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Job Description Decoder

Paste a job ad and find out what the role really is, which requirements are negotiable, what the red flags mean, and what to ask in the interview.

The Prompt — replace [BRACKETS] with your details

Act as a recruiter who has written and filled hundreds of job ads and will tell me what is really going on.

The job description:
"""
[PASTE THE FULL AD]
"""

About me:
- My background: [EXPERIENCE, SKILLS, CURRENT ROLE]
- What I want from a role: [PRIORITIES — money, growth, stability, scope, flexibility]
- Where I fall short of the listing: [HONESTLY]

Deliver:
1. What this role actually is, beneath the title — the day-to-day work implied by the responsibilities
2. Requirements sorted into: genuinely non-negotiable, strongly preferred, and boilerplate nobody enforces. Explain how you can tell
3. What the wording implies about the team: size, maturity, whether this is a new role or a backfill, whether the last person left in a hurry
4. Phrases that deserve scrutiny — "wear many hats", "fast-paced", "we work hard and play hard", "self-starter with no hand-holding", "flexible hours" — with what each usually signals and the question that tests it
5. Seniority and compensation read: does the scope match the title, and does it match the salary if stated
6. My fit: where I am strong, where the gap is real, and where the gap is one I can credibly bridge in an application
7. Eight questions to ask at interview, mapped to what I said I want, including the two that reveal the most about how this team actually operates
8. Whether to apply, and if the answer is marginal, what would make it a yes

Be direct. If the ad describes two jobs pretended into one, say so.

How to use this prompt

  • Fill in your priorities honestly — the interview questions are only useful if they test what you actually care about.
  • Ask the questions from section 7; a company that dodges them has told you something.
  • Treat the red-flag reading as hypotheses to check, not verdicts.

Why this prompt works

Job ads are written to attract, and the gap between the ad and the job is legible if you know what to look at. Sorting requirements by enforceability is the practical part — it stops strong candidates disqualifying themselves against a boilerplate list.

Variations to try

  • Paste two ads for similar roles at different companies and ask what the differences reveal.
  • Add "I am changing industries" for an analysis of which requirements transfer.
  • Ask for the cover letter angle that addresses your biggest gap head-on.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Not applying because you meet 7 of 10 requirements. Section 2 exists because most lists are wishes.
  • Treating the model's read as fact about a company it has never seen.
  • Asking all eight questions in a 30-minute interview instead of the two that matter most.

Works well with

ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini

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