How the Media Misleads You

By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP

You probably see job search advice and reports on the state of employment in the media all the time.

How do you know if the information is truly helpful or just clickbait?

Here are 5 examples of bad or misleading information from both large and small media outlets. These demonstrate that the media does not always have your best interests in mind.

1. Forbes: ”Looking for New Opportunities In 2026? Here Are 5 Key Tips From A C-Suite Coach”
   Advises building a “digital footprint” by consistently posting thought leadership pieces on social platforms to attract attention. But many people are bad writers. The bad writers who feel obligated to be seen, because they’ve been told to get seen, use AI to write it for them, creating AI slop. This is not a great idea for 98% of the population, regardless of how much expertise you have. The success of this definitely depends on the field. (Do you really want to know from an executive at a plumbing company how your kitchen sink works?)

2. Money.com: ”New Year, New Job? Career Experts Share Their Top 5 Tips for Getting Hired”
   Provides over-simplified and over-generalized career advice like “employers want proof of your abilities, not just a list of roles.” Job seekers in general don’t know what this even means.

3. The New York Times: “The NYT 2026 Job Market series”
   My personal favorite in this list. The opinion column writer has zero hiring experience, and the consistently false information about hiring proves this. These articles are always about the job applicant’s experience, as if that’s the sole perspective on hiring. But rejections do not lead to knowledge of hiring practices.

4. Nesco Resource: “Job Search Tips: Search Smarter, Not Harder In 2026”
   This article by a job search support platform encourages generic messaging for cold outreach and espouses AI falsehoods about hiring. Not helpful.

5. WhatJobs: “The Old Job Search is Dead: Find Success in 2026”
   Describes a “stale” market where not much is moving in either direction. And that hiring managers are drowning in applications they can’t meaningfully evaluate. No and no.

Big outlets like Forbes and The New York Times run many contributor and opinion columns (not staff-reported, not fact-checked) by self-proclaimed experts on topics. One writer’s opinion gets published, under that big media name, and that looks like their word is consensus expert guidance, when it's really just one perspective among many.

Another misleading tactic: 2026 job-search help sites now openly discredit outdated advice to sell their own updated solutions. As in: The old advice was wrong, or is now invalid, and our services are your new “in.” Buyer beware.

What’s really going on in the world of hiring, and what really works? Contact me to find out.

****

Better job. More pay. More control.

To book a consultation, please contact us at Control Your Career!