Leda Stawnychko of Mount Royal University and Mehnaz Rafi of the University of Calgary discuss what is true and false about searching for a job in 2026.

Job searching has never been more accessible – or more confusing. Platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed and employer career pages let candidates submit applications with just a few clicks. What happens after they click ‘submit’, however, has become fertile ground for misinformation.

Social media is filled with ‘career influencers’, resume writers, recruiters and companies promising insider knowledge of how hiring really works. Much of this advice focuses on misinformed claims about applicant-tracking systems (ATS) and artificial intelligence.

These services profit from jobseekers’ uncertainty and convincing people they need specialised services, tools and products to ‘beat’ the ATS and secure interviews.

The result is that many job seekers spend time and money following advice that has no basis in evidence. Here are four common myths about the job application process and what the research actually says.

Myth 1: 75pc of resumes are rejected

Perhaps the most widely repeated claim online is that 75pc of resumes are automatically rejected by an ATS before a human recruiter ever sees them.

The statistic originated from a 2012 sales pitch by Preptel, a resume optimisation company that went out of business the following year. No methodology was ever published, yet the figure has spread widely.

In reality, an ATS is software that helps employers manage applications, and its capabilities vary widely. Some systems function as digital filing cabinets, simply storing and organising applications.

Others automatically screen for basic requirements, such as mandatory eligibility questions. At the most sophisticated end, systems use AI to rank applicants, recommend candidates and analyse asynchronous video interviews.

The advanced AI-powered tools are typically found in large organisations, including many Fortune 500 companies, which receive enormous volumes of applications. In Canada, most employers do not use AI in hiring, and small businesses – which employ more than 60pc of the workforce – are especially unlikely to rely on ATS.

Small businesses typically lack both the application volumes that make ATS worthwhile and the procurement infrastructure to adopt and maintain them.

For most Canadian jobseekers, the better strategy is to focus on clearly communicating how their skills and experience match the role, and on building relationships within their profession.

Myth 2: AI can write a winning resume

A common message from career influencers is that AI can generate a tailored resume or cover letter that dramatically improves your chances of getting hired. While AI can help candidates prepare application materials more efficiently, it is not a shortcut to a stronger application.

As more candidates rely on the same tools and prompts, applications increasingly sound similar and recruiters take notice.

Far from providing a competitive advantage, AI-generated applications may have the opposite effect. 74 pc of hiring managers report identifying them, and 80pc view them unfavourably.

The best approach is to use AI to augment your own voice. That means using it to refine and sharpen your draft, not replace its substance.

Research on Canadian hiring suggests candidates secure more interviews when their applications contain more detail, clarity and structure. Since today’s recruiters review a myriad of applications that look and sound the same, they tend to respond to the ones that stand out by communicating qualifications in an authentic voice.

Myth 3: Use ‘ATS-friendly’ resume templates

Resume writers and career influencers claim that using an ‘ATS-friendly’ template is essential for ‘beating’ the ATS. Some even sell templates that promise to ‘optimise’ your resume to secure interviews.

In reality, there is no universal ATS-friendly resume because the software employers use varies widely from one company to another. Additionally, modern ATS can extract information from common resume layouts, including columns or tables.

Their main limitation is that they are designed to process text, not images, graphics or icons. That means a clean, readable resume should be the actual target, not a template bought online.

If ATS doesn’t automatically reject resumes the way the influencer economy claims, then optimising for a system that largely doesn’t work that way is solving the wrong problem. The real audience for your resume is a person, not an algorithm.

The better approach is to write for both systems and people. Use clear headings, relevant keywords and concrete examples that show how your experience matches the role.

Myth 4: More applications, more interviews

Another myth is that, with the right prompts, the job search can be fully automated, allowing candidates to submit hundreds of applications with little effort. More applications should lead to more interviews, the logic goes.

In practice, this approach often comes at the expense of thoughtful job-seeking, such as identifying positions and employers that genuinely match your skills and interests, and crafting applications that reflect that fit.

AI is most effective when it enhances, rather than replaces, a candidate’s work, helping to avoid what has become known as ‘workslop’ – a term for generic, AI-generated content.

Candidates are best served by using AI for brainstorming and polishing while ensuring the final version accurately and authentically reflects your experiences, accomplishments and voice.

The fundamentals haven’t changed

Today’s labour market may look different, but the fundamentals of a successful job search haven’t changed much. In that sense, the best thing job seekers can do may be to ignore most of what they’re being sold.

The strongest applications are those that clearly connect a candidate’s experiences to the role, provide concrete evidence of their abilities and communicate in an authentic voice.

Technology may help employers manage applications, but hiring decisions are ultimately made by people. That makes professional networks, trusted referrals, strong communication and leadership skills more valuable than ever.

Put the time you’d spend on template optimisation into one good conversation with someone in your field. The research suggests it’ll go further.

By Leda Stawnychko and Mehnaz Rafi 

Leda Stawnychko is an associate professor of strategy and organisational theory at Mount Royal University. She also holds adjunct academic appointments at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and the Cumming School of Medicine. With more than two decades of leadership experience across international public, private and nonprofit sectors, she is dedicated to cultivating effective, adaptive and transformative leaders.

Mehnaz Rafi is a PhD candidate and sessional professor in the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. Before pursuing her PhD in organisational behaviour, she received her MSc in management from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. She is passionate about leveraging her decade of research experience in quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method designs to create meaningful impact in the world. 

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Phones from British tech startup Nothing have never failed to impress us with unique designs that set them apart amid the otherwise mundane landscape of similar-looking Android devices. The design of the Phone 4B, which Nothing announced on Tuesday alongside the Nothing Ear 3A, isn’t quite as distinctive as the company’s other handsets, but at first glance, there’s still plenty to recommend it.

Let’s start with the battery. In our review of the Phone 4A, which the company unveiled back in March, one of our few criticisms of the device was that the battery life could be better. The Phone 4B actually comes with the biggest ever battery of any Nothing phone, at 5,200 mAh, even though this model is significantly cheaper than the Phone 4A.

It’s still unlikely to rival the best phones on the market for battery life — Apple’s latest iPhones and the OnePlus 15 in our independent testing — but we’re talking about a budget phone here. But it’s great to see Nothing acknowledging that battery life is one area in need of improvement and taking action relatively quickly.

Nothing’s design language has always hinged on its deployment of transparent elements, and the Phone 4B, while largely opaque, nods to this with a transparent camera bump on the top rear side of the phone. Under this bump is a refined version of its light-up Glyph bar — a row of individually controlled mini-LEDs that provide notifications, charging progress, recording indicators and personalized alerts.

It’s touches like this that continue to set Nothing apart from its rivals — especially at the budget end of the phone spectrum. There’s no cost-cutting on the processor either, with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chip inside. That’s one model removed from the processor inside the 4A, but Nothing says the Phone 4B comes close to its older sibling in performance.

Again, like the Phone 4A, the 4B offers a 50-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, but doesn’t have the 4A’s telephoto camera with optical zoom. Small compromises like this throughout have allowed the Nothing to keep the price low, which for many people in search of an affordable but fun phone, will be compromises worth making. 

The Nothing Phone 4B will be available in black, white and blue starting at £299 ($400), with drops happening in the company’s stores from July 11, before going on sale online on July 17.

RGB Mini-LED TVs have officially arrived, and Hisense’s UR9 was the first to hit the market, followed by Sony’s Bravia 7 Mark II and TCL’s RM9L. I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t jazzed to learn what the new display technology means, particularly if you were just getting used to terms like OLED, QLED, and art TV. Thankfully, understanding why the Hisense UR9 RGB MiniLED is a step up in picture quality compared to its competitors is more about the experience it provides than knowing the technical terms.

Even so, the general function of mini RGB tech is not so difficult to understand: Traditional LED and QLED televisions achieve their bright and colorful images by shining white or blue LEDs through an LCD panel. The newer mini RGB works by emitting red, green, and blue lights, resulting in better color accuracy, excellent contrast and brightness, and finer control over color zones. LG and Samsung use new tech called micro RGB, claiming it to be more advanced than mini RGB thanks to smaller LEDs, although both achieve roughly the same result.

The UR9 is the flagship in Hisense’s lineup, but it isn’t priced that way at just $2,000 for the 65-inch model I tested. What you get with the UR9 is an improved picture quality compared to the brand’s other models, which are typically priced lower than sets from big names like Samsung, Sony, and LG. I’ve tested countless Hisense entry-level models over the years, including a few that had poor contrast and brightness, putting them more in line with TCL, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV bargain models that cost around $800.

Not the case with this gaming monster, with its unusual-but-welcome 180-Hz refresh rate (330-Hz variable) when you link a high-end computer to the DisplayPort connection on the side. Overall, I was impressed by the picture quality at this price point, even if the UR9 can’t quite compete with the latest (but pricey) Samsung and LG models that use micro RGB tech.

Standard Setup for a Unique Television

Photograph: John Brandon

The all-black, notably thin (only 1.8 inches!) UR9 comes with a stand that’s much easier to assemble than the Sony Bravia 7 Mark II RGB TV. Once in position on my stand, setting up the Google TV operating system was simple, save for dealing with a known bug with the Google Home app’s QR code that required manually entering my Gmail address and password. The UR9 uses Wi-Fi 6E, which is faster than Wi-Fi 6.

SECURITY

Palencia man suspected of links to CARR, Z-Pentest, and NoName057(16), plus helping a Ukrainian hacker flee to Russia

Spanish police have arrested a man they believe is affiliated with at least two pro-Russia hacktivist groups linked to attacks on critical national infrastructure (CNI).

Arrested in March at his home in Palencia, central Spain, the man is suspected of having close ties to CyberArmy of Russia Reborn (CARR) and Z-Pentest, and may have carried out attacks on behalf of NoName057(16).

All three hacktivist groups were named by the UK’s NCSC earlier this year as part of an advisory warning about the dangers these groups pose to Western CNI.

The cyber arm of GCHQ, the UK’s signals intelligence agency, said organizations should not underestimate pro-Russia hacktivist groups, despite them being known largely for relatively low-impact DDoS attacks.

Jonathon Ellison, NCSC director of national resilience, said at the time: “We continue to see Russian-aligned hacktivist groups targeting UK organizations, and although denial-of-service attacks may be technically simple, their impact can be significant.

“By overwhelming important websites and online systems, these attacks can prevent people from accessing the essential services they depend on every day.”

A month earlier, US officials said CARR was working with, or receiving instructions from, Russian military intelligence (GRU).

Policía Nacional first announced the detention of the unidentified man on Monday, although the arrest was made months ago following an FBI tip-off.

In August 2025, the feds alerted Spanish police to the man’s alleged involvement in trying helping a Ukrainian hacker, a member of CARR, flee to Russia via Poland and Belarus

He was said to have provided “logistical and support cover” to facilitate the Ukrainian’s escape.

After the Palencia man’s arrest, officers found evidence suggesting he was in close contact with other members of these pro-Russia hacktivist “terrorist groups.” Police said he assisted in “coordinating actions and providing support” for the different outfits’ activities, including those of NoName057(16).

NoName057(16) has been active since at least 2022, and is known for targeting public and private organizations, NATO countries, and those whose interests do not align with Russia’s.

Police also seized computer equipment from the man’s residence and cryptocurrency storage devices, freezing a wallet suspected of containing proceeds of cybercrime.

The FBI’s Cyber Division said in a statement: “Last December, the FBI announced Operation Red Circus, our ongoing effort to disrupt Russian state-sponsored cyber threats to the United States and our interests abroad. As part of that announcement, the FBI and partners released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory on pro-Russia hacktivist groups conducting opportunistic attacks against critical infrastructure, including the water, agriculture, and energy sectors. 

“A mission priority of Operation Red Circus is targeting and arresting individuals for their roles in hacktivist groups such as Cyber Army of Russia Reborn to mitigate planned, malicious cyber-campaigns.

Years of pursuit

Authorities have been hunting pro-Russia hacktivists, particularly CARR members, for years. CARR has been active since at least 2022, when it began with low-level attacks in Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion.

The US named Yuliya Vladimirovna Pankratova as CARR’s leader and Denis Olegovich Degtyarenko as its primary hacker in 2024. The pair were sanctioned after CARR was tied to attacks on US and European water facilities earlier that year that specifically targeted human-machine interfaces at water supply, hydroelectric, wastewater, and energy facilities.

CARR also gained access to the SCADA system of a US energy company, which allowed them to control alarms and pumps connected to tanks.

Mandiant previously attributed these attacks to Sandworm, a cyber unit inside Russia’s GRU. However, the sanctions pointed to a hacktivist element and added further color to the relationship between Russia’s military and cybercrime community.

Separately, pro-Russia Ukrainian hacktivist Victoria Eduardovna Dubranova, 33, was extradited to the US late last year after being charged with offenses related to attacks carried out by CARR and NoName057(16).

Dubranova was linked to attacks on water facilities and a Los Angeles meat processing facility in November 2024, which spoiled thousands of pounds of meat and triggered an on-site ammonia leak. ®

OPPO’s Enco earbud series has time and again delivered some of the best value devices, and for good reason. Take last month’s Enco Air 5 Pro as an example. They combined well-balanced audio and strong ANC capabilities into a package that cost ₹4,999. While we still think they are great value, I’d also admit that spending that much isn’t feasible for many budget-conscious buyers. Keeping that in mind, OPPO has just announced the non-Pro version, the Enco Air 5. It follows the same recipe as its bigger brother, with 52dB of ANC and a 54-hour battery life, but trims the price down to just ₹3,099.

So, when OPPO called asking if I’d like to test the Enco Air 5, I said yes, of course. For some context, I have been using the buds for almost a month, during which I’ve taken them to countless gym sessions, gone on evening walks while listening to my favorite music, and even taken them with me to cover an esports tournament in Jaipur. If you can’t be bothered to read the full review, then yes, they are worth the price. Here’s why.

Design & Comfort

What does it take to design a great pair of earbuds? To some brands, it’s about a fun design that stands out amongst others, even if that comes at the cost of comfort. I could name a dozen such earbuds, but the truth is, the ones I keep using after reviews are those that don’t stand out. I don’t care whether you have a brand-new design or a new LED light strip. An earbud needs to be sophisticated yet stylish enough not to look cheap. And no other brand does that better than OPPO. The new Enco Air 5 are no exception. They feature the same oval-shaped case that I have come to love.

While the dimensions are almost identical to the 5 Pro, the finish is indeed different. I got the Lavender Purple variant, which I’d say looks quite good. It adds a pop of color in an otherwise bland earbud world. Even though it’s very difficult to put the feel of the finish into words, I’ll try anyway. The finish reminds me of those large chalky medicine tablets. The matte finish is a little rougher than the 5 Pro, and it held up quite well in my regular use. I didn’t see any smudges, nor was there any damage to the case when I dropped it at the airport while taking out my boarding pass. The case can be opened with one hand, and there’s also a satisfying click every time you close the lid. There’s also a physical pairing button, which is always appreciated.

As for the earbuds themselves, they are shiny this time around, so a bit more difficult to keep clean. Comfort is a tricky thing to answer, since everyone’s ears are different. My ears are small, so bigger earbuds like the Noise Master Buds 2 were difficult to manage. Fortunately, the Enco Air 5 were not the same. They fit perfectly inside my ear canals, without causing any discomfort. For my 6 AM flight, I put them on before leaving home, and after 4 hours of travel, they were still sitting comfortably.

Still, if the regular medium-sized tips are not to your taste, there are several bundled inside the box. So, experiment to find the best fit. The earbuds are also IP55 rated, and survived my gym sessions in the brutal Indian summers just fine.

Sound Quality & ANC

The Enco Air 5 earbuds come with a 12mm dynamic driver featuring a titanium-coated PET diaphragm, AAC and SBC codecs, and Bluetooth 6.1. During my testing, I used the Ultimate Sound preset, but if that’s not your jam, there are Thundering Bass and Pure Vocals, along with a full equalizer, which we will talk about soon enough.

On tracks such as “After Hours,” “The Pina Colada Song,” and “Runaway,” the earbuds sounded very well balanced. The sound tuning is fantastic: the highs don’t feel sharp, the mids/vocals sound very clear, and the lows are there. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t get the rumble of a big headphone, but the Enco Air 5 in the bass boost mode packs a punch. Despite the lack of high-res audio support, I found the instrument separation decent and the soundstage wide enough, though not quite as expansive as on the more expensive Enco Air 5 Pro.

If you’d like your instruments placed all around the room, like at a concert, OPPO has its Live Audio feature. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to experience music with, but it works very well to place different elements perfectly around you. I believe the best way to appreciate this is with a movie, and I watched the first episode of Silo season 3 with these connected to my MacBook. The latency was pretty minimal, and the audio was super clean. Even the call quality has been upgraded compared to the previous generation.

On the topic of ANC, I was headed to Jaipur to attend a BGMI esports event. If you’ve seen such events, then you’d know they can get loud—really loud. And what better place to test the ANC capabilities of the Enco Air 5? I’ll be straight: you won’t cancel every noise there is, but that doesn’t mean the ANC is bad. In the event, the earbuds suppressed about 80% of the crowd noises, which was great news. On the flight, most of the jet engine rumble was canceled, without any music on. If you do have music running, it’s very easy to cut off the world for a moment of peace.

OPPO claims about 13 hours of battery life on a single charge for the earbuds without ANC on and about 6.5 hours with ANC. I can confirm those numbers are accurate, since I got roughly 5.5 hours with ANC turned on at all times. The case provides a couple of extra charges, so the total output should be around 24-25 hours, depending on your use case. Still, battery life is great overall.

Controls & Companion App

While many people ignore them, controls are a major factor when choosing earbuds. This is because poor controls can be frustrating. Very fortunately, that’s not the case with the Enco Air 5 earbuds. They keep things simple and functional. You get the basics like double-tap to play/pause the music, triple-tap to skip forward/rewind, and tap and hold to turn on ANC.

All of these can be customized to your liking using the HeyMelody app on Android and iOS, or just the Bluetooth settings page if you have an OPPO/OnePlus device. The app has always been great, and you also get Spotify Tap. It connects to your Spotify app and plays a song based on your listening habits whenever you tap your earbuds. I’m an Apple Music user, so I couldn’t test it much, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a great addition. Beyond that, there’s Sound Space, a collection of sounds that help you concentrate better or get work done among the annoying people who watch reels at high volume. Finally, there’s a full 10-band equalizer that lets you tune the sound output precisely to your liking.

Verdict

At ₹3,099, the OPPO Enco Air 5 are another pair of super-easy-to-recommend earbuds. There are no headline features, but everything about the Enco Air 5 feels well balanced. The design is understated yet premium, the comfort is good enough for hours of use, and the companion app is packed with genuinely useful features. The sound tuning gives every part of a track room to breathe without letting one frequency overpower another. Even the ANC does a commendable job of cutting out everyday noise.

Current Concept, a maker who tackles ambitious mechanical builds, decided the classic potato cannon needed an upgrade. Single-shot models require constant reloading by hand. His version adds a belt that carries multiple potatoes forward one at a time, paired with sliding seals and a stepper-driven feeder. The result edges closer to the automatic fire many enthusiasts dream about, even if real-world limits keep it from true full-auto speed right now.

A long, sleek silver barrel spreads out in front of you, and you can’t help but stare. Behind it lies an ominous-looking black pressure chamber, missing just a sinister scowl. The brass-colored belt, which runs between those two parts, is loaded with one potato each tube. It’s all connected to a bipod for optimum stability, giving the entire thing a solid feel. Someone passing by might mistake it for a serious piece of equipment put up in the backyard.

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The project began with an old air cannon that Current Concept already had. He simply slapped on a new pressure chamber that appears more traditional for a cannon, and then assembled the entire thing onto a steel frame that he purchased as a pre-cut kit from eBay. The frame had been held together with a powerful adhesive. The belt itself was an anomaly he discovered in the back of his closet, with each potato simply sitting within its own tube casing, ready for the firing sequence to begin.

A 3D-printed indexer that resembles a nice little wheel powers the entire feeding mechanism. This is rotated around by a powerful stepper motor. You can count the motor steps and then use a custom-made key to ensure everything is lined up correctly. Initially, the indexer used a simpler star-shaped feeder that was prone to alignment errors. So a more detailed 3D model was constructed, and things began to operate smoothly, with the belt sliding in and out without snags.

Current Concept’s largest engineering problem was most likely sealing the device under pressure. At 60 to 80 pounds per square inch, any space between the chamber and barrel allows air to escape. However, Current Concept developed a solution in 3D-printed sliding coverings that are moved by pneumatic pistons. When a potato rotates into position, the pistons simply push the covers shut over the casing to form a temporary seal. The air then shoots through the chamber and out of the barrel, ejecting the potato. The covers then retract, the belt moves on to the next casing, and the process continues indefinitely.

Because the onboard reservoir can only contain compressed air for one shot, it is powered by an external compressor. This means that the launcher can only fire around once every six seconds while the chamber repressurizes. The mechanical components could cycle much faster, but the air supply is slowing things down, causing the rocket to function in semi-automatic mode for the time being.
[Source]

While the latest iPhones are undeniably impressive, the days of Android users envying Apple are long gone. The phones in our best Android round-up don’t just rival Apple’s handsets – many of them surpass them, earning top marks from our team of tech experts.

Android’s biggest strength has always been – and still is – choice. With standout options from Samsung, Google, OnePlus and more, you can pick a phone based on the features you care about most, something that’s much harder to do in the iPhone lineup.

Love streaming or mobile gaming? There are handsets here with cutting-edge chipsets and stunning OLED displays. Prefer taking photos? You’ll find phones with versatile camera systems and more lenses than you’ll know what to do with.

That flexibility is what makes Android such a compelling option for so many people, but it also means it’s easy to get lost in spec sheets and marketing jargon. That’s where we come in.

Every phone in this list has been used as our reviewer’s main handset and put through a rigorous series of tests to see how it performs in the real world. We log battery drain, charging speeds, processor performance and camera quality, among other key metrics.

Only once those tests are complete do we deliver a final verdict and score. And only the phones that truly stand out make it into this guide.

If you want to see how iPhones compare to the very best Android phones, check out our best phones guide. If you’re on a tighter budget, we’ve also got dedicated round-ups for the best mid-range phones and the best cheap phones.

Whichever phone you end up choosing, you can save even more with the right plan – our best SIM deals guide can help you find a great contract to match your new handset.

Best Android phones at a glance

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