A job posting is a contractual document that commits the employer to a specific scope of responsibilities, type of contract and, increasingly, a salary range. Knowing how to read it carefully helps you filter for genuinely relevant opportunities and avoid sending out scattered applications that drain your energy without getting results.
Ghost job postings: spotting an opening where recruitment has stalled
Not every published job posting corresponds to an active recruitment process. Some remain online for several months, either because the company has not found the right candidate or because its needs have changed internally and the posting has not been taken down. This phenomenon, sometimes called a ghost job posting, makes the job market harder to read.
A good first step is to check the publication date. A posting that is regularly reposted across several platforms without any changes to its description often signals a recruitment process that has stalled. Another clue is the absence of a recruiter’s name or direct contact details, combined with a very generic description. This may indicate that the role was posted as a matter of routine rather than in response to an urgent business need.
Recruitment pressures vary considerably from one sector to another. Browsing Meeting Job job listings can help you compare how often roles are posted across different occupations and identify sectors where employer demand is genuinely strong, as opposed to fields where the same listings keep circulating.
To assess whether a job posting is reliable, cross-check three things: whether the listed responsibilities match the job title, whether there is an identifiable contact person, and whether the posting is genuinely recent on the company’s own website (rather than on an aggregator that republishes it later).
Decoding a job description: skills, contract and salary
A job description contains three types of information that should be assessed separately: the scope of responsibilities, the required skills and the contractual terms.
Responsibilities and required skills
Distinguish between required skills (those that are essential to your application) and preferred skills (those that are an added bonus). When a posting lists more than eight skills without prioritising them, the recruiter is often looking for an ideal candidate they know will be hard to find. In that case, it is still worth applying if you meet around three-quarters of the required criteria.
Pay attention to the wording, too. A “digital project manager” role that mentions budget management, vendor coordination and monthly reporting describes a coordination-focused position. The same title paired with “wireframing”, “HTML integration” and “user testing” describes a hands-on production role. The job title alone is never enough to define a role.
Contract and salary
The type of contract (permanent, fixed-term, temporary or apprenticeship) affects not only job security but also the associated rights, such as the probationary period, notice period and access to training. If the contract is temporary, check its duration: a renewable three-month fixed-term contract offers a different outlook from a permanent contract with a four-month probationary period.
As for salary, a European directive on pay transparency provides for salary ranges to be disclosed before hiring and prohibits employers from asking candidates about their salary history. France is currently working on transposing the directive, but these provisions are not yet in force. In practice, many job postings already include a salary range: compare it with industry pay scales to assess how the employer’s offer stacks up.
Tailor your application to the role
Once you have confirmed that the job posting is relevant and reliable, tailor your application point by point.
Align your CV with the keywords in the posting
Use the exact terms from the job posting to describe your relevant experience. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) compare CV content with the keywords in the job description. Even a well-written CV can go unnoticed if its wording does not match the posting.
- Identify the three to five technical keywords that recur in the posting (software, methodology or certification) and include them in your skills section or in descriptions of your previous responsibilities.
- If your official title differs from the one being advertised, adapt the title of your most recent role by adding the equivalent title used in the posting in parentheses.
- Remove experience that is unrelated to the role to shorten your CV and make it easier to read.
Targeted cover letter
An effective cover letter answers three questions in less than a page: how your background relates to the responsibilities described, what tangible result you achieved in a similar context, and why you are interested in this company rather than another. Anything else is filler.
Job interview: turn the selection process into a two-way decision
An interview is as much for the candidate as it is for the recruiter. Preparing specific questions about the role helps you check whether the day-to-day reality matches the job description.
- Ask who held the role before and why it is vacant. The answer will shed light on the context (new position, replacement or staff turnover).
- Ask what success will look like after six months. If the recruiter cannot answer, they have probably not defined the scope of the role.
- Ask about the structure of the immediate team: its size, reporting lines and the tools used day to day.
These conversations often reveal gaps between the job posting and the reality of the role. An interview where the candidate asks no questions is only half an interview.
Your job search is more effective when you apply a strict screening process from the outset: check that the posting is recent and reliable, look beyond the job title to understand the description, then tailor each application to the exact wording of the listing. Five tailored applications are better than thirty generic ones.
