🔮 Demystifying Your Career Trajectory
In the often mystical landscape of career progression, understanding the hierarchical ladder within your industry is like piecing together a conspiracy theory with red string pinned to a cork board.
Vertical research helps decode titles by describing how entry-level cherubs slowly rise to the C-Suite, and what you need to do to close your own gap between your title and the dream.
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1. Set the Stage 📈
Tap into your studious side and dive into vertical research. Understand the titles above and below you and how they relate to each other. Think, associate, manager, director, then VP. Here’s our favorite tools that do all the heavy lifting:
2. Show Me the Money 💰
Find the salary or salary range of the titles in your vertical within different companies. Glassdoor is a great place to start, as it requires you to divulge your proprietary salary information to cultivate an accurate database. Salary transparency is slowly shedding its taboo, so this info shouldn’t be too hard to track down.
3. Recon 🕵️
Welcome to corporate espionage except it’s just a spreadsheet. Look at your research, compare the salaries with the titles’ actual expectations in your vertical to holistically understand the scope. Ignore job description dribble ( 🚩) like “able to work in a fast-paced environment.”
4. Personal Application 🤓
According to the Harvard Business Review, women tend to only apply for jobs they’re 100% qualified for, and men only need a cool 60% to apply. That sucks.
Assign a percentage to each title and give yourself grace to apply to some jobs you’re not completely prepared for. These are your “stretch” titles. This is a clear way to analyze the gaps in your resume and where you can start to qualify yourself for those bigger titles.
💌 Share this newsletter with everyone you know who's started a new job or is looking for a new one.
After essentially compiling a small thesis on your vertical, you've acquired an expert-level understanding of titles within your scope. It’s time for one of two approaches: plan forward or work backwards.
Forward planning involves leveraging your existing skills to target roles you can excel in immediately.
Working backwards entails selecting the dream title, then filling in the resume gaps over time to work towards those top verticals.
Either way, you’ll have cold-hard data to prove your worth, and, more importantly, your price tag.
Because You’re Worth It
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