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The last two weeks we’ve talked about money:
But here’s another way people are negotiating value in 2025: instead of asking for more money, they’re asking for more time. Enter the four-day week. I first stumbled into it after having my kid. At 10 months old he was on the move, I was permanently sleep-deprived (spoiler: he didn’t sleep through until he was four or five), and trying to write resumes while half-asleep was not sustainable. So I went back to my roots and took up a training role — something I could deliver even if I was running on fumes. The kicker? It ran only four days a week. I cannot tell you what a new lease on life that extra day gave me. Weekends had always felt like just another kind of busy — errands, family commitments, birthday parties. But that mid-week buffer day? That was rest. Actual breathing space. After six months of four-day bliss, I was asked to step up to a consultant role. The catch? Back to five days. Within three months I was wrecked. My kid hated full-time daycare, I hated the exhaustion, and when they offered it permanently, I flat-out said no. Since then, I’ve never wanted to be five full days again. It doesn’t make me happier. It just makes me exhausted. And here’s the thing: the data backs that up. According to the 2025 Employment and Salary Report (people2people, Frog Recruitment, Edge Recruitment), when the four-day week was trialled:
When asked if they’d go back to five days?
The lesson? For employees, the four-day week isn’t just a perk. It’s proof that time is as valuable as salary. That extra day is more than a long weekend — it’s what keeps people engaged, rested, and actually performing at their best. Because sometimes, the biggest pay rise isn’t in your payslip. It’s in your calendar. ~Lisa Your Q&ALinkedIn Said I’m a “Good Match”… So I’m Done, Right? Hi Lisa, I tell my candidates to tweak their resumes so they match job descriptions and include keywords. But one of them told me recently that he didn’t bother much because LinkedIn said he was already “a good match.” Surely he shouldn’t depend on that? Also, what free resume analysis sites do you recommend? I use The Professional Me and Skillsyncher. Cheers, Hi K, Relying on LinkedIn’s “You’re a top 10% match” badge is like relying on your Fitbit to tell you that standing up once today makes you an athlete. That score is nothing more than an algorithmic pat on the back. It’s designed to keep you scrolling, not to guarantee that a recruiter is going to swoon over your resume. Paying attention to what’s actually in your resume is still non-negotiable. Why? Because algorithms don’t make final hiring decisions — humans do. And humans don’t have the time (or patience) to decode waffle. As for online resume review tools… there are exactly zero I recommend. Honestly, most of them churn out advice so generic it makes me gag. None of them replace critical thinking, and they certainly won’t tell you if your “leadership experience” reads more like you organised a staff morning tea. ChatGPT, funnily enough, has been doing a better job lately — pulling out keywords, highlighting gaps, and reworking content in a light-touch way so you’re not rewriting your whole life story. But let’s not kid ourselves: it still makes some shockers. It’ll throw in skills you don’t have, or confidently declare you’re a “perfect fit” when any experienced human can see you’re not, once company, industry, and seniority come into play. The golden rule? Pretty scores don’t get you jobs. Critical thinking — and tailoring like your career depends on it (because it does) — will. Thanks for writing in. ~Lisa |
