Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Career Narratives with Doug Lester
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37: If Your Job Search Is Taking Too Long, Stop Trusting Your Gut | 03 Oct 2025 | 00:08:52 | |
If your job search is taking too long and you’re a mid or senior-level leader, your gut may be telling you it’s time to broaden your appeal. To have a more general and therefore more appealing positioning. Don’t do it! Host Doug Lester explains, from a recruiter’s perspective, why broadening your positioning could be a big mistake. 👓 Read the original post on Substack 👉 Visit Craft Your Narrative on Substack 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 36: Your LinkedIn Headline May Be Riskier Than You Think | 19 Sep 2025 | 00:07:42 | |
Is your LinkedIn headline your job title and company name? If so, you're taking a big risk. Host Doug Lester shares why, based on his experience as a Fortune 100 hiring manager, an executive recruiter and a coach to more than a thousand MBA alumni. And he offers an alternative approach that more effectively communicates your personal narrative. 🤓 Read the original Substack post 🎙️ Episode 8: Tips for a LinkedIn Headline That Communicates Your Narrative 🎙️ Episode 9: How to Write an Effective LinkedIn About Entry 🎙️ Episode 10: How to Write LinkedIn Experience Entries That Support Your Narrative 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 27: Don't Reach Out to That Executive Recruiter Before You Listen to This | 20 Dec 2024 | 00:11:49 | |
You should think twice about reaching out to an executive recruiter you don't already know and have a relationship with. Host Doug Lester explains why, based on his experience as an executive recruiter at a top search firm, reaching out to recruiters directly can potentially create self-inflicted career wounds that limit your advancement opportunities. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 26: Five Ways to Get on Executive Recruiters' Radar Screens | 06 Dec 2024 | 00:12:08 | |
Have you ever been concerned that executive recruiters weren't calling you enough (or at all) or were calling about roles you weren't interested in? If so, then host Doug Lester shares five strategies for getting on the radar screens of recruiters for the right opportunities. They're based on his experience as a senior associate at a top executive search firm. 🎙️ 8: How to Communicate Your Narrative in Your LinkedIn Headline 🎙️ 9: How to Write a LinkedIn About That Supports Your Narrative 🎙️ 10: How to Write a LinkedIn Experience Entry That Answers 3 Key Questions 🖥️ Blog: Network with Your Competitors, Be More Attractive to Executive Recruiters 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 25: Three Things You Need To Know About Executive Recruiters | 22 Nov 2024 | 00:13:14 | |
If you're a mid or senior-level MBA and want to advance your career, then executive recruiters are probably going to play a part in your narrative. To keep you from making some of the same incorrect assumptions he did, host Doug Lester shares what he learned as a senior associate at a top retained executive search firm. He pulls back the curtain on search firms, so you don't have to make some of the same mistakes he did when he was climbing the corporate ladder. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 24: One Thing Could Unblock Your Career Advancement This Year | 31 Oct 2024 | 00:08:49 | |
Have you made less progress advancing your career than you had wanted to this year? Or maybe no progress at all? If so, host Doug Lester shares a little social media psychology and a realization from his own life experience that could help you identify and get past your roadblock so you can move forward. Check out The October Theory of Changing Your Life in the Wall Street Journal (may require a subscription) 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 23: Why You Shouldn't Drop Dates and Experience from Your LinkedIn Profile and Resume | 11 Oct 2024 | 00:12:08 | |
If you're in your 40s or 50s, have you ever been advised to drop the dates from your education entries and remove a few of the earlier roles from your LinkedIn profile and resume? Trying to soft-pedal or hide your age and level of experience can actually work against you getting the aspirational senior roles that might be the best fit at this point in your career. Host Doug Lester shares his experience as a coach to MBA alumni and a former executive recruiter to make the case. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 22: Ditch the Fake Due Dates and Make Consistent Progress Toward Your Ideal Narrative | 27 Sep 2024 | 00:10:36 | |
If you want to craft a compelling work-life narrative, you need to stay focused on work that yields the stories you want to be able to tell about yourself. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 21: Why Your Interview Stories Might Not Be Getting You the Job | 13 Sep 2024 | 00:08:35 | |
If you've ever felt you nailed an interview, especially for a senior role, but you didn't get the call-back, there may be a problem with your storytelling, even if you're using the classic STAR method. Host Doug Lester has prepared thousands of MBA leaders for career-defining interviews, and he's noticed that even some of the best storytellers fail to do one critical thing. Find out if you're missing it, too, and what you can do to fix it. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 20: A Simple Way to Increase Your Confidence in Networking Conversations | 30 Aug 2024 | 00:14:41 | |
If you've ever felt less than confident in a career networking conversation, you're not alone. Host Doug Lester shares a tip he picked up as an executive recruiter that helped him feel more confident and be more effective when he was networking for a living. It can help you, too. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 19: Why You May Procrastinate Networking for Your Career and What You Can Do About It | 16 Aug 2024 | 00:10:43 | |
If you’re trying to get started on networking for a new job or your career, the fear of reaching out to people isn’t the only thing that might keep you from getting started. Host Doug Lester shares insight from his days as an executive recruiter and professional networker that can help you overcome the friction that might keep you from making progress. Resources mentioned in this episode: 15% Discount for Covve (affiliate link) 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 18: How to Ensure Your Career Networking Is Worth The Time | 02 Aug 2024 | 00:13:50 | |
If you've ever felt that networking for a new job or your career is a lot of effort for very little benefit, then you may be doing it wrong. Doug Lester shares techniques he learned as an executive recruiter to get the people he was networking with to open up, share their knowledge and insights, and help ensure he never ran out of new people to call. You can apply those same approaches to improve your networking technique and help advance your career. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 35: The Most Counterintuitive Networking Strategy | 12 Sep 2025 | 00:08:06 | |
What if one of your most effective networking strategies could be relying on your competitors to be your advocates? Host Doug Lester explains why this actually works, based on his experience as an executive recruiter at a top firm. And he offers a few tips for doing it the right way. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 17: Get More People to Say "Yes" to Your Networking Requests | 19 Jul 2024 | 00:11:04 | |
Are fewer people saying "yes" to your networking requests than you'd like? You may be unintentionally causing the problem. Doug Lester shares a simple strategy he learned as an executive recruiter to get the people in his network to pick up the phone and talk. And the best part is, it's simple, it probably requires a lot less effort than you're putting in now, and everyone will feel better about it in the end. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 16: Two Proven Strategies When You're Networking For a Job | 05 Jul 2024 | 00:11:18 | |
Have you ever been networking for a job and found that your narrative's not working in a conversation with a critical decision maker? Or maybe things do click but you end up feeling like you cut the process short and short-changed yourself in the process? Host Doug Lester shares two simple strategies he learned as a professional networker in a top executive search firm to ensure he always got his story straight and never left a stone unturned. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 15: How to Get Over Your Fear of Networking | 21 Jun 2024 | 00:09:22 | |
Need to start networking to advance your career, but can't seem to do it? You're not alone. Doug Lester shares his personal experience with networking procrastination as a new executive recruiter and how he got over it. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 14: Why Executive Recruiters Might Not Be Interested and What To Do About It | 07 Jun 2024 | 00:13:15 | |
Not getting much love from executive recruiters? Finding that they just don't "get" your skills and experience and how good fit you'd be for the job? Host Doug Lester draws on his experience as a senior associate at a top executive search firm to explain why you might feel like you're running into a brick wall — and what you can potentially do about it. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 13: Sharing Your Narrative Could Potentially Save Your Job | 24 May 2024 | 00:13:06 | |
If you've ever thought there was a chance that your manager or skip level isn't clear on what you do and the value you bring to your company, then this episode of The Career Narratives Podcast is worth a listen. Host Doug Lester shares his perspective about how a strong personal or team narrative can help advance your career, or even save your job. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 12: You May Be Diluting Your Personal Narrative | 03 May 2024 | 00:07:56 | |
Words and phrases you think you need in your resume and LinkedIn profile can unintentionally dilute your personal narrative. As a hiring manager, executive recruiter and coach, host Doug Lester shares the prime suspects and makes a case for avoiding them. He also explains how using them may even work against you by raising unneeded questions in your readers' minds. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 11: A Simple Way to Increase Your Odds of Negotiating a Good Job Offer | 18 Apr 2024 | 00:11:49 | |
When you're negotiating a salary and other compensation for a job, do you say (or think) that you're negotiating with a company? If you do, then you're making a critical mindset mistake that could cost you a lot. As a hiring manager at a Fortune 100 company and an executive recruiter at a top firm, Doug Lester saw how the wrong approach to negotiation can stand in the way of getting what you want. He shares a simple, no-cost way of improving your chances of negotiating an advantageous job offer. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 10: How to Write a LinkedIn Experience Entry That Answers 3 Key Questions | 04 Apr 2024 | 00:14:51 | |
Based on his experience as an executive recruiter at a top firm, Doug Lester offers a strategic perspective focused on crafting a concise, helpful LinkedIn Experience entry. Emphasizing an intended reader's requirements, Doug offers a straightforward approach to writing a LinkedIn Experience entry that focuses on answering the three key questions that executive recruiters (and hiring managers) need the answers to. This episode is the third in a series focused on writing an effective LinkedIn profile that clearly conveys your personal narrative. If you haven't already listened to the first two episodes, you can find them here. 8: How to Communicate Your Narrative in Your LinkedIn Headline 9: How to Write a LinkedIn About Section That Supports Your Narrative And here are the three key questions mentioned in the episode that you need to answer in a LinkedIn Experience entry:
🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 9: How to Write a LinkedIn About Section That Supports Your Narrative | 21 Mar 2024 | 00:11:47 | |
Is your LinkedIn profile actually written to connect with your reader? Do you have a LinkedIn Headline that communicates what you do, the context you do it in, and the impact of your work? If not, give Episode 8 a quick listen Then listen to this episode and find out how to write an engaging LinkedIn About section that will give your reader confidence that the claims you're making about yourself in your Headline are true. After all, your reader could be a potential hiring manager or an executive recruiter holding the keys to your career advancement. Are you really going to serve them up a list of repurposed resume bullets? Or worse, a generic list of skills? You can do better. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 8: How to Communicate Your Narrative in Your LinkedIn Headline | 07 Mar 2024 | 00:11:35 | |
If you don't define your narrative, then someone else might do it for you. Why take that chance? Doug Lester shares a simple, three-part framework he picked up as an executive recruiter that you can apply to your LinkedIn headline. You'll help the people who find you on LinkedIn make sense of your experience and, more importantly, understand where you're headed. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 34: How To Remain Competitive When AI Makes Career Advancement a Steeper Climb | 07 Aug 2025 | 00:13:38 | |
As business leaders become more comfortable incorporating AI into their organizations, the shape of org charts will change. It's already happening, and it's going to have an impact on career advancement. Host Doug Lester shares classic tips about how to remain competitive amid all the changes. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 7: An Easier Way to Make Direct Eye Contact on Zoom – the Elgato Prompter | 29 Feb 2024 | 00:19:04 | |
Making direct eye contact or what feels like direct eye contact on Zoom is hard. Beyond looking back and forth between a person's image and your camera lens, which is less than ideal, you need a teleprompter to make it work. With a teleprompter, you can look directly at your camera lens and the eyes of the person on the other side of the camera. But teleprompter setups are expensive and are relatively complicated to set up. Elgato's new Prompter is an affordable option. Host Doug Lester tests it out and compares it to the higher-priced teleprompter setup he's been using for his coaching sessions for years. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 6: Make Direct Eye Contact on Zoom and Improve Your Executive Presence | 22 Feb 2024 | 00:15:04 | |
If conducting important meetings or being interviewed on Zoom leaves you feeling at a disadvantage, you're probably missing the direct eye contact that happens when you're meeting in-person. And your executive presence is probably suffering as a result. Doug Lester shares two ways he's managed to simulate direct eye contact on Zoom in his work as an executive and career coach. And he previews new tech that could make simulating direct eye contact on Zoom much easier. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 5: Stop Looking for The Perfect Job, Try This Instead | 15 Feb 2024 | 00:09:38 | |
Is looking for the perfect job getting in the way of finding any job at all? This can be a problem at any stage of a career. Doug Lester offers an approach to thinking about career advancement that takes a little of the pressure off. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 4: Being a Generalist is Limiting Your Career | 08 Feb 2024 | 00:10:02 | |
If you're a mid or senior-level manager or executive in business and you've ever referred to yourself as a "generalist," then you're probably limiting your career potential. Based on insight he picked up as a consumer products marketer and a senior recruiter at a top executive search firm, Doug Lester shares why you need to start thinking of yourself, and positioning yourself, as a specialist to maximize your career and earning potential. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 3: Explaining a Career Mistake (AKA a Blip) | 25 Jan 2024 | 00:13:19 | |
Have you ever made a "career mistake?" Most people have — but they can be awkward to explain when you're networking or interviewing for a job. Host Doug Lester provides a straightforward, honest and effective framework for explaining that mistake or "blip" in your career. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 2: How Mission-Driven is Your Career? | 24 Jan 2024 | 00:11:31 | |
You don't have to work in a non-profit to have a mission-driven career. And your relationship to mission may change over time. Host Doug Lester shares insight he gained working in the for-profit and non-profit worlds. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 1: What's Your Career Narrative? | 23 Jan 2024 | 00:09:24 | |
If you've ever felt like the people you're networking and interviewing with just don't get you, you might need to work on your narrative. In this first episode of The Career Narratives Podcast, host Doug Lester shares an insight he picked up when he was working as a senior recruiter at a top executive search firm. Listen in and clarify your own narrative today. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| The Career Narratives Podcast Trailer | 22 Jan 2024 | 00:01:34 | |
Craft and communicate a work-life narrative with meaning and impact. Present as a more compelling candidate to the decision-makers who hold the keys to your career advancement. In episodes short enough for busy schedules, Doug Lester offers perspective based on more than a decade of helping ambitious MBAs and professionals transition up and into leadership roles. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 33: Why Summer is the Perfect Time to Network for Your Career | 20 Jun 2025 | 00:07:40 | |
It's just about summer, and if you think you have to wait until fall to network for your career or a new job, you're mistaken. Summer is actually the ideal time to do a little networking. Host Doug Lester shares insight from his experience as an executive recruiter at a top firm. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 32: How You Can Make the World a Better Place Through Your Work | 07 Mar 2025 | 00:11:44 | |
Have you ever thought or said that you want to make the world a better place through your work? But are you stumped when it comes to how you're going to do it? Host Doug Lester provides perspective from working with over a thousand MBAs hoping to advance careers with meaning and impact. He shares the signs his clients look for and a potential source of inspiration. Mentioned in this episode: The Johnson & Johnson Credo 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 31: How to Spot the Signals That Shape Your Career Narrative | 14 Feb 2025 | 00:11:24 | |
Have you ever considered how the career choices you make can send intentional and unintentional signals to others that shape your personal narrative? Based on his experience as an executive recruiter at a top firm, host Doug Lester leads you through a quick exercise that lets you step outside yourself and see the forest of your career from the trees. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 30: How to Define Context in Your Personal Narrative | 05 Feb 2025 | 00:11:53 | |
If you've ever struggled to communicate your personal narrative, there's a good chance it has something to do with context. What is the context in which you do your work and make an impact? The answer is probably more complex and nuanced than you might expect at first. Based on his work with well over 1,000 MBAs, host Doug Lester shares a framework for considering context that's new... and also familiar. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 29: Why You Don't Want to Reach Out to "an Executive Search Firm" | 17 Jan 2025 | 00:09:39 | |
In addition to reviewing key learnings from previous episodes on executive recruiters and executive search firms, Doug Lester helps you understand how search firms are structured. Armed with this information, you'll be better equipped to build the long-term relationships with recruiters that can help advance your career. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||
| 28: Career Narratives Podcast 2025 Update | 03 Jan 2025 | 00:04:14 | |
Host Doug Lester considers format updates to the podcast for 2025 and invites listener feedback and questions. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! | |||