Elon Musk’s 80-hour week is a terrible idea, your next job interview could be over voicemail, and more top insights

What’s happening in the world of work: The Saturday edition of the Daily Rundown highlights the business trends, perspectives, and hot topics you need to know to work smarter. Read on and join the conversation.

Elon Musk’s recipe for global domination? 80-hour work weeks. A person needs to work 80 to 100 hours per week to “change the world”, Musk tweeted this week. The CEO of four companies has said he works 120 hours per week – but research suggests this is a terrible idea. Excessive hours has been tied to heart problems, depression and sleep issues. It’s not likely to make you any more productive. And we’re also prone to exaggerating our work hours; more reason to take Musk’s claims with a grain of salt. • Here’s what people are saying.

When a job interview turns into a voicemail message: A growing number of employers are automating their initial phone screen interviews, with candidates offering answers to standard questions to a machine, The Wall Street Journal’s Chip Cutter reports. The approach lets candidates schedule interviews at their convenience, and it helps employers speed up the hiring process. At the same time, such one-sided interviews leave candidates with zero real-time feedback and no chance to ask questions. • Here’s what people are saying.  

You Asked: “As a senior professional returning to work after a five-year break to care for children, would you suggest aiming for a lower-level position or re-entering at the equivalent level from where one left? I am a marketer, and a lot has changed in that space in five years.” – Merri Hagan, Vancouver-based marketing and PR professional

• “Yes, lots has changed in the world of marketing. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to get up to speed. Follow the right people on LinkedIn, read articles, seek out online courses. You will then feel much more confident as you begin your job search. As for the search itself, focus on your knowledge and experience, your strengths and the value you can add rather than a job title or level. You will probably find roles in any marketing department have also changed, so trying to pitch yourself at a particular level will not necessarily make sense. Know your worth. Your value may well be in your ability to build client relationships, your understanding of the end consumer or your creativity. Talk to the people you used to work with, and ask them about what they valued about your contribution. And, above all, engage that network to help with your search.” – Lisa Unwin, author of “She's Back: Your guide to returning to work” and CEO of She’s Back
• “Before embarking on your search, talk to peers and former colleagues to help you better understand how big of a knowledge gap you need to close. (You may find you're grappling with a confidence gap – and you're not as far behind as you thought you were.) If you conclude your skills are out of date, do everything you can to brush up before you start applying, whether it's some freelance work, a consulting gig, or even just volunteering to help out on a project to get some recent experience. Investing even just a few months in getting current can pay off for years. If you re-enter at the manager level but had been a VP before, you may be facing a long slog to get back to your former role.” — Allyson Downey, author of “Here’s the Plan.: Your Practical, Tactical Guide to Advancing Your Career During Pregnancy and Parenthood” and CEO of weeSpring

Looking for career advice from the pros? Submit your questions in the comments with #YouAsked and we’ll take care of the rest.

A simple way to cut meeting bloat: Meetings are taking over our work lives, with with managers sitting in on as many as 12 a week, most running an hour, according to UNC Charlotte’s Steven Rogelberg. Even worse, we end up filling that entire hour, even if we don’t need it. How can you reclaim your time? Start slashing meeting length, Rogelberg suggests. Even small, atypical reductions, like shifting from 60 to 48 minutes, can give attendees a sense of urgency and curiosity about the new limits. • Here’s what people are saying.

Why we should all aim high: If we’re asked to maintain the status quo, our perspective zeroes in on the obstacles we face to stay above water, damaging our confidence, according to research published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. But when we are given a modest challenge, we are likely to focus on the small performance gap we need to clear to meet our goals. That shift in perspective can give us the confidence boost we need to clear higher bars. • Here’s what people are saying.  

One last idea:  As life expectancy rates continue to climb in many parts of the world, we will need to prepare for lengthier professional lives as well. To thrive in this new world, Hays CEO Alistair Cox argues that we will need to be open to unexpected, perhaps non-traditional opportunities along the way.

“It is the many different experiences you encounter along your own personal and unique journey that will really allow you to fulfill your potential – not just an uplift in salary, a change in job title and a company car allowance.”

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories in the comments.

— Scott Olster