In this issue:

Your dream hire—the reliable over-deliverer—probably has two other jobs you’ll never see on their résumé.

That’s the new reality: polyworkers building full portfolios of work in Discords, niche Slack groups, and freelancer ecosystems far from the LinkedIn spotlight.

Almost half of Gen Z holds three or more roles, and they’re choosing flexibility, autonomy, and output-based work over clock-watching.

If you want to reach them, the old recruiting playbook won’t cut it.

You can’t buy 100% of anyone’s focus anymore—but you can earn a share of it.
The question is whether your hiring model is built for the workforce that actually exists.

Intrigued? Read on.

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The HR Blotter

Amazon Cuts the Engineers Who Built Its Future - Amazon just axed thousands of engineers, the very people it once called its engine for innovation. State filings show nearly half the cuts hit technical roles, a reminder that in today’s economy even the builders of the future can get dropped without warning. The message to workers is blunt: no skill set is sacred anymore.

Nursing Graduate Degrees Demoted While the Country Needs Them Most - The U.S. Department of Education has officially stripped nursing graduate programs of their “professional degree” status—meaning advanced nursing students can no longer access the high-limit loans previously reserved for traditionally prestigious fields. In a labor market already teetering under a nurse shortage, the move signals not just a financial hit for individuals but a potential systemic blow to health-care workforce capacity.

The New 56% Pay Gap - A new PwC analysis of nearly a billion job ads shows the game has changed—workers with real AI skills are pulling down paychecks 56% higher than everyone else. Employers aren’t shy about it anymore: if you can speak machine, you get the money, the mobility, and the safety that most roles don’t offer anymore. In a labor market this volatile, AI fluency isn’t an edge, it’s your lifeline.

Being CEO is Being One Bad Quarter Away from the Exit - 2025 is seeing an unprecedented wave of CEOs leaving—yet it’s not just companies failing that are making the cut. Harvard Business Review reports the churn is driven by soaring board expectations, relentless change, and strategic shifts rather than outright collapse. In short: the top job now comes with top volatility.

L1 Parking: The Back Door That Dismantles H-1B Reform - The visa reforms were meant to protect American workers, but a new tactic called “L1 parking” is quietly blowing holes in that promise. Consultants are sending workers to Canada or the UK for a year just to qualify them for a U.S. L‑1 visa transfer—bypassing the tougher H‑1B visa rules and the new $100 K salary threshold. The result: the loophole becomes a pipeline.

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The Jim Stroud Podcast

Not subscribed to The Jim Stroud Podcast? Then you’ve been flying blind. Here’s a taste of what they’ve been hearing—while you’ve been missing it.

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Sourcing Beyond the 9-to-5: How to Recruit Someone Working Three Gigs

Picture your dream hire. The rock-solid performer. The one who over-delivers, never cracks, and leaves a trail of impressed clients in their wake. Now imagine they already have two other jobs.

They’re not on LinkedIn during business hours. They’re in a Discord server at midnight, bouncing between Slack channels, bidding on freelance contracts, or troubleshooting someone’s backend code for a side client. This is the new talent battlefield. If you want to find them, you’ll have to throw out every recruiting rule you’ve ever known.

The multi-job professional—the polyworker—is no longer an anomaly. A 2023 Paychex poll found that 47% of Gen Z workers hold three or more jobs (AllWork.Space, 2023). These aren’t hobbyists padding income; they’re professionals managing full portfolios of work.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the average multi-job worker in the U.S. devotes 13.5 hours each week to secondary roles—on top of their primary job (Birinci & Garriga, 2023). They’re ambitious. Overcommitted. And invisible to recruiters still sourcing through yesterday’s channels.

Where the Polyworkers Live

If you want to find them, stop looking where everyone else is. The LinkedIn–ATS highway leads to the same gridlocked talent pool. Polyworkers operate in parallel economies—digital neighborhoods built for speed, anonymity, and autonomy.

These aren’t just job boards—they’re digital ecosystems where reputation is currency.
Polyworkers build portfolios, swap leads, and vet employers the way startups vet investors.

If you’re not showing up there, you’re invisible.

How to Evaluate the Overemployed

A résumé showing three active roles might make a traditional recruiter panic. But to the modern one, it’s a clue: this person can juggle fire without getting burned.
The question isn’t “Are they loyal?” It’s “How do they prioritize chaos?”

Stop asking:

• “Can you commit to 40 hours a week?”

• “Do you have other commitments that could interfere?”

Start asking:

• “How do you organize competing priorities?”

• “What’s your rhythm for deep work?”

• “What systems do you use to track deliverables?”

You’ll learn more about their discipline and self-management than any personality test could reveal. And when it’s time to make the offer—ditch the clock.

Offer flexible hours, async collaboration, and performance metrics tied to output, not attendance.

The Risks—and the Real Opportunity

Let’s be honest. Managing polyworkers isn’t easy. You’ll need crystal-clear policies around moonlighting, conflicts of interest, and IP ownership. And yes, the risk of burnout is real. Research shows that juggling multiple roles amplifies stress and work-life conflict—burnout rates can spike dramatically (Careerminds, 2025).

But here’s the counterpoint: pretending this workforce doesn’t exist is far more dangerous. By designing fractional roles and project-based contracts, you attract the same elite performers that competitors can’t even find. The smartest companies are already moving this way—hiring for outcomes, not occupancy.

A Deloitte survey found 77% of U.S. workers have experienced burnout—a signal that the problem isn’t polyworking; it’s inflexible work models. The solution isn’t control—it’s capacity.

The Uncomfortable Truth

The biggest lie in modern recruiting is that employers can still buy 100% of a worker’s focus. You can’t. No one can.

Today’s professionals distribute their energy across platforms, clients, and identities.
That’s not disloyalty. That’s survival.

Hiring managers who dismiss multi-job candidates as “uncommitted” are clinging to a dead model. The real lack of commitment lies with employers too rigid to evolve.

The war for talent isn’t about finding available people.
It’s about adapting fast enough to earn a piece of their attention.

References

• AllWork.Space. (2023, Oct 9). Welcome to the Age of Polyworking: The Multi-Job Revolution Led by Gen Z. Link

• Birinci, S., & Garriga, C. (2023, Nov 6). Overemployed Workers? Trends on Multiple Jobholders. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Link

• Crowdsourcing Week. (n.d.). Top 10 Freelancing Platforms. Link

• Forbes. (2025, Mar 24). 12 Remote Work Websites for Finding Your Dream Job in 2025. Link

• Careerminds. (2025, Jul 3). New Research Explores the Impact of Holding Two Jobs in 2025. Link

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One more thing before I go…

Don’t miss next week’s feature, where we tear open the quiet work revolution that’s turning tidy career ladders into scrap metal—and show how the hungriest professionals are stacking roles, skills, and identities to build careers too tough, too broad, and too resilient to ever be downsized.

And as always, hit reply and let me know how I’m doing. Or slide into my DMs as the kids say. All good.

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