The Design Journal — Page 2
Occasional bad takes, mostly good banter, and a few UX/UI opinions worth keeping.
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Thank-You Email After an Interview, the Wait, and the Rejection Reply (2026)
The three emails that matter after an interview: the thank-you note, the follow-up while you wait, and the reply to a rejection. Templates, timing, and what's happening on the recruiter's side.
The Interview Red Flags That Actually Cost People the Job, According to the Data
What actually ends a candidacy: a 2024 survey of 625 hiring managers ranked the real red flags, why badmouthing a former boss splits recruiters from executives, and what the 2025 Ghosting Index found about who's disappearing on whom.
What a Recruiter Phone Screen Is Actually Testing, According to the People Who Run Them
A recruiter phone screen packs three separate tests into fifteen minutes, and the hiring math in 2026 means you get fewer shots at passing them.
8.4% of Resumes Clear a Recruiter. That's the Real Interview Gate.
Who actually decides in hiring: what a recruiter can approve alone, what only the hiring manager can, where the funnel narrows, and why a recruiter's no is rarely the final word.
Turn Your LinkedIn Export Into Resume Bullets With AI
LinkedIn blocks chatbots from reading a profile URL, so use a screenshot or the data export. Here's the fast way and the thorough way to turn your real work history into resume bullets, without AI inventing a detail.
11 ATS-Friendly Resume Templates [Free Downloads for 2026]
I've rejected beautifully designed resumes an ATS couldn't read a single word of. So I built 11 free templates: one for each situation you're actually in, from entry-level to federal to a career pivot, every one of them tested to parse clean.