IS THERE ANY POINT LOOKING AT JOB ADS?

Some job hunters never look further than advertised positions and so place themselves awkwardly in competition with an extensive field of candidates. The fact that job advertisements are ‘candidate magnets’ puts others off, who believe that there is no point in applying when your application may be missed in a large crowd.

However, while you shouldn’t rely exclusively on advertised positions, you also shouldn’t rule them out. A well-crafted application has a reasonably good chance of getting you shortlisted, if you take care to analyse the role. If you are shortlisted and perform well at interview the odds move distinctly in your favour. Applying for advertised positions can also help improve your visibility and gain you interesting referrals.

What does not help is random applications for jobs that are a poor match for your skills and experience. You might think that playing a simple numbers game will get you the results, but it doesn’t. Yes, you have to reach out to a certain number of decision makers, but sending out hundreds (or in some cases, thousands) of poorly targeted applications will in fact have a negative effect. You will develop a market reputation for wasting people’s time, throwing yourself at jobs you have little interest in, broadcasting desperation and collecting rejection messages which dampen your confidence.

Make your approach to job advertisements part of a multistrategy approach. Sometimes the hidden job market will find you, and sometimes an employer only comes to your attention when a post is advertised, and then you play by those rules. However, at all times your focus is on unearthing employer needs. Cover all bases where relevant jobs might be advertised – specialist, national, regional and niche publications, and their online equivalents, plus job boards and job board aggregators (some useful ones are listed at johnleescareers.com/links). The best way to find them (ironically for those who focus on job ads as a great way of avoiding networking) is by asking around. This process of course also alerts your network to the kind of job you’re looking for. Don’t neglect organisational websites, too – sometimes jobs appear there which don’t get wider coverage.

ANALYSING JOB ADVERTISEMENTS

Anyone in the recruitment business will tell you that the biggest challenge of analysing job ads is working out exactly what the employer wants. There are many occasions when the information provided is vague (the employer isn’t quite sure), contradictory (the job ad was designed by a committee) or impenetrable (containing insider language or jargon). Some job advertisements provide a detailed description of the job requirements, others are sales documents designed to attract the right candidates or send out strong messages about the employer as a brand.

Most job ads will provide some information about selection criteria (often providing more information than selectors will ever use). Consider this as the beginning, not the end, of your enquiry, and treat all information as if it is incomplete. However, do look at the order of information (high priority wants tend to appear early on), and do look at the language used. Then go on to find a detailed picture of the organisation from its website, particularly documents outlining strategy and organisational structure. Formal and informal reports, newsletters and brochures are also helpful. Search press releases for details of recent initiatives, launches and awards. Use LinkedIn to see the profile and background of key staff.

Next, look at the job title and its function within the organisation. Check out the organisation’s website to see if there are others holding the same or similar job titles, and use LinkedIn to see if you know people who do the same job in other organisations.

Be cautious when looking at published advertisements from less established employers. Career coach and author Brian McIvor advises:

If it’s in the Small Ads section check to see if it is a regular insertion; it could suggest a job with a high turnover rate – which could suggest adverse working conditions or poor salary or both. Look at the wording of the ad – is it precisely worded suggesting a job? If it is worded in very general terms suggesting ‘exciting opportunity to add to your income’ suspect a commission-based selling job with lots of cold calling. If the job offers ‘opportunities for rewarding and challenging work – and you get to set your own goals’ suspect a fly-by-night operation where your work will be poorly supported and badly rewarded.

JOB ADVERTISEMENT CHECKLIST

Read job advertisements carefully, several times. Use a highlight pen to spot clues which will shape your response:

• Job title – how helpful is this? Use Google to check out the same job title in other organisations.
• Identity – is it clear who the employer is. Is the role being handled by an agency?
• Role – what clues are provided about what the job is really about? What indicators are there about success factors?
• Language – look at the balance of strong, weak and neutral language. Get a sense of how strongly an employer feels about those characteristics it says it wants.
• Mirror the language – using a few key phrases from job documents can sometimes add focus to your cover letter and CV.
• Complexity – how difficult does the job appear to be? How is that likely to match candidate experience?
• Status points – what clues are provided (salary, role title, experience sought) about the preferred experience and seniority of applicants?
• Level – look carefully for evidence about the level of responsibility, and measure that against the size of the organisation.
• Style – what personality and approach does the organisation believe it wants? What would work best?
• Wants and needs – what are the ‘must have’ and ‘nice to have’ elements?
• Contact point – does the organisation actively welcome conversations with prospective candidates (see below about approaching before submitting an application)?
• Rules of the game – what do candidates have to do to safely move to the next stage?
• Employer brand and culture – what does the organisation choose to disclose about itself?
• Problems – your research may pick up obstacles to success in the role, for example the organisation is just about to appoint a new Chief Executive. These are not topics for your cover letter, but things to bear in mind if you are given a job offer.

CONTACTING ADVERTISING ORGANISATIONS

When a job advertisement is issued employers get a great many phone calls, both from individuals attempting to make an impression and from agencies offering candidates. Neither are terribly welcome. However, there are occasions when you might contact an organisation before you send in a written application:

1. If there is something important you need to investigate. This needs to be an important detail which is unclear. For example, there’s no point ringing and asking about an employer pension scheme or travel allowances, or asking about something which is perfectly clear from the advertisement. You might, however, call to ask about features of the job which are important but not listed. It’s also reasonable to ask if an employer will consider alternative qualifications or experiences which have relevance – this can sound as if you are making sure that you’re not wasting someone’s time by applying with the wrong background.
2. If there is an explicit invitation to make further enquiries. Some job advertisements give the name and number of someone who is tasked to answer telephone enquiries about the role, and this is often a senior person with a good knowledge of the organisation. You waste this call if you are effectively asking them to read the job description out to you. Get hold of the documents first, analyse them in depth and then use the call to put flesh on the bones by asking more. You can subtly bring in your own background and experience here, but don’t sell yourself hard. That comes across as pushing to the front of the queue.
3. Where you know someone in the organisation. Again, make the focus of the call fact-finding rather than jostling for position. A good contact in the organisation can help you get beneath the skin of recruitment statements. For example, if the job appears to be all about introducing change, you can find out how serious the organisation is about that idea, and how far new initiatives are supported from the top.

JOB ADVERTISEMENTS ISSUED BY RECRUITMENT AGENCIES

In many cases advertised jobs are being handled by recruitment consultants. In this case contacting the recruiter handling the vacancy is absolutely vital – not just to help you clarify the facts, but to build a good working relationship. Once you have established yourself as a strong candidate likely to be short-listed you can ask penetrating questions about the history of the job, how it has arisen, and what the organisation hopes to see in the interview room.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

Plan your questions carefully. Good questions flag you up as a candidate who is thinking intelligently about the role. Don’t ask the kind of standard questions you see on websites such as ‘What are the key responsibilities of the position?’, ‘What is the culture of the organisation?’’ or ‘What are the main objectives of the job?’ – these are almost certainly covered in the job description, and the questions sound robotic. Find a natural way to ask questions about the background of the job, why it has arisen, and what problems the job solves. It’s important that you do this in a conversational way, asking the same questions you would ask if recruiting for the post, for example:

• I’m just wondering … why is this position vacant?
• I’m curious – is this a new job?
• Give me a quick overview – how does this job relate to the organisation plans I’ve seen outlined on your website?
• Could you tell me a bit more about the challenges of the job?
• Most jobs expect results within the first 90 days or so. What are your thoughts on that?
• Great conversation, thank you. What are the next steps?

YOUR APPLICATION

1 ‘Please submit a CV’

The mistake many candidates will make at this point is to send in a standard CV which makes few connections to the job. Write a short cover letter drawing attention to relevant evidence. Then turn to your CV, and edit and reposition the key achievements bullet points (see Chapter 8). The request will usually be to send your CV by email but it rarely hurts, and often helps, to send a posted version as well.

2 ‘Please submit a CV with a covering letter’

As above, tailor your CV to the role, but this time provide a more detailed cover letter. Even if a detailed letter is required, try not to exceed two pages.

3 ‘Please submit a letter’

Some organisations ask for a letter outlining why you want the job, either on its own or with a CV or application form. If you get any sense that the letter is the primary tool for convincing a decision maker, that’s where you put all your focus. If it’s a long letter, use the same layout techniques that make a CV interesting (varied line length, plenty of white space, appropriate use of bullet points, section headings to assist clarity). Don’t do what many candidates do: cramming so much text into two pages that the document is barely readable.

4 ‘Please complete and submit an application form’

Follow the rules carefully. Don’t waste an employer’s time by sending in a CV – it won’t be read and it will irritate the reader. Next, think about the part of the application form that will be read most carefully. This is almost always the first or last section where you are invited to offer broad comments in support of your application. Sometimes the request is even more specific, perhaps asking you to match your experience against listed competencies. This part of the application form has the same high level impact as a CV profile.

5 ‘Please complete an online application’

Now the rules of the game are even more restrictive. Look at the task as a whole, spotting the level of detail required and where the big ticket information will be placed. Marshal your resources so you can cut and paste from source documents. Set up a folder with a text file for each past job and others for key topics such as learning so you have this information at your fingertips in the future.