A serious job search is partly an allocation problem. If you’re in an intensive job search, one of the hardest problems isn’t finding things to do. It’s deciding what deserves your time. Job postings. Recruiter messages. Networking introductions. “Confidential” opportunities. Applications. Follow-ups. LinkedIn messages. Some deserve an hour. Some deserve five minutes. Some deserve nothing at all. And unfortunately, making that judgment has become harder. Recently, I received what appeared to...

After discovering that two apparently unrelated “executive search” approaches sent virtually the same follow-up script, I changed the way we handle unsolicited opportunities. I asked Tara, the AI system I work with daily, to create a standing screening rule for the way she reviews opportunities in both my personal inbox and Careerly’s: Unexpected opportunity + flattering specificity + vague employer + unfamiliar domain = independently verify before replying. And “verify” means more than...

Everyone knows job scams exist. The problem is how sophisticated the "credibility-building" markers have become. For example, yesterday, I received a message about a leadership opportunity that didn't read like typical spam. Because it referred to several specifics of my background: Wharton → finance → Georgetown → Johns Hopkins → executive leadership → career development Those are real things. The opportunity sat at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and talent development. A...