It's Who You Know! The Podcast · Michelle W. Malkin: Nonprofit Jewish Professional

Insider Insight with Sarah Raful Whinston, Principal at DRG Talent Consulting Experts

·1 hr 2 min·1 clip

Michelle W. Malkin opens by introducing Sarah Rafel Winston and explaining why DRG Talent Consulting Experts fits the show’s job transition edition. Sarah describes work that spans a broad range of organizations, with a particular connection to Jewish communal institutions and executive searches. Michelle then brings the conversation around to fit, since that has come up often on the program. Sarah treats job searching as a long game, not a quick application sprint. She recommends building a focused list of organizations before chasing openings. From there, the advice gets very practical. LinkedIn and informal conversations are part of the toolkit, but Sarah keeps returning to real relationships with organizations, not just names on a page. A role may look right from the outside and still not match a person’s purpose statement. That kind of mismatch often shows up only after people ask better questions. Michelle then asks about the final-candidate stage, and the discussion moves from résumé screening to what search committees should pay attention to later on. Sarah says organizations often need to see more than a polished work history. She argues for asking about lived experience alongside professional experience. The point is not to replace skill with story, but to hold both together when filling a role. That framing keeps the conversation grounded in how hiring actually works. It also broadens the lens beyond a narrow credentials-first view. For listeners who work in communal organizations, the episode offers a practical model for search discipline. For listeners in transition, it offers permission to slow down and build a list with intention. By the end, the show lands on responsibility as much as strategy: good hiring makes room for hunger, perspective, and different lived experiences.

As heard by us

A practical look at fit, networking, and why lived experience should matter in search.

The discussion stays grounded and clear-eyed. Sarah Rafel Winston, a principal at DRG Talent Consulting Experts, lays out how the firm approaches searches for Jewish communal institutions, especially executive roles, and keeps circling back to fit as the real test.

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Why you'd press play

You want a steadier way to search for work that actually fits.

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