Understanding Labour Markets, Roles and Opportunities · Lesson 2

Reading a Job Description and Turning It into Clear Requirements

8 min read

Lesson objectives

Decompose a job description into purpose, responsibilities, requirements and preferences.
Link requirements to truthful evidence from different kinds of experience.
Distinguish a real capability gap from superficial keyword mismatch.

Turn the vacancy into a requirements map

A job description should not be read once and reduced to “Do I seem suitable?” Break it into units you can act on. Start with the role purpose, then recurring responsibilities, then requirements describing knowledge, skill, experience or qualifications, then any conditions or preferences, and finally the evidence you can provide. This avoids two opposite errors: applying randomly to everything, or rejecting yourself because you do not match every word literally.

Reading layer	What are you looking for?	What do you record?
Role purpose	Why does the job exist?	One sentence describing the core result or value.
Responsibilities	What work recurs?	3–6 main verbs such as analyze, coordinate, build.
Requirements	What knowledge/skill/experience is requested?	Each requirement on a separate line.
Conditions and preferences	What is mandatory and what is desirable?	The wording actually used in the posting.
Evidence	How can you demonstrate fit?	A project, achievement, example, result or relevant learning.

Separate a requirement from your evidence

The word “evidence” matters. “I am good at communication” is a claim. “I presented to a six-person team and turned feedback into an agreed requirements list” is stronger evidence because it describes behavior and a result you can explain. At this stage you do not need final CV wording; simply link each requirement to the best available evidence and record a gap when evidence is insufficient. Later modules will turn this inventory into a CV, application and interview examples.

After analysis, build a three-column match table: requirement, my current evidence, and evidence status. Use states such as “strong,” “partial,” and “not yet available” rather than invented precision. A core requirement with partial evidence tells you what to clarify or develop. A missing preference may deserve less priority than an essential requirement with no evidence. The posting becomes a decision and development map rather than a title that simply attracts or discourages you.

Exercise

Exercise 1: analyze this fictional statement: “Coordinate weekly meetings with three teams, track actions and prepare a management summary. Strong organization required; task-management tool experience preferred.” Extract two responsibilities, one requirement, one preference, then write one truthful example that could demonstrate organization.

Check your answer

Guided feedback: responsibilities could include coordinating meetings and tracking actions, or preparing the summary. The stated requirement is organization; the preference is task-management tool experience. Possible evidence: “I coordinated a weekly project meeting, maintained the action list and sent a concise update so the team closed tasks on schedule.” The example must be true for you before using it in a real application.

Lesson summary

Turn the posting into a map: What will you do? What is requested? What evidence do you have? Do not confuse requirements with preferences or fill gaps with invented claims.