new jobs this week On EmploymentCrossing

506

jobs added today on EmploymentCrossing

24

job type count

On EmploymentCrossing

Healthcare Jobs(342,151)
Blue-collar Jobs(272,661)
Managerial Jobs(204,989)
Retail Jobs(174,607)
Sales Jobs(161,029)
Nursing Jobs(142,882)
Information Technology Jobs(128,503)

The Want-Ad Analysis Technique

21 Views
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.
The Rudder That Steers the Ship.. A Fable

Once upon a time a Sea Horse gathered up his seven pieces of eight and cantered out to find his fortune. Before he had traveled very far he met an Eel, who said,

"Psst. Hey, buddy, Where are you going ?"



"I'm going out to find my fortune," replied the Sea Horse, proudly.

"You're in luck," said the Eel. "For four pieces of eight you can have this speedy flipper, and then you'll be able to get there a lot faster."

"Gee, that's well," said the Sea Horse, and paid the money and put on the flipper and slithered off at twice the speed. Soon he came upon a Sponge, who said,

"Psst. Hey, buddy, Where are you going ?"

"I'm going out to find my fortune," replied the Sea Horse.

"You're in luck," said the Sponge. "For a small fee I will let you have this jet-propelled scooter so that you will be able to travel a lot faster."

So the Sea Horse bought the scooter with his remaining money and went zooming through the sea five times as fast. Soon he came upon a Shark, who said,

"Psst. Hey, buddy Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find my fortune," replied the Sea Horse.

"You're in luck. If you'll take this short cut," said the Shark, pointing to his open mouth, "you'll save yourself a lot of time."

"Gee, thanks," said the Sea Horse, and zoomed off into the interior of the Shark, and was never heard from again.

The moral of this fable is that if you're not sure where you're going, you're liable to end up someplace else.

The Want-Ad Analysis Flowchart

It is a communication tool that has been developed in the writing of computer programs; it is used in this chapter as a visual aid. Specifically, it summarizes the key steps you have to take to complete successfully the want-ad analysis. If you look at the chart you will see each distinct step, the proper sequence of the steps, and the important questions you have to ask yourself to enquire that you have covered all points in the techniques of the want-ad analysis.

Throughout the chapter on the want-ad analysis, reference to this flowchart will be made, and it will be referred to at the end of each section where application of any piece of the flowchart is important. At each one of these points, refer back to the flowchart, to make sure you understand the sequences.

As mentioned previously but worth repeating, there are two main issues in marketing your job talents. The first part is to determine your own capabilities and then to express them in a format that will help your marketing efforts. Having just finished earlier chapters, you now have a self-assessment profile of your entire work experience expressed in a highly saleable format: Problem-Action-Result (P-A-R).

You hope you know yourself and your capabilities better than at any previous time in your life. But the second part of marketing your job talents still needs to be addressed. Specifically, "Where can this enlightened view of myself to be used best? I know I'm terrific, but who needs me and how can I convince them I am best?"

Interestingly enough, employers answer both of these questions while at the same time pursuing their own self-interest. This is done through the hundreds of job advertisements or want ads that appear almost daily. Our premise is that by using the techniques described here you will be able to compare your skills with the requirements of any particular job in order to determine realistically if you could fill that job. A visual overview of these techniques can be seen by reviewing the Want-Ad Analysis Flowchart, which will be explained to you as we go along.

The Truth about Newspaper Help-Wanted Ads

Let's look more closely at the issue of want ads. Although this chapter deals with want ads, most jobs are never advertised. And this happens despite the fact that most people use want ads when switching. A study has shown that only 15 percent of all jobs available are ever advertised at any one time.

DO WANT ADS fully reflect a city's job situation: A study says no.

An examination of five years of help-wanted ads in newspapers in San Francisco and Salt Lake City shows their total volume does correlate with the cities' unemployment rate. But Olympus Research Corp. finds they provide a poor reflection of the local job market. For instance, sales jobs are overrepresented in the ads, while government and blue-collar work is under covered.

In 88% of job ads placed by employment agencies, the study finds the employer's business wasn't identified. Agency ads also were repetitive, reflecting multiple listings of the same job offer. Only 25% of employer ads disclosed wages offered, and 61% of ads in San Francisco gave no clue to job location. Many ads were merely come-ons for risky business ventures.

The researchers said that 35% of San Francisco employers and 76% of Salt Lake City employers they surveyed in 2010 hired no workers through want ads.

If only 15 percent of all jobs are advertised, then 85 percent of all jobs are never advertised. This is the "hidden" job market; 70 percent of these jobs are filled through the buddy system. The remaining 15 percent are listed through employment agencies and executive search firms.

What you have observed is only 15 percent of the available jobs each week during a six-week period. So, how does the want-ad analysis help you find the major part of the job market, that 85 percent known as the "hidden" job market? Very simple. Once you have determined the position for which you qualify and want to pursue (by doing want-ad analyses of the newspaper ads), you have defined the qualifications necessary for that job, whether or not it's advertised. After creating appropriate marketing pieces, action letters, and resumes, you can send them out to the appropriate individuals in the "hidden" job market!

The Want-Ad Analysis Technique Is Used to Define Pertinent Job Content and Other Critical Parameters for Any Job Title

Example: You have always wanted to work at Colgate-Palmolive in consumer-package-goods marketing. After determining your qualifications through doing several want-ad analyses for, say, product manager, and revising your resume and/or action letter to fit better the qualifications needed to do product management in a consumer-package-goods marketing firm, you send out your marketing piece to the vice president of marketing at Colgate-Palmolive, or to any other firm in package goods, and state that you will call within a week to arrange an appointment. This is called cold-canvassing and it is how many people find new positions. If you have friends, relatives, and business associates working in organizations that interest you, ask them for the names of the appropriate people to whom you should submit your resume or action letter and follow up in the same way.

For those of you who are contemplating leaving industry to start your own business, the want-ad analysis gives you an excellent tool for assessing the character and personality traits as well as the content necessary to become an entrepreneur in any chosen field.

If you're like most people, you don't really know what the important components are in most jobs outside your own areas of specialty. However, using the techniques of the want-ad analysis, you can learn to use your particular talents and skills when switching career fields. Let's see exactly how this is done.

Judy Price recently completed her ninth year as a high-school English teacher. Judy realizes that in the 1980s the secondary-education field will continue to shrink, which means continuous budget cutbacks, larger classes, staff reductions, growing disciplinary problems, et cetera. Long-range prospects for continuing as a high-school English teacher, either in a large city or a suburban school system, offer very limited growth and income. Her hurdle: how can she get the information necessary to evaluate her skills and where can these skills, once identified, be best applied outside education? As most of us did, Judy Price updated her resume as the first step in her desire to switch.

Conclusions from Judy Price's Original Resume:

" She used jargon of the education field and will be viewed by readers of her resume as "only a teacher," a non business person (even though she mentions two years in retail sales).

" She can take dictation and she can type (see Katharine Gibbs experience at top of resume). Company people who read her resume may bring her in for an interview but will most likely talk about her being an administrative assistant (a euphemistic title for a secretary with a college degree). This often translates to "We can get someone smart who will work hard and whom we don't have to pay too much money and needn't promote too quickly.''

Insiders' Tip: Remember: companies have as much trouble in getting good secretarial help as they have in hiring top executives. To attract administrative assistants (secretaries), they often promise promotions they can't or won't deliver. If you were a harried, overworked boss lucky enough to get a degree, bright assistant, would you want him/her to be promoted? And to leave you with the very real possibility of not being able to find as competent a person to replace him/her? Probably not, not if you are really honest with yourself. So take heed!

However, after applying the techniques of past chapters to develop her self-assessment, Judy Price's resume has been reconstructed to emphasize her strengths, not her weaknesses.

Below are the results of her efforts, most of which came from reading in various newspaper ads the qualifications for the job she sought. She turned her teaching jargon into corporate training jargon. This transition came about through two separate avenues of investigation: reviewing want ads and speaking to friends and neighbors employed in industry. From these sources she concluded that she could translate her education experience to Training and Development, a subtype of Personnel within industry.

Using the Want-Ad Analysis Technique

But there is a simpler, much less expensive, and, we feel, more effective technique for determining where a person's skills and experience can best be employed: the want-ad analysis technique. This is a systematic method of analyzing want ads in order to achieve the following:

Define the job tasks.

b. Determine which job tasks are most frequently requested.

c. Define educational requirements.

d. Define the jargon of the job.

e. Define the geographic location.

f. Define the amount of travel required.

g. Define the salary range.

Within the context of Judy Price's desire to switch, let's take a closer look at the want-ad analysis technique to see how it is applied.

The want-ad analysis form shown on the next two pages is the basic tool that Judy Price will use to determine if her skills and experience can be applied outside her current field of teaching.

Below is an explanation of what the want-ad analysis is and how you go about using it.

A. List the job titles ("identifiers") in the ten ads you're analyzing (they should be the same or very similar).

B. List the sources of your ads (newspaper's name, what trade journal you took an ad from, et cetera).

C. List the kinds of organizations advertising-you may discover your job title crosses all industry lines or that it is pertinent only to one industry.

D. From each of the ten ads you have selected, list the job requirements, educate ml level, geographic locations, salary ranges, and skills needed to perform the job. Some will be identical or very similar; do not write these a second or third time (see "E").

NOTE: If all ten ads require an M.B.A. in Finance and you have a B.A. in French, your chances, unless your work experience is exactly on target, are slim for getting an interview. Pick another "identifier." If one of the ads states that the position is in Seattle, Washington, it doesn't make sense to use the ad as one of your ten if you are not willing to relocate.

E. When you list something under "D" put a check mark (/) or a vertical line beside "Frequency in Ads" ("E"). If the same requirement comes up a second, third time or more, don't rewrite it; just add a mark in the "Frequency" column next to the first requirement you wrote down.

F. After all ten ads have been put on your want-ad analysis worksheet, add up with check marks under "E" ("Frequency in Ads") and convert these to a number. Example: If salary has consistently shown up as $25,000-830,000 in six ads out of ten, write "6" in the "F" column.

G. Convert your numbers to a percentage. Example: Salary has been $25,000 -$30,000 for six ads. This is 60 percent (now you see why we use ten ads as a sample size!). Place "60%" under "G" next to the $25,000-830,000 line.

H. Every time you read an ad in which a term appears that you don't know, put it in the jargon column under "H." Look at our glossary in the back of this book. If the term isn't there, it may be so esoteric as not to be very meaningful (particularly if it only showed up in one ad). If, however, it's in several ads, and it's not in our glossary, check further. Knowing jargon allows you to "speak" the language of that job, both in your marketing materials and at interviews.

I. Look over your completed worksheet and put the four highest percentages obtained for job tasks and skills under "Conclusions." If you have at least three of the four in your background and you have the minimum education level, experience level, and so on, as well, you can realistically apply for these positions.

If you don't have at least 75 percent of the top skills or performance requirements and your education and experience levels are either too low, too high, or just not appropriate, you should probably discount this job title and try another title. It will not be realistic for you to attempt a switch. How would Judy Price use the want-ad analysis worksheet? By speaking to her friends and neighbors who worked in various industries, Judy discovered that "educator" types in industry are called training specialists. Their job is usually an entry-level position, but a likely place to start in the business world. Judy proceeded to start collecting as many ads with the "training specialist" title as possible. She collected ten training-specialist ads for her analysis. (Ten ads statistically represent about one month's worth of ads from various sources and will be a realistic sample size with which to work. It is possible to collect ten ads if you are reading two major papers per week, including a Sunday edition.)

Here are the ten ads that Judy Price clipped out during four weeks of reading the newspapers.

In doing her analysis, Judy Price realized that there were exceptions she had to watch out for:

1) Very rarely will two organizations call the same task or requirement by exactly the same name.

2) Sometimes similar jobs have different titles.

Example: A large company's title might be Trainer, a medium-sized company might call the job Training Manager, and a small one Training Director. Smaller companies usually have more-important-sounding titles than big ones.

Having completed the analysis of ten want ads, Judy Price is ready to draw her conclusions. To do this, she converts the marks of each task to a number (placing the number in the column marked "Number of Ads") and then makes the number into a percentage of ten ads). Her analysis revealed the following conclusions:

(a) The top four job tasks (by percentage) as exhibited in the ten advertisements for "Training Specialist" were:

(1) Designing and instructing programs (70)

(2) Developing manuals and workbooks (60)

(3) Conducting and organizing seminars (50)

(4) Conducting classes in management skills, group dynamics, and non management skills (50).

(b) The minimum education required is a bachelor's degree. Fields asked for art Education, Psychology, Business Administration, and Communications.

(c) The minimum experience required is two years, with the upper limit at five years.

(d) The salary range was consistently in the high teens.

(e) The travel requirements for such a position were mentioned in 10 percent of the ads (one ad) and listed as 30 percent travel.

(f) The geographic opportunities were mostly in the New York metropolitan area (80 percent); 20 percent were outside the New York area (one in California, one in Florida).

In "fine tuning" her want-ad analysis, Judy collected and analyzed ads for only one specific title, Training Specialist.

Often, various ads define the amount of travel as either "light" or "extensive" (over 50%), or they don't mention it at all, which usually means no, or almost no, travel.

Jargon for a job is frequently used in an ad but never defined, for people in the field know that terminology. As an aid to save time, our glossary will define the jargon for you for the positions we discuss in detail throughout the book.

NOTE: As you probably noticed, Training Ad 1 and Training Ad 10 are similar. These two ads appeared one month apart, one in the Classified and one in the Business section of a Sunday New York paper. What does this say to you? (1) The company never filled the position (for any number of reasons) or (2) the person hired didn't work out.

Either way, if you interview for a position that has been advertised this way, you must determine what happened. This is a key to your success on the job. Now you can see the value of keeping accurate records as to when an ad appeared. Always date the ads you clip out.

Technically, Judy's want-ad analysis is skewed, as it actually represents only nine different jobs. However, we felt it important to leave it just like this because it was a real situation and one that could happen very easily to you. After all, a company can advertise in two (or more) papers at the same time. If you had both of the papers, particularly if one or more ads were "blind" (box number) ads, you might think they were distinctly different jobs. With the exception of the box number, the wording of these two ads is nearly identical. With a time spread of one month between the two ads, it would be easy to overlook their similarity.

Having completed her want-ad analysis for ten Training Specialist ads, Judy Price can now realistically compare her own expertise and skills as defined in previous chapters (expressed in the Problem-Action-Result format) against the employer's needs as defined by the want-ad analysis. For a visual summary of the process, see the flowchart at the beginning of this chapter.

BOTTOM LINE: Judy can now answer the most critical questions related to switching:

a) Do I have the right work experience and education to do this job?

b) On the basis of salary, travel requirements, and location of this organization, do I want this job?

c) Should I send in my action letter or resume to get an interview?

On the basis of Judy Price's experience and the subsequent development of her reference resume in the recommended P-A-R format, Judy concluded that there were two basic areas where her skills, experience, and interests could be applied. One was in personnel work. The specific job titles she identified were Training Specialist, Benefits Coordinator, Trainer, Training Coordinator, and Training Administrator. The other area was Sales Representation.

Since Judy decided to build upon her extensive teaching experience, she selected the job title of Training Specialist to investigate, using the want-ad analysis worksheet as a means of determining whether her skills matched industry's requirements closely enough to apply for a job with this title.

Now that we have followed Judy Price through her want-ad analysis, let's discuss the steps you would follow when doing your own.

Remember that employing this technique is a quick, inexpensive, and practical method of determining if you qualify for a particular job. Try not to overlook this step in your job hunt. The time you spend will be worth the rewards, to say nothing of the time saved and the disappointment and aggravation you can avoid. Believe us! It's well worth the effort.

Before preparing to do your own analysis, it's necessary first to discuss the sources of want ads and your ability to distinguish between "good" and "bad" ads.

"All Want Ads Are Not Created Equal!"

In recent years, the sources of want ads have grown beyond the normal newspaper ad sections. But, as expected, newspapers will still be your single most important printed resource for job leads. Besides culling your local papers on a daily basis, you should, as we've said, also search through at least one major Sunday edition of national importance. Depending upon where you want to work you should be reading the Sunday editions of the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, and so on. The Wall Street Journal's big ad day is Tuesday; some ads also appear on Wednesday.

It's important to note that for purposes of your want-ad analysis, old copies of your Sunday newspaper, whether two to four weeks or four to six months old, are just as useful as the current Sunday edition. (Therefore, when beginning to prepare for your own want-ad analysis, ask your friends or relatives if they have any old papers lying around.) This allows you to begin your job campaign in earnest, saving you precious time, which translates into saving you money.

Expect to spend approximately one week job hunting for each $1,000 of income (for example, a $25,000 job equals 25 weeks of job hunting).

Other important sources of want ads include trade journals and specialty magazines the ads are usually found in the backs of these publications), newsletters published by professional associations, and listings with your college or graduate-school alumni placement office. Some graduate business schools print a monthly alumni bulletin of jobs listed by employers, agencies, and search firms. These additional sources will help you to gain quickly the minimum of ten want ads in order to complete your want-ad analysis.

Good Ads/Bad Ads

To maximize the value of your want-ad analysis it's important that you maintain the highest possible quality in the ads you select. You can do this by adhering to a few simple guidelines.

Guidelines for Selecting a "Good Ad"

1. The ad has a well-defined job title.

2. It is fairly lengthy and gives specific information about the job requirements and responsibilities.

3. It defines the industry or type of organization in which the job is offered.

4. It tells how much experience is needed and what education level the employer seeks.

5. It defines to whom you report or what levels of people you interact with.

6. Often (not always) it lists a salary range.

"Blind" ads are an important category of good ads. These ads do not identify the hiring organization by name. Instead, a box number is provided. Organizations use "blind" ads for several reasons:

1. The hiring company doesn't want to answer each inquiry sent in (it is very time-consuming and expensive to do so) and doesn't want you calling up asking, "Did you get my resume?"

2. The organization doesn't want its competition to know it has a particular position available.

3. An employee is still in the position and may not yet have been told he/she is being replaced (promoted, fired, whatever).

4. The position may have been given to an executive search firm specifically to help screen and identify qualified candidates for the employer. If this is the case (and it often is), even if you're not selected to be interviewed for the particular job advertised, your action letter or resume will probably be retained by the search firm in case they conduct a search more closely related to your expertise. If they do file your resume, you may get a call from them six months or even a year later for another job, perhaps a better one than in the ad you first answered.

As a result, blind ads are very likely to represent real jobs, so make a regular practice of answering these ads. Doing this will increase your chance of getting the job you want. Here are two "good" ads for you to look at; one identifies the hiring company, two are blind.

Many, but not all, "bad" ads are written and placed by employment agencies as a means of attracting resumes and people for their files, for "future" possibilities. Their listings may or may not be "true" ads. Some agencies, particularly large ones, advertise weekly because they have yearly contracts with their local papers (for favorable rates). The agencies are billed whether or not they advertise, so many are committed to at least one ad a week. There are many laws governing "phony" job listing, but prosecution is minimal, so the practice is somewhat widespread. Nevertheless, many employment agencies are reputable and do a very effective job at placing people. This is especially true of agencies that specialize in particular job areas. Large agencies usually have one person handling each special area. If the representatives know their field they can serve you well. "Bad" ads are usually characterized by the following:

1. They lack specifics; they are usually short and incomplete.

2. The job requires typing (usually little or no career advancement is possible despite statements to the contrary).

3. The ad has enthusiastic phrases but no real content, such as "terrific job," "fantastic work location for lunch and after-hours," "take part in world travel," "be on top of everything," "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," "only career-minded need apply," "right hand for busy executive."

4. The ad states a specific salary, rarely a salary range.

Bad or Misleading Ads

PRESTIGE PLUS

Major Wall Street Investment banking firm has exceptional opening for a truly outstanding individual to learn all aspects of personal banking. This outstanding opportunity will afford you daily contact with prestigious clients and accounts and can lead to unlimited future growth. Excellent benefits including profit-sharing, tuition refund, company-paid lunch, etc. Good typing and some shorthand or fast longhand are necessary. Write:

FOREIGN INTRIGUE

Director of Communications seeks self-motivated individual who can handle a challenging position, deal with foreign correspondence assume responsibilities. Good skills required. 13K. Contact:

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Ground-floor opportunity. Bright college graduate with SECRETARIAL SKILLS to learn import business. Requires substantial typing (including some statistics, light steno, filing, some figure work, and other general administrative duties). Light experience OK, but above skills mandatory. Excellent benefits, good working conditions, and fine opportunity for advancement. This vacancy is due to promotion from within. Write:

SOCIAL REGISTER/$13K

A prominent name in social, civic, and business circles seeks discreet, cultured aide for NY office. Assist with philanthropic affairs; do contact work with cultural and educational organizations. 60 wpm typing, precise English. Write:

GAL/GUY FRIDAY

Midtown agency has entry-level growth position for recent grad with excellent typing skills, good command of English, figure aptitude and ability to deal with clients. You must not be afraid to work long hours. Work for President and Senior Account Executives. Eventually head your own department. $160-175 to start. Write or call:

Insiders' Tip: There are no national licensing standards for employment agencies; however, in New York City employment agencies have to be licensed to operate by the Department of Consumer Affairs. A similar situation may exist in your own city. Try to determine if this is the case.

If you feel that you have been lied to by an agency representative about a job (e.g., the job was "filled" when you called at 9:01 on a Monday morning when the ad appeared on Sunday, the day before), you can call the Department of Consumer Affairs and register a complaint. They do follow up on complaints.

But keep in mind the following: the job could have been filled the Friday before. Most newspapers close their Classified Ad sections by Thursday evening. If the job you wanted to interview for was filled on Friday (after the closing of the paper's deadline for putting in or removing ads), then the reason given to you is legitimate. However, you can usually tell if you're getting the runaround. Many companies, although it is illegal to do so, will tell the agencies they use that a particular job is for a man, or a woman, or a minority member. If you call up and the agent knows the client wants a woman and you're a man, he or she may tell you the position's filled. Unless you can prove this, if this is what you suspect, you will waste time and effort when you should be pursuing positive avenues for yourself. But it's good to know all this!
If this article has helped you in some way, will you say thanks by sharing it through a share, like, a link, or an email to someone you think would appreciate the reference.



By using Employment Crossing, I was able to find a job that I was qualified for and a place that I wanted to work at.
Madison Currin - Greenville, NC
  • All we do is research jobs.
  • Our team of researchers, programmers, and analysts find you jobs from over 1,000 career pages and other sources
  • Our members get more interviews and jobs than people who use "public job boards"
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.
EmploymentCrossing - #1 Job Aggregation and Private Job-Opening Research Service — The Most Quality Jobs Anywhere
EmploymentCrossing is the first job consolidation service in the employment industry to seek to include every job that exists in the world.
Copyright © 2024 EmploymentCrossing - All rights reserved. 169