How to experience a job advert. Jobseeker Basics XIX
This might seem a weird chapter.
Surely you look at a job advert, maybe even read it, then decide to apply or not?
Yet a job advert is more than just what's presented on a job board.
It's a microcosm of everything in recruitment, including everything wrong, and you can learn a lot about what to expect in your job search by the least intentional of words.
And when you do read a job advert, in its entirety, there are only two questions you should ask of it:
- Am I qualified?
- Should I be interested?
It's somewhat odd that 99% of job adverts don't actually try and help you answer that.
But maybe that's why employers say job adverts don't work.
And why you don't think they do either.
While you're here, why not check out A Career Breakdown Kit in its entirety?
This series of always free chapters is an advert, after all.
But it was never supposed to be an easy book to read, just accessible and comprehensive.
I expect most readers are over 50, ND, or other marginalised demographics, considering these will likely be the longest out of work in our 'diverse and inclusive' world.
If you're 'in demand' though, you'll probably click apply and wonder what the fuss was about.
44 - How to experience a job advert
This chapter is about job adverts, what they are and aren’t, how you might experience them, how they might inform your decisions and your responses.
I say experience rather than read because not all adverts are written or read.
What’s a job advert?
A job advert is the first step in a multichannel commercial approach to filling a vacancy. It’s the inverse of your job search taking a multichannel, through-the-line approach - we go where the candidates are.
It’s the first step because it’s the first thing you experience of that vacancy irrespective of whether it’s a:
- Listing on a job board
- A post on social media
- A DM from a recruiter
- A phone call from a hiring process
- A referral
- Or any other means by which you become aware of a vacancy
Each of these is a marketing or sales channel that may result in a candidate's application.
It’s regrettable employers don’t necessarily see it this way because of the transactional nature of much recruitment process.
They think it’s sticking a job posting up on LinkedIn.
Employers forget that when you experience such an advert you first make the choice to entertain that advert rather than a yes or no to ‘Should I apply?’
Indeed much advertising neglects the psychology of a job move, which principally relates to problem awareness.
How you experience an advert, what may encourage you to progress an enquiry and what you are prepared to put up with in the process relate to your situation and the problems you currently face.
Are you out of work, needing any job to pay the bills?
Are you in work, desperate to escape a toxic culture?
Are you gainfully employed yet wouldn’t mind a bit more flexibility to pick the children up from school?
Are you apparently smashing it, with that missing something you don’t even know about, and the right vacancy might improve your lot?
And everything in between.
The answer to these questions informs your experience of any advert.
Because many employers don’t consider what informs an experience and think people would be lucky to work there, it’s rare that more than the minimum acceptable skill will be applied to an advert.
As discussed in Better use of job boards, the emphasis is on more rather than better. It’s often thought that ‘if we can reach more candidates, we might fill the job.’
Rather than appeal to the right people for the right reasons.
And so we are in a market where an advert attracts hundreds if not thousands of applications, most of whom are wholly unsuitable.
What isn’t a job advert?
A job advert isn’t a fake job, although many of these are listed.
They aren’t Job Descriptions either - the next chapter explains why this distinction is important.
While you may spend much time perusing job boards and talking with fellow job seekers, reading their posts on LinkedIn - I’d expect most employers have little awareness outside of their own sphere of what happens in the job seeker community.
They’ll advertise how they advertise, instruct agencies how they instruct agencies and run their process how they run their process.
I wonder how many great employers use Workday as an ATS, fill their jobs suitably, and have no knowledge of how Workday is viewed by job seekers who have dozens of Workday accounts, one per application?
It’s true terrible employers might do the same.
In one of my job advert consultations I had a detailed conversation with a Talent Acquisition Manager of a local technology consultancy. I can say that they are a jewel in the crown of technology development in the UK, have top 1% compensation, offer career development, and are a fantastic place to work.
I know this because I have spoken to many people who have worked there. All speak highly of them.
Yet the advert we reviewed had a number of red flags:
- £Competitive salary
- Generic company first text
- Confusion around job titles
If you were an ideal candidate who decided not to apply because of these red flags you’d have missed out.
There are two considerations in how an advert might be put together.
The first is whether it is a product of a transactional process or whether the hiring team recognises potential candidates are driven by selfish reasons and seek to understand ‘what’s in it for them.’
(I’ve mentioned WIIFM (What’s in it for me) a few times now - answering that is key to good marketing)
The second is the direction of travel - are you reading a job board advert or have you been contacted proactively about the vacancy?
A transactional process is defined by information transactions with a focus on speed and volume.
It places less emphasis on qualitative measures such as accuracy, specificity, relationships, and empathy.
Instead you can define the process by a series of information transactions and exchanges:
- Job description
- Advert
- Suitable number of relevant applications
- Suitable number of interviews
- Offer
- Starter
The goal is to fill a vacancy.
A non-transactional process recognises the importance of relationships and that to build trust the right information needs to be put forward.
Though the steps are much the same, at each stage the question is asked: ‘Does this give the candidate the right information to make an informed decision?’
Here a candidate is everyone who interacts with the vacancy outside of the hiring end - even a reader who chooses not to apply.
The goal is to create a process that draws the right person forward while leaving everyone with a good experience.
It’s not just about decency - it’s about long-term commercial outcomes.
If you want the right person to thrive over the long term the process has to reflect this goal.
While all the ‘nos’ might be commercial opportunity in future - future candidates, future customers - who knows?
These are the archetypes. In reality, recruitment falls somewhere along this spectrum, often changing at different stages in the process.
Intent matters even if the execution is flawed.
Why does it matter?
Because a healthy rule of thumb is to reciprocate the level of care you experience.
If you come across a transactional process - treat it transactionally. This isn’t inherently bad - it’s just the way of the process.
The employers may still be good to work for.
When and whether to apply
Irrespective of how a role is recruited, there will be non-negotiable essential criteria that inform whether or not you are suitable.
If you can establish these criteria you can confirm whether to apply.
The problem is these criteria aren’t always stated.
Sometimes they are implicit to the context - if the role is employed by a rapidly growing scale-up, it’s likely they’ll need someone with that experience.
Hopefully this context is alluded to in the advert. It will need critical thinking to parse.
Sometimes these aren’t defined at the outset and become mandatory when there are too many candidates in view.
Sometimes these are hidden by Goldilocks or illegal discrimination - not too experienced, not too inexperienced, not too old.
Sometimes the employer can’t divulge essential criteria.
The other problem is that some essential criteria aren’t essential, such as when a company writes unrealistic shopping lists.
Yes, it’s a FUBAR situation given it’s pretty hard to tell whether you’re a suitable candidate or whether you should even apply.
Nonetheless - if you choose to apply your application must show how you can meet any essential criteria you can identify.
If that’s the only thing your application does - it must do this.
In my experience, transactional processes are the hardest to unpick, with adverts going something like:
Here at genericorp we are proud to be recruiting for a <job title> in our market leading innovative environment.
You’ll be doing
<insert job description for job title - one you could probably write yourself>
You’ll need
<long list of essential requirements>
In return you can expect a £competitive salary.
Apply with a full cover letter and updated CV.
Only successful candidates will be contacted.
Familiar?
Whereas the rare non-transactional adverts give more of a narrative about why the right person might think to apply or give you avenues for finding more information.
A note on inbound enquiries.
With automation allowing volume outreach the effort to produce transactional DMs, emails and messages is pretty low.
You might think when you receive such a message that you are already in the running - in many situations you are a transactional prospect.
I’ve even heard some recruiters InMail #OpenToWork profiles only to improve their response rates.
While not all messages are this way these are potential reasons you might not hear back when you reply to a recruiter.
It’s not quite the case with phone calls which have yet to be executed through automation (some platforms promise AI call automation already).
Again, you can separate transactional from non-transactional straightforwardly.
Transactional leads with selling the job.
Non-transactional seeks to explore if you are the right candidate. If the vacancy isn’t right it’s best to find that out as early as possible and save everyone time.
Inbound enquiries are still adverts, in a different medium.
Try not to treat your job search transactionally by default.
Your goal isn’t to apply for hundreds of jobs. Your goal is to start conversations that count.
By prioritising adverts in the right way you’ll improve your odds with high stakes applications. You’ll gain time and energy for other activities, including taking time away from your job search to recharge.
