🎯 Stop letting job descriptions decide what you want

You’re scouring job postings, checking for salary ranges (which might not even be listed), hints about benefits, and any red flags like saying candidates can’t “suffer moodiness or ‘bad days’” (yep, that was really posted).

Like so much about job hunting, searching job descriptions for clues about whether you actually want to apply can feel like looking for a black cat in a dark room with the lights off. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

When we go through the Must Have/Nice to Have exercise on our live Job Hunt Pathfinder strategy sessions, I show this slide with a picture of me in my new kitchen after buying my first house. Why? Because whether it’s real estate or work, knowing what we need is a key strategic move.

I asked the attendees of a recent Career River workshop for journalists what would be on their “must have” and “nice to have” lists. Their answers were illuminating:

• For me, a nice to have would be an in person newsroom as an option to work out of.
• A nice to have: people my age in the newsroom.
• Nice to have: a newsroom where I can sit on the floor sometimes.
• Nice to have: a specific, well-defined beat.
• Nice to have a way I can use my Spanish skills.

• Nice to now must: People who are invested in your growth.
• Must have: strong editorial direction and editorial goals.
• Must have: doing something that feels like a net positive to society.
• Must have a supervisor I get along with and like as a person.

What really stands out to be about these lists are how focused they are on perks that rarely, if ever, show up on a job description. Just the simple act of jotting down what you really need from your next role lets you pick up on the cues and clues during the job search and application process to find the job that truly suits you. It’s the difference between picking something that seems good enough based on just the information an employer was willing to provide, and taking control by evaluating opportunities based on how well what they can offer meets your needs.

One month from today, I’m hosting our next live strategy session for job hunters. If you’ve been feeling stuck, grabbing your Pathfinder toolkit today gives you plenty of time to build your action plan at a sustainable pace – just 15 minutes a week. And hey, you’ve even gotten a jump start from this week’s newsletter by starting to think about your must-haves and nice-to-haves!

In our recent sessions, participants rated the toolkit 4.3 out of 5 for being low-stress and manageable to complete, with 9 out of 10 saying they’d recommend the session to a friend navigating a job search. Seats are already starting to fill, and I’d love to workshop your positioning with you live.

Happy navigating,
Bridget