Lesson 2 of 1220 minutesFree

Know the market before it knows you

Read adverts and role profiles the way the hiring manager wrote them, find what the market really asks for, research the package, and plan how to close your gaps.

Goes with Chapter 2 of How To Get Your Dream Job. Everything saves in this browser only.

Before you start

Your path

Choose your field and level. The examples and suggestions in this lesson change to match.

The story

Six COO applications, six noes

Priya · Head of operations · eleven years' experience

Priya ran operations for a logistics company: four sites, two hundred staff and a budget she knew to the last pound. She applied for six chief operating officer roles. All six said no.

When we read the role profiles together, the answer was on the page. Five of the six asked for full P&L ownership, regular board reporting and experience of an acquisition. Priya had none of the three. She was applying two steps ahead, and the adverts had been telling her so all along.

“I wasn’t wrong about what I wanted. I was just trying to skip a step.”

One advert tells you about one employer. Ten tell you about the market. This lesson turns adverts and role profiles into evidence you can act on.

Step 1 · The ten-advert scan

What does the market really ask for?

Paste the requirements from up to ten adverts or role profiles for your target role. Put a line with three dashes (---) between each one. The scanner shows which requirements appear in at least half of them.

Step 2 · The job-advert decoder

Must-have, nice-to-have and the hidden priority

Paste one advert or role profile you'd really like to apply for. The decoder marks the signals: must-have words, nice-to-have words, and repeated themes that usually point to the hidden priority: the problem they need solved.

Role and organisation

Your evidence against each requirement

Requirement

Type

Do I have it?

My evidence

The hidden priority, in one sentence

Fill in the grid to see a suggested decision.

Step 3 · The package

Know the number before anyone asks

Collect figures from several sources: adverts, recruiter salary surveys, professional bodies, public pay scales and conversations with search consultants. At senior level, research the whole package, not just the salary.

Source

Role and location

Salary or range

Given my experience, I sit…

…because

Package items to research

Step 4 · Gaps

Close the gaps you can close in weeks

List the gaps the decoder showed. Mark each one quick (weeks), medium (months) or long (a year or more). Quick and medium gaps can close while you search. A long gap on a must-have means this role is the move after next.

Gap

Size

How I'll close it, and by when

★ Core activity

Your market snapshot

Your scan, decoder, package range and gap plan on one page. Use it to decide which roles to go for now, and which to aim for next.

Before you move on

Three questions

Five minutes, in English or your own language: whichever lets you think most clearly.

What did the ten-advert scan show you that you didn't expect?

Does your target role meet your pay and package deal-breaker? If not, what will you change?

Which gap will you start closing this week?

What to remember

Five things to keep

Ten adverts tell you about the market; one tells you about one employer.
Every advert has must-haves, nice-to-haves and a hidden priority.
At senior level, research the package and read the candidate pack, not just the advert.
Close quick gaps while you search; treat long gaps as the move after next.
One conversation with someone in the role is worth a day of reading.

Lesson 3: Your evidence bank

Turn years of duties into achievements with numbers, and build eight STAR stories that answer most interview questions.

Start Lesson 3 All lessons

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