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Senior executive hiring has fundamentally shifted. It is no longer a linear path of applying, interviewing, and receiving an offer. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on "closed-door" conversations with global executive recruiters and leadership assessors to reveal how C-suite and VP-level talent are actually sourced and evaluated. From the "trust recession" to the "with or without you" energy, we explore the unspoken signals that separate top candidates from the rest.

Key Takeaways

• Hiring is Not a History Test: Senior candidates are not evaluated on their ability to recall facts and data dumps; they are judged on their influence, judgment, and executive thinking,
• The Trust Recession: In an era of misinformation, being "easy to trust" is your greatest asset. High-level roles are often filled through warm networks and trusted referrals long before a job is ever posted online.
• Adjacency Over Domain: When pivoting industries, specialized domain knowledge is less important than "leadership altitude"—the ability to align teams, simplify complexity, and orchestrate results regardless of the sector.
• Diagnose, Don’t Impress: Shift your interview energy from a "pick me" mentality to a consultant’s mindset. Show up to diagnose the business’s "messy middle" and tension points rather than just listing your past achievements.
• Strategic Compensation: Never anchor your salary expectations on your historic pay. Instead, benchmark against the market median and the specific risk and mandate of the new role.

Episode Highlights

• 07:27 – The Compliance Step: Why posting a senior role online is often just a formality. Recruiters typically start with warm networks and trusted referrals before a role is ever published.
• 14:09 – The "Context-Conflict-Cure" Framework: Move beyond standard storytelling to capture the "messy middle". Assessors want to know the "calculus" behind your decisions and what you learned from the friction.
• 20:30 – Leadership Altitude vs. Domain: Why a 95% match on "leadership altitude"—the ability to create alignment and manage ambiguity—will always be prioritized over pure domain familiarity.
• 35:10 – Mastering the Negotiation: A real-world case study on why you should never negotiate over email. Learn how to pivot from a low offer to a strategic conversation about market medians and total value creation.
• 38:15 – The Role of Leadership Assessors: Why these trained psychologists look for "future capacity" and "executive altitude" rather than your technical history or resume chronology.

Mentioned in the Episode

• Compensation Resources: Tools for market benchmarking including Salary.com, PayScale, DataViz, and Glassdoor.

Enjoyed this episode? Here are three ways to go deeper:

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If you stopped showing up to work tomorrow, what would actually happen? Would revenue dip, or would your work simply be quietly reassigned? 

In this episode, I ask the uncomfortable questions that every senior professional needs to sit with. We explore why the job market doesn't necessarily reward the most qualified person, but rather the person who solves the most urgent, painful, and expensive problems. 

I discuss the 'Candy, Vitamin, and Painkiller' framework and why so many overlooked achievers get stuck in the 'Vitamin' box—seen as helpful and reliable, but not essential. You will learn how to shift your positioning to become a 'Painkiller' and why this is critical for your career acceleration. I also share four powerful lessons from the late, iconic James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) on how to turn your weakest muscles into your strongest assets. 

Book a Game Plan Call: If you are ready to identify the specific pain you solve and position yourself as a painkiller, book a one-on-one session: superchargeyourself.com/gameplan

Key Takeaways

• The Candy, Vitamin, Painkiller Framework: Investors and businesses view roles in three categories. 'Candy' is fun but dispensable; 'Vitamins' are helpful and steady but not urgent; 'Painkillers' solve expensive, risky, or urgent problems. To be indispensable, you must be a Painkiller. 
• The Perception Gap: Many senior executives are already solving pain in reality, but they communicate like vitamins. If you describe your work as "supporting cross-functional teams" rather than "eliminating financial leakage," you are underselling your impact.
• The PPF Strategy: I introduce my Painkiller Positioning Framework. Step 1: Identify the pain you solve (financial, time, or risk). Step 2: Articulate outcomes, not activities. Step 3: Position yourself as someone whose absence would hurt the business. 
• Lessons from Darth Vader: James Earl Jones had a severe stutter as a child and was not the first choice for Darth Vader. His journey teaches us that you don't need to be the first choice to be essential, and sometimes taking a step back (or a lower fee) can lead to a massive leap forward. 

Episode Highlights

• 01:00 – The Uncomfortable Question: What would happen if you stopped showing up to work tomorrow?
• 02:58 – The 'Candy, Vitamin, and Painkiller' Framework: A breakdown of how businesses value roles, from dispensable "candy" to essential "painkillers."
• 04:53 – Real-World Painkiller Examples: How finance, supply chain, and product leaders solve urgent, expensive, or risky problems.
• 07:02 – The Painkiller Positioning Framework (PPF): A three-step strategy to identify the pain you solve and articulate outcomes over activities.
• 10:37 – Lessons from James Earl Jones: How the voice of Darth Vader turned a childhood stutter into his greatest strength.
• 14:02 – Strategic Steps Back: Why a temporary dip in pay or title can set up a long-term career leap.

Enjoyed this episode? Here are three ways to go deeper:

Share and review the podcast

If this episode resonated, share it with a colleague who needs to hear it. And if you have 30 seconds, please leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more high-achieving professionals discover the show.

Get my weekly “Charge-Up” newsletter

If you like smart, no-fluff career insights, you will love Charge-Up. Each week I break down lessons from movies, TV, business and real executive career stories that I do not share anywhere e

Send us Fan Mail

I’m speaking today with Winnie Auma who has had an extraordinary career and life.
Winnie grew up in extreme poverty in rural Africa and was the youngest of 15 children. She went on to pursue higher studies, including an MBA and an Emerging Leader at Harvard Kennedy School.
She is now the Chief Program Officer at Village Enterprise Fund that operates in 7 countries across Africa and has supported 275,000 people to start their own businesses.
Winnie has spoken at companies like Facebook, Google and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Learn more about Winnie:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/winnie-barbra-bb3a3062/

Learn more about Village Enterprse:
http://www.villageenterprise.org
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Liked this episode? A few things:

1. Share the podcast with three of your closest friends! And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here (tap on the three-dot menu under the cover art of the podcast) , as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover it.
2. You will love my emails called Charge-Up! They're no fluff no spam, where I share my favourite career insights from movies, TV shows, news and my own personal experiences, that I don't share anywhere else. Make sure you sign up here!
3. Come hang out with me LIVE on LinkedIn and Youtube every Friday at 2 pm CET where I answer your questions and often bring in fab guests:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonalbahl/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/SuperChargeYourself

4. Share your favourite takeaways and tag me on your Instagram and LinkedIn. 

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My guest today David Lancefield and I met during a storytelling mastermind, and I was fascinated by his backstory of how he made partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) when he was just 32 years old. That’s a really young age to make it to this level in the consulting industry and I wanted to dig deeper to get insights for all of you on what are the factors that lie behind such a “Fast Track Career”. 

Whether you are interested in a career in the consulting industry or not, this conversation will prove very useful for you. We go through David’s 24 year fast track career at PwC and also what made him leave it all behind, and start his own venture in the midst and peak of the biggest pandemic ever. 

 In this episode, David shares the following:

 - Best interview advice he ever received, which happened to be from his mother

 - What helped him to become a partner at 32, and here he breaks down his process and shares his favorite tips to help others to move up the corporate ladder 

 - What he did to select influential mentors, and the role they played to help him get noticed by the right people for the right opportunities

 - How to make sure your consulting clients love you

 - Those infamous case interviews! Yes, we talked about what David looks for in a potential consultant, including what NOT to do, which is some of the most useful advice I’ve ever heard

 - What made David start a new venture, in the midst of the biggest pandemic ever. What it really is like when you are self-employed, and how he got his first paying client

 Whatever your profession, some of the tips from this conversation can definitely apply to you and just may help you to fast track your own career!

This in the LinkedIn post by David I referred to during the episode
While there, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidclancefield/
Follow David Lancefield on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dlancefield
David’s website: https://davidlancefield.com/ 
Sign up to David’s newsletter: https://davidlancefield.com/newsletter/
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Liked this episode? Two things:

1. Share the podcast with three of your closest friends!

And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !

 2. You will love my once a month, no fluff no spam newsletter called Charge-Up, where I share my favourite career insights from movies, TV shows, news and my own personal experiences, that I don't share anywhere else. Make sure you subscribe!  https://www.superchargeyourself.com/newsletter

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Jill Katz has had a fabulous career in Human Resources at companies that many of us dream of working in. She has served as a Vice President in leading apparel brands like Calvin Klein and Ann Taylor, media firm IAC and the renowned retailer Macy’s.

The lessons she shares both from her own career and her insights as a senior HR leader, can be immensely valuable for you. 
  
  In this episode, Jill and I talk about:
  
  - How she got hired at her first job right out of college, then how she got hired at Calvin Klein and how the two experiences couldn’t have been more different!

- Underwear! Yes, we talked about the intimate apparel business at Calvin Klein, and how she ran the people operations there and much more

- Her 70-pound (31 kilos) weight loss journey and what it meant to share it publicly on LinkedIn

- How she had a successful, very senior, very well rewarded role at Macy’s and yet, felt something missing. This is something many of you will relate to. 

- What made Jill leave the corporate world behind without any plan, and the steps she took to start her HR Consulting firm - Assemble HR.

- Most importantly, she shares her insight on how to discover your sparkle, that helps you to stand out in job interviews 

This is a longer conversation than usual, and worth every single minute, trust me!

Jill's website: https://hrassemble.com/
 Jill's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillbkatz/

 --------
  Liked this episode? Two things:

1. Share the podcast with three of your closest friends!

And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !

 2. You will love my once a month, no fluff no spam newsletter called Charge-Up, where I share my favourite career insights from movies, TV shows, news and my own personal experiences, that I don't share anywhere else. Make sure you subscribe!  https://www.superchargeyourself.com/newsletter

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Our guest in this episode is one of the most inspiring corporate leaders from India, who has built a career in industries spanning cars, steel, helicopters, and consulting. Bharat Wakhlu’s 35-year career brings you many insights and lessons on how to be successful in your own career, while never compromising on your values or humanity. 

 Set up as a trading firm in 1868, the Tata group today is a $106 billion behemoth that includes companies such as Tata Motors (owner of Jaguar and Land Rover), Taj Group of Hotels, TCS, Tata Steel etc. Chances are, if you asked anyone in India which company they would like to work in, Tata would be one of the first names on their minds. 

 What does it take to get hired in the Tata Group? Bharat didn’t just get a top job at Tata Motors, but was also selected for the elite and highly selective leadership program called Tata Administrative Service (TAS); going on to build an illustrious career in Tata’s steel business. 

 In this insightful conversation, Bharat shares:

 - What made him stand out during university applications to the hyper-competitive engineering and management schools in India

 - How does one get selected for TAS, one of the world’s most unique leadership development programmes inside a business organization

 - The detailed steps he took navigating internal networks to gain visibility and practice ‘Positive Politics’

 - How he got recruited to head the Indian operations of a leading helicopter company, that makes the Marine-One helicopter flown by President Joe Biden

 - What made him leave the corporate world behind in 2016 and venture out on his own after a 35-year stint

 - How he got hired by his very first paying client

 - And some of the best leadership and networking advice you will ever hear.

 I took copious amount of notes during this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 Follow Bharat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharatwakhlu/

Bharat’s website: https://bharatwakhlu.com/

 Liked this episode? Two things:

You will love my once a month, no fluff no spam newsletter called Charge-Up, where I share my favourite career insights from movies, TV shows, news and my own personal experiences, that I don't share anywhere else.
 Make sure you subscribe!
 https://www.superchargeyourself.com/newsletter

2. Tell three of your closest friends!
And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !

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85% of jobs that will be available in 2030, have not been invented yet.
 
 Hence the most important thing you can do to ensure your future success is to build career agility.
 
 What is career agility? If you google ‘career agility’, you will find the top results belong to my guest today, Marti Konstant.
 
 Marti is a workplace futurist and best-selling author of the book ‘"Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding to Change will Inspire Your Life's Work".
 
 Her deep thinking and intensive research on this topic is an important source of reflection for all of us.
 
 Practicing what she preaches, in this podcast episode, we learn about Marti’s own agile career story and how to (not only survive, but) thrive, in a world of Konstant change (pun unintended).
 
 In this episode, Marti and I talk about:
 
 - How an early medical setback during her childhood helped create a mindset that set her up for future success
 
 - An unusual technique she used to pitch for and land her dream job
 
 - How she traded in a 25 year corporate tenure to make her side hustle into her main career
 
 - As one of the foremost workplace futurists, her 3 pieces of advice on the future are something you MUST hear and think about
 
 So limber up your ears and lets get started!
 
 Subscribe to Agility Think, Marti's Linkedin newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/agilitythink-6625495072857214976/
 Marti's website: https://www.martikonstant.com/
 
 Liked this episode? Two things:

You will love my once a month, no fluff no spam newsletter called Charge-Up, where I share my favourite career insights from movies, TV shows, news and my own personal experiences, that I don't share anywhere else.
 Make sure you subscribe!
 https://www.superchargeyourself.com/newsletter

2. Tell three of your closest friends!
And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !
 
 

Send us Fan Mail

Once a banker, always a banker. Once a teacher always a teacher. Once an engineer always an engineer. 

Nope. Take the plunge, make the leap, change careers. People all over the world do it. If you want to, you can too.

In this episode, I share:

- how you know when it's time to make a change
- Four barriers that are preventing you from taking the leap from Career A to Career B
- The advice about career change from the Head of Career Services at INSEAD, my business school, that has stayed with me 12 years later
- My 7 step approach on how to change careers, aptly called the VITAMIN, to help you think and act clearly, step by step

Think of this episode as your very own private conversation with your career coach!

What resonated with you from the conversation? Connect with me on Linkedin and share your favourite takeaway and how you will implement it in your daily life, I'd love to hear from you!

Liked this episode? It's from my once a month, no fluff no spam newsletter called Charge-Up, where I share my favourite career insights from movies, TV shows, news and my own personal experiences, that I don't share anywhere else.
Make sure you subscribe!
https://www.superchargeyourself.com/newsletter

Enjoyed the show? Tell three of your closest friends!
And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !

Send us Fan Mail

My guest today teaches people how to fall in love with their work, just like they fall in love with their life partner.  It doesn't always happen overnight, but the effort it takes to get there is worth it.

Dr Benjamin Ritter has a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership with a focus on value congruence and job satisfaction, and knows a thing or two about our topic today.

In today's conversation on the How I Got Hired Podcast , Ben shares his own squiggly path and how that has led to his current success:

- Knocking on doors and got hired to work as a Graduate Assistant to finance his graduate program

- Turning a voluntary opportunity into a paying gig. What?

- Dealing with rejections for 2.5 years after graduation

- Getting hired for unusual jobs over the years, because he chose to say 'yes' to everything, make unforgettable memories and saved money for studies.
(Think zombie, mannequin at the museum etc!)

- His 3 step process to fall in love with your work

.. and so much more.

Follow Benjamin on LinkedIn here.
Dr Ritter's website here.

Enjoyed the show? Tell three of your closest friends!
And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !
And finally, connect with me on LinkedIn here, with your favourite takeaway from an episode, I'd love to hear from you.

Send us Fan Mail

"Sorry, your position has been made redundant."

Similar to so many of you, this is what happened to Jay in May 2021. He lives in London, notorious for its high cost of living. Going back to his parents' home was not an option, because of the lockdown and for their own safety.

So, what did Jay do? What he does best: he made a video and posted it on LinkedIn.

Now, no matter what people say:

It takes courage to dance around on LinkedIn,
It takes courage to say: 'Hey I need a job, can you help?'
And it takes courage to do it in your own authentic style: which adopts genderless fashion.

Jay Beech did ALL three. The video that Jay posted has received nearly a million views on LinkedIn, 25,000 likes, and a lot of attention, some good, some not so good. 

Here is the good. He got 30 interview calls and 8 offers. In just 3 weeks! All during a pandemic.
 
How did Jay create this magic? Listen to find out, and learn.

Jay's viral video on LinkedIn: here

Follow Jay on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayybeech/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaybeech/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jayybeech

Enjoyed the show? Tell three of your closest friends!
And please leave a great review on Apple Podcasts here, as it would mean a lot to me and hopefully help others discover this resource for Job Seekers !
And finally, connect with me on LinkedIn here, with your favourite takeaway from an episode, I'd love to hear from you.