Q: How do you change your career trajectory?

A: You identify and jump into pivotal jobs.

Spotting these opportunities is a science; we can use the job description, our skill level and rubrics to pinpoint the highest growth opportunities.

a on the "Pivotal Growth Model":

1/ Learning is the goal

Your early career is all about learning skills to advance your vision (or passions).

The best way to learn is through experiences.

These may be projects, startups, volunteering, extracurriculars or apprenticeships

A job is a type of experience that can help you learn. They have qualities:

- Need a minimum skill level to get a job.

- You'll learn new skills while in the job

- When you leave, you'll be at a new skill level (and qualify for higher-skill jobs)

In a job, there are 3 phases of skill development:

Learning Phase: Learn new skills to do the job well.

Practicing Phase: Refine the skills you've just learned.

Flattening Phase: Master the skills. Bump up against learning cap for the role.

The stage you enter the role at depends on how qualified you are for the role.

Imagine the same job done by three people of different qualification levels.

: the more qualified you are for a role, the less skill development you can expect.

2/ Input a JD into the model

It can be tough to know how well you can do a job (your qualifications) and how much you stand to learn in the role (room for growth).

Fortunately, we can use the job description to give us a proxy answer for each of these.

Many people, including many diverse candidates, feel the need to meet all of these criteria to apply.

: The qualifications section is not a checklist; it’s a "wishlist".

This is backed by significant research in the field (ex. study from Robert Half) http://rh-us.mediaroom.com/2019-03-19-Survey-42-Percent-Of-Job-Applicants-Dont-Meet-Skills-Requirements-But-Companies-Are-Willing-To-Train-Up

: You don't need to meet 100% of the criteria.

Instead, think of the JD as a rubric.

Assess where in the learning curve you are with each criterion and average these to identify your skill level and room for growth.

Example:

Compare skill level and room for growth across all the jobs you're interested in.

The pivotal roles are where you have high room for growth.

My golden rule is if I meet 50% of the criteria and feel I can do the job well, I'm going to apply.

3/ Landing Pivotal Roles

It's hard to land a job If you only meet 50% of the criteria.

But remember these are the jobs that will pivot your whole career.

tips on how to land these roles:
1. Referrals
2. Do projects to meet criteria
3. Highlight unique strengths

4/ Other lessons

The model has a few other s:

1. Don't apply for jobs you're qualified for
2. The JD tells you the maximum you can learn in a role
3. A pivotal job = under-qualified + significant room for growth.

Dive deeper here: https://willlawrence.substack.com/p/spotting-pivotal-jobs-