Draft the occupations and minor improvements

Rather than dealing both card hands at random, give each player seven occupations. Everyone chooses one and passes the remaining six to the left, then chooses one of those and passes five, and so on until a single card is passed. Run the whole procedure again for the minor improvements, seven of those each as well. Lookout's own appendix carries this as a credited variant and suggests it for players who already know the cards — a random hand can leave you holding seven things you will never afford.