Reclaim Your Professional Identity the Newsletter

Reclaim Your Professional Identity

Whether you're looking to land that next job, build resilience against today's layoff culture, or create the perfect launch pad for a business of your own, it's time to take back control of your professional identity.

65. The Replaceability Paradox: Why Being Dispensable Is Your Greatest Asset

Read time: 5 minutes | Forward to a friend A few years ago, I watched a colleague work himself into exhaustion becoming the only person who understood our department's most critical system. He thought he was building job security. What he actually built was a prison. When a promotion opened up, ...

Jan 10, 2026

64. REO: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Recruitment

Read time: 5 minutes | Forward to a friend You've heard of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), the practice of structuring web content to rank high in Google searches. More recently, you may have encountered GEO or AEO (Generative Engine Optimization or AI Engine Optimization), optimizing content ...

Jan 03, 2026

63. Holiday Season 2025: Gratitude, Growth, and Getting Ready for 2026

Read time: 4 minutes | Forward to a friend A year ago, I wasn't sure this community would exist. The Professional Independence Academy was an idea... a conviction that professionals deserved more than hoping their employer would keep them around. That we could build careers that thrive regardl...

Dec 27, 2025

62. The Leverage Gap: Why Your Job Title Is Borrowed Power

Read time: 5 minutes | Forward to a friend Leverage is one of those concepts that's easy to understand everywhere except where it matters most. You've felt it when you had two job offers and could walk away from one without flinching. You've experienced it when timing was on your side during a...

Dec 20, 2025

61. The Quiet Hiring Trap (And Why You Have No Leverage to Fight It)

Read time: 5 minutes | Forward to a friend Your manager just asked you to "temporarily" cover another role. Three months later, you're still doing it. No raise. No title change. Just double the work. That's quiet hiring. And if you're feeling stuck—like you have to accept it—that feeling isn't p...

Dec 13, 2025

60. The Corporate Layoff Calendar: When Your Job Is Most at Risk

Read time: 5 minutes | Forward to a friend The Pattern No One Talks About Years ago, I noticed something unsettling. Every January, my LinkedIn feed would flood with "open to work" banners. Then again in late summer. At first, I thought it was coincidence. It wasn't. How did we become so conditi...

Dec 06, 2025

59. The Mid-Career IC Trap: Why Your Safest Position Is Actually Your Most Vulnerable

Here's a question that should make you uncomfortable: If your company needed to cut 20% of costs tomorrow, and you're a high-performing mid-career IC making over $170K, what structural power do you have to prevent your name from appearing on that spreadsheet? Not your performance. Not your value....

Nov 29, 2025

58. The Two Job Search Channels: Why 95% of People Are Playing the Wrong Game

Read time: 4 minutes | Forward to a friend A recruiter friend admitted something to me recently that she was almost embarrassed to say out loud. She knows her company's ATS is rejecting qualified candidates - she sees it happen when people she knows personally get filtered out. But with 300+ a...

Nov 15, 2025

57. Are You an Ant or a Honey Badger?

Read time: 5 minutes | Forward to a friend The Trail Off the Cliff Last month, I watched a former colleague celebrate their promotion to Senior Director. Big title. Bigger salary. Expanded responsibilities. But when I asked what excited them most about the role, they paused. "Honestly? I'm just ...

Nov 08, 2025

56. The Application Black Hole: Why Playing by AI's Rules Is Killing Your Career

Read time: 6 minutes | Forward to a friend Last week, I watched a former colleague, someone with serious product management credibility and an outstanding track record, get auto-rejected from a role she was overqualified for. After some analysis with an experienced recruiter, we determined it wa...

Nov 01, 2025

55. Your vacation won't fix your work problems (here's what will)

Remember that SNL sketch where Adam Sandler's Romano Tours character tells anxious travelers: "If you're sad now, you might still feel sad there. You're still you... just in Italy"? Full sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbwlC2B-BIg Brutal. Honest. And exactly what we need to hear abou...

Oct 25, 2025

54. Career Insurance: Building Security While You're Still Employed

Read time: 6 minutes | Forward to a friend Most people think building professional independence means choosing between their job and their security. THIS. IS. WRONG. Professional independence isn't about quitting your job. It's about making sure your job can't destroy you. And the best time to b...

Oct 18, 2025

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