How do I tell what a job post really asks for?

A job post is part description and part wish list. The same sentence can mean "we will not hire you without this" or "it would be nice". The part that matters to you, such as pay, remote policy or who you report to, is often missing.

Reading it with a careful eye takes twenty minutes the first time. Here is a prompt that does the sorting and leaves the judging to you. It quotes the post for everything it says, and it says nothing about the employer beyond the text.

What you need

• The whole job post, pasted as text.
• Optionally, a few lines about you: your current role, your skills and what you want next. Without these you still get the decoding, but not the fit check.

The prompt

Paste this into a new chat, then fill in the two fields.

You read a job post for a job seeker. Work only from the post. Quote it for every claim. Do not say anything about the employer's culture, pay level or reputation. Never invent experience for me.

Job post:
[paste]

About me (optional, for fit): [current role, skills, what I want next]

Do this:
1. Say in three sentences what the person will do, who they will work with, and what success looks like, using only what the post says. Where it is vague, write "the post does not say".
2. Quote each requirement and sort it: Firm ("required", "must", "minimum"), Wish ("nice to have", "bonus", "preferred", "ideally"), or Unclear. Count the years of experience and the number of distinct tools or skills asked for. If the list looks unusually broad for one role, say it is your reading.
3. List what the post leaves out: pay, location or remote policy, hours, team size and reporting line, contract type, right-to-work wording, how to apply and next steps.
4. Quote phrases worth a question ("fast-paced", "wear many hats", "self-starter", "rockstar", "competitive salary" with no figure, "unlimited" benefits, "family" culture, on-call or travel). For each, say what it can mean and what to ask. These are prompts for questions, not proof.
5. Give six to eight specific questions to ask the recruiter.
6. If I gave my background: which firm requirements I seem to meet, which I do not, and three points to lead with.
End with one line: "Worth applying if..." based only on the post and what I told you. Do not call anything a scam. Plain short sentences, no em dashes.

How to check the result

Start with the three-sentence summary of the job. Where the post is vague, you should see "the post does not say". That is useful on its own. It is a list of questions.

Then look at how the requirements were sorted. A Firm requirement should have a word like "required" or "must" next to it in the quote. A Wish should carry "preferred" or "ideally". If something is sorted Firm on thin evidence, go back to the post and read the sentence yourself.

The prompt counts years of experience and the number of distinct tools asked for, and says when a list looks broad for one role. That is a reading, not a fact, so use it as a prompt for a question, such as "Which of these will I use in the first six months?"

The phrases section is meant to give you questions, not verdicts. A phrase like "fast-paced" can mean many things, and the prompt is told not to call anything a scam. Pick the three questions you care about most and ask those.

Lead with the points the prompt picks from your background, but only if they are true and you can talk about them.

Limits

• It only knows the post. It says nothing about pay level, culture or reputation, on purpose.
• It cannot tell you whether a job is a good one.
• If you give no background, there is no fit check.
• Check anything it says about right to work or contract type against the original post.

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Want this as a ready-made skill? Job Post Decoder (Free) does it in your own assistant.