: Which AI Sidekick Wins the Job Search?

From chatbots and virtual assistants to content creation tools, AI tools are flying off the shelf. We are in the process of developing a complete list of tools available and will be releasing that some time in the very near future. A comprehensive compendium of Gen AI models that can offer a wide range of services to job seekers in the knowledge worker sector, enhancing your job search experience, improving professional development, and increasing your chances of securing desirable positions.

In the meantime - This is a quick overview of the difference between a few GenAI models, not a comprehensive list, by any means.

GPT-4o (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4) by OpenAI

Applications: Text generation, resume and cover letter writing, interview preparation, skill assessment, job matching and recommendations, personalized job search assistance, and continuous feedback.

Strengths: High-quality natural language understanding and generation, versatility in handling diverse tasks.

BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) by Google

Applications: Text classification, question answering, sentiment analysis, and language understanding. Useful for parsing job descriptions and matching them with candidate profiles.

Strengths: Strong performance in understanding the context and nuances of language, making it suitable for job matching and recommendations.

T5 (Text-to-Text Transfer Transformer) by Google

Applications: Text generation, translation, summarization, and other NLP tasks. Can help in creating and summarizing job application materials and generating tailored job search content.

Strengths: Unified approach to various NLP tasks, providing consistent performance across different applications.

Claude by Anthropic

Applications: Conversational AI, providing guidance and support throughout the job search process, content moderation, and personalized assistance.

Strengths: Emphasizes safety and ethical considerations, ensuring reliable and helpful interactions.

Jasper AI

Applications: Content creation, copywriting, generating persuasive and engaging job application materials, and creating professional social media profiles.

Strengths: Tailored for marketing and advertising industries, but also useful for generating high-quality application content.

These models offer a range of services tailored to job seekers, from creating application materials and preparing for interviews to providing personalized job search assistance and industry insights.

🔥 Why You Should Care - Different models have different results
 
🔑 Key Point - Keep an eye out for Candle’s tools chest

📎 Related Resource

• GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro: How the New AI Models Compare

• ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

• Meta AI Llama 3 vs. ChatGPT 4: A comparative analysis

🚀 Sparks

• 🔥 I ditched my laptop for an iPad Pro for a few weeks

• 🔥 Scientists Warn Tattoos May Increase Cancer Risk

• 🔥 The economy continues to roll, jobs are plenty

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