Starting Your Career Over Isn’t Starting Over
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 7 min read You left. Maybe you chose to — for a child, for a parent, for your health, for a deployment. Maybe the choice was made for you. Either way, you stepped out of the workforce, and now you’re trying to step back in. And the gap on […]
The Barriers That Aren’t About Your Resume
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 8 min read There’s a version of career advice that pretends the playing field is level. It says: build your skills, craft a strong resume, network effectively, and the right opportunities will follow. It treats career advancement as a meritocratic equation where inputs reliably produce outputs. Work hard enough, […]
You Don’t Need a Title to Have a Career Strategy
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 7 min read There’s an unspoken assumption in most career advice: it’s for people who’ve already arrived somewhere. The articles about “executive presence.” The LinkedIn posts about “leadership brand.” The coaching programs designed for directors and VPs navigating their next move. The entire career development industry speaks, overwhelmingly, to […]
Changing Industries Without Starting Over
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 8 min read The fear is always the same. You’ve spent ten or twelve or fifteen years building something in one industry, and now — for whatever reason — you need to leave it. Maybe the industry contracted. Maybe the work stopped being meaningful. Maybe you’ve known for years […]
What Hiring Managers See That You Don’t
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 8 min read Hiring managers talk about candidates the way mechanics talk about engines. Not with malice. Not even with particular judgment. But with a diagnostic eye that sees things the owner doesn’t — because the owner drives the car and the mechanic looks under the hood. If you’ve […]
You’re Getting Interviews — But Not Offers
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 8 min read There’s an unspoken assumption in most career advice: it’s for people who’ve already arrived somewhere. The articles about “executive presence.” The LinkedIn posts about “leadership brand.” The coaching programs designed for directors and VPs navigating their next move. The entire career development industry speaks, overwhelmingly, to […]
The Gap Between How You See Your Career and How the Market Sees It
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 8 min read There’s a moment that happens in almost every serious career conversation — with a mentor, a coach, a trusted colleague — where the professional on the receiving end goes quiet. Not because they’ve been insulted. Not because the feedback is harsh. But because someone has just […]
The Mid-Career Stall: Why Qualified Professionals Stop Advancing
XylaWorks Insights · March 2026 · 8 min read You know the feeling even if you’ve never named it. You’re performing well. Reviews are positive. You’ve been in your field long enough to know what you’re doing, and the people around you know it too. You’re not failing. You’re not in crisis. You’re just… not […]
The Research Behind Career Direction: Why Assessment Comes First
XylaWorks Insights · February 2026 · 7 min read There’s an order of operations problem in career development, and almost everyone gets it backwards. The sequence most professionals follow looks like this: decide you need a change, update the resume, start applying. The resume is the first thing you touch. The job boards are the […]
Navigating Career Development in the Age of AI
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