Making sense of job advertisements

Job advertisement fulfil two key functions in your job search;

They give valuable insight into the role. Duties, responsibilities and even the company culture can be learned, allowing you to judge the suitability of the role against your own job search objectives. They offer important clues about what you need to succeed. The ad will include the skills, and attributes required, and hint at the personality of the desired individual. You can use this to match yourself with the role.

Many candidates see an ad, and without a second thought send off their CV in an instant. Most of these candidates won’t even hear from the employer. Investing a little time in reading and understanding the ad would have made all the difference. By making use of the ad you can make sure your application will stand out from the pack.

Understanding job ads will give you a crucial advantage over all the other candidates vying for the same position as you.

Use the ad as a research tool to learn about your potential employer, and what they are looking for. The more effectively you do this, the better you will be able to match yourself to the role. This can only improve your opportunity to get the job you want.

Consider a number of different ads. What information you would need to move forward and make an effective application?

The trick is to identify the key words and phrases the employer uses to describe the ideal candidate. They will give you valuable information as to the unique purpose and requirements of the role, a major indication of what you need to demonstrate to effectively match yourself with the vacancy. Then you can think about matching what they want, with who you are.

Now, its over to you.

Tap into the market of unadvertised jobs

Return from job advertisements to Job Search

Return from job advertisements to Job Search Methods