Read job requirements before deciding where to apply

Find the actual work behind the job title

Two vacancies with the same title may involve quite different work. An assistant role might centre on appointment scheduling, preparing documents or responding to enquiries. Read the duties before getting caught up in a long list of qualities. Write a short description of what the person will actually do. A title that sounds familiar is a starting point for investigation, rather than evidence that you already understand the role.

Keep duties separate from the experience requested to perform them. Responding to customer enquiries is an activity. Previous written customer contact is a possible requirement. Enjoying communication is a personal quality whose relevance becomes clearer when linked to that activity. Those statements belong together, but they do not mean the same thing. This distinction helps you avoid claiming that enthusiasm alone demonstrates practical experience.

This guide concerns choosing a vacancy before drafting an application. Our resume guide covers the later presentation of your background. For now, ask which duties interest you, which you have performed and which you need to understand better. A sheet of paper with separate columns is sufficient. You do not need an application tool to make this initial decision.

Separate essential and desirable job requirements

Read the full advert and any linked job description or person specification. Some employers explicitly distinguish essential criteria from desirable ones. Others use less structured wording, so you may need to record an uncertainty rather than force each sentence into a definite category. Keep the original wording alongside your note. A small qualification in the sentence can change the meaning of the requirement.

For example, a specified qualification followed by an expressly accepted alternative is different from a qualification listed without that alternative. Do not ignore the second half of the sentence, and do not invent an alternative where none is stated. Similarly, a skill described as desirable can still be useful to the role. Desirable does not mean irrelevant; essential does not become optional because you offer several other strengths.

Recruitment instructions are specific to the employer and vacancy. In its own application guidance, Robert Gordon University asks applicants to explain essential criteria with concrete examples and consider desirable requirements too. We use that limited principle here, without treating its document formats, deadlines or other procedures as rules for every employer. Read the instructions attached to your own vacancy.

Match each important criterion to something you have actually done

Next to each important criterion, record whether you have direct evidence, partial evidence or an unanswered question. Replace a simple tick with a useful detail. If written customer contact is requested, note what enquiries you answered, the context and your own responsibility. The purpose is to see what you can explain accurately. Inventing duration, scale or outcomes to fill an empty column defeats that purpose.

Partial experience can be relevant without being identical. Arranging appointments for a community group gives you a practical example of coordination. It does not automatically demonstrate responsibility for running an entire office. Describe the connection and its boundary. You can then decide whether the example relates to the actual criterion, rather than relying on two activities sharing a similar word.

Keep qualifications and practical experience distinct. Completing a course, using a skill in work and holding a specific qualification are different facts. Where an advert requests a particular credential, willingness to learn does not establish that you hold it. Our guide to application documents helps with the later evidence package. At this stage, identify what exists and what still needs clarification before deciding to proceed.

Example: one missing preference does not settle the whole decision

First fictional case: a small organisation needs someone to coordinate appointments and answer written enquiries. Experience with one particular calendar program is explicitly described as desirable. Maya has scheduled appointments using a different program and answered routine enquiries. She has never used the named software. For this example, assume the other stated essential criteria are met; that assumption must not be carried into a different real vacancy.

Maya does not claim knowledge she lacks. She recognises the distinction made in this particular advert. If she applies, she can describe her real scheduling work and name the program she actually used. An intention to learn another tool remains an intention, rather than a completed skill. This decision provides no prediction about an interview invitation or the strength of other applications.

Example: motivation does not establish a missing qualification

Second fictional case: an advert explicitly lists qualification X as essential. It does not mention a comparable qualification or an alternative route. Daniel has qualification Y and relevant practical experience in a neighbouring area, but not X. He does not know whether Y can be considered in this particular recruitment exercise. The useful question concerns the stated criterion, rather than his general enthusiasm for the organisation.

Daniel uses the contact provided for relevant questions and does not assert equivalence himself. If the reply confirms that X is required, a different vacancy may be a more suitable use of his time. This example does not decide professional recognition, licensing or legal eligibility. Those questions require the relevant authority or employer guidance for the actual role, rather than an interpretation invented for an application.

Check the practical arrangements as a separate part of the fit

A role can match your skills while its arrangements do not match your circumstances. Read the location, stated hours or working pattern, contract duration and proposed start information. Record what the vacancy actually says. A general description of a flexible culture is not a specific agreement about working from home, and an attractive benefits section does not answer an omitted question about the place of work.

Put your own necessary conditions alongside those details. Which arrangements are workable, which are not, and which are still unknown? A polished application cannot automatically resolve an incompatible location. A focused enquiry may help if the employer provides an appropriate contact. Until an answer is available, keep an unknown arrangement marked as unknown rather than treating your preferred interpretation as an offered condition.

Also record the closing date, vacancy reference and application route. Retain the version of the advert you used, including its source and the date you saved it. Our application organisation guide explains how to keep the right information with the right vacancy. The aim is a usable record, rather than collecting many adverts without knowing which instructions belong to which application.

Choose between applying, clarifying and looking elsewhere

Summarise the comparison in a few sentences. Which central duties connect to your experience and interests? Which explicitly essential criteria can you support? Which unanswered question could materially change the decision? Where the core work fits and only a stated preference is missing, applying may be reasonable. Where an essential condition is unmet, do not conceal the gap or write as though it has already been resolved.

A question is most useful when its answer changes what you will do next. Avoid asking a contact to assess your entire resume before you apply. Identify the vacancy and the particular unclear point. Respect instructions about contact and the channel provided. Keep any reply with its date, and do not assume that guidance about one vacancy applies to every role advertised by the same organisation.

A universal percentage threshold is a poor substitute for reading. Several desirable skills cannot simply cancel out one essential qualification. Equally, a long list of general attributes says little about the weight given to a particular experience. Your decision remains a reasoned judgement. This article cannot predict how an employer will assess evidence, whether clarification will be available or whether an application will lead to an interview.

Review the decision before turning it into application wording

Read your notes beside the original advert once more. Have you converted an assumption into a requirement, or overlooked an explicit condition? Are your examples genuinely yours, and can you explain their limits? Correct the comparison first. Then choose which experiences belong in the documents. Clear writing should show a real connection between your background and the role, without making a missing condition disappear.

You do not have to turn every interesting vacancy into an application. A considered choice helps you identify genuine gaps before spending time on wording. Sometimes the next step is drafting, sometimes it is asking, and sometimes it is continuing the search. What matters is understanding which known facts support that choice and which points remain uncertain.

Sources and further guidance

• Robert Gordon University: evidence for selection criteria