A job advert is a marketing document written by committee. Read it literally and you will either disqualify yourself from roles you would get or accept a job that is not the one described. Read it structurally and it tells you a great deal.
The title tells you less than you think
Titles are inconsistent across employers and often inflated to attract applicants. An "Analyst" at one company does the work of a "Manager" at another. Ignore the title and read the responsibilities, the reporting line, and the salary band. Those three together tell you the actual level.
Watch for compound titles that hide two jobs: "Marketing and Office Manager", "Developer / Support Engineer". Sometimes that is a genuine small-company role. Sometimes it is a vacancy nobody has resourced properly, and you will be judged against both halves.
Requirements are a wish list, not a gate
Most adverts list what the ideal candidate would have if the ideal candidate existed. Split the list yourself:
- Hard gates: licences, certifications, legal right to work, a specific named system in a regulated context, a language. These are real. Do not apply if you fail one.
- Proxies: "5+ years' experience" is a shorthand for a level of judgement, not an audited number. If you have four years and the right evidence, apply.
- Wishes: everything in the "nice to have" section, and usually the last third of the "essential" list too.
A reasonable threshold: apply if you meet the hard gates and roughly 60% of the rest, with strong evidence for the requirements the advert repeats.
Find the problem behind the role
Somewhere in the advert there is a sentence explaining why the job exists. "As we expand into new markets", "to establish a reporting function", "following the launch of our new platform", "to reduce our reliance on external agencies". That sentence is what you will be measured against in year one, and it should be the spine of your application and your interview answers.
If there is no such sentence anywhere, the role may be a backfill nobody has thought about, or a pipeline advert.
Decode the salary section
- A published range is a good sign, but expect to land in the lower half unless you exceed the requirements.
- "Competitive" means either the range is embarrassing or the employer wants to price each candidate individually. Ask on the first call.
- "Up to £X" anchors high and usually pays less. Ask what the midpoint is.
- "£X OTE" for a sales role: ask what percentage of the team hit target last year. If they will not say, assume half.
- A very wide band (£35k–£65k) usually means one advert covering two seniorities. Ask which one they are actually hiring for.
Read the culture language carefully
Some phrases are neutral, some are consistently a warning. Treat these as questions to ask rather than automatic red flags:
- "Fast-paced, wear many hats" — under-resourced, or genuinely early stage. Ask about team size and priorities.
- "Like a family" — often means weak boundaries. Ask about typical hours and how holiday requests are handled.
- "Must be resilient" — ask what makes the role difficult, and listen for whether the answer is about the work or the people.
- "Rockstar / ninja" — no signal about the work, some signal about the culture.
- "Salary reviewed after probation" — ask what the review actually delivered for the last two hires.
Check the practical details before applying
Deadline, start date, contract type (permanent, fixed-term, contract inside or outside relevant tax rules), notice expectations, working pattern, and whether interviews are staged over four rounds. A five-stage process with a task is a significant time commitment and you are entitled to know before you begin.
Bring it together
Before applying, write three sentences for yourself: what problem this hire solves, which two requirements you meet best, and what you would need to be told to walk away. If you cannot answer the first one from the advert, ask it on the first call. The answer often changes whether you want the job at all.