the market doesn't give a fuck about my or your feelings.

it's not a guidance counselor validating your career choices. not a fair system that rewards good people who work hard. the market is brutally simple: it has problems. it pays people who solve them. everything else is noise.

you keep expecting the market to meet you where you are. to recognize your potential. to value your years of experience. to care that you're thoughtful and strategic and have great ideas.

but markets don't work backward from your skills to find problems. they work forward from problems to find solutions. and right now, you're selling skills, not solutions.

the delusion that's killing your job search

you think you're being strategic. you're not. you're being tactical. there's a difference. let me show you.

tactical: "i'll add more keywords to match job postings"

strategic: "i'll understand why they need this role in the first place"

tactical: "i'll network to get referrals"

strategic: "i'll understand industry pain before i reach out"

tactical: "i'll customize my resume for each application"

strategic: "i'll position myself as the obvious solution to their specific problem"

see the pattern?

tactical thinking assumes the market's requirements are fixed. strategic thinking recognizes markets broadcast pain constantly. you just have to listen.

markets scream their needs everywhere

in job postings that stay open for months. in employee complaints on glassdoor. in founder tweets about scaling challenges. in product reviews about missing features.

today we decode what the market actually wants. not what job postings say. tomorrow we'll deepdive into your experience and reposition it to match. but first, you need to understand the game.

the only three signals that matter

growthx members will recognize this from capstone. but here's the hiring version. a much lighter version of the original.

1. people signals

who works in that function/title who works in your dream role who works in your dream company

2. product signals

roadmap: what they're building next business goals: what metrics matter revenue goals: how they make money tech goals: what breaks at scale

3. market signals

tailwinds: what's pushing them forward headwinds: what's holding them back

let's go deeper, pay attention.

1/ people signals: