Career Narratives with Doug Lester

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 a...

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 na...

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...

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...

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 yo...

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...

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 r...

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 h...

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! 🤔 Need a thought partner with experience as a Fortune 100 hiring manager, an e...

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 yours...

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.  Ditch the worry and avoidance. Take the bull by the horns. And emerge a stronger job candidate as a r...

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.  So what are you? Mission First? Mission Driven? Mission Preferred? Or Mission Last? 🎧 Take control of your narrative and advance your career — subscribe to the podcast! 🤔 Nee...

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 a step toward ca...

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...