Career Narratives with Doug Lester

Have you ever worried that you'll be 'bothering people' when you think about networking for a job or your career? You're not alone. Most people do, and so did host Doug Lester when he started networking professionally as an executive recruiter. But he got over his guilt. In this episode, Doug shares a surprising insight from his recruiting days that completely changed how he th...

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 Narrati...

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:...

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! 🤔 Need a thought partner wit...

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! 🤔 Need a...

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! 🤔 Need a thought part...

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:...

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 y...

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...

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...

Host Doug Lester considers format updates to the podcast for 2025 and invites listener feedback and questions. Email your feedback to podcast@careernarratives.com . Send a written message or leave a voice message by clicking on the microphone in the lower-right-hand corner of the contact page . 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! 🤔 Need a thought...

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 ad...

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. Resources mentioned: 🎙...

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...

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 s...

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...

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. But truly important and impactful work tends to happen over time. So to keep yourself on track, you set arbitrary due dates for key milestones... and then you miss them. And then you reset your due dates — and do it again and again. It's n...

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. Fin...

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! 🤔 Need a thought part...

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: Todoist...

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 imp...

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...

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...

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. Read the original Networking Strategy Series on the Career Narratives Blog. 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! 🤔 Need...

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...