Doug opens the mailbag to answer a question from Janelle, a New York City professional who lost her corporate role three months ago and has struggled to land a new full-time position in a brutal hiring market. Drawing on seven years teaching reputation management at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Doug lays out five practical tips for anyone navigating a job search or career pivot right now.
First up is auditing your own reputation: Doug walks through googling your own name the way a hiring manager would, cleaning up dormant accounts, and deciding whether your social profiles should be public or private. He also flags the rise of "ghost job" postings that never lead to real hires, which makes activating your existing network — rather than waiting on inbound interest — increasingly essential.
The conversation moves through knowing your strengths well enough to go deep rather than broad, and understanding whether you're in the "tennis" phase of your career (volleying applications back and forth) or the "golf" phase (aiming precisely at one target). Doug closes with the importance of telling your own story clearly and quickly, using a three-second, 30-second, and one-minute pitch as a practical framework.