5 Job Description Secrets That Help You Get A Good Job, Or Avoid The Wrong One

I’ve looked through and have seen tons and tons of job descriptions out there, that’s part of what I’m interested, and I like to see what’s going on. And I can tell you there are trends that I see from certain companies and certain positions that have revealed five very useful secrets that will help you either land your next job, or avoid the wrong job.

Know what to look for in these messages.

Keep these things in mind and you’ll know what to look for in any description you see, or company that you deal with. Let’s jump right into them.

Secret Number One: Look For Vagueness

Some job descriptions are literally this big on the screen. They say, “Hey, we’re looking for people, here’s some stuff you can do, send in your resume.” Chances are if the person involved with posting that, or the HR team is not interested enough to qualify their leads and the candidates, then it’s probably not a great thing to get into.

If they’re pretty much accepting resumes from everyone they’re going to be completely inundated, frustrated and not very interested in the perfect individual. They’re going to be interested in saying, no to as many people as possible and weeding it down to the pristine people that are left.

Secret Number Two: Do The Duties Fit The Position?

If you’re looking at an engineering position you probably shouldn’t see something that has to do with financial analysis on there. Sure, maybe it should have some budget stuff on there, but chances are most of the qualities and requirements that are listed on there should have something to do with engineering, and not accounting.

It does happen, and sometimes I’ve gotten word from recruiters and presidents that job descriptions were completely off from the titles or what they were looking for. It happens. I understand that. So keep that in mind when you’re reading the details, and figure out whether they actually do match and are congruent with what’s being asked for.

Secret Number Three: Glaring Errors In Formatting

If it looks like there are funky symbols in the description, or all completely mashed together, or completely blown up and taking up 800 pages, chances are that, that posting was scraped or pulled from another web site and might not be supposed to be at the web site you’re checking out.

For instance, I know that indeed.com seems to scrape almost all of their positions on there, and a lot of them end up being either out of date or not entirely accurate, or just completely messy because of the way the information is presented.

Sometimes this can be a clear indicator that you need to go to the source and present there, or you just need to do a little bit more research before you spend an hour applying for that position.

Secret Number Four: Meet Your Criteria

If you’re looking through the job description and you see that it says, must be willing to be flexible for weekends and overtime work, or 80% travel. These are things that aren’t going to work for most people. I’m a family guy, and I’m interested in spending my extra life, my free time, with my family — the people that matter most to me; the people that I’m working for.

Not working for, but working to support and to have fun with. Figure out what your key qualities are, and look for the little hints that will give you an idea of whether or not that position is going to match what matters most to you. So benefits, 401k, time, who you’re working with, and those types of things can usually be garnered out of the description that’s given.

Secret Number Five: Secret Submission Hints

Again, I’ve seen this on indeed.com and careerbuilder.com is where towards the end, or sometimes kind of hidden throughout the job posting, they’ll have a little blurb that says, “Will not accept submissions from any third party source.

Must go to this address, or must email this person your PDF copy of a resume.” Well guess what? If you didn’t catch that, you just blaze through and hit the “apply now” button, and started work on a gigantic process you’re already out. You’re wasting 30 minutes to an hour of your life and not having the opportunity of going for that position because you didn’t follow directions.

So look for the hint in there, and if it exists do exactly what it says. You might have to scrutinize every description from top to bottom to figure out what you’re really going for. I know it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.

Know the Secrets & Plan Accordingly

The five job description secrets that you just found out will really help you in your job hunt and career development. Keep these things in mind, and you will most effectively use your time and the time of the people that are considering you for this new position. Make sure you look for vagueness and determine whether or not the duties match the position described.

Be sure to look for glaring errors in formatting, make sure the description meets your personal criteria, and seek out those secret submission hints that may either make or break your candidacy for consideration. These are things that you can easily take care of, and that will help you guide your path to what you’re seeking. Get out there. Good luck on your next job.