How we check our facts

Every factual sentence in our job search guides rests on something a named source said, and we check it against that source's own words before it reaches you. Where we don't have a checked source, the page says so, in a visible note marked GAP, instead of filling the space with a guess.

Where the facts come from

We research job searching in rounds. Each round starts from questions we can't yet answer well, many of them taken from what job seekers actually search for and ask on forums. For each question, researchers look for the strongest sources they can find: government rules and agency guidance, published studies and official statistics, large surveys, and, where nothing better exists, the views of practitioners such as employment lawyers and recruiters.

The research, the checking and the drafting are done by AI models working under the rules on this page. A person approves every guide before it is published.

When a source is used, we keep a copy of the page's text as it was on the day we read it, with its web address and the date. That came to eighteen rounds of research, with the pages read in October and November 2026.

How a fact is checked

1. A finding is written as one plain statement, tied to the exact lines of the source it comes from.
2. The quoted lines are compared with our saved copy of the page, so a quote can't drift from what the source said.
3. A separate checker reads only those lines and the statement, and refuses the statement if it says more than the lines do: a number that differs, a "may" that became "will", one study told as if it were all research, a year or population the lines don't give. A refused statement is narrowed to what the lines support, or dropped. Of the 4,047 findings in the current version, 3,376 passed.
4. Each finding is labelled by what kind of source it is: an official rule, a measured study, a survey, a report of someone else's figure, or a practitioner's view, so we know how much weight a number carries. Our pages name each source so you can judge its weight yourself ("a CareerBuilder survey reported by HR Dive" is not the same as a state agency's rule).
5. A finding about a law or an official rule needs an official source: the statute, the court or the government agency itself. A law firm or a news article explaining the rule is not enough, however good, and such a finding is refused. Where a guide needed the law and the research hadn't held it, we read the official page and keep its text the same way.

How a page is checked

• Before a page is written, we decide what it will argue and which findings carry each point.
• After it is written, every sentence on the page is checked again, this time against the findings it rests on: does the sentence keep the source's limits, its hedges and its numbers? A sentence that goes further is rewritten or turned into a GAP note.
• A fresh reviewer then reads the page as a job seeker would, and as a fact checker.
• Where sources disagree, the page shows both sides. We don't pick the one we like.
• Popular claims are checked, not repeated. When a figure circulates without a source we can find, the page says so instead of quoting it as fact.
• Advice is marked as advice. Some sensible steps have no study behind them. They sit under a heading that says "our advice", and we check that nothing in the evidence contradicts them.

Versions and rechecks

Our knowledge is kept in numbered versions, and each research round makes a new one. Each guide records which version it was checked against, and shows the date it was last updated. We plan to recheck a guide whenever a new version changes or withdraws a finding it rests on; until that check runs on its own, we recheck guides by hand.

What we don't do

• We don't write a fact without a checked source. If we can't find one, you'll see a GAP note.
• We don't fill gaps with what AI tools say. We sometimes quote an AI answer to check it, and we say when we do.
• We don't give advice for your specific case. Rules on unemployment, severance and employment law differ by state and by contract. Our guides tell you which agency or professional decides, and they are general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.
• We don't quote people from forums. Their questions shape what we research, but their posts stay theirs.
• Nobody pays to be cited. No source, employer or service pays to appear on these pages.

If you find a mistake

Write to research-feedback@goalpower.ai with the page, the sentence and what you think is wrong. We check it against the sources and correct the page, with the date of the change.

Last updated November 1, 2026.