Good work, 2025.

lol not really - 2025, you were weird.

Welcome to the end of an extremely weird year of work. If you need a reminder (you don’t, but you’re here so why not) - these are all real headlines.

I hope it’s comforting that we’re all here in the strangeness of figuring work out together. The good news is that strange things have happened before, and they’ll happen again. The bad news is that this time it’s robots, unemployment, and existential crises.

I wish I had the answers, but alas, all I have for you today is a collection of Linkedin posts. I was feeling nostalgic and took a look back at the ones that got the most engagement this year, then realized it might be helpful to gather them all together for you.

Future Good Work issues will be more ✨structured and topical✨starting in January, but hopefully this will hold you over until then.

Before you dive in, please indulge my advice column dreams and submit a question about work (deliberately broad) for me to weigh in on in future issues.

Thanks! Now onwards to these posts - I hope they’re helpful as you enter this season of planning, reflection, and cheese. Read to the bottom for some bonuses!

Click the headlines to read the original posts and comment sections (lots of added value in comments sections imo).

1. OpenAI is positioning themselves with the same ads playbook we used at Pinterest in 2013.

   If I’m honest, I was shocked this was my top performing post from this year - I fired this one off in 5 minutes before I went to bed one night after a conversation with a previous Pinterest coworker.
   This is your reminder that you are the product on any platform you don’t pay for (and on many you do). Your intent data is the highest value data they can have. When this is the business model, the goal is to keep you on platform for as long as possible to get your eyeballs on as many ads as possible. Keep this in mind.

   
   

2. Keep track of job boards other than Linkedin - the ones in your areas of expertise, passion, and industry.

   Job boards are one of the best ways for you to keep a pulse on the future - yours, and the future of the spaces you work in. Where are companies investing their dollars via salaries?

   *I’m including a list of more job boards I’ve collected since sharing this post at the end of this post.

   
   

3. Send the scary email. (this one even ended up in the press!)

   The worst thing that can happen is usually nothing. Expanding your surface area for luck and connection will accelerate your career more quickly than most playbooks. Scary emails have literally built my career brick by brick. Don’t forget it’s a human being on the other side.

   
   

4. What makes a good resume? (bonus post: resume do’s and don’ts)

   Make it skimmable, relevant, curated, visually clean, and reader-friendly. Do yourself and your unique set of experiences justice. For the love of god include your linkedin url and no more than a 2 sentence summary. Don’t make the hiring manager do extra work to interpret why you’re a perfect fit.

   
   

5. How candidates are standing out and getting interviews
   This one also includes some tips on how to make your resume work for a hiring manager’s review flow, in addition to navigating warm introductions and cold outreach. I did a lot of hiring this year, but these are the opinions of one.

   
   

6. Why I joined maven, and how it fits into my broader aspirations
   While this was mostly an announcement post of my new role, it might also help you consider how a full time job could fit into a portfolio career vision. (a lot of folks incorrectly assume that a portfolio career can’t include a full time role)

   
   

7. Finally getting comfortable with being seen on the internet
   There’s something really challenging about the internet as a mirror, and its way of making you hyperaware of how you’re being perceived. I made some progress here this year and I hope you did too.

   
   

8. It’s never too late to blow it all up
   I blew everything in my life up at the apparently extremely old age of 29, and turned out much better because of it. Think of your life in decades and trust your instincts.

   
   

9. A 35th birthday reflection - your early career is comprised of 3 five-year periods.
   This became a neat and tidy working theory of mine this year - your early career can be divided into ages 20-25, 25-30, and 30-35. Each phase serves a purpose, and leaning into these seasons creates opportunities for growth.

   
   

10. Battle of the brands: GPT vs Claude
    Who remembers the great thinking cap rush of 2025? The team at Anthropic reminded us that we humans like to virtue signal, and that we do indeed hope our humanity wins over the robots. Suddenly every tech brand was hosting IRL coffee shops to capture the magic of people making eye contact.

And here are a few bonuses that I loved but the linkedin algorithm didn’t:

Consider setting lifestyle goals rather than title or compensation goals

The layer between friends and strangers

Are you unhappy, or are you unhappy with how others perceive you?

A gratitu-do list

Specialized generalists vs generalized specialists

The skills you should be developing right now

*some additional job boards 4 u:

Builtin.com
Wellfound.com
Hiring cafe
Welcome to the jungle
ilovecreatives
Getro
Power pause flex jobs
Idealist (nonprofit roles)
On Purpose (social impact roles)

See you in January!! Say hi. Happy holidays💫