THE LATEST WORKFORCE NEWS
Save time and subscribe to IAWP’s Workforce at Work newsletter. This newsletter shares with you the hot items from the news on workforce system issues as well as looks at trends, changes in laws and regulations, and what’s next in our profession.
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AI Is Improving the Work. Is It Improving the Worker?
AI can help people produce better work—and produce it faster. It can strengthen an argument, improve an analysis, organize scattered ideas, and generate a polished answer in minutes. But what if AI is improving the work faster than it is improving the person doing it? This distinction is easy to miss because organizations usually evaluate […]
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What Real Job Applications Tell Us About Resumes
Job seekers are often told that their résumé needs to stand out. That advice can easily lead to elaborate templates, multiple columns, graphics, carefully designed sidebars, and increasingly heavy use of artificial intelligence. A recent real-world test suggests something much simpler may work better. Career platform Kickresume submitted 204 applications to actual U.S. job openings […]
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Millions of Job Openings—So Why Is Getting Hired Still So Difficult?
For several years, jobseekers and workforce professionals have confronted an apparent contradiction. Employers report millions of job openings, yet many qualified applicants struggle to receive an interview, much less a job offer. One common explanation is that the number of openings is exaggerated by duplicate job advertisements, remote positions listed in several locations, or vacancies […]
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Credentials That Lead Somewhere: A New Standard for Workforce Training
The U.S. Department of Labor is asking the workforce system to reconsider a familiar assumption: earning a credential is not necessarily the same as gaining something of value. In Training and Employment Notice 04-26, issued August 27, 2026, the Employment and Training Administration explains how states should identify and promote high-quality industry-recognized credentials. It also […]
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When the Job Requires Experience You Don’t Have
Few things frustrate job seekers more than finding a position they believe they could do, only to see a requirement such as “three years of experience required.” The reaction is predictable: How am I supposed to get experience if employers will not hire me without it? That frustration is real, and it is not new. […]
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When a WARN Notice Arrives, the Clock Is Already Running
A WARN notice may look like another government filing. For workforce professionals, it should be understood as something more important: an early warning that workers, families, employers and an entire community may soon face disruption. The notice provides a limited window in which the workforce system can help people prepare before their paychecks stop. How […]
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The Résumé Isn’t Disappearing. Something Else Is Changing
Something subtle may be changing in hiring. The résumé is still here. Employers are still asking for it. Jobseekers are still relying on it. But I’m not sure it means quite what it used to. AI may be changing the value of one of the oldest signals in hiring—and the implications could be bigger than […]
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When the Interviewer Is AI: How Jobseekers Can Prepare—and How Workforce Professionals Can Help
For many jobseekers, an AI interview creates two challenges. The first is practical: How do you prepare for an interview when there may be no person on the other side of the screen? The second is more fundamental: Can you trust the process? That mistrust is not unusual. A 2025 Gartner survey of nearly 3,000 […]
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The Workforce Professional as a Guide Through the Changing World of Work
Finding a job has become more complicated. Job titles no longer tell us exactly what someone can do. Employers often say they need skills but continue screening people through degrees, experience requirements, and résumés. Training programs promise new opportunities, but completing a course does not guarantee that an employer will value it. AI can help […]
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Workforce Professionals Must Become Guides Through Change
For many years, workforce development followed a relatively straightforward model. A job seeker needed work. An employer had an opening. The workforce professional helped connect the two. The work often centered on résumé preparation, job-search assistance, referrals to training, access to labor-market information and placement into available positions. These services remain important, but they are […]