AFTER DONALD TRUMP won the presidential election in 2016—when he was a former television star rather than a former president—he managed the White House transition as if it were a high-stakes episode of “The Apprentice”. Aspiring cabinet members arrived at his eponymous tower in New York and walked past television cameras for interviews with the president-elect. Kanye West even made an appearance. This time Susie Wiles, Mr Trump’s campaign manager and his future chief of staff, has led an orderly, low-key process. Mr Trump’s deliberations at Mar-a-Lago in Florida are occasionally punctuated by announcements on social media. Applicants are skittish about discussing their job search publicly, but some patterns have emerged. As of November 12th several publications were reporting that Marco Rubio would become secretary of state. How does one go about getting hired by Mr Trump?