Estimated Runtime: ~10 minutes
Tone: Direct, strategic, like a military briefing — precision matters
Welcome to Module Two. From here on out, we're not talking about feelings —
we're building a targeting system.
If Module One was about deciding whether to move and what you want from life,
Module Two is about translating that decision into a precise, searchable,
actionable target. Because "I'm looking for something in my field" is not a
strategy. It's a prayer. And prayers don't get callbacks.
By the end of this module, you'll have a complete Target Role Profile, a list of
specific organizations to pursue, and intelligence about how those organizations
actually hire. Today, we start with defining the role itself — with surgical
precision.
Here's what I see every week. Someone tells me, "I'm applying to everything that
looks relevant." They've sent out a hundred applications across twenty different
role types. They've gotten maybe three responses, all for roles they're not
excited about.
Now compare that to someone who says, "I'm targeting Senior Product Manager
roles at B2B SaaS companies with ten to two hundred employees, focused on
platform or infrastructure products, in the hundred forty to one hundred eighty
thousand dollar base range.
That second person is dangerous. They know exactly what they're looking for. And
because they know, they can do three things the first person cannot.
One, they can tailor every application to speak precisely to the role's
requirements. Two, they can identify and network with specific people at
specific companies. And three, they can walk into interviews and demonstrate
that they've done their homework — because they actually have.
This is the Precision Paradox. Narrowing your target feels risky. It feels like
you're reducing your options. But what you're actually reducing is waste. You're
eliminating the fifty percent of applications that were never going to go
anywhere and redirecting that energy into the ten applications that have a real
chance.
Your Target Role Profile has five components. Think of it as a filter. Every
opportunity you encounter will run through this filter, and you'll know
immediately whether it's worth your time.
Component one is Function. This is not your job title — it's what you actually
do. What problems do you solve? What outcomes do you drive? What does your day
look like when you're at your best?
Most people define themselves by their title. "I'm a marketing manager." But
titles are meaningless. A marketing manager at Google does completely different
work than a marketing manager at a twenty-person startup. Your function is the
constant. It's what transfers across companies and industries.
Write it as a sentence: "I for to achieve ." That's your function statement.
Component two is Level. Where do you sit in an organization? Are you an
individual contributor, a manager, a director, a VP? What's the scope — team
size, budget, reporting relationship? Be specific because searching at the wrong
level wastes time on both sides.
Component three is Industry. Where does your target function live? You want a
primary industry target, plus one or two adjacent industries you'd consider.
More than three industries and you're too scattered.
Component four is Compensation. What does the market actually pay for your
function, at your level, in your target industries? This needs to be
data-driven, not aspirational. We'll use AI tools to validate this. You need
three numbers: your target, your walk-away minimum, and your stretch goal.
And component five is Environment. Remote or on-site? Startup or enterprise?
Fast-paced or structured? This connects directly to your Priority Scorecard from
Module One. Whatever you ranked highest there should show up here.
Here's a practical problem with job searching: the same role has different
titles at different companies. If you only search for "Product Manager," you
miss roles posted as "Product Owner," "Product Lead," "Head of Product," or
"Program Manager, Product. So you need to map the title landscape. Here's how.
Start with your function statement. Search major job boards for that function.
Collect every title variation you find. Group them by level. And that becomes
your search keyword list.
This isn't a fifteen-minute exercise. Spend an hour on it. The time investment
pays for itself a hundred times over because you'll find opportunities that
ninety percent of job seekers miss simply because they didn't search broadly
enough.
You now have the blueprint for your Target Role Profile. Five components:
Function, Level, Industry, Compensation, and Environment. Plus a title mapping
exercise that ensures you're searching comprehensively.
Your action item is clear: complete the Target Role Profile worksheet. Be
specific. Be honest about what you want. And validate it with real market data —
which is exactly what the AI Tools Guide will help you do.
In the next lesson, we're going to take this target role and map it to specific
organizations. Because knowing what you want is only half the battle. The other
half is knowing where to find it.