unemployment, AI, jobs, prompt injection, résumés — Photo by cottonbro studio/Pexels

by Sidnee Michelle

August 24, 2026

Job Seekers Use Hidden Resume Prompts To Outsmart AI Screeners

The tactic, known as prompt injection, can involve placing commands in extremely small white text that is effectively invisible to a human recruiter.

Job applicants are embedding hidden instructions in resumes to manipulate artificial intelligence screening tools, a practice that is raising new questions about employers’ growing reliance on automated hiring systems, Inc.com reports. reports.

The tactic, known as prompt injection, can involve placing commands in extremely small white text that is effectively invisible to a human recruiter but readable by an AI system. Some instructions tell the technology to disregard other information and advance an applicant in the hiring process, according to an Aug. 21 Inc. column by recruiting executive Deepali Vyas.

Vyas, founder and CEO of Vyas Media and The Elite Recruiter, argued that applicants’ attempts to circumvent AI screeners expose shortcomings in hiring systems designed to process large numbers of applications.

ahhhhhhh so I'm hiring a tech to help me out in lab and screening applications now and THE KIDS ARE USING PROMPT INJECTION!!!!!! 2.25 pt white text, here's what I've found so far pic.twitter.com/s8TtKxqUgE
— Ya'el Courtney, PhD (@ScienceYael) July 28, 2026

“When you automate the front end of your hiring process without any human judgment in the loop, you don’t just screen out bad candidates. You screen out good ones, too,” Vyas wrote.

Research from Duke University suggests the practice extends beyond isolated cases. Researchers working with industry partners examined 200,000 real resumes submitted to recruiting platform HireEZ and found that at least 1% contained concealed instructions intended to manipulate AI systems. Duke announced the findings on July 22 and said tutorials, templates, and online videos were contributing to the tactic’s spread.

Prompt injection can include hidden commands or keywords designed to influence how an AI tool evaluates an applicant. Researchers said early large language models were particularly susceptible to following such instructions, creating vulnerabilities as employers increasingly incorporate AI into recruiting.

Vyas, who said she has spent more than 25 years placing senior executives, cautioned that automated screening can help employers narrow thousands of applications but does not ensure the remaining candidates are the most qualified.

She argued that unconventional candidates can be disadvantaged when their experience, career changes, or accomplishments do not align neatly with the criteria an automated system is designed to recognize.

The issue, Vyas wrote, is ultimately less about applicants finding ways around AI than about whether employers have become too dependent on automated filters for decisions that require human judgment.

“If your hiring process can’t tell the difference between a great candidate and a well-prompted one, the problem is not the candidates,” Vyas wrote. “It’s the process.”

Mary J. Blige, financial literacy, accountability, IMO podcast — Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

by Selena Hill

August 24, 2026

Mary J. Blige Says Faith And Financial Education Helped Her Take Control of Her Career

The queen of hip-hop soul says confronting pride and learning the business side of music were key to taking ownership of her career.

Mary J. Blige is reflecting on the hard-earned lessons that helped her move from simply being the talent to taking greater control of the business behind her career.

During a recent episode of the “IMO” podcast, hosted by former first lady Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, the nine-time Grammy-winning singer reflected on a pivotal period surrounding her 2001 album, No More Drama. Blige said she eventually realized that while some people around her were taking advantage of her lack of business knowledge, she also needed to take responsibility for understanding the decisions affecting her career.

“I used to get upset and curse everybody out because things weren’t working,” Blige admitted. “And it wasn’t their fault. It was my fault.”

That realization led the artist to apologize to people who helped bring No More Drama to life and examine her own approach to relationships and leadership.

Blige also credited faith and Christian teachings with helping her confront what she described as pride and arrogance. “It’s the spiritual side of things,” she said, explaining that listening to pastors and other spiritual leaders pushed her to pause and examine herself.

“I realized that I was being prideful and disrespectful to people,” Blige said. “Pump the brakes. I’m doing something wrong here.”

The legendary R&B singer also talked about financial literacy and the importance of artists understanding the business behind their creativity. Blige said she recognized that people around her had benefited from the fact that she was “unaware” of certain aspects of the industry.

“When I woke up and realized, you know, Mary, you have to get educated. You have to stay on your business,” she said.

Blige, whose career spans more than three decades, has built a catalog that includes eight multiplatinum albums and more than 50 million albums sold worldwide, according to her official biography. No More Drama remains a defining chapter in that journey, but her latest reflections place the focus on what came behind the music: accountability, education, and ownership.

AI, artificial intelligence, trends, technology, skills, HiBob, career advancement — (Image: iStock)

by Sidnee Michelle

August 24, 2026

The Right Way To Use AI At Every Stage Of Your Career

Experienced professionals can use AI to automate tasks they already understand while applying years of judgment and institutional knowledge to the results.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help employees work faster, but relying too heavily on the technology could prevent some workers from developing the professional judgment needed to advance their careers, Forbes reports.

That risk may be particularly significant for early-career professionals, workplace strategist Nirit Cohen wrote, examining how workers should approach AI at different stages of their careers.

Experienced professionals can use AI to automate tasks they already understand while applying years of judgment and institutional knowledge to the results. They are more likely to recognize when an AI-generated response is technically accurate but incomplete, impractical, or poorly suited to an organization’s needs.

Early-career professionals face a different challenge. By outsourcing assignments to AI, they could bypass work that traditionally helps employees build expertise through mistakes, feedback, and hands-on experience.

Research from Harvard Business School supports the distinction. In a study of 78 workers, researchers compared web analysts with marketing and technology professionals using generative AI to perform unfamiliar tasks. AI helped workers across groups develop ideas and complete work faster, but it did not eliminate the expertise gap.

Marketing professionals, whose existing skills were more closely related to the assigned work, performed nearly as well as web analysts. Technology specialists, whose expertise was further removed from the task, continued to lag in execution despite having access to artificial intelligence.

Researchers described the divide as “knowledge distance,” or the difference between the skills workers already possess and those required for a particular task.

For early-career workers, Cohen recommends focusing on understanding rather than simply producing polished results. Employees should be able to explain an AI-assisted recommendation, identify its underlying assumptions, and defend the work without returning to the tool for help.

Experienced professionals, meanwhile, should consider what judgment they are contributing after delegating work to artificial intelligence rather than simply approving its output.

“AI can accelerate execution,” Cohen wrote. “Your job is to make sure it is also accelerating your expertise rather than helping you bypass it.”

Corey Lowery, Texas Southern University, protests, Seton Hall University, — (Photo: Markus Spiske/Pexels)

by Sidnee Michelle

August 23, 2026

Texas Southern University Hires Corey Lowery As Men’s Basketball Coach Despite Team-Led Protest

The vote came one day after members of the men's basketball team joined students and alumni in a demonstration on the Houston campus.

Texas Southern University has hired Corey Lowery as its new men’s basketball coach after players, students, and alums protested the expected appointment and called on the university to retain interim coach Shyrone Chatman, HBCU Gameday reports.

The Texas Southern Board of Regents approved Lowery’s appointment 6-1 on Aug. 19. The decision concluded a months-long search for a permanent replacement for Johnny Jones, who resigned in April after eight seasons to become an assistant coach at LSU.

The vote came one day after members of the men’s basketball team joined students and alumni in a demonstration on the Houston campus in support of Chatman. Video shared by Terrance Harris, college sports editor for the Defender Network, showed demonstrators marching and carrying signs that included messages such as “Keep Coach Chatman, He’s Our Coach” and “Student Athletes Matter.”

Chatman, a longtime Texas Southern assistant, had served as interim head coach since Jones’s departure while the university conducted a national search.

Lowery emerged as the expected choice earlier in August, but his path to the job faced resistance. The outlet reported that his candidacy previously failed to gain approval from two Board of Regents committees before advancing to the full board.

More footage of Texas Southern players, students and alumni marching on campus in support of the HBCU school retaining interim basketball coach Shyrone Chatman.@defendernetwork @TxsuProud @TigerFans @clarencehilljr pic.twitter.com/4mTxUgEWqs
— Terrance Harris (@TerranceCFB) August 18, 2026

Harris also reported questions surrounding communication between Lowery and members of the Texas Southern program before his appointment.

According to the outlet, the reporting included evidence of an exchange involving a current player and a recording involving a player’s parent.

Texas Southern ultimately moved forward with Lowery, who spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach at Seton Hall University. According to the university, Lowery has 27 years of coaching experience, including 13 seasons as a college head coach, and holds a 266-73 career head coaching record.

“Coach Lowery has won at every level and every stop of his career,” Texas Southern President J.W. Crawford III said in announcing the hire. “Beyond constructing winning rosters and producing on the court, he is a maker of men off the court.”

Lowery takes over a Texas Southern program that competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference as it prepares for the 2026-27 season.

Mid-section of woman holding mortarboard — Photo by Cavan Images/Getty Images

by Sidnee Michelle

August 23, 2026

91-Year-Old Georgia Woman Celebrates Historic GED Achievement

Woodyard decided to return to school after watching her four children complete their education.

At 91, Helen Woodyard earned her GED, becoming the oldest person in Georgia to receive the credential in roughly a decade, 11 Alive reports.

Woodyard received her diploma July 29 during West Georgia Technical College’s adult education commencement ceremony in Waco, Georgia. Her achievement came three years after she began taking classes on her 88th birthday.

Woodyard decided to return to school after watching her four children complete their education. She had long regretted not finishing her own.

“I never finished, so I always regretted not getting my diploma,” Woodyard said. “My four children finished, and I always wanted to do what they did.”

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Earning the credential required Woodyard to complete more than 900 hours of coursework. She drove herself to class three days a week, studied regularly, and rarely missed class.

Woodyard also had to adapt to technology that had become standard in education since she was last in a classroom. She learned how to use a scientific calculator and the computer programs required for exams with help from her adult education instructors.

“I kept going because I don’t quit anything that I start,” Woodyard said. “The Lord started a work in me, and I was willing to spend all the time I had left before I died to finish.”

Before Woodyard received her diploma, West Georgia Technical College President Julie Post read a congratulatory letter from the mayor of LaGrange recognizing her accomplishment.

Woodyard was among 91 students honored at the ceremony for completing GED/ high school equivalency or English as a Second Language programs.

Her education journey is not ending with her diploma. Woodyard has said she hopes to use what she learned to help other older adults learn to read and write.

by Black Enterprise

August 23, 2026

BLACK ENTERPRISE Covers Served Black History

BLACK ENTERPRISE are purveyors of Black history with over 50 years of groundbreaking coverage and impactful covers.

Aside from BLACK ENTERPRISE making a mark in history as the seminal platform for Black-centric business content, we have also been purveyors of Black history with over 50 years of groundbreaking coverage and impactful covers. Take a look back at these 10 BE covers that amplify notable Black figures throughout Black history.

1) Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States Of America

2) Ernesta Gertrude Procope, President of the largest Black-owned insurance brokerage

3) John H. Johnson, Herman J. Russell, Ed Lewis, Nathan Conyers, Earl G. Graves, Clarence Smith, Men of Entrepreneurial Excellence

4) Janice Bryant Howroyd, First African American woman to build and own a billion-dollar company

Source: Janice Bryant Howroyd is an American entrepreneur and owner of ActOne Group, a workforce solutions company, staffing and talent management. In 1978, she moved to Beverly Hills, California and started ActOne with the help of her mother and brother by borrowing $1,500. ActOne, a staffing and talent management company, has grown to become a billion-dollar company and Howroyd is the first Black woman to own and run a company valued more than $1 billion. Her current net worth is estimated at $620 million, as of today. In 2016, President Barack Obama tapped her to serve on the Board of Advisors for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

5) Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.: Astronaut, First Black American in space

6) Joan B. and Joan M. Johnson: First Black-owned company on the American Stock Exchange

7) Reginald Lewis, First African American to build a billion-dollar company

Reginald Lewis, TLC Beatrice International Foods — Source: **Photo by Black Enterprise**

8) Ann Fudge: President of Maxwell Coffee Co., First Black woman to head a corporate division

9) Andrew Young: Civil Rights Activist, United Nations Ambassador

10) Earvin “Magic” Johnson: NBA Hall of Famer, Philanthropist, Businessman

Saint Augustine's Black Woman, Board — (Photo: Saint Augustine's University)

by Sidnee Michelle

August 22, 2026

Saint Augustine’s University Halts Fall Semester Amid Bankruptcy

The Raleigh, North Carolina, university has paused plans to launch eight online, nondegree programs in September.

Saint Augustine’s University will offer no classes or educational programs this fall, leaving the 158-year-old historically Black university without academic offerings as it works through bankruptcy and an uncertain financial future, The News & Observer reports.

The Raleigh, North Carolina, university has paused plans to launch eight online, nondegree programs in September covering subjects including artificial intelligence, programming, and public health. The courses would have cost students between $1,100 and $4,500.

The decision follows months of financial and accreditation turmoil. Saint Augustine’s announced April 28 that it would enter a voluntary Chapter 11 restructuring process and end its legal fight over accreditation. The university said its accreditation was expected to conclude on May 15.

University attorney Ciara Rogers told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Warren on Aug. 20 that pausing the online programs would help reduce payroll and other expenses. The programs were not expected to generate significant cash flow.

Saint Augustine’s has also ended its longtime partnership with Ed2Go, a third-party provider of virtual continuing education courses. Students currently enrolled can complete their programs.

Bankruptcy administrator Brian Behr supported the decision, saying the university should prioritize emerging from bankruptcy in a stronger financial condition.

“I’m starting to feel good that there’s a possibility that some entity that performs the services that St. Augustine’s provided will continue to exist on that property and provide those services into the future,” Behr said. “So that’s a positive development.”

Warren, however, described the university as “essentially closed.”

The university is also exploring ways to leverage its real estate. It has applied to hire Avison Young to advise on property strategy as officials consider selling peripheral portions of the 105-acre campus, valued at approximately $200 million. Court filings show the firm would receive a $50,000 retainer and a percentage of any sale, capped at $7.5 million.

Meanwhile, Saint Augustine’s Board of Trustees has enlisted former Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chancellor Phillip Clay as a pro bono adviser. Clay, who has studied historically Black colleges and universities and their long-term viability, signed paperwork for the role Aug. 1.

Saint Augustine’s is expected to return to bankruptcy court Aug. 26.

Ben Crump, environmental racism, XCEL Summit for Men — Attorney Ben Crump speaks at a press conference outside the federal courthouse on July 15, 2020, in Minneapolis. (Photo by Kerem Yucel/ AFP via Getty Images)

by Kenneth Meeks

August 22, 2026

Fight The Power: Communities Of Color Must Reject Systemic Environmental Damage Or Face The Consequences

With environmental racism so prevalent, it might be happening in your neighborhood.

It’s a case that underscores the significant compensation available when environmental negligence harms underserved communities. Ben Crump, founder and president of Ben Crump Law PLLC, negotiated a historic $626 million settlement against the state of Michigan for the lead-contaminated water that went to mostly African American homes in the city of Flint, Michigan.

Crump has devoted his career to advocating for justice for those in our society who cannot speak for themselves and to holding those who do us harm accountable for their actions. As a 2022 XCEL Summit Award Honoree, he spoke about why environmental racism is prevalent in Black communities, and why each of us needs to do something when we see it.

For Crump, living in a healthy neighborhood is a fundamental right. Still, far too many low-income and predominantly communities of color are harmed by large corporations that pollute our groundwater and air. And the effects are widespread, ranging from asthma and cancer to premature death. But he says we can take action. In this video excerpt from his XCEL Summit main-stage discussion with 2024 XCEL Summit Award Honoree and moderator Ed Gordon, president of Ed Gordon Media, Crump challenges the audience to hold big corporate violators accountable. Take a look.

Deion Sanders, Shilo Sanders, bankruptcy, trial, subpoena — Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

by Selena Hill

August 21, 2026

Deion Sanders Faces Subpoena Drama As Colorado’s Season Nears

A subpoena tied to Shilo Sanders’ bankruptcy trial could put Deion Sanders’ legal obligations on a collision course with Colorado football’s season opener.

The business of college football rarely stops for personal matters, but Deion Sanders may soon have to balance a courtroom obligation with one of the most important dates on Colorado’s calendar.

A Boulder County sheriff’s deputy attempted to serve Sanders with civil papers on Aug. 11 while he was at a Colorado football practice, according to USA TODAY Sports. Sanders was unavailable at the time, but the papers are connected to a subpoena requiring him to testify in the bankruptcy trial of his son, Shilo Sanders.

The elder Sanders’ attorney reportedly indicated that legal counsel could accept the papers on his behalf, although they were not in Boulder County. The paperwork was subsequently transferred to Denver for service.

“While working with university staff to find a better time to complete the process, we heard from Mr. Sanders’ legal counsel who indicated that they were able to take receipt of the papers on behalf of Mr. Sanders,” Carrie Haverfield, a senior communications specialist for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email.

The timing adds another layer to an already complicated family and financial matter. Shilo Sanders filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2023 after a Texas court entered an $11.89 million default judgment against him in a lawsuit brought by John Darjean, a former security guard at his Dallas-area school. The bankruptcy trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 31 in Denver and expected to run through Sept. 4, will examine whether the underlying debt can be discharged. Deion Sanders’ testimony could be relevant because of his connection to events surrounding the 2015 incident that sparked the litigation.

The calendar presents an obvious conflict for Coach Prime. Colorado opens its 2026 season Sept. 3 against Georgia Tech, right in the middle of the scheduled trial. Judge Michael E. Romero acknowledged the potential issue during a pretrial conference, saying, “I noticed Deion was subpoenaed.” He added, “I’m also concerned there’s a game: CU’s first game is that same week.”

For Sanders, the situation underscores the complicated intersection of family, reputation, and business. College football coaches operate as CEOs of multimillion-dollar programs, but even Coach Prime can’t necessarily call an audible when the court comes knocking.