 |
|
|
|||||
On December 1, podcaster and venture capitalist Harry Stebbings posted on LinkedIn that candidates were 200 times more likely to get into Harvard University than they were to get a job at the $6.6 billion valuation AI startup ElevenLabs. According to his statistic, out of 180,000 applicants in the first half of the year, only 0.018% were hired by the AI voice agent platform. That figureextrapolated from a July spike in applicationsmay have been hyperbole. But it still went viral. And out of tens of thousands of applications, just 132 candidates eventually got the job at ElevenLabsindeed, much lower than Harvards 3% to 4% admission rates. On average, were seeing more people apply every quarter, says Victoria Weller, VP of operations at ElevenLabs. I hope that the high number of applicants motivates peopleits inspiring to work somewhere thats hard to get in. Its like Harvard: once youre in, you know youre surrounded by the best people in an inspiring environment. In-demand companies are reinforcing their recruitment to cope with a volume of applications that often runs into the six figures. For example, ElevenLabs has tripled its recruitment team this year. Coinbase, which has a 0.1% hiring rate according to the company, has added AI tools to reach more candidates, surface stronger ones earlier, and support decision making. The crypto exchange, which has a market cap of approximately $70 billion and is in the process of expanding into a financial superapp, has been long renowned for its stringent hiring process: candidates can expect six stages over 60 daysif they make it that far. And that was before a 2025 surge and a 45% year-over-year rise in applications, totaling in the hundreds of thousands. The size of the applicant pool doesnt determine the quality of your hiresthe rigor of your system does, says Greg Garrison, VP, talent at Coinbase. Our core process is largely the same, but the system has simply become more efficient and calibrated. Amid greater competition for fewer roles, and applications made easier than ever thanks to LinkedIn and generative AI, vacancies can receive hundredseven thousandsof résumés within hours of going live. While this makes recruiters jobs harder, it also works in companies favor: high demand and low hiring signals prestige to the labor market; only the top 0.1% make the cut. Beating the bots Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University, believes companies eye-popping application numbers are largely bot-driven. I know a Stanford undergrad that wrote code to apply to every job advert on a job board, and told me his friends use it too, he says. The big issue is this actually crowds out serious applicants. If you actually are in the 1% that applies by hand you have little chance of making it through. As a result of such intense demand, candidates can expect greater scrutinyparticularly at the earlier hiring stages. In many cases, candidates will have to impress AI first. With a deluge of résumés in the inbox, ElevenLabs uses data-driven applicant tracking software Ashby to help sift the best candidates. We have website fields asking applicants why they want to work with us and how our mission excites them, says Weller. That means you can identify whos autofilled their details, and clicked submit versus those that took the time to answer thoughtfully. It means quick-fire applications are unlikely to make it through to the next round: the screening call; the first round where candidates meet someone in the hiring position. So even when the acceptance rates are so tiny, ensuring to do the basics, like thoroughly answering questionswithout the help of ChatGPTcould make a difference. Beyond assessing candidates experience, the onus is on testing cultural fit. There are certain types of questions that map to our values, says Weller. For example, we look for candidates with low egos, so we ask for feedback theyve recently receivedtheir answer can indicate their personality. It means that the bragging LinkedIn posts arent perhaps a fair reflection of what hiring managers actually want from applicants. While ElevenLabs has up to five assessment rounds in total, Coinbase candidates face the prospect of four interviews in a single stagebookended by assessments and work trials before a potential offer is made. Experienceand persistenceseparate the top 0.1% from the top 1%. The best candidates tend to stand out, says Garrison. What separates them isnt polishits evidence. Their track record speaks louder than their résumé. But given the glut of applications, some of the best may slip through. Others might not even be seen at all. Publicly posting near-zero acceptance rates is a marketing tactic, says Bloom. Some companies love to flex on how hard it is to get a job with them. Its a big show-off, just as colleges love tons of applications to flex on how low their yield rate is, so do some companies. Standing out from the crowd Bots or not, with so many applications for the most coveted roles, its harder to get your résumé read by the right person. Thats why networking becomes essential, says Mathew Schulz, founder of procurement newsletter Pennywurth. His own LinkedIn post comparing hiring rates at Ramp, the fintech that hit a $32 billion valuation last November, with Harvard admission rateswith just 0.23% of engineers hiredalso went viral this year. Its becoming even more difficult to submit your résumé and move along the processa vacancy has hundreds of applicants within 24 hours of going live, ays Schulz. So having a mutual connection, reaching out to contacts, and actively following up on LinkedIn becomes more important. With more top talent to choose from, companies can often afford to be pickier. Hiring managers are increasingly looking for candidates who are comfortable beyond their niche. More companies are looking for builders and creators who can do new things, are entrepreneurial-minded, and are highly skilled, says Schulz. Theres a lean towards being a generalist now versus a hyper-specialist. In practice, that can mean increasing a skillset, taking courses, and becoming adept at new tools that vacancies demand. Its like what they say: looking for a job becomes a full-time job, says Schulz. Getting through the door might be a bigger challenge than before. But once candidates are finally opposite a hiring manager, the fundamentals remain the sameno matter how low the acceptance rates. Good recruitment is still finding out, What drives this person? What are they good at? Are they a good fit for the company? says Weller. That will always stay the same, regardless of what the process looks like.
Category:
E-Commerce
As a child growing up with his grandmother in Haiti, the artist Wyclef Jean developed an early appreciation for the idea that any worthy pursuit requires a blend of agency and preparation. On the day I spoke to him, Jean recalled a time when a missionary visited his village. At five years old, a car pulls up and a man gets out and this was like my first time seeing a white person ever. I looked at my grandma and I said, Do you know who this is? And my grandma was like, This is Jesus Christ. Later, Jean came to understand this man was a missionary, bringing rice and beans to his village. When he’s leaving, I look at my grandma, and I’m like, Yo, how come Jesus didn’t leave us the seed? Even at that young age, Jean knew the visit may have meant a meal for one day, but without the seeds to build a farming practice, little could change for him and his community. Ever since, Jean has been looking for opportunities to leave the seeds, not just the rice and beans, as a way to cultivate creativity. Wyclef Jean [Photo: Felix Glasmeyer] While hes best known as a founding member of the iconic hip hop group the Fugees, Jean has an extensive resume: Hes produced music for Shakira, Whitney Houston, and Santana; composed music for movies like Hotel Rwanda; won multiple Grammys; ran and lost a remittance business; launched a music publishing company in Africa; and even made a run for president of Haiti. Jean is boundlessly curious, and his career is a mashup of hustle and hunches. He isnt afraid to name what he doesnt know, or fumble in the process of sorting it out. Here, he shares how he frames his relationship to music, when he feels most inspired, and the value of nerding out. When I’m creating, I create in two spaces. Sometimes I like it super loud. I like people coming in and out while I’m vibing. Creation is like the pulse of the human. Humans don’t hear music. They just feel music. So that’s one part. The other part of me: When Ive gotta nerd out, I want complete silence. My inner me, my engineer, is asking, How can we take Shakira up? You know, what are we missing? To do that, it has to be, like complete silence. Its two parts of the madness, you know? I wake up and I’m a coffee head. I gotta have my Bustelo. If it’s really hot, I would go for a walk; if it’s kind of cold, I go downstairs. I like the treadmill. I just put the headphones on my ears for like an hour and a half, and literally just walk. I do very light weights, just to keep my gymnastics ability going. Then I take, like, 10 or 15 minutes to surf the net on world news. Two hundred days out of the year, I’m traveling, and I’m going to all parts of the world. and I always want to know the pulse. Whats the energy? Whats the culture? After that I hit my recording studio in the back. I’m recording, writing, looking at films, you know, building my ecosystem. I do it all at once. I could be making music, but then I have an idea for a place that I’m thinking about opening up in three years. And I’m like, what do I want that place to be like? So I could be doing the music, and then I stop. And then I start writing a little bit, put it on Chat GPT, and then get back to the music and keep on boom, boom, boom. So that’s sort of like what my days are usually like. I live in a space of creativity, day and night. My best input for output is when I travel. I’m a local head. My greatest input is the human; and not the human through any form of technologythe human touch. Last week I was in Brazil. The first thing we do, you know, we go to the local spot, and they’re doing capoeira. Then we go to another spot, you know, there’s like four or five different local liquors theyre having, and Ive gotta taste it. We went shopping. I went to the place where Michael Jackson did They don’t really care about us. Now, I could have looked at that online, but physically being there is going to do something to my brain. I call it like cultural currency, but it’s the idea of the human. My whole connection, my juju and my magic is the human connection. I couldn’t imagine someone not listening to music. Anyone who tells me they dont listen to music, I have to touch them to see if they have a heart. I always tell people, Man, tell me whatever you want about America, it’s the greatest place in the world. This is the only place I know where Wyclef could come from a hut. Snoop Dogg can come from where he comes from; 50 Cent could get shot nine times in Queens. Shakira could come from Colombia, and the next thing you know, we can appear in the forefront. And in the forefront, we get these tools, and once we get the tools, we become invincible. So whether it’s music tools, economical freedom tools, or culture currency, these tools work together and what they help us do is it helps us literally inspire and deliver an entire new generation. You get stuck because you need that pause time. You could be writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, and then all of a sudden, now you’re going into a state of forcing. So, whenever, like, I run out of it, I literally just chill. I don’t stress, I don’t be like, “Yo, whens the next bar gonna come? When’s the next idea? I feel as if it’s the universe that’s like, Just calm the fuck down. Like, chill a little bit. You have to reboot. It’s hard for people to understand that, and I’m telling you, we all have writers, block. It used to freak me out. So now if I have the block, I just chill, smoke a joint, relax, you know, play my piano, take time.
Category:
E-Commerce
Yann LeCun, Metas outgoing chief AI scientist, says his employer tested its latest Llama model in a way that may have made the model look better than it really was. In a recent Financial Times interview, LeCun says Meta researchers fudged a little bit by using different versions of Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scout models on different benchmarks to improve test results. Normally researchers use a single version of a new model for all benchmarks, instead of choosing a variant that will score best on a given benchmark. Prior to the launch of the Llama 4 models, Meta had begun to fall behind rivals Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google in pushing the envelope. The company was under pressure to reassert Llamas prowess, especially in an environment where stock prices can turn on the latest model benchmarks. After Meta released the Llama 4 models, third-party researchers and independent testers tried to verify the companys benchmark claims by running their own evaluations. But many found that their results didnt align with Metas. Some doubted that the models it used in the benchmark testing were the same as the models released to the public. Ahmad Al-Dahle, Metas vice president of generative AI, denied that charge, and attributed the discrepancies in model performance to differences in the models cloud implementations. The benchmark-fudging, LeCun said, contributed to internal frustration about the progress of the Llama models and led to a loss of confidence among Meta leadership, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In June, Zuckerberg announced an overhaul of Metas AI organization, which included the establishment of a division called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Meta also paid between $14.3 billion and $15 billion to buy 49% of AI training data company Scale AI, and tapped Scales CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead MSL. On paper, at least, LeCun, who won the coveted Turing Award for his pioneering work on neural networks, reported to the 28-year-old Wang. LeCun told FTs Melissa Heikkilä that while Wang is a quick learner and is aware of what he doesnt know, hes also young and inexperienced. Theres no experience with research or how you practice research, how you do it. Or what would be attractive or repulsive to a researcher, LeCun said. The division LeCun ran at Meta for a decade, FAIR (Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research), was a pure research organization that picked its own areas of inquiry. An adjacent applied AI group worked closely with the lab to find ways to use the research in Metas own products. But the organizational changes werent the only reason LeCun wanted to leave Meta. He has long expressed doubts that the current thrust of Metas AI researchlarge language modelswill lead to human-level intelligence because such models cant learn fast and continuously. LLMs can learn a certain amount about the world through words and images, but the models of the future will also have an understanding of the real world through physics. And it’s those world models that LeCun hopes to invent at his new company, Advanced Machine Intelligence. LeCun will act as executive chair, which will allow him to spend much of his time doing research. Alex LeBrun, CEO of French healthcare AI startup Nabla, will become CEO of AMI. Im a scientist, a visionary. . . . I can inspire people to work on interesting things, LeCun told Heikkilä. Im pretty good at guessing what type of technology will work or not.
Category:
E-Commerce
McDonalds limited-time McRib sandwich is a cultural icon. And like any item of its ilk, its divisive. On the one hand, the saucy, vaguely rib-esque boneless pork sandwich has a fan base so dedicated that its inspired its own Reddit megathread, merch, and a website called the McRib Locator. But on the other, the McRib has long been critiqued for its off-putting form factor and dubious ingredients. Now, a new class action lawsuit is asking the question thats always plagued the sandwich: Is the McRib actually rib? The lawsuit, which was filed on December 23, 2025, in the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that McDonalds has purposefully been misleading customers with the name and shape of the McRib. The four plaintiffs who jointly filed the suit claim that the sandwich is advertised to resemble a rack of pork ribs, which McDonalds does despite knowing that the sandwich in fact does not contain any meaningful quantity of actual pork rib meatindeed, none at all. Ultimately, this lawsuit is all about marketingand how we define deceptive marketing practices. Does a rib-shaped seasoned boneless pork patty, as McDonalds describes it, a rib make? Or is the McRib a mere imitation of a true rib sandwich, masquerading as the real thing to allow McDonalds to jack up its prices? While most Americans probably have their own knee-jerk reaction to these questions, the official answer will be left up to the court. For now, here are the facts. [Images: United States Department of Justice] “The name McRib is a deliberate sleight of hand The crux of the new lawsuit rests on proving whether the McRib can definitionally be called riband, as it turns out, thats easier said than done. According to the filing, McDonalds has cultivated a scarcity mindset around the McRib by only releasing it for a brief time each year since its 1981 debut, using annual anticipation to drive sales. Its authors suggest that the term rib refers to a more premium cut of meatgenerating an expectation of quality that allows McDonalds to price the sandwich at up to $7.89 in some regions, making it among the most expensive single-item options on the menu. Further, they argue, McDonalds purposefully misleads customers by calling the sandwich a McRib and shaping it to resemble a rack of pork ribs. This mislabeling rests at the core of their claim that the McRibs status as a fleeting hero of McDonalds menus nationwide rests on an inherently deceptive premise. The name McRib is a deliberate sleight of hand, the suit reads. By including the word Rib in the name of the sandwich, McDonalds knowingly markets the sandwich in a way that deceives reasonable consumers, who reasonably (but mistakenly) believe that a product named the McRib will include at least some meaningful quantity of actual pork rib meat, which commands a premium price on the market. Instead, it adds, theyre actually eating a “reconstructed meat product. Yikes. [Source Images: United States Department of Justice] To rib, or not to rib? To understand the difference between a pork rib and a reconstructed meat product, the filing dives into its definition of actual pork rib meat. It says pork rib meat refers either to spare ribs, a cut at the bottom of the rib cage, or baby back ribs, located at the top of the rib cage. Both cuts, it explains, are consistently priced higher than lower-quality cuts like loin or butt. Compare that definition to the McRibs contents, and things get a little dicey. Per the filing, the McRibs meat patty is constructed using ground-up portions of lower-grade pork products, such as pork shoulder, heart, tripe, and scalded stomach. In an email to Fast Company, McDonald’s wrote that the lawsuit “distorts the facts” with “meritless claims,” adding, “Our fan-favorite McRib sandwich is made with 100% pork sourced from farmers and suppliers across the U.S.there are no hearts, tripe or scalded stomach used in the McRib patty as falsely alleged in this lawsuit. Weve always been transparent about our ingredients so guests can make the right choice for them. Already, an army of McRib fans are rising to defend the sandwichs honor on Reddit. Do people have nothing better to do or have no shame? one commenter wrote. Who really really thought the McRib was meat from ribs? Another added, Dumb. . . . Imagine all the there was a bone in my McRib post if it was actually ribs. Whether you believed McDonalds nebulous meat slab was made of real ribs or not, t remains to be seen whether this case will impact the McRibs future. Regardless, its a good day to be a vegetarian.
Category:
E-Commerce
Michael Jordan is widely recognized as one of the best basketball players to ever live. In a recent interview, Jordan revealed one of the secrets to his success: His love of the game. Jordan says he loved the game so much that he made sure to have a special clause included in his contract when playing with the Chicago Bulls, one which hes positive players today dont have: the love of the game clause. If I was driving with you down the street, and I see a basketball game on the side of the road, I can go play in that basketball game, Jordan told NBCs Mike Tirico. And if I get hurt, my contract is still guaranteed. Jordan went on to explain that constant practice, not just doing drills but playing real games, helped him and other NBA players like Larry Bird master their craft. It was playing in games that helped players develop their love of basketball, and helped them remain passionate about the game, rather than just viewing it as a job. I love the game so much. I would never let someone take the opportunity for me to play the game away from me, Jordan said. Jordans love of the game clause teaches us an important secret to finding career success, namely: To truly become the best at what you do, you have to love it. This secret is related to emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage emotions to reach a goal. How can you leverage emotional intelligence to master what you do? Lets explore. (If you enjoy this article, consider signing up for my free emotional intelligence course.) Leveraging your “love of the game” To clarify, Jordan wasnt speaking about becoming the best basketball player ever. Although countless fans and analysts alike have pegged Jordan as the GOAT (greatest of all time), Jordan typically steers away from that conversation, saying that title disrespects the basketball legends whove come before him, and the players who play today. Rather, Jordan was primarily interested in reaching his full potentialand his love of the game fueled that drive. Basketball was that type of love for me, Jordan said. I had to find a way to make sure I was the best basketball player I could be. Jordans success led to his becoming the wealthiest professional athlete in history. Most of his earnings didnt come from his playing contracts, though. Rather, they resulted in multiple business ventures and branding deals, most notably the Jordan brand with Nike. But Jordan says that for him, the brand never affected what he was going to do on the basketball court. I put the work first, and then the brand evolved based on the work, Jordan said. We would play this game for free. We did. And now we just happen to get paid for it. So, how can you apply this to your own work? There are several reasons business owners run the businesses they do. You may have taken over a family business. Maybe you dabbled in the world of self-employment and discovered you enjoyed the freedom it offered. Other entrepreneurs become so out of necessity: Mark Cuban started his first business after getting fired. But regardless of how you got into the business you now run, the secret to mastering your craft is to develop a love for what you do. Ask yourself: What aspects of my work do I really love? The things Id do for free? How can I practice those things as much as possible? How can I further leverage that love to master my craft? As you answer those questions, and as you put in the work, youll find yourself constantly improving, continually growing, and consistently becoming a better (work) version of yourself. Because if theres one thing that Michael Jordan taught us, its that natural ability, talent, and skill will get you far, but love is what makes you the best. Justin Bariso This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sites : [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] next »