By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
EP 3123 From the book, “ONLYNESS: The No BS Playbook for the AI Age PDF we discuss the trap almost everyone falls into in their job search and career.
00:00 – Introduction The hosts introduce the “No BS Job Search Advice Radio” and the core topic: flipping the traditional job search mindset.
00:11 – The Book Reveal Introduction of Jeff Altman’s book, Onlyness: The No BS Playbook for the AI Age, which serves as the foundation for the episode’s advice.
00:29 – The Trap of Being “The Best” Discussion on why trying to prove you are the “best” candidate is a fundamental mistake that most job seekers make.
01:13 – The Race to the Bottom An explanation of why competing to be the best is a losing game: it’s subjective, invites direct comparison, and ultimately leads to salary haggling.
01:45 – The Power of “Onlyness” The hosts explain the alternative strategy: shifting from “comparison” to “differentiation.” The goal is to stop being an apple in a barrel of apples and become an orange.
02:31 – Generalist vs. Specialist (Concrete Example) A practical comparison between a general “Director of Marketing” (a commodity) and a “Market Entry Specialist for EU Fintech” (a niche authority).
03:23 – The Critical Question The hosts present the most important question you should ask yourself: “What makes you the only one who can do what you do?”
04:06 – Where to Find the Book Details on where to purchase Onlyness (Amazon, Audible) or how to get it via the JobSearch.Community.
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This is No BS Job Search Advice Radio. Today, we’re gonna talk about something that might just completely flip the way you think about your job search in your entire career. And we’re pulling all of this from a brand new book by Jeff Altman.
You might know him as the big game hunter. It’s called, Onlyness, the No BS Playbook for the AI Age. And wow, it really argues that most of us are making this one huge fundamental mistake in our job search.
It offers a totally different way to think about it. One that could be way more effective. All right, so let’s dive into the big problem first.
He calls it, the best is a trap. It’s this idea, this belief we all have that to get that dream job, you have to convince them you are the absolute best person for it. So let me ask you directly, in your job search right now, are you trying to be the best candidate? I mean, really think about it.
When you’re tweaking your resume, when you’re prepping for that interview, isn’t your main goal to prove you’re number one? Yeah, for pretty much all of us, the answer is a big yes. But what if that whole way of thinking is just wrong? Because according to Jeff Altman, it is. It’s a trap.
It’s not just hard. It’s a game you are basically designed to lose right from the start. So, why? Why is it a trap? Well, the reason is that it forces you into something he calls a race to the bottom.
So let’s break this down. Why does trying to be the best fail? First off, the whole idea of best is totally subjective, right? I mean, whose best are we talking about? The recruiters, the hiring managers? They probably don’t even agree. Second, it puts you in a direct comparison.
It’s basically telling the employer, hey, line me up against everyone else. And that leads to the killer point. It invites them to haggle over your salary.
Because when you’re just one of many comparable options, what’s the easiest way to decide? Price. Okay, so if trying to be the best is the wrong way to go, what’s the right way? This is where we get to the heart of the book’s idea. It’s all about the power of what he calls onlyness.
The core idea is right here in this quote from Jeff. Don’t do comparisons, do differentiation. You have to stop playing their comparison game.
The goal isn’t to win the game, it’s to change the rules entirely, to take yourself out of that lineup altogether. So what is differentiation? It’s the strategy of moving yourself from being just another commodity they can compare toward being a unique, one-of-a-kind authority. Think about it like this.
You’re no longer an apple in a barrel full of apples. You’re an orange. Suddenly, there’s no easy comparison.
You’re not better than, you’re just different. You’re the only one. I know this might sound a little, you know, abstract.
So let’s look at a really concrete example of what this actually looks like in practice. It’s about making the shift from being a generalist to a true specialist. Okay, check this out.
On the left, you’ve got the generalist, director of marketing. Super common title, right? It’s broad, you’re competing with thousands, maybe tens of thousands of other people with that same title. Now look at the right, the niche authority, market entry specialist for European fintech firms entering the US market.
Wow, see how specific that is? This person is not competing with every marketing director out there. They’ve literally created a category of one for themselves. And that right there is the entire point.
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One is just a job title. The other is a unique solution to a very specific problem. They’ve made themselves so different that for the right company, that European fintech firm, there’s literally no one else to even call.
So this brings us to the final and honestly, the most important question, the one you need to start asking yourself. It’s time to stop trying to be the best. Seriously, start asking yourself this instead.
What makes you the only one who can do what you do? What is that unique mix of skills, your specific experiences, your personal perspective that makes you, you? What problem can only you solve? That, that right there is your onlyness. And that is where your real power in the job market is. Now, obviously we’ve only just scratched the surface here.
The book, Onlyness, the No BS Playbook for the AI age goes way deeper into how you can actually figure out what your onlyness is, how to talk about it and how to market that unique value you bring. So if any of this is clicking for you, you can grab the book a few different ways. It’s available on Amazon, both for Kindle and as an audio book.
It’s also included if you have an insider membership over at jobsearch.community, or you can just buy it separately as a PDF right there on the site.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers
easier. Those things can involve job search,
hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2700 episodes.
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You will find great info to help with your job search at my new site, JobSearch.Community Besides the video courses, books and guides, I answer questions from members daily about their job search. Leave job search questions and I will respond daily. Become an Insider+ member and you get everything you’d get as an Insider PLUS you can get me on Zoom calls to get questions answered. Become an Insider Premium member and we do individual and group coaching.
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