URGENT UPDATE: What’s Really Happening in the 2025 Tech Job Market (AI, Hiring & Recruiter Insights)

Toni

So what’s actually going on in the tech market right now? In this week’s episode of Leading Women in Tech, I sit down with Nicole Bukenski, Vice President and Practice Director at Robert Half for an urgent update on how AI and just tech in general is reshaping hiring for both candidates and companies. We’re diving into what recruiters are really seeing, why as many as one in four resumes may now be fake, how employers are vetting candidates differently.

and what it takes to stand out as the real human signal in an AI flooded market. If you’re job hunting, leading a team, or planning your next career move, this episode will give you the insider’s view. What’s working, what’s changed, and how to stay relevant as we end out the year. And if you want help using AI the right way in your job search, I’ve got a tip for you right at the end. We’re going to be talking everything you need to stand out this year as a candidate.

in busy market or as a hiring manager looking for the one needle in the haystack. Let’s dive on in.

Welcome to the show, Nicole. It’s so good to have you here. Thank you for joining us today.

Nicole:

Thank you for having me, Toni.

Toni:

Well, let’s start with a little bit about you. If you wouldn’t mind, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do and why you’re there. Let me say that again. Tell us a little bit about yourself and precisely why you’re here today, because I you and I have a very important conversation to have.

Nicole:

Sure, definitely. So my name is Nicole Budzinski. I am a vice president practice director at Robert Half. We are a global recruiting firm. I have worked for this organization for a little over six years. Coming up on seven here shortly here. I started as a recruiter myself. Now I manage a team of recruiters for the last couple of years. I also manage a bench consulting team comprised of kind of a variety of skill sets in the IT space, both female and male engineers on the team as well. And yeah, I would love to just provide some insight. It’s been a wild job market the last three years post COVID. you know, anything that I can provide both from candidates and the hiring process from that end of things, I’m happy to do so.

Toni:

Yeah, I mean, that’s why I sought you out because I wanted to talk to a recruiter. The last three years have been crazy. We saw that massive boom just around COVID in tech companies. A lot of people will say we over-hired in tech. I think there’s an interesting debate to be had about that separately because a lot of people saying we’re still correcting. How much correcting is there to be done? Obviously, we’ve got AI as well. So what’s happened in the last three years? Can you give us the quick version of what’s been going on with the tech hiring industry in the last three years.

Nicole:

Yeah, so I would say, you know, COVID was an interesting experience. think depending what field within the IT industry you were in, it might have benefited you or you might have been affected to it in terms of your job and ended up being on the job market. I think back in 2020, we were seeing a lot of IT positions open as a lot of companies were going remote. So organizations needed support from that standpoint when it came to security. and bridging the gap between having all of these Zoom meetings and Microsoft Teams and just having a more virtual present with their organizations in general. So it did open a lot more IT jobs back then. I’d say in the last few years, we have seen that kind of a bit at a standstill, but still compared to other industries that Robert Half supports, such as accounting and finance, or even our legal division, IT is still holding strong with more jobs being posted every year.

from a candidate perspective though, it has gotten a lot more competitive. And you’re competing against not only remote candidates all over the United States and sometimes globally, but just in terms of the types of roles you might be looking for and AI, as you mentioned in general. So, there are a lot of organizations that I think are hoping to replace and obviously save money by utilizing AI. But I think in the IT field, one thing that I’ve recommended to candidates

it says stays up to date on the technologies as you can. If there is any facet of your career that you can include AI in that or at least continue to be educated, it’ll just make you more marketable in the job market as opposed to your position in general being eliminated. So I think it’s also opened up bandwidth to do more cool projects on the team and then having AI kind of be the backend doing some of that administrative work for you. So not necessarily always

to liberate and eliminating roles, but creating more time for employees to showcase other skills and continue to develop their backgrounds. So there’s definitely some negatives and positives that are coming with it as those changes continue.

Toni:

you kind of miss I want to dive into maybe they’re missed maybe the facts I don’t know but I hear these all the time and with the work I do I’m working one-on-one with women and therefore I can always find a counter right to every single story I’m told I always have somebody I know who’s got the opposite so it’s interesting to know what you’re seeing in terms of market trends the first one I want to ask you is are we really seeing a contraction of the mid-management middle management

We definitely saw that would say two years ago, even I would agree with that. But I’m not sure that’s true today. I’ve helped a lot of candidates get mid-level management roles this year. What’s your take on that?

Nicole:

I have seen a bit of a fluctuation there. think there are multiple of our clients that I’ve seen. some maybe like IT manager roles eliminated and they have more reports at an IT director level. But I do see more hiring in that space as well or even positions opening up like AI manager, know, different titles that they’re moving into as opposed to just an IT manager that overall, you know, covers multiple areas. Maybe they’re drilling down and getting more specific. So it’s definitely a little bit of both. I think it it depends on the market and also the size of the organization.

So those Fortune 500 companies and larger, they’re still investing in kind of the siloed management titles and only having three to five reports as it feels like that helps bring, kind of bridge the gap between what the team goals are and making sure everyone’s on the same page. I think when you get to managing 15 to 20 people, you sometimes that can fall to the wayside and things are lost in translation. You can’t work as closely with each person on the team. So, yeah, it just, It just kind of depends, but I’ve seen a little bit of both.

Toni:

Yeah, I mean, I would only say the companies that have moved to putting 20 people under one people manager, there’s no hierarchy. I actually see that damaging the business in the long term. I come at that from the executive coaching angle. The productivity actually goes down. You think you’re going to get more because you’ve got less management overhead, but management isn’t just management. It’s leadership, it’s vision, it’s supporting the team to work excellently. OK, so let’s talk about this from another angle then. Where do you see opportunities this year? If you’re talking about candidates, so many candidates will tell me nobody’s hiring, it’s the hardest market. I’m like, I don’t think it’s as hard as it was a couple of years ago. I think it’s actually easier. There are fewer layoffs this year. But what are the opportunities and what are some of the myths around how hard it is right now?

Nicole:

Well, I will say this market is a bit more difficult than 2024, but not by too much. typically, yeah. So typically most candidates, think I was reading some stats from the interview guys. They had mentioned it takes anywhere from 32 to 200 applications to land even an interview. I think that definitely holds true from what I’ve been seeing candidates that I’ve been talking to. Some suggestions I make to them are what platforms they’re using to apply.

Toni:

Tell me about that.

Nicole:

In my world, from what I’ve been seeing, LinkedIn is an awesome, awesome resource. I think a lot of it has to do with the networking also behind some of that. So they’re able to see prior employment and other connections that you might have that might be mutual as opposed to as you’re applying on Indeed or CareerBuilder, it’s really just a flat resume. There’s no further experience behind that. So I think it depends on the platform that you’re utilizing. I will say this year, the amount of interviews it actually takes to land a job has gone down. Partially, I think that’s due to on the client facing side, we actually recommend to our clients to try to condense their interview process. You know, it’s still very competitive in IT. So we’ve tried to recommend that the longer the interview processes, the more likely you are to lose candidates to getting another position in the meantime. So we’ve actually suggested that along with, you know, other firms. And I think that’s why the interview processes have been a bit shorter based on some of those recommendations. So that might be a bit of a myth, but I think it stands true that it’s still quite a few applications to land a position, unfortunately.

Toni:

Yeah. I mean, I would certainly say something that I’ve done this year is I have always said, because I’m an executive coach, you should be networking your blade of a job. The majority of jobs at the senior level are not advertised, irrespective of what the role is. Obviously, you’re talking about IT specifically. My clients are across. If you’re listening and you think this doesn’t apply to me, it does. Keep listening, because we are really talking across tech. companies, irrespective of the role type. What Nicole is sharing with us, from what I’m seeing, across the sector. But what I see is networking has always been necessary for senior roles because so many jobs aren’t advertised. And networking with recruiters, such as yourself, is always just going to open more doors. I’m a big advocate for that. But something I’ve seen since September, which correlates with what I’m finding with talking to hiring managers, who I coach as well, which is they’re not taking candidates. who are coming in through applications so that it’s harder to get interviews from applications. Absolutely. I think there are more jobs out there this year, but I think it’s harder to turn an application into an interview because I’m seeing hiring managers going, I’m not taking applications. I’m not taking people from applications. They need to come with recommendation because of bots. Let’s dive into that a little bit. Are you seeing that? What’s going on there? Would you agree with that?

Nicole: 

Definitely, definitely. It’s much harder even internally here at Robert Half, our recruiting team is dealing with it in terms of just the AI and I guess, you know, the manipulating of resumes. So whether the entire resume itself is completely falsified or there’s a couple skills or a couple experiences that AI has just made up for them that they’ve added on there, they say by 2028, there’s about one in four resumes will be completely false. created by AI. So having to vet through that, you know, from an employer standpoint is quite the headache. And I think that’s why, you know, my business in general has stayed pretty stable because employers don’t have time to vet through some of that nonsense. They’re coming to outside firms to help vet that out for them. A couple things that I’ve recommended on the candidate end to kind of, you know, branch out from that, but also there’s a lot of companies like to promote from within. So jobs might not necessarily be posted for that reason. But also just the AI in general, they want to take recommendations or at least know someone who has met them face to face. So one thing that we’ve really Robert Half has done since I’ve worked here the last six years, but we always interview candidates face to face. So I recommend to any of the employers out there, skip the phone screen process, get them on Microsoft Teams or Zoom or, you know, one of those virtual platforms. Get that face to face interaction. You can tell if they’re, you reading off something or typing something into AI. Just, you know, some of those soft skills you’re able to catch from the face-to-face interaction and will help vet out some of that AI that you’re running into. I’d say from a candidate standpoint and how they can kind of vet themselves out because adding your personal touch to a resume I think is still very important but there’s, as we spoke on briefly, it’s very important to have a very, very professional resume and one typo will vet you of the process. having AI sometimes vet that out for you and assist, it’s a huge help. And I think there’s a lot of creative and good ways to use it, but still adding that personal touch in there. So I always recommend to candidates leaving out a lot of the bold lettering on a resume, outside of maybe job titles in a company, because that will, AI, the way that it displays, a lot of times it will bold a lot of your technical skills. So I would stray away from doing that. I also say, you know, explain the project work that you did all of those technologies with and elaborate as much as possible. I’d say the recommendation to have your resume on one page is out the door at this point, especially if you’ve been in this field for a while, but I do recommend putting the most important skills on that first page. So, you know, not condensing it too much because some of the information might be relevant to the employer that’s hiring you. But you know organizing it to a point that makes it visually appealing. And again using AI for suggestions but still putting your own personal touch.

Toni Collis:

I say one of the things I get clients do, and actually if anybody wants to guide to this, message me because I’ve got a guide for using AI to get it to interview you. I used to do this with clients since it’s very time consuming. We sit down for two hours. Like, how did you do this? Like you’ve got this impact. What did you do? How did you do that? And those turn into like two sentences on a resume, but you get AI to interview you. And I think that’s the real power of AI. I think that’s a really good thing. But let me just come back to your comment there about the one page resume has gone struggle with this. I remember getting that feedback myself when I applied for my first executive position and my mentor was like you need that one page and I was like how? And so I’ve always kind of gone with a middle ground which is like maximum two pages and if you’re going to do two make sure there’s white space. Don’t make it font tiny, make sure that like it’s not like crazy like tiny margins, like get some white space on there but you can go to two pages. Do you have like a general rule of thumb which is like

Yeah, two is fine, but three’s too much or do you disagree with that? Like, where would you say is the sweet spot?

Nicole:

I think it depends on the type of role that you’re looking for. So for instance, if I’m working with a project manager that’s been in this industry for 10 years, they might have a bit more detailed resume and it might be three to five pages. However, for a software developer, they’re more, a bit more straightforward just in the technologies they’ve used, the ROI with their project work. So it might be a bit more condensed. So I usually recommend just the order of how it’s displayed and probably two pages at If it gets to three, make sure it’s information that you think might be relevant to that role. that seems to, that seems to, from the employers that I’ve spoken with, that seems to be most important to them. The first thing they’re going to look for is that you have the top three to five technical skills that they’re asking. And then outside of that, they’re going to be like, okay, it was listed at the top, but explain to me like where and when you used it. If that’s not listed on your resume, it’s certainly going to be an interview question. So just making sure that you have those details on there.

Toni:

So what are your views on cover letters? Particularly for senior roles, what are your views on them? Because I think it gives some opportunity for personality, which right now might help, but it’s also a headache for hiring managers. It’s another thing to read. What’s your view on it?

Nicole:

No, no, I think it’s great. I think cover letters show that extra mile that you’re willing to go in terms of your passion about the role, your interest in the organization. So I think that’s actually sets things off on the right foot. And there might be some employers that don’t look at that and skip right to the resume. So make sure it kind of has similar information on both. But again, I think it’s just another way to showcase your personality and just differentiate yourself in the market. So I encourage cover letters wherever we can. Also with candidates reference. can be huge in differentiating in the market. Now, you’re not gonna wanna give your references to every application that you put in, but the sooner that you offer that up, or us as recruiters being the middleman with our clients, that we have references done for our candidates, it puts them to the front of the bunch. We’ve also seen more job offers come through by proactively just sending our clients references on that candidate. So it can really help them, yeah, make a difference for you in getting job offers across the line.

Toni:

Okay, so I actually had a conversation with somebody just last week where she was being pushed to give a reference for her current boss and she was leaving that role for a reason. This is a very common thing with the women I work by the way. She’s leaving for a reason, who doesn’t? And the people were like, yeah, we’re going to offer it to you, but we want your references. So she gave her references, but she deliberately didn’t include her boss. Well, she didn’t include anybody from her current organization. They came back and said, we need somebody from your current organization. She gave somebody she trusted.

And they’ve come back and then said, no, no, we need your boss. And she’s like, not until I have an offer, because I will burn a bridge. So what are your views on that? how should a candidate navigate this? What is a reasonable set of references to send off? I love this idea of proactively sending references. I think, you know, it’s going to cause ructions if you’re currently in place. So how do we do that?

Nicole:

I would agree. I think from an employer perspective, they should understand, especially if it’s a more discreet job search, your employer doesn’t know you’re looking, which majority of the time that is the case. know, your current the best position to be in is currently employed while looking for something else. So to have to be forced to put your current employer, you know, that makes an awkward situation for the current your current employment that you’re in. So we always I mean, I have not personally ran into clients that request a reference from a current employer, but they do request references. And it’s usually recent employment. So maybe not the most recent employer you had, but at least in the last five years.

Toni:

Interesting. how many, if somebody is proactively giving over references, this is something I’m going to adopt starting today, actually. This is great feedback. So if somebody is proactively giving references, how many would you advise? Two, three, what’s your recommendation there?

Nicole:

I’d say at least two and having them be managerial references is always better and peer references. But at least two managerial references and then if you have a couple peer references, that’s great as well. I’ve seen more in the last year, clients having a cultural interview with just other team members that they would potentially be working with. So I think if you had other peer references as well, that’s become more important than in past.

Toni:

Yeah, it does. I definitely think peers, I mean, at the end of the day, you can have a huge impact by working closely with your peers. So I think that’s everything. Okay, let’s shift gears and talk about hiring managers because I have got so many clients who are hiring and who are drowning in the amount of work they feel they need to do even when they’ve got a recruiter working for them. What’s your advice with the current climate of Lots of people applying, lots of people begging for jobs. Apparently lots of bots. I’ve had clients report to me 95 % of the applications have come from bots. I think some platforms are worse for that than others. What’s your advice for our hiring manager to make this easy for themselves, but also for the candidates as well?

So let’s shift gears, Nicole. Let’s talk about hiring managers and how they can make their lives easier and make candidate’s life easier. In particular, You know, I lot of clients who are hiring right now and they are drowning. They’re drowning in the amount of work they feel they have to do to deal with thousands of applications. I mean, and these aren’t even for like, they’re not necessarily even for IC roles. Some of them are from managerial roles and there’s still thousands of applications. I have a couple of clients who’ve told me 95 % of the applications are bots, which is a whole world of pain. How do you bet that? But equally at the same time,

How do you make sure that the right candidates are getting through when most screenings are remote? What’s some of the best practice you think kairi manjas should be taking on right now?

Nicole:

I would say a couple different things. have a few different answers to that question. I think there’s a few different systems out there that you can utilize to vet through resumes. Here at Robert Half, we utilize Salesforce. We also utilize AI internally for AI recommended talent. And this helps bring key words from resumes and helps vet through some of that as well. I would say make it as clear as possible as well if a job is required to be on site. you’re still going to get some of those remote applicants and you can also have some settings to vet folks out of state unless you’re open to paying for relocation, but that’ll help drown out some of that noise. And then just the face-to-face interviewing right away. So as opposed to doing the phone screens, hopping on a Zoom meeting or Microsoft Teams to be able to have them speak directly to some of that experience. It’s really hard to make up on the spot and you’ll also be able to tell if they’re reading off of some things.

So I think that’s something that we’ve involved and really strengthened in our practice here to help clients throughout that process. It’s definitely difficult. As candidates are utilizing AI, they might have all of that experience, but they’re just using it for formatting reasons, as we discussed. it’s definitely having a dedicated talent acquisition person that has the time to vet through all of that, or utilizing some sort of third-party to kind of assist in vetting out. There’s so many recruiting firms out there and similar to candidates that we work with, there’s nothing binding in working with Robert Half when our candidates work with us. I actually encourage them to utilize multiple firms on the market. think from, yeah, so I think from a candidate standpoint, you can apply online and your resume is gonna be rushed in with 200 to 300 other applicants. I think if you have a few good contacts in the recruiting firm space, that you can go to

to and they can directly put your resume in front of hiring manager. That also helps drown out some of that noise and gives you more opportunity, especially if they’re like an approved vendor of that organization. you know, we have clients that have been working with Robert Half for years. Sometimes they come to us directly before they post a job online. So that may be what some of the candidates are hearing. So I think having someone in your network or a few folks in your network that can, you know, help feed your resume directly to some of those resources

is a good way to go in addition to just the job sites. think networking is more important than ever because that will differentiate you from the AI standpoint.

Toni:

How do you feel actually about a hiring manager doing some networking themselves? I’ve had clients do this. They feel that they’re primarily from internal recruiters. I think this is part of the problem. think internal recruiters are some of the most overworked people right now. They’re expected to do far more than they were five years ago. Because AI solves all problems, don’t you know? And therefore what’s getting through to the hiring manager is not well vetted. They’re not high quality.

And so I had one client last month who just decided she would just source all her own. And I was like, no, no, just try and find the funding to use a third party recruiter. And she was like, yeah, my bosses are gonna give me the money for this. So she spent a lot of time on LinkedIn finding candidates. Is there a way to do, what would your advice be in that situation? Obviously, hopefully use somebody like yourselves because they’re gonna vet quicker. But is there any advice you’d give in that situation?

Nicole:

Yeah, no, I’d say and we run into that with clients, you know, on occasion. We even have like, you know, some folks in our personal network that are like Robert Half is too expensive or, you know, other firms out there. We just don’t have the budget for third party help on this right now. I’d say networking. So find like some events in the area, depending on the level of the positions you’re looking to fill that might have candidates, you know, looking for jobs in that sense. So we partner with a lot of the universities around the area and we’ll go to some of those for recent grads specifically in IT or accounting and finance that are looking for positions. So getting that face-to-face interaction, you know, from a hiring standpoint as well. And then if you’re not able to invest in a recruiting firm, I’d say maybe invest in some tools when it comes to recruiting and vetting out some of that information. There’s definitely resources out there that will help you scan resumes without you having to do it and will still help you save time.

Well looking for like the top three skill sets you might be asking for and making sure the resumes have those and the ones that don’t it might send them an automatic message that say thank you for your application, but you know we’re moving forward with other candidates at this time. So there’s tons and tons of resources online that can help take out some of that legwork for you as opposed to utilizing a full-blown, you know third-party firm.

Toni:

Yeah, I’m so glad you said that. let me just actually call out one of the things about this podcast, which is Women in Tech. I’m very passionate about inclusive hiring practices. It should come as no surprise to anybody. One of the things we all know as women in tech is we’re held to a different standard and there’s bias in the application process, in the hiring process, the ATS filters. How are you combating that, especially with using AI to do screening? How are you addressing bias that may have been introduced in the training of these tools? Have you thought about that at all?

Nicole:

I’m not exactly sure not being an expert on AI. I don’t know if there’s any considered expert in AI out there, but It’s definitely things that can be learned and there there can be employers out there that will ask it to vet and look for certain things I’d say, know Robert half as a whole we will not work with clients that ask for Specific specifications on you know a candidates background or their ethnicity Or their gender, you know anything of that nature. We just straight-up will not work on those positions And I think AI in general it depends on again how it’s

I think there’s more to come on that question. And hopefully it goes in a positive direction, where AI working as robots doesn’t see gender, so it doesn’t affect women in the future. We’d like to hope so. again, if it’s trained a certain way, because it’s utilizing information that it’s being fed, I think it could go in either direction. So I think for now, you know, women not using that as something that might fall them back and just continuing to push forward, showcase all of their skills, not be afraid to brag about the things that they’ve done in their career and throughout their work and be proud of, you know, the certain steps they might have taken to get there. So I think just having a positive mindset will help get through some of that. But I’m not sure about the AI question when it comes to like discrimination and things of that nature.

Toni:

I really hope that people start paying attention to that. There was actually a client of mine, so it was the beginning of this year, so AI has moved on a lot, right? We’ve had several different versions of all the major platforms since then. But she asked one of the major platforms, not name which one, that is several iterations old by now, she gave it the sentence that it had written based on an experience she had.

So she told it like, this is what I did, this is how I did it, like write me a sentence for my resume. And she said, how would a man write that? And it wrote it completely differently. As I said, like six to nine months ago, I’m sure it like the beginning of 2025. So it’s a different time, AI is moving so fast. But ladies, if you’re listening, that’s maybe something to try. I’ve not actually done that with a client for a while. Maybe something to try. Nicole, this has been amazing. Is there anything else you want the listeners to hear it before we wrap up. Hiring managers, people listening from the perspective of getting hired, or anybody else, like is there anything else you like? They need to hear this.

Nicole:

A couple things that I’d say that I’ve been saying to candidates since I first started working here. Come into any interview with confidence. You know, it’s easy to get nervous and be scared when you’re taking on a new opportunity, meeting new people, things like that. But be confident in the experience that you’ve had. Be prepared. Do your research. And I’d say in this market, as opposed to prior, the more flexibility you have for a hybrid environment will be helpful. There’s a lot less remote jobs out than there were just two years back. So having that flexibility, even if it’s just once or a couple of times on site a month, employers love to hear that. So that will also help differentiate you in the industry. And I just say, utilize all the resources you can at your disposal, whether it be AI, other recruiting firms, just having folks in your network that are looking out for you, I think is huge. I think from a client and company standpoint, anyone that works in talent acquisition and HR, our jobs are going to get tougher with the AI utilization that’s out there. But I think just making sure that we have the most up-to-date technology and the security protocols in place will help prepare you for that. So I think that’s what I would like to leave everyone with.

Toni:

Well, I do actually have a couple more quickfire questions if you’re up for it. Okay, because I ask everybody, particularly these next two, like I feel like I should write a book one day of these questions. Are you ready for this? Okay, here we go. So what is the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Nicole:

Let’s see, I think it was probably early in my career, maybe before I was even a recruiter, just interviewing for jobs. I will say it was a male giving advice, but he had mentioned to not talk as much and make sure you get straight to the point.

I think expanding on all your experiences is very valuable and very important and that is something that I throw out the door right away. And I give the complete opposite advice to any of the candidates that I’m working with and that are interviewing. I think, in addition to that, the reason that I think it was poor advice is it kind of negatively impacted me after the fact. know, some of the feedback I got on some of the interviews I have was I didn’t go in depth enough.

I was scared. I didn’t want to talk too much. didn’t want to be that person that was over explaining and things of that nature. yeah, I totally took that back. I think there’s different ways that you can get sidetracked when you’re talking about things and answering questions during an interview. But I would say speak to everything that is relevant to you.

Toni:

Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve had clients who don’t get to the point at all. But most women, most women undersell themselves. I always think there’s a middle ground and I’m always just trying to bring people to the middle. Some people over talk, some people under talk. It sounds like you were not doing that though. So yeah, unhelpful. It’s a classic, women get back in your box and you’re like, no. What is the best piece of advice you have for being given?

Nicole:

I’d say, And this could go with candidates on the workforce. This could go with networking, but people do business with people that they like. I think that’s actually something I’ve learned just within the last year. My role now is a bit more client facing than candidate facing. And I think I was trying to be a bit too salesy with my approach on some things, but the more I’ve learned to network and also just put my personality in my work on a day-to-day basis, that’s actually been very beneficial more rewarding, it’s more enjoyable. yeah, mean, put yourself into your work, showcase your personality as much as you can. Those are just two big things that other folks can’t take away from you. So that’s I’m saying.

Toni:

Love it. Love it so much. Nicole, where can we find you? If people want to connect with you, where can they find you?

Nicole:

yes, I’m Nicole Bugenske on LinkedIn then my email is nicole.bugenske@roberthalf.com. If you have any follow up questions at all, know of someone looking for a job. Again, Robert Half is global wide so I can find the right recruiting resource that’s nearest to you. So happy to help.

Toni:

Love that. Love that, thank you. Nicole, any final thoughts you want to leave us with today?

Nicole:

No, I think it’s going to be an interesting next few years. It’s rapid how much AI has affected the workforce just in 2025. So I’m sure it’ll just continue in 2026. So I’d say in the tech space, keep up to date on your skills as much as you can and continue networking.

Toni:

Thank you so, so much, Nicole. I really appreciate your time today. And I’m hoping that listeners have got some real takeaways from what to do with your resume to what to do better as a hiring manager. As Nicole says, this is moving really, really fast. I think we’re going to need to follow up in six months, again, in 12 months. So pay attention to what’s going on. What worked even 12 months ago isn’t working right now. I that’s one of the key takeaways. So if you’re listening, pay attention, get ready to change things, but don’t think that you can’t land a job. I have so many people come to me and think I can’t land a job in this market. No, you can. It’s just it’s a different game than it was a few years ago. So hold tight, ladies. You can do this. Just pay attention to what’s going on out there. And I look forward to hearing from you very soon about what your next dream job is going to be. Bye for now, everybody.