Hi Nie!

This week, I'm really happy to share a rare guest article from a friend!

​Justin Jackson is a Transistor co-founder and a long-time friend of mine, and he sent a really thoughtful reply to last week’s email about when to go wide and deep when developing your skillset.

Justin specifically thinks about this from an employer’s perspective as he hires people to help him grow Transistor, and I love how he describes "positioning" yourself as a unique candidate to help the company solve specific problems.

Being someone so good at X that I can't ignore you is a big advantage. (hat tip to Cal Newport's book)

With "X" meaning a recurring need/challenge/desire I want to be solved.

As an employer, I have "jobs to be done" in my mind

• "I'm at my limit of skills when it comes to building our marketing site; I think it's time to hire someone better than me at front-end web dev (Tailwind, etc)."
• "All the stuff I'm building doesn't look professional. I need to hire a designer to design a website, brand, and materials I'm proud of."
• "I need to hire someone like Corey Haines, who's great at marketing and growth, to get our acquisition machine up and running."
• "Damn, I'm stressed out constantly answering support tickets. I should hire someone part-time to do this for me."
• "I'm getting burnt out writing all the content for our site. I should find a contractor who's fired up about it."

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One area I see a lot of job searchers struggle with is they haven't correctly identified a skill/job to be done that employers want.You must have "product/market fit" with the employer.

This means identifying the skills/jobs that are in demand and focusing your "marketing" (CV, resume, personal website) on the skills that employers want.

Most of the employee positioning I see is too generic and doesn't specifically answer the question: "How are you (the employee) going to solve my (the employer's) problems?" [emphasis added by Josh]

When looking for the right person to hire, I'm looking for folks who have demonstrated their abilities.

If I need help with front-end web development, I'm looking for folks whose Twitter presence, GitHub profile, personal website, YouTube channel, etc... screams: "I'M REALLY PASSIONATE AND GOOD AT FRONT-END WEB DEV."

I want to see other attributes as well: does this person seem secure, friendly, and curious? Do they look like a self-starter? Can they manage themselves? Are they good a problem solving? But before I evaluate folks on these "softer" dimensions, I want to see proficiency in the one thing I'm hiring for.
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It's not a coincidence that Justin and I both talk a lot about "positioning" yourself as the candidate for the job. When I first encountered the concept of positioning, it was in the context of a business finding customers.

But you can use positioning too, and Justin has done a great job of describing how your positioning can have an impact on potential employers who are considering adding you to their team.

By the way, if you like making things or want to start a podcast, you should subscribe to Justin's newsletter and check out Transistor. I've learned a lot from Justin over the years, and I love the approach that Transistor takes to helping the podcast ecosystem flourish.

Have a great week!

Josh