Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to your daily dose of curated early-career opportunities! Your job search shouldn’t feel confusing, late, or based on luck.

Runway shows you your match percentage for every job, gives resume + skill-gap feedback, and helps you apply smarter instead of applying blindly.

If you want clarity on today’s roles (and thousands more), check your matches here:

You see a job posting. It looks decent. You spend an hour customizing your resume and cover letter. You hit submit.

Two weeks later, you realize the company is a mess, the role was fake, or the "internship" was actually unpaid grunt work.

Not every job posting is worth your time.

Here are the red flags you need to spot BEFORE you apply:

🚩 Red Flag #1: Vague Job Description

"Looking for a rockstar self-starter to wear many hats!"

Translation: We don't know what we need, you'll be doing random tasks with no clear goals, and we'll probably blame you when nothing works.

What to look for instead: Specific responsibilities, clear deliverables, concrete skills required.

🚩 Red Flag #2: "Unpaid" or "For College Credit"

Unless it's a nonprofit or you're getting actual academic credit (not just "eligible for credit"), this is exploitation.

Your time has value. If they can't pay you, they don't value the work enough to invest in it.

Exception: Short-term projects (1-2 weeks) for portfolio pieces can be worth it. Multi-month unpaid "internships" are not.

🚩 Red Flag #3: Too Many Requirements for "Entry-Level"

"Entry-level position requiring 3-5 years of experience, expert knowledge in 7 different tools, fluent in 3 programming languages..."

This is either:

🚩 Red Flag #4: No Salary Range Listed

Companies that refuse to post salary ranges are usually:

What to do: Apply if the role is interesting, but ask about salary range in the first conversation. If they dodge it, walk away.

🚩 Red Flag #5: Generic Company Description

"We're a fast-paced startup disrupting the industry!"

Every startup says this. What do they actually DO?

If you can't figure out their product or business model from the job posting or their website in 2 minutes, it's probably not a real company (or it's too early-stage to hire).

🚩 Red Flag #6: Posting Has Been Up for 60+ Days

Check when the job was posted. If it's been up for months, either:

Exception: Some companies keep evergreen postings up for roles they hire for frequently.

Green flags to look for:

✅ Specific responsibilities and deliverables
✅ Clear growth path or learning opportunities
✅ Salary range posted (even if it's a wide range)
✅ Mentions of mentorship, training, or onboarding
✅ Company has a real product/service you can find online
✅ Recent reviews on Glassdoor (even if mixed - at least they're real)

Do this today: Go through your saved jobs. For each one, look for these red flags. If a posting has 3+ red flags, remove it from your list. Focus on quality applications to solid opportunities.

Your time is valuable. Apply strategically, not desperately.

Ford

Here are today's fresh opportunities for Wednesday, January 7th:

See you in your inbox tomorrow morning,

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