I think the game could use a research tree which will allow the workers to turn into their job without their tool. It’s really annoying to try and get that one job which takes ages since you have to get lot’s of materials before you can even get that material.
I could draw an example of the skill tree if people wish to see it.
I’m pretty sure the jobs need talismans/tools for a good reason, pacing
I think the team made it so that the early player doesn’t waste time and hearthlings on jobs they really don’t need(like a sheperd for a early town, or a cook)
And it really doesn’t make sense for a person to make furniture without a saw, or armor without a hammer, and so on
And SH doesn’t feel like a game that will fare well a skill/tech tree, not only that, it’ll the quite wastefull for the team to make a researth tree tech just so they can make hearthlings able to be promoted without a talisman, and i find little they could do with it, sinse there’s lots of ways already existing for adding/learning recipes
I think the current system makes sense. You need tools to create stuff. 
Maybe more of physicall coorporation of all jobs? Some sort of logical tech tree, with tools, furniture and equivalent upgrades, instead of useless grind. If a carpenter is practicing his job for a long time, he’ll be a master of his work, but it won’t really unlock things for other jobs, right? So he would have needs for better tools, rarer/refined ingredients and maybe even more specialized furniture which can’t be crafted by himself.
The carpenter/potter/mason would be the 3 base classes, all got basic tools and they can build their own starting furniture, right? But a cook who build his own oven or even mill, or a weaver making his own spindle or a blacksmith without a proper furnance doesn’t feel immersive. So instead of pretty high level requirement to unlock new jobs (be it the talsiman or even as requirement to upgrade the class itself), how about more smaller steps.
A mason is required to craft the tool and the furniture for the cook, but the furniture unlocks only if the cook levels up, so while he levels up the cook also needs more things for his creations, like better handmill, a better oven, bigger cooking place etc, but later finer flour and other ingredients will be needed, bigger kettle, bigger stove, and even better equipment, this can’t be crafted only by a mason, blacksmith for pans and pots made out of metal, dried spices harvested and prepared by the herbalists, fermenting barrels made by the carpenter, for the finer flour a better mill is needed which could be created by coorporating mason, engineer and maybe trapper (imagine a water/windmill or a squirrel in a treadmill)
You’ll get a lot of small steps, lot of functional furniture and possibly more living animations (hearthlings could walk to each other if they got plans for new furniture/items)
Maybe a billboard à la Witcher 3, where hearthlings pinup their ideas and needs, hearthlings could read it when bored or if a request for their job is pinned on it. Would be also an immersive way to implement more feature/information without cluttering the Gui.
While this sounds interesting, it also sounds like it would make them game much more complicated. I think the current system is ok, because it’s intuitive and easy to understand. Because of this, the game is also quite accessible for less skilled players.
I think this would make a great mod at some later point in development, for players who actually love higher job-complexity and the challange that comes with it.
well that’s why i talked about immersive and logical upgrades, it should be obvious how to obtain certain things. Imo the current system isn’t really fun to play (for me), it doesn’t really provide gamechanging decisions. Like driving on rails, optional sideways are pretty scripted.
Atleast for the 3 base classes (carpenter/mason/potter), these should have only physcicall requierement, like the tool/talisman things. i understand that ascendents and rayya need different gameplay, but this could be created by efficiency of their native workers or hearthlingtaste (wood got a different value for rayya than for the ascendents =town value). When i start new games i hate the part, there i have to grind up 2 masons so i can start building with all 3 main resources (wooden, stone and clay parts). Also having different models would create more immersion. I mean the 3 resources can all be obtained from the first minutes, but i have to wait several grinding hours before i can use/start designing with all possible parts.
I was talking something like ‘Prison Architect’ has:
You could use something like this but change it a bit. I dont know.