Jacob Wells: I keep spending hours tweaking my resume and cover letters, but I’m not sure it’s moving me forward. How do I make more effective use of my time and build real connections?

• Convey confidence in your ask. The question should hang by itself on its own paragraph with a question mark and nothing after it. 
• Make sure to lead with value and relevant and a clear story.
• Have a consistent narrative thread: Go deeper with your value by the personal impact of their transition in their career and connect it to your story that will lead to your ask.
• Raise the empathy factor where they remember being in the same position of where you are now.
• Make it clear how somebody can be helpful: “It is not that people don't want to help you, it's that people don't know how to help you.”
• If you provide new value, you always have an opportunity to continue the conversation.
• Ask only one or two clear, simple questions that’s specific enough to answer easily.
• Have an accountability partner to see your message before you send it. Surround yourself with peers whom you can share the same fears and challenges with.

Useful Resources:

Hot Seat with Paul Hemstreet on Building Relationships (Pt. 1)

Hot Seat with Paul Hemstreet on Building Relationships (Pt. 2)

Hot Seat with Jason Roberts on Asking a Question or Two

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Chris Patterson: I have a "film" resume and want to figure out if I need to and if so how to modify it for "regular" work.

• Recognize that the film industry you knew is gone and a new, unrecognizable version is emerging.
• Reframe your resume story. It’s not about what you’ve done, but how you solve the needs of those hiring, especially outside film.
• Highlight only the most relevant credits that demonstrate your high level of experience.
• Build a Skills and Abilities section on your resume. Bullet out the teaching, mentoring, and leadership experiences that define your real value.
• Align your resume and cover letter into one voice. Both should tell the same story of the value you bring.
• Make it clear that being a mentor is a core part of your identity and back it up with your mentees’ success stories.
• Focus more on the story your resume tells than on templates or design.

Useful Resources:

Office Hours Archives: Resume Hot Seat Topics

The Vault: Before and After Resume Transformations

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David Mcerlain: How do I ask for help or build a mutually beneficial connection with a mentor?

• Eliminate the doubt if he’s willing to help or not. Focus on how they can help.
• Start every connection by clarifying your goals and obstacles to give a clear way to support you meaningfully.
• Follow up by sharing your progress and what you’ve learned to build trust and keep relationships alive.
• Focus on creating value both ways to turn mentorship into an ongoing exchange of growth, gratitude, and collaboration.

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Jason Sikora: I would like to continue workshopping the outreach message we discussed during last week's hot seat.

• Anchor your message in your value and its impact. Add a small but powerful detail that says “I see you.”
• Give relevant experience on your story that can be valuable and useful to them.
• Keep it simple and broad. Invite discovery rather than making assumptions of their needs.
• Continue reaching out and exploring opportunities knowing you can be valuable to them in the future.

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Jacob Wells: I spent the weekend revising my resume and would like to review it and hear your thoughts.

• Reach out to people whenever you have new value that will make them feel good, with no expectation of a response in return.
• Continue the cycle of mentorship by reporting back the result or insights from their advice.
• Know your audience’s expectation for a resume format.
• Lead with skills and character and make it easy to find, considering your work doesn’t speak for itself. Have your core skills under your summary and have your character before your experience. 
• Combine both professional experience and additional experience into one section.
• Every piece of information on your resume should answer “why should they care?”

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Selina Hakansson: I want to have a plan for how to continue the conversation with my boss and the scheduler about improving my work schedule.

• Clearly communicate your needs so people can support you and help you thrive. Frame new requests as opportunities to be more helpful, not demands.
• Start with gratitude. Show that their flexibility improved your rhythm and value to the team.
• Frame working on weekends as a question and confirmation that it could be a shared benefit.
• Communicate your preferences so they’ll keep it in mind when they handle your schedules.
• Keep your boss in the loop, but offer to handle scheduling directly to show initiative and respect.

Useful Resource:

Season 1 of Severance: to explore the psychological separation of work identity and life identity

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David McErlain: How do I talk to people without talking bad about myself?

• Separate logic from emotion. Revisit real evidence of your strengths, like recommendation letters, to reframe your self-story.
• Identify the inner critic’s voice; it’s not yours but a learned echo from others. Name that voice (like “Bob”) to detach and disarm its influence during self-talk.
• Replace “I suck” thoughts with third-person reflections to create distance and objectivity.
• Trace where the negative voice began; awareness weakens its control.
• Listen to Ethan Kross’s Chatter podcast for tools to quiet mental noise and his actual book.
• Pair it with Alex Weber’s episode to deepen self-confidence through reframing and self-awareness.

Useful Resources:

Managing Limiting Beliefs, Imposter Syndrome, and all the “Chatter” In Our Heads | with Ethan Kross

Ethan Kross’ Book: Chatter

Why Becoming a Failure is Essential to Success | with Alex Weber, ANW

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Jacob Wells: How do I manage when I’m overwhelmed with a bunch of problems and don’t even have the confidence that I have all the solutions?

• Start with mindset and resetting expectations. Shift from performance mode to learning mode. Focus on curiosity, iteration, and progress over perfection.
• Create space to fail safely and turn mistakes into data that sharpens your skill.
• Always align expectations before you say yes. Ask clarifying questions and give yourself space to confirm what’s realistic so you can deliver with confidence instead of panic.
• Gather evidence that you can adapt and thrive in an uncertain, high-pressure environment to chip away at imposter syndrome and strengthen your belief that you can handle hard things.
• Expect setbacks, not perfection. Prepare for things to go wrong, but trust your ability to figure them out.
• Ask for feedback after every project. It shows initiative, invites mentorship, and turns temporary work into long-term relationships and reputation growth.

Useful Resources:

The Performance Paradox – How Only Focusing On Performance Leads to Performing Worse | with Eduardo Briceño

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Mitch Rosin: Happy to get a chance to talk some life with Zack! The big (unfortunate) headline is that I went on honorary withdrawal from the Editors Guild this week. Things are still quite challenging, but I’m working on it!

• Always look for things that you are grateful for when getting mired in our own despair and hopelessness
• Accept that “Hollywood” as you knew it is gone. The new ecosystem rewards adaptability, and we have time to figure things out. 
• Reframe work around the lifestyle you want. Build your work around your “why” and from values outward, not industry expectations inward.
• Find the middle ground between stability and passion. Look for work that covers your basic needs but still gives you time to explore and serve your creativity.
• Keep multiple plates spinning for both work and life that is in alignment with your values and vision. Then budget your attention and focus based on the goals that you set.
• Write down what the next phase looks like for your vision, and who you want to become in the process.

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Nick Montgomery: How can I best use the Freedom App to create meaningful, lasting digital guardrails?

• Use the Freedom App to set guardrails, not boundaries. Stop your “future self” from falling into distractions that derail focus and productivity.
• Build an intentional relationship with technology. Ask: Does this screen time serve me, or distract me?
• Treat your phone as a utility, not an entertainment device. Remove anything with a newsfeed; keep only what supports your purpose.
• Define your information diet. Allow short, intentional news windows, then disconnect and return to creating.
• Recognize the cost of constant engagement. Your “phone check” is rewiring your focus and fuels anxiety.
• Reframe digital restraint as creative liberation; boredom and stillness are where your best ideas resurface.
• Protect your attention as fiercely as your health; tech distraction is the new addiction.

Useful Resources:

Freedom App

Becoming a ‘Digital Minimalist’ | with Cal Newport

Cal Newport’s Book: Digital Minimalism

Henry David Thoreau’s Book: Walden

How We are “Wired to Create”, What It Means to Be a “Creative”, and How We Can Leverage Our Unique Gifts | with Scott Barry Kaufman

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