I’ve been through this as well. I went through a stage where I could have multiple job interviews in a week, sometimes on the same day.

I could tell it was the end of the month because recruiters would start calling, and even in the middle of the month after job ads had been up for two weeks.

Then when you do progress a step employers want you to jump through more hoops than ever now. And they’re surprised when you push back because you either still have work or other things going on. I’m not going to give a business free labour on the off chance they hire me, I’ll do your exercises for you when I’m getting paid.

And all the platforms you need to sign up for. I use a password manager and some software shares the same URL, but accounts are separate. You either use a bunch of different passwords and can never tell which is which, or compromise yourself by using the same one over and over.

I know the applicant tracking platforms by look now, and I can tell which I can apply through easily and which will have problems with the way my resume is formatted. Some of the worst software I’ve ever used, the industry as a whole.

Here’s a handy PDF: https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/the-little-black-book-of-scams

Two tips I can think of are:

• financial institutions never include links in emails. They ask you to search for their website and login there
• Push back against any time pressure callers make. The police are never on their way during a call with the ATO. Stay calm and say you’ll call them back. That’s the last thing scammers want because you’ll call the real ATO and the problem won’t exist.

I’ve been thinking of something for more scam conscious people as well; you’d never say a lock can’t be broken or some software can’t be hacked, we should take the same approach and think we could be scammed at any time ourselves. It’s not that we’re immune to scams, it’s that we haven’t encountered one good enough to fool us yet

I only did it once a week and I would ride about halfway home then get the train. I did make it all the way home once but it was a slog. My cycling computer said the ride in was about an hour and a half

I remember reading on the Conversation years ago one problem is we’ve been trained to see everyone on the road as equal. That’s not the case, someone in a car is surrounded by steel in a one tonne machine that can go 100km/h, but they’re the one missing out when stuck behind a cyclist or a cycle lane is implemented. Spaces need to be planned with a focus on the movement of people first, then cars.

We also need more complete cycling infrastructure. You look at the cycle lanes on maps and the paths look like a minecraft village. They’re disconnected and don’t link up anywhere. Also, a metre of green paint at the edge of a three lane road where the speed limit is 80km/h is not cycling infrastructure.

I used to ride the 33kms into the city for work, but that’s because I like cycling and got all the gear for it. The ride was either on paths or quiet roads but more could be done to link up sections and make the ride faster.

There was another article about the ‘cycling donut’ effect in Melbourne where people close to the CBD could walk or take trams, further out people rode because it was that sweet spot of a distance, and beyond that people drove or took public transport because everything was too far away.

Australia is a perfect candidate for cycling infrastructure because our cities are mostly flat, it never gets as cold as it does in Europe or NA, and the heat is generally more of a dry heat which can be avoided with some shade and a breeze. Our cities should be designed around 3-speed town bikes instead of cars.

Love this line:

“For some reason, it released the report on the Friday between Anzac Day and the weekend, so it didn’t get much media coverage.”

Can’t be seen helping poor people. Can’t admit you’re not helping them either.

Good to see a cop advocating for extra funding to community and mental health services.

Let’s hope its taken on board and the politicians do more to boost quality of life for people as well. It might help with more than just domestic violence

Where I work went Work From Anywhere during Covid. I joined after the decision was made. They recently acquired a place in New Zealand and went about shutting down the head office to do the same over there.

They say there are no plans to get people back into an office but I wonder about that. There have been questionable business decisions up top that have affected my team and others, so I wonder if they’ll start getting people back in for the sake of ‘productivity’