Everybody offers you the job you just had.

If they don’t know you, they’ll scan your resume and pattern match. When I left the COO role at Quip, every call was the same: “Want to be COO of a Series B SaaS startup?”

Nothing wrong with doing a repeat performance if it excites you. But if you’re trying to break out of the box — or if, like me, you only want jobs you’ve never done before — the out-of-the-box calls only come from people who really know you.

Every strange, career-defining role I’ve had came from a former boss or peer. They knew what I could do, not just what I’d done. They saw an opportunity, thought, “That’s a Molly problem,” and picked up the phone.