“It's people that make or break your business. Don't deceive yourself into thinking it's anything else.” – Tessa White

How do I prepare for a job interview, negotiate my pay, or ask for a raise? You might get the answer from peers or older colleagues, but they can only tell you their side of the story.

Getting expert insider advice will give you leverage in any workplace situation. And your secret weapon? The Job Doctor.

Tessa White, a.k.a., The Job Doctor, founded her company to help individuals navigate the ups and downs of the workplace. She uses her 20+ years of experience in HR to counsel employees on how to find their role in the company, showcase their contributions, and get the desired rewards. She offers her expert advice on people strategy, talent management strategy, and career navigation, among other related subjects.

Tessa’s guidance extends to managers and companies as well, with strategies to overcome leadership shortcomings and find ways to re-engage and stimulate 21st-century workers.

A Little Background Story

Tessa White was born in 1973 in Alpine, Utah, in a family of 8 siblings. Her biggest influence comes from her mother’s side of the family, all of whom she likes to call warriors.

Tessa’s grandmother paved the way for strong female characters in the 1940s. She was one of the few women who studied at Brigham Young University, getting a Bachelor's in Home Economics and a minor in Chemistry.

Tessa’s mother was a Mathematics major and a Psychology minor with a knack for numbers and calculations. By the time she finished university, she already had 3 young daughters. She eventually became a stay-at-home mom to raise eight children, five of them daughters.

Tessa’s father had a chain of clothing stores where she started working at the age of eight. She learned a lot about business there, and even more about music that her father loved to play all day.

After the age of 14, Tessa’s parents let her go to all the concerts she could get tickets for. Tessa loved the 80s music, filling her room with posters of pop rock heartthrobs, and living the dream life of an American teenager.

She likes to say that her work life began at the age of 10 when she started selling greeting cards door to door to earn a stereo after seeing an ad in Tiger Beat magazine. From there, her road to success was long and winding, leading to a career in HR and, finally, a CEO of her own company.

Life of an HR Manager

Tessa started working in HR by accident. She had a defining moment at 28 after the separation from her husband when she had three children and no college degree. The only two skills she could use to find work were understanding people and the ability to talk to them well.

Her people skills secured her an entry-level job at the Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center where she worked under the mentorship of Stephen Covey, an internationally-recognized leadership expert. His book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was named the #1 most influential business book of the 20th century.

So, Tessa learned first-hand from the best in the business, gaining knowledge and experience, perfecting her skills, and expanding her worldview. In the meantime, she attended Snow College and Utah State University and eventually got a degree in Journalism and French.

In the next 20 years, Tessa specialized in recruiting, benefits, compensation, and training and worked for companies of all sizes and industries. She was Head of HR for small tech start-ups, health insurance firms, direct sales, and Fortune 50 companies. The diverse company cultures allowed her to experiment with ways to attract and retain talent, implement some avant-garde methods to execute management demands, and learn from her mistakes.

One thing she likes to reiterate is that you need to speak up. Whenever you have something to say, whether it’s an idea to solve a problem or go against something wrong or unjust, make yourself heard!

The Job Doctor and TikTok Celebrity

The idea for The Job Doctor came to her during the early days of the pandemic. Tessa was stuck in her house and really bored, so she decided to reinvent herself and do the opposite of what she had been doing until then.

She was at the height of her earning potential when she stopped protecting companies and started helping individuals get ahead in their careers.

She worked on her website and came up with the concept of Rent My Brain–a personal consultant on how to get a bigger salary or negotiate a job offer by using all of her insider information on how things work at the management level.

On the same day in October 2020, when Tessa launched The Job Doctor, her social media-savvy daughter suggested they put her snippets of career advice on TikTok. She posted five of her videos, and within 72 hours, Tessa went viral with over 10,000 followers.

The first video to get over a million views was on how to prepare for a job interview. The Job Doctor immediately got traction and started getting so many clients that it got overwhelming fast.

She started by having hour-long one-on-one counseling sessions but eventually had another idea. She realized that she could turn these into a masterclass with several people attending and increase the value of her time tenfold.

After that, Tessa started putting together group mentoring sessions with limited availability and targeted topics and instructions. She marketed her services to companies instead of just waiting for people to reach her through the website.

She now does 8-week or 10-week courses that involve 200 to 400 attendees and has seen exponential growth in her company.

The Job Doctor Milestones and Awards

October 2022, two years after her first viral video, Tessa has 1 million followers on TikTok, and Instagram combined. Moreover, she finds herself amidst a new accidental career as a social media influencer.

Companies offer her $4-5k for one-minute promo videos, yet she is cautious about which products she takes. According to her, she doesn't want to promote "stupid" products (her words).

What started as a freelance gig is now a company with an IT, social media, sales, and operations manager.

Tessa was named by Disruptors Magazine as one of the top female entrepreneurs to watch in 2021 and by USA Today as one of the top speakers to watch in 2022. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNN Business, The Doctors, and Good Morning America.

Tessa has also been the President of the local Society for Human Resources and serves on multiple boards. Including the Huntsman School of Business, Utah Valley University Women's Center, and Dahlia's Hope — a recovery aftercare center that supports sex-trafficking victims.

The Job Doctor’s Future

Tessa White has a three-book series deal with Harper Collins Publishers. The first one, The Unspoken Truths for Career Success: What You Never Learned About Navigating Pay, Promotions and Politics in the Workplace, is coming out in February 2023.

It is explicitly aimed at digitally native Millennials and Gen Z and teaches them how to recognize what is holding them back from getting a job and climbing the career ladder. The following two books will speak to managers and companies, respectively.

The project that started out of boredom snowballed into a massive business in a year! So, let yourself be bored occasionally and escape all the stimuli and information flooding your mind. You might be surprised by the creative ideas you’ll get when you’re not distracted by all the noise in your brain!