🎉 The hottest new job skill is...golf?

^Advertise

Read time: 2.5 minutes

Good Afternoon Party People! 🎉

Is golf a necessary skill? Job scams on the rise…

We sure have a party for you all today!

PARTY PLAN 🎉

⛳ The hottest job skill is golf?

🤨 Job scams on the rise?

🤖 AI monitoring at work

And, of course, MEMES!

MEME OF THE DAY

WORKPLACE

The Hottest New Skill is…Golf?!

Golfers who aren’t quite PGA Tour material now have somewhere else to play professionally: Corporate America.

According to recruiters, people who can smash 300-yard drives are a hot commodity in finance, consulting, sales, and other industries.

What the…

Because of the rise in business deals happening on the golf course, many clubs have relaxed rules about phones on the course.

Now, it’s common to see people checking emails or taking calls from clients at the turn.

Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom says: “It would’ve been scandalous in 2019 to be having multiple meetings a week on the golf course. In 2024, if you’re producing results, no one’s going to see anything wrong with it.”

According to research from Stanford, weekday golf has nearly doubled since 2019, with much of the action during business hours.

Matt Parziale golfed on amateur tours and even earned spots in the 2018 Masters and U.S. Open. His golf game is what landed him a job in Insurance in 2022. The CEO of his company says Parziale is good at bringing in business because he puts as much effort into building relationships as honing his game.

He also added that he looks at golf as an opportunity to build trust that can eventually lead to a deal, and says it’s a misconception that people who golf during work hours don’t work hard.

(Use that line on your boss)

Barry Allison’s single-digit handicap is an asset in his role as a management consultant at Accenture. He says it can be hard to get to know people in a tradition, stale work environment.

The golf course, however, can bring out the best and worst in people…

JOBS

Job Scams on the Rise

Job scams more than doubled (+118%) in 2023 compared to 2022. Scammers are posing as recruiters or posting fake job ads on LinkedIn in order to get sensitive financial and personal information from job seekers.

Experts say improvements in AI and the rise of remote work are to blame.

According to the FTC, consumers lost $367 million to job and business opportunity scams in 2022, up 76% YoY.

The average victim lost about $2,000. Job scams were the second most prevalent type of fraud behind only Google voice scams in 2023.

Wow.

Here are some common red flags to look out for, according to the FTC:

• Sending in voices for on-the-job equipment (like a computer). They’ll promise to reimburse you when you start a job that doesn’t exist.

• Asking for personal information like a driver’s license or social security number to fill out “employment paperwork.”

• Only interacting with someone via text, email, or WhatsApp. However, experts warn that AI has gotten so good that phone calls and even Zoom meetings can be deepfaked.

Here’s a list for job-seekers to protect themselves directly from the FTC:

• Don’t have a false sense of security on well-known job search platforms.

• Independently verify the company exists and is hiring. Don’t accept a job offer until you’ve done your own research.

• Be wary if you didn’t initiate contact with a prospective employer or recruiter. Instead, reach out to the company directly using contact information you know is legit.

• Only limited personal information is generally required during the application process: name, phone number, job and education history, and perhaps email and home address, Velasquez said.

• Digital-only interactions are a red flag. However, phone calls are also not a guarantee of security.

• Honest employers won’t send you a check to buy supplies or anything else, and then ask you to send back the leftover money. This is a fake check scam.

• Be wary of something that sounds too good to be true. For example, a job ad for 100% remote work that requires few skills and a huge salary is not realistic.

AI

AI Monitoring is Backfiring…

Artificial intelligence tools that monitor employee behavior and productivity may actually decrease productivity and increase quit rates, according to recent research from Cornell. 

Turns out people don’t like being micromanaged by AI as much as they don’t like being micromanaged by people!

Common tools include AI that monitors how customer service reps treat customers and overall productivity monitoring.

And it’s hard for employees to game the system, just ask the ones that tried it at Wells Fargo. Employees subjected to that type of monitoring said they felt a loss of autonomy and were more likely to engage in “resistance behaviors.”

Employees monitored during meetings or brainstorming sessions produced significantly fewer ideas.

However, there can still be a use case for AI monitoring that isn’t a lose-lose. When employees were told that the artificial intelligence tools would be implemented to monitor their work and provide developmental feedback, they responded positively.

Workers didn’t report any loss of autonomy or greater intention to quit.

GET IN FRONT OF 13,000+ HR LEADERS, FOUNDERS, AND RECRUITERS

Advertise with The Office Party and promote your company to decision-makers at top companies. Get in touch.

LET’S HEAR IT…