Interviewing for a potential job is stress-inducing enough itself, without even considering the whole follow-up process. What if you think it went well but you don’t hear back from anyone? Sometimes this is a sign of bad news, and sometimes it isn’t. You want to follow up and find out what’s going on, but you don’t want to be annoying. Here’s how to handle this situation effectively.

Hello. It’s me, Claire. I’m the food editor here at Lifehacker, and as we’re taking a look at how the Lifehacker staff works, I thought I’d show you how I eat. In order to maintain the conversational flow of How I Eat, I had my boyfriend conduct the interview. Below you will find answers to all sorts of interesting questions such as “How much Diet Coke do you drink?,” “Is a corndog a breakfast food?,” and “What is ‘snack salt’?” Enjoy.

Most restaurant criticism is written for the rich, and for people who read reviews to validate their dining choices and impeccable taste, but Soleil Ho’s reviews are not for them. Just as she did with The Racist Sandwich Podcast (currently on hiatus) Soleil brings much needed thoughtfulness to the world of restaurant critique, whether that means eliminating the clunky star system, reexamining the role of luxury in modern dining, or taking on the almighty restaurant listicle. Having thoughts and feelings about food may be her job, but it’s not exactly something she switches off at the end of the work day, which is great news, because she was nice enough to share some of those thoughts and feelings with me.

The job search can be brutal; just getting that first interview feels like an enormous hurdle, even if your resume is airtight. And if it isn’t? Well, this is how you explain a past job ending badly to a prospective employer.

Natalie Wynn has been called the “Oscar Wilde of YouTube” for the sexy, visually decadent, and wildly entertaining videos she makes for her channel, ContraPoints. In these videos, Wynn discusses a wide variety of hot-button topics including the alt-right, climate change, incels, and trans issues, but instead of feeling challenged, one often finds themselves seduced. It should be no surprise then, to find that this hedonistic sensibility bleeds into Wynn’s daily life, affecting how she lives and, of course, how she eats. Unafraid of controversy, Wynn was kind enough to share her opinions on McDonald’s breakfast, pineapple on pizza, and what makes a perfect bite of ice cream.

In their latest issue, National Geographic showed readers how smokejumpers fight wildfires in the Alaskan forest, with images by photographer Mark Thiessen. Firefighting photos is a specialty for Mark; he’s been doing it for 25 years, and shooting for NatGeo for 29. We talked to him about his first published news photo, his favourite photography gear, and his hack for sleeping on the road.

If you keep up with new music, you probably know Dan Boeckner from Operators, the dark and dance-y synth pop band that consists of him, electro-wiz Devojka, and drummer Sam Brown. (Check out their new album, Radiant Dawn, here and here, and their tour schedule here.) If that doesn’t ring any bells, you’re more likely familiar with Wolf Parade, an indie-rock outfit you just may have spent most of college listening to. But what you definitely don’t know about Boeckner is that he worked extensively in restaurants before this whole music thing took off, and that he has both an extensive knowledge of—and great enthusiasm for—a truly impressive array of cuisines, condiments, and really good potato chips.

The Sklar Brothers, the most famous brother act in comedy today, are known for their work in a wide variety of media: stand-up comedy (including six albums); TV shows like Cheap Seats and appearances on SportsCenter and Better Call Saul; and their podcasts Sklarbro Country, View From the Cheap Seats, and Dumb People Town. We talked to them about how they create an episode, how they write and hone their stand-up, and the live show where they punch up fellow comedians’ jokes.

Secrets plague us all. In this episode of The Upgrade, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are explains what the internet can tell us about the prejudices, fears and fetishes we’re hiding.

We also talk with our Lifehacker writers about a Reddit thread where Redditors shared secrets that, if revealed, would ruin people’s lives. Psychiatrist Eileen Wachter visits the studio to discuss the psychological effects of keeping secrets. And our producer takes to the streets to find out what sort of secrets we’ve been keeping for other people.

Stephen Wolfram is in the business of making people smart. His creations, including Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, and Wolfram Language, help people think computationally, and he’s not being arrogant when he compares them to the invention of mathematical symbols. As the founder and CEO of Wolfram, he oversees a team of 800 people, but he highly prizes learning every technical detail he can, and maximizing his own input.

The business world can often feel like a game of musical chairs. This infographic from furniture website SeatsandStools explains the optimum seating position for a range of business situations: from job interviews to formal lunches.

If you haven’t interviewed for a job in a long time, then even the most basic of interview questions can potentially throw you for a loop. If you’re currently going through the interview process, then a little bit of prep can mean the difference between you coming off like a polished candidate or just a hot mess.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler has made a lot of drinks. Though I’m sure he hates the phrase “celebrity bartender”, there’s no denying that his methods and cocktails are famous, nor can you deny that they’re really, really good. In addition to being very good at alcohol, Jeff is also very good at food, and was nice enough to sit down with me and talk about mayonnaise, fast food, and why Instant Pot eggs suck.

Richard Garriott is a robot. The creator of the Ultima series, including Ultima Online, the first massively multiplayer online game, runs his Austin company Portalarium from his home in New York. He telecommutes via Beam —a Segway-like robot with a video screen that lets him engage more directly with the rest of his team than static videoconferencing. It’s a fitting work style for the man who coined the use of the Sanskrit word avatar to mean a person’s virtual digital representation.

This year in How I Work, we interviewed over 50 developers, designers, writers, podcasters, actors, and other successful people in business, non-profits, tech, the arts, and entertainment, discussing their work habits and career paths. Every one is excellent—we reach out to our favourite people and sift through hundreds of applications a year to choose our guests—but these are some of the greatest profiles of the year, and some of their best quotes.

In the world of food media, Samin Nosrat is a palate cleanser. Though she is a fount of cooking knowledge and wisdom, neither her award winning book nor her Netflix show ever feel prescriptive.

Instead, she invites the reader or viewer to learn about, eat and enjoy food, all while radiating joy and warmth. Keeping in that spirit of generosity, she was kind enough to tell us how she takes her coffee, her favourite Trader Joe’s meal, and why eating boiled vegetables can sometimes feel like a vacation. (She also let us look inside her fridge.)

You can’t jump into the mind of the person sitting across from you in an interview and know exactly what they’re looking for. But there are, fortunately, some basic qualities most hiring managers think are pretty important across the board.

Have you ever lied in a job interview? Do you think it's okay to lie in a job interview? Turns out it's a lot more common than you'd think, or at least than you'd want if you're a hiring manager, with 41 per cent of Aussies saying it's cool to lie in an interview.

You've likely heard that body language accounts for up to 55 per cent of how we communicate, but reading non-verbal cues isn't just about broad strokes. The same gesture can indicate a number of different things depending on context.

In this guide, we're going to take a look at three common situations in which non-verbal cues are especially important - detecting lies, going on a date and interviewing for a job - then explain how to interpret body language more accurately so that you can read between the lines when a person's words aren't necessarily conveying the way that they honestly feel.