1.1 Picking out the details from a job advert
Many employers will supply a job description and a person specification. The job description tells you about the job and the person specification tells you what abilities, qualities and qualifications are required. In our example of the Assistant Housekeeping Manager, the person specification was called Job Requirements. Job adverts will usually be based on these two parts and present the most important aspects of them.
The job advertisement you’ve already looked at has both these elements, so provides good practice in analysing what is expected of you.
This activity helps you to ‘spot’ useful information in an advert and to interpret what it asks of you.
Activity 1 The Mingalabar Hotel Group advert: what does it tell you?
Read back through the Assistant Housekeeping Manager. Note in the box below, what descriptions of the work you find, and then what descriptions of the person specification it contains. You don’t need to do this in your notebook, unless you would like a record of the activity.
Comment
How easy did you find it? Sometimes you have to make some assumptions because you don’t have all the information. You also need to think of ways to demonstrate that you have the skills the position is asking for as in the examples below.
Description of work
- Confirm all housekeeping staff members have arrived or find substitutes for absent employees – though you don’t know how many staff you can deduce that you would need to know the staff reasonably well and their personal responsibilities to understand who could substitute for absentees.
Person specification
- Good communication skills, leadership skills and time management skills – these are clear skills that you would need to show you had with good examples.
The next section will provide you with nine key areas to look for in any job advert.
1 What to look for in job advertisements