How to Read Between the Lines of a Job Posting, with Kat Kibben

Job postings haven’t changed much in the last century; postings from 1920 look suspiciously similar to those of 2020. But skills, requirements, and culture have changed drastically during that time. Find Your Dream Job guest Kat Kibben shares how to figure out what an employer really wants by deciphering outdated job posting language. Online tools, clarity on what you’re looking for, and the ability to spot red flags are all key pieces to reading between the lines of any job posting. 

About Our Guest:

Kat Kibben is a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate. 

Resources in This Episode:

Learn more about how Kat can help you by visiting their website at katrinakibben.com/.

From our Sponsor: Find Your Dream Job is brought to you by TopResume.  TopResume has helped more than 400,000 professionals land more interviews and get hired faster. Get a free review of your resume today from one of TopResume’s expert writers.

Transcript

Find Your Dream Job, Episode 387:

How to Read Between the Lines of a Job Posting, with Kat Kibben

Airdate: February 22, 2023

Mac Prichard: 

This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life. 

I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.

Find Your Dream Job is brought to you by TopResume. TopResume has helped more than 400,000 professionals land more interviews and get hired faster. 

Get a free review of your resume today. 

Go to macslist.org/topresume. 

You can find thousands of job postings online. 

Some are well written, some not so much.

How do you decide which ones deserve your attention?

Kat Kibben is here to talk about how to read between the lines of a job posting.

They are a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate. 

Kat teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive, unbiased job postings that attract exceptional talent.

They join us from Selma, North Carolina. 

Well, let’s get right into it, Kat. Can you explain what reading between the lines of a job posting means? 

Kat Kibben:

Absolutely. So, if you’ve ever opened up the internet and looked for a job, you know the quality of content that you’ll find. A lot of it is full of buzzwords and one-liners that don’t really make sense or align to the experiences you’re having every single day. And so it’s important for you to be able to translate all of the buzzword bingo into something that helps you optimize your resume and the conversation that you have next to actually get the job. 

Mac Prichard: 

Why do you have to do this at all, Kat? Why can’t employers simply say what they want in a job posting? 

Kat Kibben:

I hate to tell you, but most recruiters don’t know how to write a job posting. They weren’t taught to, and that’s actually why I started my business in the first place. I spent over fifteen years in the world of recruiting, and I never met one copywriting expert, let alone anyone who was an expert in the job posting. But here’s the catch, every single company has one. You have to have one to hire people. 

Mac Prichard: 

That just sounds so improbable. Not to question your point, but there are recruiters out there who have been doing this for years, and surely they learn by experience, by doing, at least, the best. 

Kat Kibben:

They think they did. Right? So, what’s wild to me is that I actually did a research study of one hundred years of job postings, and you’d be surprised to know that job postings from 1920 read very similar to the job postings of 2020, and what happened is that companies copied and paste the same content over and over again believing that system worked. 

When we know that, currently, if you post a job, companies are getting a lot of unqualified applicants, or worse, they’re not getting any applicants because they didn’t use a job title that people are actually searching, and they didn’t write content that the other person understands and can say, yes, this is me; yes, I want to do that work. 

Mac Prichard: 

A century is a long time. Why do you think employers had been able to get by for so long with writing these job postings that often aren’t very good? 

Kat Kibben:

I think there are a few reasons. First, the evolution of sourcing. Right? We actually created an entire department of people who have to go out and find the right people because job postings weren’t working well. I think there’s an element of luck. We got lucky posting this content because other people, generationally, knew what to look for. 

So, for example, if your father was a machine worker, there’s actually a ninety percent chance that one of his children will become a machine worker. And so, we had generational pipelines of candidates and talent. Well, as we both know, there’s been a big shift in careers over the last twenty years. And that shift has caused more imbalance. There’s less of a pipeline as far as the generational talent, and companies are having to work harder. You’re seeing recruiting budgets go up. But candidate pipeline is not fulfilling the need. 

Mac Prichard: 

In your experience, Kat, do most job seekers know how to read between the lines of a job posting? 

Kat Kibben:

Unfortunately, no. I’m sure the people listening to this, whether you’re employed right now, or you’ve been looking for a job, know how vulnerable and scary it can be to look for a job. Now, when you open up the internet and you’re looking at gigs, and you feel confused and more scared, that’s not how it’s supposed to be, and unfortunately, the way most job postings are written, it just creates more confusion. 

Everyone says they’re looking for a highly collaborative team player. But what that actually means at the company is a little different at every organization, and they haven’t taken the time to clarify, and it’s only perpetuating an experience that’s already pretty awful for candidates.  

Mac Prichard: 

What difference can it make to you as a candidate and in your career as well if you get good at learning how to read between the lines of a job posting? 

Kat Kibben:

I think there’s kind of two sides to that. The first one is that about twenty-five percent of people quit their job within the first sixty days because it does not align with their expectations. And so, even if they don’t do a great job of telling you what the work is all about, if you know how to read between the lines of a job posting, at a minimum, you know how to ask really good questions that help you understand the role. 

I think on the other side, and this is kind of the imagination piece, too, is that a job posting is the story of your life in some way. Now, I’m not saying that we don’t get to have a personal life or that work is everything, but when you decide to look for a job, you decide you’re willing to change everything to start a new career. The computer you touch, the people you talk to, where you get your paycheck from, and truly being able to really read between those lines, I hope when we write a great job posting, it allows you to imagine a whole new life and to actually see the future of your carer. 

Mac Prichard: 

Well, let’s talk about your tips for how to read between the lines of a job posting. Your first recommended step is to find the job title you want. Now, this sounds simple. But it’s not easy to do this, is it, Kat? 

Kat Kibben:

Right. One of the things I found out really quickly when I started doing research is that all job titles are completely made up. We can call people whatever we want. There’s not a book on it. There’s no one hierarchy. 

And so, if you’re only searching one job title, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. You need to actually look at many different job titles, and the best way to find them is a two-fold option. The first, search your current job title on any job board and see all of the alternative job titles that pop up. Write them down. Then, you can use Google trends- trends.google.com– to actually compare those and see which ones are getting the most search volume. 

Another great way to look at job titles is to search your current title and the word resume. Hit enter and click on the image search results, and you can actually see jobs and resumes for people who you might be in competition with. But the other option is that you can see all the ways that your skills and talent might be used in different careers.  

Mac Prichard: 

If employers are making up job titles and you find titles that relate to what you have, is there gonna be a mismatch there when you’re looking for the positions that you want? And would you inadvertently miss some jobs that might interest you because employers have come up with these fanciful titles that don’t relate to the position you have now? 

Kat Kibben:

Absolutely, and that’s why you want to use job boards in a different way. When you type in a job title and hit enter, you’re going to get matches to that title. Alternatively, you can search for skills. And so, looking at skills can help you discover new career paths and new job titles that might work for you, where you have all the talent, but it wasn’t a traditional path as far as your title. 

Mac Prichard: 

And I have to ask, Kat, why do employers come up with these wacky titles? I’m sure you can rattle off examples, and our listeners could think of many. What inspires hiring managers and companies to do this? 

Kat Kibben:

I speak as a former social media ninja, and I’m not making that up. That was actually one of my job titles at one point in my life, and it’s because we treat job postings like they are marketing materials and not recruiting materials. 

And let me be very clear that I do not believe that recruitment is marketing, and here’s why; marketers go out into the world, and they send out a message to the abyss, and if one percent of the whole world says, yes, they are some of the best marketers in the world. They’re the Coca-Colas. They’re some of the most recognized brands in the world. 

Recruiters take the whole world and bring it down to one. You have to deploy a different strategy when you are trying to eliminate millions of people to find the person that’s right for the job, and the job title is the easiest and most efficient way to do the best work. That means you should not be making it up. 

The exact same methodology that I offered at the beginning for how you might find alternative job titles as a candidate, you can do that as a recruiter, too. Find the most popular job titles and use that title instead of whatever made-up title you’re using internally. 

Mac Prichard: 

Well, we’re gonna take a quick break, Kat. When we come back, and stay with us, Kat Kibben will continue to share their advice on how to read between the lines of a job posting. 

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Now, let’s get back to the show.

We’re back in the Mac’s List studio. I’m talking with Kat Kibben.

They are a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate. 

Kat teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive, unbiased job postings that attract exceptional talent.

They join us from North Carolina. 

Now, Kat, before the break, we were talking about how to read between the lines of a job posting, and we talked about those crazy job titles out there, and we were starting to go through your tips for how to read between the lines of a job posting. And your second tip is to understand what matters to the employer. What’s the best way to do this when you’re looking at a job posting, Kat? 

Kat Kibben:

So, remember that most people weren’t taught how to write a job posting, and the very first step they do is copy and paste other people’s job postings. So, you’re going to need a tool and a little bit of research to decipher, and one of the best ways that I’ve found to be able to do that is to actually take the current job posting and put it into a word cloud generator, and here’s why; if you’ve ever talked to a little kid who’s really excited about something, you know, how they repeat that word or that thing over and over and over again? We see that in recruiting, too. 

Even when they copy and paste these job postings, they’ll edit it to repeat the words they know are most important. Using that word cloud generator, it will count the frequency of keywords, and it will give you the top five to ten keywords that are in that current posting, and you can use that to optimize your resume and also make sure that you mention those skills or experiences the first time that you get on the phone with a recruiter for that role. 

Mac Prichard: 

When you’re looking at the keywords that are generated by the cloud tool, what’s your best advice, Kat, about the number of words to include? Are you looking at the top five, the top ten? How can you avoid creating application materials that are just keyword-stuffed? 

Kat Kibben:

Absolutely. So ultimately, you’re probably going to end up looking at the top ten, but you’re only going to use three to five of those keywords. Again, we know that there’s a little bit of fluff here. So, you need to use your best judgment. 

So a few of those words will be things like the, of. You’ll eliminate those fluff words, and you’ll look for the key phrases. I think that’s an easy way to distill. So, it’s not “customer.” It’s not “service.” It’s “customer service.”

Optimized for that. And what I would tell you to do, is put it at the beginning, the middle, and the end. No more than three times in your resume or any other contents that you’re using to create. 

One of the other ways that you can optimize is by having a really solid cover letter template. But it has a bulleted section in the middle. Use the three bullets to mention the top three keywords, and specifically, you can contextualize that keyword with your experience in that area. 

So, for example, if customer service was the phrase that popped when I did the job posting analysis using the word cloud generator, I might include a bullet on my cover letter that says, led a customer service team of fifteen to complete over one hundred calls each day at a call center.

Mac Prichard: 

When you’re using these keywords in your cover letter, your resume, and other related materials, are you writing for a person, Kat, or to an algorithm?

Kat Kibben:

Alright, this is a highly contested conversation, and I have really distinct feelings because I talk to recruiters all day. I don’t know a lot of people who talk to as many recruiters as I do every single day because all I do is interview them and write job postings. Alright? Machines don’t read things. There is no magical machine in the background that will kick you out or say that you’re unqualified unless they have some really tight restrictions around, for example, something like location. And most of those restrictions, the opt-out content, and systems are around hourly work. 

Different conversation. What I’m gonna talk about right now is corporate work. And in that case, nine times out of ten, a recruiter, at a minimum, scans every single resume that comes in, and the most important thing that you need to be able to do is convince them that your experience would prepare you to be successful on day one. 

Mac Prichard: 

And what is the best way to do that, Kat? I know we’re talking about job postings, but I just gotta ask. How can you persuade someone who’s looking at your cover letter and your resume, and they might be giving it a glance, perhaps just less than ten seconds? What have you seen work? 

Kat Kibben:

You need to write about experiences instead of skills. So, just now, when we talked about that bullet and I said you led a team to do one hundred calls or more. That’s the difference between saying expert in customer service leadership. That’s a skill and the experience. I led a team of fifteen to complete one hundred calls or more. 

An experience, the tip that I give recruiters when we’re writing this into job postings, this works for you, too, as a candidate, is that it should be written like a theatre script, meaning when I read it, I should be able to close my eyes and imagine. And the biggest thing that candidates usually don’t do that is going to get you kicked out of the process even if you’re qualified, is that they do not quantify the scope and scale of the work. 

It’s not just that you worked and you did calls. How many calls did you do? What kind of company was it? What happened at that company while you were there? A lot of times, managers aren’t just looking for the skill. They’re looking for a specific experience that you had. 

For example, that you worked at a company with ten thousand or more employees because the work is different at a huge company versus a really small one. The work might look a little different if you’re on a very large team versus a small team. So, always make sure you’re writing about experiences and including the scope and scale of the work so that someone can understand what you’ve done and how. 

Mac Prichard: 

Your third recommended step for reading between the lines of a job posting is to watch out for red flags. Give us examples of red flags. What do you have in mind here? 

Kat Kibben:

It’s that buzzword bingo. If it sounds just like the stuff that every other person writes, it’s probably because they’re not quite sure what they’re looking for. I think that’s the first thing that we’re looking for is the highly collaborative team player to join our group of rockstars to accelerate our future. 

You know, it’s almost like going onto a lot with a used car salesperson, and they come up, and they’re really pushing you to take this job. They’re selling it a little too hard. Trust your gut. 

I think the other thing that you want to look for is that over-promise or they’re really describing culture in a way that goes back a few years ago when things like kegs and ping pong tables defined culture instead of people. Really, when I’m reading a job posting, I want things that show their culture instead of tell it. Don’t tell me this is a collaborative team. Show me how you collaborate. 

We’re looking for ways that make the experience tangible, and frankly, I hope you feel excited when you read a job posting. That’s what a really good job posting is supposed to do, is that by the end of it, you can say, yes, I want to do this, and yes, I can. And if you don’t understand those two things, that in itself might be a red flag. 

Mac Prichard: 

Are those deal breakers, Kat? You’re scanning job postings, and you see the buzzwords, you see the descriptions of the things, you know, the ping pong table, and the kegerator, and no discussion of people. Should you just turn and walk away? Or move to the next position? Or should you try to dig deeper? 

Kat Kibben:

You know, I don’t necessarily think you should walk away, especially if you’re interested in the work or the company. But here’s what I would encourage you to do; you need to ask different questions when you get to the interview process. You need to ask them, again, to show instead of tell you. Okay, give me an example of. 

Remember that the interview is a two-way experiment, a two-way engagement, and you have just as much power as they do to ask questions. Please ask all of the questions because it is mutually unbeneficial, mutually hurtful if both of us go into this knowing that something might not be right and we accept the job anyway, for a million different reasons, and you have to walk away. I promise you it will be worse on your career, and it costs companies more money if you quit sixty days in than if you quit an interview process that doesn’t feel right. 

Mac Prichard: 

Well, Kat, it’s been a terrific conversation. Now, tell us, what’s next for you? 

Kat Kibben:

You know, I’ve spent the last five years teaching recruiters how to write job postings, and I realized that the entire organization needs to know how to do that. And so, we’re currently designing training that helps hiring managers attend a lunch and learn where everyone in the company can learn how to write a better job posting so that these candidates can have a better experience. 

Mac Prichard: 

Well, I know that listeners can learn more about you and your services by visiting your website, katrinakibben.com. We’ll be sure to include that in the show notes, as well.  And that you also invite listeners to connect with you on LinkedIn, and if they do so, I hope they’ll mention that they heard you on the show. 

Now, Kat, given all the great advice you’ve shared today, what’s the one thing you want listeners to remember about how to read between the lines of a job posting?

Kat Kibben:

Look for multiple job titles. I don’t want anyone to miss the opportunity of a lifetime because they were not searching the right keywords. 

Mac Prichard: 

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Next week our guest will be Lorraine Rise.

She’s a coach, a podcaster, and the founder of Career UpRising. Her company helps professionals change careers, launch a job search, and overcome age bias.

You meet with a hiring manager. You feel good about the conversation. 

But a week later, the employer tells you that somebody else got the job. 

Join us next Wednesday when Lorraine Rise and I talk about what to do when you’re getting interviews but no offers.

Until next time, thanks for letting us help you find your dream job.

This show is produced by Mac’s List. 

Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media.

Our sound engineer is Matt Fiorillo. Ryan Morrison at Podfly Productions edits the show. Dawn Mole creates our transcripts. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.

This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.