The blog

Career evidence, in practice

Short, practical pieces on one idea: write down what you did while you still remember it. Then you can prove it whenever you need to.

A man at his desk in a bright office, laying printed pages side by side in order across the table in front of him.

August 30, 2026 · 4 min read

A promotion case and a résumé are the same document, twice

You don't need to be job-searching for your evidence to matter. The review cycle compiles from the same record the résumé does.

A woman at a kitchen table with a printed certificate set to one side, working instead in a notebook she is filling herself.

August 30, 2026 · 6 min read

Résumé completion is the wrong workforce metric

WIOA assesses six primary indicators, and not one of them counts a service delivered. Five are measured after the participant has left.

A woman at a kitchen table in early morning light, writing carefully in a notebook beside a closed laptop and a cup of coffee.

August 29, 2026 · 4 min read

The retrospective nobody runs

What to write down the week after you don't get the job. The worst-feeling moment in a search is the one that compounds.

A woman at a dining table late in the evening, pen stopped on a half-written notebook page, thinking rather than writing.

August 28, 2026 · 4 min read

Why "quantify your impact" is bad advice

Not because numbers don't matter. Because the advice, as practiced, pressures people into inventing them under deadline.

Seen from above, a pair of hands holding two pages clear of a desk that is covered edge to edge with sheets of handwritten notes.

August 28, 2026 · 4 min read

The federal résumé formula

The largest employer in the country tells applicants exactly what a résumé line is: "Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]." The hard part is the Y.

An interviewer sits with her pen paused above her notepad, listening closely to a candidate who is mid-answer.

August 27, 2026 · 4 min read

What a STAR story is missing, and why interviewers can tell

Situation, task, action, result. A skeptical interviewer is waiting for the fifth part: how you know the result was real.

Close view of hands at a kitchen table drawing a firm line through one paragraph of a printed page, with other lines already struck out.

August 26, 2026 · 4 min read

A gate is not a requirement

Some lines in a job posting can eliminate you outright, and no amount of good evidence can argue with them. Find those lines first.

A woman alone in a glass-walled meeting room just after everyone has left, writing a few lines in a notebook while the chairs are still pushed out.

August 25, 2026 · 3 min read

Three questions to ask about anything you just finished

Scale, stakes, and the measured result. Five minutes with these three questions saves you days of reconstruction later.

A man at a desk beside an open archive box crammed with old project folders, reading a single thin printed page.

August 24, 2026 · 4 min read

The résumé is a lossy format

Every résumé compresses. The question is whether you still have the original, or whether "managed implementation" is all that survived.