We love ambitious people, and we want more people to push themselves in pursuit of their perfect next role. That perfect next role could also be (and I would argue: should be) a stretch. When sizing up possible next moves, I want to share a framework that I often share with job seekers, mentees, and students: Count Your Leaps.

In pursuit of growth, you have to make a leap. Maybe you’re going for a more senior role, or want to work at a larger organization. There are six categories I encourage you to assess to compare your current/previous role to your prospective one. Here are the categories along with some possible scenarios that illustrate each:

Level of seniority/responsibility: Will you be responsible for managing more staff, have a higher level of revenue accountability, or tasked with other new success metrics?
Artistic genre: Are you moving from theatre to classical music, for example, or crossing over into any new genre where you’ve not yet worked?
Organization type: Are you switching from a presenting model to a producing model with the new role? Or are you going from a single arts organization to an arts service organization?
Region/market: Are you moving to a new area of the country where you don’t yet know the culture and audience interests/expectations?
Department/expertise area: Are you making a move from marketing to programming, from development to marketing, from finance to operations?
Scale of organization: Are you moving from a $5 million annual budget to a $25 million budget? Are you trying to move to a year-round operation from a summer festival?

When making your case for a new job, the fewer the leaps, the more natural a case you can make for yourself. For example, maybe you want to go for the same level of responsibility, in the same artistic genre, in the same city, at the same organization type, in the same department BUT it is a larger organization with a much larger budget. The job you are going for and the story you need to tell involves one leap. You need to answer the question of why you are ready to take on the challenge of that larger organization.

Maybe you want to do the same thing, only in addition to an organization of larger budget scale, you are also looking for a more senior role than the one you have — from Manager to Director, or Director to VP (side note: titles mean almost nothing from organization to organization, so this is more about level of responsibility). In this scenario, you are talking about two leaps. This is not impossible to achieve, but you just need a growth story that takes those realities into account, and need to be able to assuage the perception of any risks you might present.

You get the idea.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that folks of great historical privilege often have to do less explaining of how they will make these leaps–in other words, often being assessed based on potential rather than proven track record, whereas folks from marginalized and historically excluded populations are often assessed on the inverse. As a white man, I have undoubtedly benefited from this system, and we make it a point as a company to level the playing field with hiring managers and search committees in whatever ways we can–and personally, I see that as my duty in leading a company that includes an Executive Search practice. That said, this reality does not (and should not) eliminate the need to directly and strategically make your case as to why you’re the right person to step into the role you seek.

There may be a time when you are going for a job that involves five or six leaps — and if you feel you are the right one for the job, you should! It is possible provided you’ve thought through what each of those leaps entails. Before you take that interview, how well have you counted your leaps and written the story of how you’re going to make each of them successfully? We’re rooting for you.

Tom O’Connor is the President of Tom O’Connor Consulting Group. TOCG is a NYC-based consultancy for arts and cultural institutions and leaders, offering two complementary services: organizational strategy and executive search. Tom has spent nearly 20 years working in the cultural sector, has served on the faculty of graduate programs at Yale University and Brooklyn College, and received his MSW in Clinical Social Work from Fordham University. He also hosts the podcast “Changing Arts with Tom O’Connor.”