863 Applications Per Hire, 78% of Workers Scared, and Microsoft Blows Up HR

March 25, 2026: Fortune reports that the job market has gotten so broken that people are paying $1,500 a month just to have someone apply to jobs on their behalf — and on average it takes 863 applications to land a single offer. We break down the AI doom loop that created this dysfunction, what it means for how companies hire, and what job seekers need to hear that nobody is telling them.

Then ADP Research drops one of the largest workforce surveys ever conducted — 39,000 workers across 36 countries — and finds that only 22% of people feel their jobs are safe despite historically low unemployment. We push back on the doom framing, make the case that some anxiety is actually healthy and necessary, and surface the single most powerful lever any leader can pull right now: the data point that makes workers 5.3 times more likely to feel secure. And we close with Business Insider's exclusive look inside a Microsoft internal memo revealing a sweeping overhaul of the company's HR organization — including specific structural changes to performance management, lateral moves, and compensation that signal where corporate HR is heading across the entire industry.