By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter
In 2024, a mid-career product executive named Sarah found herself in the midst of a “standard” technology layoff. Her LinkedIn profile looks like a carbon copy of 10,000 others: “Results-driven leader,” “Cross-functional collaborator,” “User-centered.” She spent two months applying for a director-level position but received zero support. The market sees her as a commodity.
Instead of working harder to apply, Sarah turned to grooming her uniqueness. She realized her unique intersection was more than just “product management”—in fact, she had worked in high-frequency trading for five years before moving into consumer fintech. She began writing specifically about the “delay of trust,” applying high-frequency data principles to how users interact with banking apps. Within three weeks, the CEO of a Tier 1 digital bank contacted her directly. He doesn’t need a “Product Director”; he wants a “Product Director.” He wanted the only person who understood the technological bridge between sub-millisecond data and consumer psychology. Sarah not only found a job; She bypassed the entire competitive field.
Cultivating your uniqueness is the only sustainable strategy in an AI-saturated market. If you are comparable, you are replaceable. Here’s how to establish that distinction without getting fancy.
1. Identify obscure intersections
Uniqueness is not a single skill; it is the friction between two or more different experiences. Most professionals try to hide their zigzag career paths in order to appear more “consistent.” This is a mistake. Consistency is product-specific.
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audit: Look at your history. Look for industries, hobbies, or technical disciplines that are “unrelated” to your current position.
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formula: (Primary expertise) + (Secondary niche expertise) + (Specific market problem).
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Reality: If you are a marketing director, you are one of 500,000 people. If you are a marketing director who understands the specific regulatory restrictions in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space in 2026, you are one of the ten.
2. LinkedIn Signals: From Generalist to Expert
Your LinkedIn feed is currently a graveyard of “congratulations” and general industry news. To foster uniqueness, your profile must function narrowband signal.
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Title changes: Remove “Open Jobs” banner and generic header. Your title should describe the specific problem you solve that no one else can.
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Content Agreement: Stop sharing the “Top 10 Artificial Intelligence Tools” list. Instead, pick a specific, high-stakes problem in your niche and provide a “high-resolution” solution.
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Specificity rules: If your post could be written by a regular LL.M., don’t post it. Uniqueness relies on “dirty” details—failures, edge cases, and nuanced “internal” observations that the robot has not been trained on.
3. Build a “proof of concept” garden
LinkedIn is about reaching influence, but your uniqueness requires a “home” where the depth of your thinking is undeniable. This is where you develop your uniqueness among others.
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Weibo/substack: You don’t need a bunch of newsletters; you want a searchable archive of expertise. When a recruiter or colleague searches for you on Google, they should find 5-10 in-depth research on your specific intersection.
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Semantic trajectory: Make sure your name is associated with a specific technical term or approach. If you “own” a specific framework (even a small one), you become the primary source of that solution.
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value: When you send a social message, you’re not sending a resume; You are sending a link to a thought leadership article that proves you are the only one standing in your specific niche.
4. Anti-Internet Methods
Once your uniqueness becomes visible, traditional networking becomes obsolete. You no longer need “15 minutes to think.” Instead, you engage in Inquiry-based outreach.
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This move: Find the top 10 people in your target niche. Engage in their work by adding a layer of your uniqueness to their conversations.
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script: “Your point is [X] Very sturdy. However, from my perspective [Your Niche Intersection]I have seen [Unique Data Point] Different results are presented. I’ve documented how we dealt with this here [Link]”.
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result: You are not an explorer; you are peers. You are training the market to see you as the go-to candidate for that particular intersection.
bottom line
Cultivating uniqueness starts with quantity and value. It requires the courage to be “unattractive” to 95% of the market so that you can be “irresistible” to the 5% of people who really matter.
A machine can simulate your resume, but it cannot simulate your specific opinions. If you still try to fit in, you’re voluntarily competing against algorithms that are faster, cheaper, and more consistent than you are.
Stop being the “best” candidate and start being only one.
Ⓒ Big Game Hunters, Asheville, NC 2026
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About Big Game Hunter Jeff Altman
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15 Ways to Be Irresistible to Employers
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