Job Seeker Blog - Spark Hire

Right Title, Wrong Job

Many job seekers may see a job posting they like and fall in love. It may look like a great job posting upon first glance, but if you’re not right for it chances are that potential employer will never see your application. Consistently applying to the wrong job is a waste of time for job seekers, potential employers, and a frustrating experience for all parties. Job seekers need to be looking at and applying to the right job posting, not just the right title.

An article from Business Insider says that job seekers spend an average of 49.7 seconds deciding if a job isn’t right for them, and a mere 76.7 seconds deciding is a job posting is right for them. Turns out job seekers aren’t great at identifying the best potential employers. Only 38% of job seekers were able to identify a good match from a job posting. That’s not a good success rate for people whose time and resources are often limited and vitally important. Instead, it’s important to focus on the right job not the right title.

This is in part due to the fact that job seekers spend the most amount of time looking at the company information and job title. Obviously a nice title and a great company are important, but you’ll be doing the job described in the job requirements, not just handing out business cards that you are the x person at y company. If you don’t match the job search requirements the odds aren’t in your favor to get the job in the first place, but if you don’t know what the job requirements really are you can’t even explain how your different skills will actually make you a successful candidate. Better vetting of a job posting can help save job seekers time and frustration in their job search.

Making sure you look at the full job posting, not just who the potential employer is and what the title is, can help save job seekers time and frustration over a number of fruitless job postings. Spend a little more time on each job posting, making sure you really get to the heart of the job, not just the basics. It should help streamline your job search, getting you more and better opportunities in the future.

Have you ever applied to a job just for the title and company? If so, what were the results? Comment below!

IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by Tax Credits

Jen Schiller

Jen works as a Marketing Project Manager for a restaurant, a kitchen assistant for cooking classes, helps with database management, does some freelance writing, and more. She received her B.A. from the University of Maryland in Government & Politics in 2011. Currently, she resides in the Washington, D.C. area and is an avid sports fan.

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