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How can you get ahead in your career and still enjoy the ride? One solution offered in business books, LinkedIn posts, and team-building manuals is to use humor. Sharing jokes, sarcastic quips, ironic memes, and witty anecdotes, the advice goes, will make you more likable, ease stress, strengthen teams, spark creativity, and even signal leadership potential. We are professors of marketing and management who study humor and workplace dynamics. Our own researchand a growing body of work by other scholarsshows that its harder to be funny than most people think. The downside of cracking a bad joke is often larger than what you might gain by landing a good one. Fortunately, you dont have to tell sidesplitting jokes to make humor work for you. You can learn to think like a comedian instead. Humor is risky business Comedy works by bending and breaking normsand when those rules arent broken in just the right way, its more likely to harm your reputation than to help your team. We developed the benign violation theory to explain what makes things funnyand why attempts at humor so often backfire, especially in the workplace. Essentially, humor arises when something is both wrong and OK at the same time. People find jokes funny when they break rules while seeming harmless. Miss one of those ingredients when you tell a joke and your audience wont appreciate it. When its all benign and theres no violation, you get yawns. When its all violation and not benign, you could end up triggering outrage. Its hard enough to get laughs in the darkness of a comedy club. Under fluorescent office lights, that razor-thin line becomes even harder to walk. What feels wrong but OK to one colleague can feel simply wrong to another, especially across differences in seniority, culture, gender, or even the mood theyre in. The hit sitcom The Office pokes fun at the cringeworthy jokes cracked by a hapless boss. An advertising study In our experiments, when everyday people are asked to be funny, most attempts land flat or cross lines. In a humorous caption contest with business students, described in Peter McGraws book on global humor practices, The Humor Code, the captions werent particularly funny to begin with. However, the ones that were rated by judges as the most funny were often also rated the most distasteful. Being funny without being offensive is of paramount importance. This is particularly true for women, as a robust literature shows women face harsher backlash than men for behavior seen as offensive or norm-violating, such as expressing anger, acting dominantly, or even making asks in negotiations. Dont be that guy. You might end up getting no respect Research by other scholars who examine leader and manager behavior in organizations tells a similar story. In one study, managers who used humor effectively were seen as more confident and competent, boosting their status. Yet when their attempts misfired, those same managers lost status and credibility. Other researchers have found that failed humor doesnt just hurt a managers statusit also makes employees less likely to respect that manager, seek their advice, or trust their leadership. Even when jokes land, humor can backfire. In one study, marketing students instructed to write funny copy for advertisements wrote ads that were funnier, but also less effective, than students instructed to write creative or persuasive copy. Another study found that bosses who joke too often push employees into pretending to be amused, which drains energy, reduces job satisfaction, and increases burnout. And the risks are higher for women due to a double standard. When women use humor in presentations, they are often judged as being less capable and having lower status than men. The bottom line is that telling a great joke rarely gets you a promotion. And cracking a bad one can jeopardize your jobeven if youre not a talk show host who earns a living making people laugh. Flip the script Instead of trying to be funny on the job, we recommend that you focus on what we call thinking funnyas described in another of McGraws books, Shtick to Business. The best ideas come as jokes, advertising legend David Ogilvy once said. Try to make your thinking as funny as possible. But Ogilvy wasnt telling executives to crack jokes in meetings. He was encouraging employees to think like comedians by flipping expectations, leveraging their networks, and finding their niche. Comics often lead you one way and then flip the script. Comedian Henny Youngman, a master of one-liners, famously quipped, When I read about the dangers of drinking, I gave up . . . reading. The business version of this convention is to challenge n obvious assumption. For example, Patagonias Dont Buy This Jacket campaign, which the outdoor gear company rolled out on Black Friday in 2011 as a full-page ad in The New York Times, paradoxically boosted sales by calling out overconsumption. To apply this method, pick a stale assumption your team holds, such as that adding features to a product always improves it or that having more meetings will lead to smoother coordination, and ask, What if the opposite were true? Youll discover options that standard brainstorming misses. Create a chasm When comedian Bill Burr has his fans in stitches, he knows some people wont find his jokes funnyand he doesnt try to win them over. Weve observed that many of the best comics dont try to please everyone. They succeed by deliberately narrowing their audience. And we also find that businesses that do the same build stronger brands. For example, when Nebraskas tourism board embraced Honestly, its not for everyone in a 2019 campaign, targeting out-of-state visitors, web traffic jumped 43%. Some people want hot tea. Others want iced tea. Serving warm tea satisfies no one. Likewise, you can succeed in business by deciding whom your idea is for, and whom its not for, then tailoring your product, policy, or presentation accordingly. Cooperate to innovate Stand-up may look like a solo act. But comics depend on feedbackpunch-ups from fellow comedians and reactions from audiencesiterating jokes in the same way lean startups may innovate new products. Building successful teams at work means listening before speaking, making your partners look good, and balancing roles. Improv teacher Billy Merritt has described three types of improvisers. Pirates are risk-takers. Robots are structure builders. Ninjas are adept at both: taking risks and building structures. A team designing a new app, for instance, needs all three: Pirates to propose bold features, robots to streamline the interface, and ninjas to bridge gaps. Empowering everyone in these roles leads to braver ideas with fewer blind spots. Gifts arent universal Telling someone to be funny is like telling them to be musical. Many of us can keep a beat, but few have what it takes to become rock stars. Thats why we argue that its smarter to think like a comedian than to try to act like one. By reversing assumptions, cooperating to innovate, and creating chasms, professionals can generate fresh solutions and stand outwithout becoming an office punchline. Peter McGraw is a professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Adam Barsky is an associate professor of management at The University of Melbourne. Caleb Warren is a professor of marketing at the University of Arizona. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 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Creating a standout résumé or cover letter is your first (and sometimes only) chance to make a strong impression with prospective employersto really sell yourself. But theres a caveat, HR experts say: dont sound desperate. While were taught to tailor résumés for the job and really showcase accomplishments, experts argue theres such a thing as going overboard. Employers could find it off-putting. Or worse, they could think youre overrepresenting your credentials. According to job search platform FlexJobs 2025 Job Search Trends Report, one in three professionals admitted to lying on a résumé or cover letteroften to appear as the “perfect fit” or to meet perceived expectations. Unfortunately, HR decision-makers can see through the fake hype, even if you have the most honest of intentions. When a résumé feels too polished or too perfect, it can raise red flags for recruiters, leading them to question authenticity rather than recognize potential, says Jill Chapman, who leads the strategy and execution of companywide talent initiatives at HR services company Insperity. The best résumés balance impact with honesty. But in a competitive job market like this one, in which many are out of work for months and bills are piling up, it can be tempting to ratchet up the sensationalization or fudge the facts. Heres how to craft a winning application: one that keeps you honest and authentic, even when youre desperate to be hired. Use confident, credible language Its expected that youll tout your accomplishments. But sometimes, the words you use to play up your experience can actually weaken your message. The goal: avoid sounding overly self-promotional, says Chapman. When writing a résumé, use language that demonstrates self-awareness, clarity, and purpose, she suggests. One way to highlight contributions honestly is to avoid claiming sole credit for team accomplishments. Instead of single-handedly led, maybe try played a key role in, says Chapman. Also, steer clear of adding fluffy language for its own sake, or including unrelated experience. Listing responsibilities or accomplishments ad nauseum doesnt make you sound more impressive, it makes you sound more long-winded. Smart brevity is best, and a focused, relevant résumé beats a long one every time, notes Chapman. Let your impact speak for you Use results-driven language: metrics, growth, and outcomes.: Led a marketing campaign that increased enrollment by 20% is far more effective than marketing expert, says Traci Wilk, chief people officer at The Learning Experience, a Florida-based early education company in Florida. Cut out the clutter Desperation often shows up as clutter, cites Keith Spencer, a Pennsylvania-based career expert at Resume Now, an AI resume-building company. When you list every job you’ve ever had, no matter how unrelated, it feels like you’re throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks, he says. Aim to tailor your résumé to the job you want, highlighting the most aligned experience. Itll come off as more authentic, and less desperate. Highlight impact, not just effort In job applications, focus on what you accomplished rather than how badly you want it, says Spencer. Metrics, results, and outcomes speak louder than adjectives, he says. When you show what you delivered, employers see your value. Temper your excitement Hiring managers are looking to recruit candidates who are both excited about the opportunity and confident. But be mindful about allowing excitement to become desperation. Desperation can signal insecurity, lack of self-awareness, or even a lack of selectivity in what roles youre targeting, explains Wilk. She says HR managers can see desperation in phrases such as open to all opportunities or give me a chance to prove myself. Your messaging can also lower your credibility when you use overly dramatic language like, Im the missing piece your company needs. These kinds of statements feel more like a plea than a pitch, and that could be a red flag for me, Wilk emphasizes. At the end of the day, it can be easy to feel like you need to do whatever it takes to land on your next life raft. But sometimes, its better not to sound desperate . . . even if you really are.
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E-Commerce
If you handle hiring, generic AI-generated cover letters are probably a familiar foe by now. Nearly two-thirds of job seekers are using AI to help craft their applications. Its understandable. In a world where some job seekers are having to send up to 50 applications to land a role, tools like ChatGPT enable them to cast their net wide and increase their chances. But this spray-and-pray approach to job hunting is a headache for hiring managers. Its driving the volume of applications up and the quality down, making it harder to spot great candidates. The natural knee-jerk reaction from HR is to start playing a game of I spy AI. If we can just root out the automated applications, we can keep it fair and find the genuine players, right? The problem is that this approach can give employers a false sense of security. Hiring teams assume that deploying AI detection tools means theyve solved the problem, and it stops them from digging deeper. Robust AI detection tools have a role to play in certain situations; and the tech that powers them is rapidly improving. But they should be just one tool, not the only tool, in hiring managers toolkits. If we want to hire the best humans, we need a deeper fix. We need to evolve our hiring processes, and this starts by removing the elements of the hiring process that AI can easily automate. CVs and cover letters are the worst offenders, and should have been scrapped long before the advent of ChatGPT. Research shows that the information they present, like names, pronouns, and career gaps, tells us very little about a candidates aptitude or skill. What they can do is trigger unconscious bias around what good looks like. AI CV screeners carry the same risks: Unless trained on ethical datasets, they can perpetuate historical inequalities. One solution is to switch up this process, introducing new ways to screen and assess candidates by objectively testing for role-relevant skills. A skills-based hiring process, which uses skills tests such as work samples and cognitive ability assessments, demands deeper engagement from candidates. This means that unless specifically designed to evaluate AI skills (which they can be), they tend to be harder for AI to game. Theyre also far better at predicting an applicants future performance than proxies on CVs, and can help tackle the application volume problem: The extra engagement that skills tests require is the antithesis of the spray and pray approach. It acts as a filter, with only those who feel invested in the role going on to apply. An honest, crystal-clear employer brand does something similar. It enables employers to attract fewer, but better-suited candidates. So, employers should ask themselves: Is it currently clear to candidates what you represent, how the team is structured and what benefits you offer? Do job seekers know whether your company is office based, hybrid, or remote? Being transparent on your company website, social media, and job adverts about the whole packageincluding salary expectationscan help narrow your candidate pool to applicants who want what the company offers. HR managers should also consider how else they can leverage AI to their advantage. There are plenty of ways it can support hiring teams beyond detecting candidates’ AI usage; for example, to help with accurate candidate scoring, automate interview scheduling, and analyse data to predict future job performance. Just be careful that the models youre using, particularly to screen candidates, arent trained on a singular image of success. Above all, its important to remember that even if we can catch AI-wielding applicants, are we sure using AI is a skill we want to penalise? Im not advocating for generic AI slop applications. But since approximately 30% of work activities could be automated as early as 2030, taking a leaf out of Anthropic’s book and testing applicants’ AI literacy as part of the hiring process for relevant roles is savvy. We may not be able to eliminate poor-quality AI applications altogether, but acting like detection is the sole solution to our broken hiring processes is a false economy. It risks blinding us to the deeper work that needs to be done to get hiring right. By establishing stronger, more targeted pipelines and robust assessment practices, hiring teams will be able to find and attract top talent with the skills needed to thrive in the modern world of work.
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E-Commerce
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