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Back in 2023, social media management platform Buffer wrote a blog post about how it had received 1,518 applicants for a single role on its marketing team. While thats a jaw-dropping number, its a common occurrence for companies with well-paying jobs that boast a great company culture. In the present job market, many job seekers are discouraged knowing theyre competing against hundreds (if not thousands) of applicants. For some roles, a résumé will only get you so far. A personal brand helps you stand out before you ever apply for a job, making the application process tip in your favor. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} You can break out of the résumé mold Résumés often have very prescriptive formats. Youve probably heard the common advice: Keep it to one page, highlight your accomplishments, make it easy to read. These days, résumés are often fed directly into an applicant tracking systemso any creativity is stripped, and a résumé reviewer only sees text. Yet many companies have a required field on their applications: the URL of your LinkedIn profile. This is where you can shine. Anyone can have a polished headshot, colorful banner, and interesting headline. But you can set yourself apart with a compelling About section, links to projects in the Featured section, and recommendations from former colleagues. Your LinkedIn profile is like your résumé with a microphone. Instead of passively waiting for someone to review your work, youre amplifying it. Of course, to do this, you need to create content. Start with a small, manageable posting schedule LinkedIn can be a very intimidating place, especially if youve never shared content there before. The feed is full of people who are Excited to announce a new job or want to tell you how to “10x your career.” One Gen Z user referred to LinkedIn as the overachievers Facebook in an article for the New York Post. Creating content is a way to showcase your personality in a way that your résumé and profile cant. You dont have to set out to be an influencer, but you can share relevant experiences from your careerand even a peek into your personal interests (if youre comfortable doing so). I started with one post per week, sharing anything work-related that popped into my head. I had no particular goal in mind, but recognized that LinkedIn was the platform where work and opportunities happen. Eventually, I started becoming more strategic and shared content that showcased my expertise and personality, but not until my weekly writing habit was well-established. You can bypass gatekeepers and make connections A personal brand will open doors in a way that a résumé wont. In an intense job market, you need anything and everything that distinguishes you from other job seekers. With a personal brand, you can make connections with potential hiring managers and rely on those connections when applying for a job. Do this before you apply. Start connecting with people in your industry or at companies youd like to work for. Engage with them and continue posting content. When a role opens up, you can apply and also send a DM saying: Hey! Just wanted to let you know that I applied for XYZ role. Really excited about the opportunity. It might move your résumé to the top of the pile. Significant attention A personal brand might also bring offers directly to youwithout needing to apply. You might catch the attention of hiring managers or recruiters who will reach out with potential opportunities. Im self-employed, so my experience isnt the same as a traditional job seeker. Still, I can attest that I get a significant amount of attention on LinkedIn after several years of building a personal brand. Connections have brought opportunities my way that I would not have had otherwise. Because of my content, people know who I am, understand what I do, and trust that my personal brand matches my work ethic. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
Like a good pair of Basquiat Crocs, there are innumerable bad ways to license an artists work. So when Airstream looked to partner up on a project with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the aluminum-clad trailer brand could have just printed one of the architect’s famous patterns on a limited run of its vehicles and called it a day. It probably would have even sold well. But that is decidedly what Bob Wheeler, Airstreams president and CEO, did not want to do. We said, All right, let’s make sure that everything has a purpose and a functionthat way it’s not just a pastiche, or some kind of lame attempt to mimic something, Wheeler recalls. We didn’t want it to seem overdone or kitschy. Instead, the brand embarked on a multiyear collaboration with the experts at Wrights Taliesin West home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, and today the two are rolling out the 28-foot Airstream Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian Limited Edition Travel Trailer. With just 200 numbered vehicles that retail for $184,900 on offer, youlike memight not be able to afford one at the moment, but they just might also restore your faith in the art of the artist collab at large. [Photo: Airstream] BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Wheeler has a passion for midcentury design (as you might expect of Airstreams CEO), so it tracks that hed be a natural fan of Wrights organic architecture. Honestly, this has been a dream of mine for the last 20 years, which is about as long as I’ve been president of Airstream, he says. Why are Wrights designs so celebrated today? It’s because they’re timeless. I think there are values there that incentivize someone to buy an Airstream that overlap in some meaningful ways. Though Wright and Airstream founder Wally Byam were active at the same time and likely shared some of the same design fan base, theres no record of them ever meeting. But a collaboration between the two ultimately proved inevitable when Wheeler reached out to Wrights foundation in 2022. Foundation historian Sally Russell says her team wasnt initially sure how robust a joint project could be. They eventually toured the Airstream factory in Ohio where the trailers are handmade using 3,000 rivets over the course of 350 hours, and saw how much customization was truly possible. Then she realized that it could be a great showcase of Wrights work. Beyond an Airstreams signature aluminum exterior, Wheeler says the trailer is essentially a blank canvas. And that’s where we can really flex some design muscle and allow others to do so. Russell says the foundation first explored whether to make the trailer feel like an adaptation of a specific Frank Lloyd Wright home. The answer to that was no, she says. We didn’t want to try to re-create the Rosenbaum House and shove it into the size of a trailer. It didn’t make sense, because Frank Lloyd Wright certainly designed for each of his individual projectshe created something new, something that expressed the individual forms of the project, the needs of the client. So there was a great awareness of wanting to continue that legacy through the work that we did on the trailer. The two teams ultimately homed in on the concept of Usonian design, a style that aimed to democratize design via small, affordable homes with a focus on efficient floor plans, functionality, and modularity. In other words: an ideal fit for an Airstream. [Photo: Airstream] COLLAPSIBLE CHAIRS AND CLERESTORY WINDOWS When you approach the trailer, the connection to Wright is immediate on the custom front door featuring the Gordon leaf pattern, which the architect commissioned his apprentice Eugene Masselink to design in 1956. Its a tip of the hat to nature, presumably an Airstreamers destination, and can be found subtly throughout the trailer in elements like sconces and cabinet pullsbut not too much, per the design mission at the outset. (At one point we had a lot more of that Gordon leaf in there, Wheeler notes. We dialed that way back.) With the push of a button, the bench seating converts into a king-size bedone of Wheelers favorite elements. It is the largest bed in any Airstream, and is a first for the company, he says. [Photo: Airstream] Another convertible element, in line with that focus on modularity, is the living space at the front of the trailer. Here, a dining table, desk, and seating inspired by the slant-back chairs that Wright used throughout his career collapse into a wall cabinet. Wheeler says Airstream used to deploy clever featres like this in the midcentury era, before modern preferences trended toward built-in furniture. So in some ways, this is a bit of a flashback to an earlier design in the 50s, which is appropriate. The teams also honored Wrights focus on natural light, relocating Airstreams usual overhead storage in favor of clerestory windows, which are prominent in Usonian homes. Meanwhile, the overall color palette comes from a 1955 Wright-curated Martin-Senour paint line. Russell says the team selected it for its harmonious blend with the natural settings where the trailer is likely headed, featuring ocher, red, and turquoise. Ultimately, It’s like a Frank Lloyd Wright home, where you walk into it, and it’s a completely different experience from any other building, Russell says. I hope that he would be very happy to see that design legacy continue, because he certainly did that with his own fellowship and the apprentices that he worked with. [Photo: Airstream] USONIAN LIFE Starting today, the limited-edition, numbered trailers will be available for order at Airstream dealerships. Wheeler says the company was originally going to release just 100 of them, but got so much positive feedback from dealers and others that they doubled the run. On the whole, the collaboration comes in the wake of a boom time for Airstream, which is owned by Thor Industries. Airstream experienced a surge during the pandemic, resulting in a 22% jump in sales in 2021 as people embraced remote work or realigned their relationship to the world. We’ve come back to earth now, and now we’re much more tied to actual market retail rates, which is what we know, Wheeler says. In its third-quarter financials, Thor reported $2.89 billion in revenue (up 3.3% from previous year). While the company declined to provide Airstream-specific numbers, its overall North American towable RV division is up 9.1% from the same period in 2024. But theres a problem afoot: The current administrations tariffs, which Wheeler says made settling on the price for the Frank Lloyd Wright collaboration tricky. He adds that the company is struggling with shortages caused by the disruption in the supply chain, and high interest rates are also a problem. [Photo: Airstream] Look, we’re 94 years old, he says. We’ve been through more of these cycles than we can count, so we’re fine, and we’ll continue to trade on authenticity, quality, great service and support, a great dealer network, and a brand that really has become part of the fabric of the U.S. traveling adventure.
Category:
E-Commerce
A Broadway play is coming to your living room live via cable television for the first time ever. This historic moment takes place tonight (Saturday, June 7, 2025) at 7 p.m. ETjust one day before the 78th Tony Awards. Grab some snacks and settle in for Good Night, and Good Luck, co-written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and directed by David Cromer. Although this event is being pitched as a TV first, streaming service BroadwayHD was technically the first to livestream a Broadway show, with the musical She Loves Me in 2016but we digress. Here’s what to know about Good Night, and Good Luck, and how to watch it live. What is “Good Night, and Good Luck” about? Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of respected CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow and his quest to hold Senator Joseph McCarthy accountable for his actions during the 1950s Red Scare. It is based on the 2005 film of the same name. This time around, George Clooney portrays Murrow and is making his Broadway debut. What do the critics say? Good Night, and Good Luck received mostly positive reviews. Varietys Frank Rizzo praised its seriousness of purpose that is again dramatically stark, solidly documented, and ultimately chilling. The Hollywood Reporters David Rooney mused that the drama at times seems almost as educational as it is theatrical. Both believe the ending might have been too heavy-handed and wanted more character development for the supporting characters. Time Outs Adam Feldman did not mince words, stating that the play is too similar to the movie. It is well designed and full of fine actors doing their jobs. Its subject is timely and its message is on point, and theres no good reason to see it, he quipped. The American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League, the organizations behind the Tony Awards, honored the production with five nominations. This includes one for Clooneys leading performance. The play is a major commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing play in Broadway history. On the way to that title, it repeatedly grossed more than $4 million in a single week. These numbers are partly because tickets range from $176 for obstructed views to $799 for the best seats. Why tell this story now? Clooney and Heslov wrote the 2005 screenplay as a response to the United States actions in the Iraq War. Unfortunately, the universal themes of speaking truth to power are more relevant now than ever. I think it’s a story that you can keep telling over and over,” Heslov told CBS’s 60 Minutes. “I don’t think it will ever thematically get old.” They chose to adapt the story for the stage because of the Trump administration’s actions to discredit the media. While the president laments so-called fake news, journalists play an important role in educating the public and keeping public officials honest. “When the other three estates fail, when the judiciary and the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the fourth estate has to succeed,” Clooney added during the 60 Minutes interview. He went on to say that a recent ABC News settlement with the Trump administration was scary. In a similar vein, CBS is trying to get a $20 billion lawsuit that claims 60 Minutes committed election interference dismissed. Additionally, Trump continues to cherry-pick which outlets get access to him while attempting to defund news organizations such as NPR. We’re seeing this idea of using government to scare or fine, or use corporations to make journalists smaller, Clooney explained. Clooney’s father, Nick Clooney, was a respected broadcast journalist. The younger Clooney followed in his fathers political-party footsteps and is a lifelong Democrat. How can I watch or stream the Broadway play live? Because this story is so personal to Clooney, he is doing his part to bring the shows important and timely message to an even wider audience beyond the Big Apple. He partnered with CNN to accomplish this. Thanks to 20 cameras and 14 camera operators, audiences around the world can feel like they are in the room where it happened. I cant tell you how exciting it is to do something thats never been done. CNN is the perfect place to bring this story of courage to so many more people than we could have ever hoped. Live TV. No net. Buckle up everyone, Clooney stated in a press release. Before the metaphorical curtain rises, CNN’s Pamela Brown will host a pre-show outside of the Winter Garden Theatre, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. The play will begin at 7 p.m. ET and runs an hour and 40 minutes, with no intermission. After the play, CNN’s Anderson Cooper will host a special, discussing the current state of journalism. He will be joined by a slew of notable guests including Connie Chung and Marvin Kalb. Traditional cable subscribers can watch the pre-show, play, and post-show discussion on CNN and CNN International. Cord-cutters can stream the theatrical experience on CNN.com/GoodNightGoodLuck and do not need a cable login. It will also be available on HBO Max at all subscription levels.
Category:
E-Commerce
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