The jobs that exist in the discovery landscape tend to be bifurcated between technical experts, (a.k.a. data managers) and consultant coordinators (a.k.a. project managers). Each job category contains tiered positions typically filled based on a person's experience and proficiency; moving up and/or laterally takes a long time. It is not uncommon to find senior project managers itching to gain technical hands-on experience, and data managers hungry to gain high-level consultative experience.

However, a variety of reasons limit a company's ability to move experts out of their roles in order to provide them with access to other internal teams for training. Cross-functional training is important to be a well-spoken, capable professional whom clients and colleagues trust. Getting the proper experience across forensics, information systems and discovery tools requires academic fundamentals, career planning, and experience to ensure the proper combination of technical and consultative breadth and depth. The great e-discovery practitioners have a consistent set of differentiating traits that distinguish them from their counterparts.

The reality behind the curtains at many forensic/discovery departments is that the technical roles often require tedious repetition of tool use, constant troubleshooting of software quirks and problematic datasets, while consultant coordinators manage difficult client expectations, delays and miscommunications. The difficulty with securing new discovery roles is identifying the rare company that will provide the creative space to explore new technologies and/or provide them consultative experience. As difficult as it is for talent to find such an opportunity, it is equally hard for companies to find appropriate talent due to résumé qualifications being overstated. This creates a self-defeating cycle because the high expectations of corporations, consultancies, and service providers often push candidates to overstate qualifications in order to get their foot in the door despite lacking the rock star position requirements.