CNBC Make It

Cover letters can be one of the most challenging parts of applying to a job. They’re more like writing an essay than a concise list of bullets outlining your achievements, as in your resume. Still, 89% of recruiters expect job candidates to submit them, according to Zety’s 2025 Future of Work Report, which surveyed 753 recruiters or HR professionals involved in hiring. HR consultant Stefanie Fackrell, who’s worked as a recruiter at companies like Nvidia and Google, is “doubtful” it’s really that many. Still, she says, you should “have a well written, compelling cover letter on hand at all times.” That’s because especially in this highly competitive job market, “if someone is submitting a cover letter, if it’s optional, that can help somebody stand out from the crowd,” she says. Here’s when it might be OK to skip one, and how to go about writing one when you do need it.

Want to raise children who are happy, fulfilled and self-motivated to succeed? Trust them more “and worry about them less,” suggests neuropsychologist William Stixrud, co-author of “The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child.” “It’s stressful because it lowers your own sense of control [to] trust your kid to make a decision about something, even if you’re giving your own best advice” to help inform their decisions, Stixrud said in an episode of the “Raising Good Humans” podcast. But ultimately, if you don’t micro-manage your child, you’ll make your own life less stressful and set them up for more happiness and success as adults, he added. Fostering autonomy in kids and teens helps give them the confidence to be self-motivated to learn, try new things and, ultimately, achieve success, research shows.

Unprecedented times are starting to feel like the new normal. With stocks falling and the threat of a recession looming, many of us are struggling. No one is untouched, whether you’re trying to lead a team through uncertain conditions, agonizing about whether your retirement funds could disappear, or worrying about your job security. What we need to get through these times is social support. But in order to receive it, we have to stop “surface acting,” or feeling pressured to put on a happy face. It’s why we answer “How are you?” with an immediate “Fine!” even when we’re not really fine at all. It’s prevalent in workplaces around the world. But over time, it’s also spread into our personal relationships and communities. Decades of research have found that surface acting harms mental health, workplace performance, and relationships. We have to stop pretending that everything is okay. Difficult moments in history also present opportunities for change. What if we chose to use this time to shift norms and create a culture where people feel safe to be open about how they’re really feeling? Each of us has the power to help — one honest response to “How are you?” at a time. Here are a few ways to get started.

Perhaps you, like the many U.S. employees who’ve posted viral memes and videos over the past couple years, accidentally became important at work. Maybe you offered help to a coworker one too many times, or agreed to stay late at the office to work on a project. Now, your favors have turned into unwanted expectations, and while you obviously like seeing your hard work recognized, the workload is taking a toll on your mental health. Without commensurate recognition or compensation, accidentally becoming important at work can feel more like a punishment. “We’re taught to just be grateful, over-deliver and prove that we deserve and belong in those roles,” says Andrew McCaskill, a LinkedIn career expert and global communications executive. “So we just say yes and solve these problems, and before you know it, we’re becoming like the glue that’s holding everything together, without the title or the compensation to match it.” However, quiet quitting or avoiding your colleagues can do even more harm, McCaskill adds. Here’s his advice for navigating your newfound importance and ultimately becoming more successful.

One of the biggest challenges for any leader is figuring out how to hold people accountable for their mistakes without creating bad blood. In those situations, playing the blame game is always a losing strategy, according to leadership expert and bestselling author Michael Timms. The secret to calling out poor performance while maintaining a positive relationship with employees is to own up to your own mistakes first so you can inspire others to do the same, Timms said in a TED Talk in January. Timms recommends adopting three simple but “powerful” habits to help improve other people’s performance without turning them against you.

Mortgage rates might not be heading lower anytime soon — even with President Donald Trump pausing tariffs. A sharp sell-off in government bonds is a big reason why. Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds — which tend to push mortgage rates higher when they rise — have jumped about 9% since bottoming out at 3.99% on April 4, reaching around 4.4% as of Thursday afternoon. The stretch included the sharpest one-day jump since March 2020 and helped keep 30-year fixed mortgage rates hovering near 7%, according to Mortgage News Daily data. That matters for borrowers because the 10-year yield is a key benchmark for mortgage rates; when it rises, mortgage rates usually follow. Yields move in the opposite direction of bond prices, so when investors pull back from buying Treasuries, prices fall and yields go up. Going forward, mortgage rates could fluctuate between 6.5% and 7% with more changes than in recent months, which reflects “the elevated volatility in financial markets due to the tariffs and fears of a recession,” says Chester Spatt, professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. This aligns with a forecast published Thursday by Zillow, which expects rates to end the year near the “mid-6% range.”

Bill Gates remembers the first time he truly felt successful: He was 42, and he’d already been a billionaire for over a decade. “I wouldn’t say that I felt comfortable that we were successful until about 1998 or so,” Gates tells CNBC Make It. That was 11 years after Gates took Microsoft public and became the youngest billionaire in history to that point at age 31, according to Forbes. See why Gates says he “thought [he] was one mistake away from death” until the late-90s: cnb.cx/411MaCY

There are a number alarming headlines flooding the news these days. President Donald Trump’s on-again off-again tariff announcements have sent the stock market on a rollercoaster and renewed fears of a coming recession among consumers and businesses alike. It’s understandable if your immediate response is to panic. “There’s no question that today’s headlines are coming at us very fast and furious and can also be very scary,” says Mary Clements Evans, a certified financial planner and accredited behavioral financial professional. “I think that we believe if we worry about something enough, we can protect ourselves from bad things happening,” she says. “Worrying doesn’t help, but being prepared does.” It’s difficult to plan for the unknown, but worrying won’t guarantee a certain outcome, either negative or positive. Instead, Clements Evans offers three pieces of advice you can use to feel more confident to navigate this period of economic uncertainty.

Planning a vacation can be exciting — but it’s easy to overspend. In fact, over a third of Americans planning a summer vacation planned to use debt to pay for their trip, according to an April Bankrate survey. “You have to really think ahead when you’re planning a big, big dream trip and ask yourself, ‘How much is it going to cost?’” Yanely Espinal, director of educational outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance, told CNBC. There are myriad resources you can turn to for money-saving advice, from personal blogs to professional travel agents. But some common tips may not apply to you, or even be true in the first place. Here are three common travel planning myths you can ignore, from Espinal and Cameron Sperance, senior hotels reporter at The Points Guy.

What you say at work can launch your career forward or hold you back. A deliberate choice of words can boost your professional reputation and credibility, strengthen your relationships and set the pace for upward mobility at work. Poor communication and negativity can have the opposite impact, making it hard for people to connect with you and calling your reliability into question. Highly successful people understand the importance of word choice at work, and use a few key phrases regularly to propel themselves professionally, according to leadership experts. Here are three powerful phrases experts recommend using to appear smarter, more thoughtful and more trustworthy on the job.