The best lesson for job discussions I ever got was from a prank phone call. The core advice is to simply ask for what you want rather than complying with established norms or accepting something you don’t want. Changing jobs is not a time to compromise and begin a new undertaking that focuses on what you don’t want to be doing.

The recruiter asked what position I wanted from their list, but none were suitable. I ordered off-menu by describing what I was actually looking for, expecting a polite explanation that they only had boring interchangeable jobs. Instead, she understood immediately and started talking to others in her company to make a fit.

It would have been easy to apply for most of the jobs on their list, but I didn’t want to really do any of them and most were pretty braindead despite paying a good salary. Most of all they didn’t lead anywhere, just another silly senior level position working with autistic robots detached from strategy and effectiveness.