Designing The Best YOU!
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! a podcast hosted by career strategist and board-certified holistic health practitioner Vennessa McConkey. This podcast is dedicated to helping you uncover hidden obstacles that are holding you back in your career. Whether those be physical conditions and symptoms, emotional blocks such as unresolved trauma, or mental blocks such as confidence and limiting beliefs. With each episode we will be sharing practical strategies, tips, and insights to help you gain clarity, build confidence and advance your career. From job searching and networking to resolving fatigue and burnout, we will help you tackle the toughest challenges in your journey that help you Design the Best YOU!
Episodes
"You're a strong candidate, BUT you're just not the right fit."
For senior executives, this phrase is one of the most common reasons job offers fall apart—and one of the least understood.
In this episode, we break down what "not the right fit" actually means at leadership levels and why it has...
If you're a senior professional or executive stuck in a long, frustrating job search, this episode explains exactly why and what to do instead.
In today's market, experience alone isn't enough. Even highly qualified leaders are getting ghosted by recruiters, losing final-round interviews, or passed over for candidates with "less impressive" resumes. The problem isn't the economy. It's that most executives are missing one (or more) ...
Losing a job can feel like the rug's been pulled out from under you.... emotionally, financially, and even in your sense of identity. But this moment doesn't have to define you. It can refine you.
Join Vennessa McConkey and Mallory Byers, two seasoned career strategists who've helped thousands of professionals rebuild with clarity, confidence, and momentum, for a powerful conversation on how to navigate the shock of job loss and t...
Fake Jobs, Hacked Profiles, Real Threats (& Stand Out in 2025 Job Market): LinkedIn Live Nov 6, 2025
The 2025 job market is noisier (and riskier) than ever. Fake job postings. Imposter recruiter profiles. Automated "apply-all" scams. AI-generated offers that lead nowhere. It's no wonder so many professionals feel lost, burned out, or invisible.
But here's the truth: while the market has changed, human connection still wins.
In this LinkedIn Live, we will break down:
- How to spot fake postings and protect your personal informati...
The skills that built your career won't be enough to carry you into your next role.
AI, automation, and digital disruption are changing what companies look for in senior leaders. Credentials and domain expertise? They're no longer the differentiators. What decision-makers want today are leaders who can reframe their experie...
You've updated your resume, applied to all the right roles, optimized your LinkedIn, and even made it to the final interview...
So why are you still stuck in job search limbo?
In this episode, we're diving into one of the most frustrating phases of the career journey: when you're doing everything right, but still hearing crickets.
You'll learn:
- Why the traditional job search playbook is broken
- What ghosting after interviews ...
The job market in mid-2025 isn't broken; it's evolving. In this episode of Designing the Best You, Vennessa breaks down the real changes shaping today's hiring landscape and shares what job seekers must do to stay competitive and confident.
From experience inflation and AI-driven shifts to new high-growth roles and smarter job ...
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
- What is the job board trap?
- How to start chasing and start owning your search
- How to tap into the hidden market
- …and more!
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you ready to figure out ...
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
-
How to lead with clarity, not your title
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How to tell stories and own the room, using a very specific method
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
- The most important shift you need to make in your job search
- How to ditch the volume and focus on value
- One of the biggest saboteurs in the job search
- Tips to keep in the long game
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
-
Why AI will never replace the leadership you bring to the table
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The mindset shift every senior leader needs to stay relevant in 2025
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! Today's episode was previously recorded from a LinkedIn Live - Weekly Wednesday Wisdom back in 2021. This episode's content is still vvery relevant in today's market. Listen in!
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you ready to end the burnout and heal, advance and THRIVE in your career? Ready to find your VOICE and be who you were designed to be?
<...Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! Today's episode was previously recorded from a LinkedIn Live on April 22, 2025. In this episode you will hear about:
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4 tips you can use immediately
-
what companies DON'T want
-
secret tips and stories of what works!
-
…and ...
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! Today's episode was previously recorded from a LinkedIn Live on April 8, 2025. In this episode, you will hear about:
- Why so many mid-senior level professionals have a fear of self-promotion (aka selling themselves)
- Tips on how to sell yourself through believing in your value
- You're wastin...
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
- messaging online that does NOT work (listen in for ones I've received!)
- what recruiters and hiring managers are looking for
- how to network without the "ICK" factor
-
…and more!
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
- The constant rejection of the job search and how it takes a toll on a person
- Job search depression symptoms
- What you can do NOW to covercome the depression
-
…and more!
Are you sick and t...
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
- Michael's story and how the transformation in his clinical practice happened
- Results of Michael's trauma-healing program and how this has changed people's careers, health and lives!
- Michael talks about job interviews and how we respond: how our fears take over and what to do about it
- so many other golden nuggets!
Connect with Michael:
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode we have a GUEST and are talking about:
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the pressures executives deal with and how it's affecting their career and at-home life
- what a lot of issues in life truly come down to
-
what country-life has to d...
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode we have a GUEST and are talking about:
-
what professionals are coming to recruiters for
- having THIS when you get laid off and advice from Joe's dad!
- the epidemic on LinkedIn
-
Read more
Welcome back to Designing the Best YOU! In today's episode you will hear about:
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% of people considering a career change in the next year
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WHEN and only WHEN you should look at a career change/pivot
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What career pivoting IS and ...
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