Six Things in a Job Posting That Mean Do Not Apply
Not scams — real companies with real problems. Learning to read these saves you weeks of applications that were never going to work.
Separate from outright fraud, there is a second category: genuine listings that will waste your time or make you miserable. The signals are in the text.
1. A location line that excludes you
"Remote (US only)". "Must be authorised to work in the EU." "Remote within 2 hours of GMT." No amount of talent overrides this — it is usually a payroll or legal constraint, not a preference.
Check the location line before anything else. This alone will cut a third of your list and save the most time.
2. Three jobs described as one
"Content Marketer who will also manage our social channels, run paid ads, handle email campaigns and support the sales team." This is a company that does not know what it needs, and you will be blamed for not doing four jobs excellently.
The exception is an early-stage startup that says so openly. Breadth stated honestly is different from breadth smuggled in through a long list.
3. No salary, and no answer when you ask
Many companies still do not publish ranges, which is normal. But if you ask politely in the first conversation and get evasion, that is information. Companies that pay well are generally comfortable saying so.
4. "We are a family"
Along with "work hard play hard", "wear many hats", "thrive under pressure" and "fast-paced environment". Individually these are harmless. Three or more in one posting usually describes long hours and thin boundaries.
Look for the opposite signals: written expectations about hours, stated time off, a documented onboarding process.
5. Unpaid work in the hiring process
A short exercise of an hour or two is normal and reasonable. A "test project" that involves building something they can actually use, unpaid, is not a test — it is free labour. A real company either keeps the exercise small and clearly hypothetical, or pays for a longer one.
6. The role has been reposted for months
If the same listing has been up for six months and reposted repeatedly, something is wrong — the pay is below market, the manager is difficult, or the requirements are unrealistic. You can often see this from the posting date, or by checking whether the company’s LinkedIn shows people leaving that team.
The two-minute filter
- Location line — am I eligible?
- Responsibilities — is this one job or three?
- Requirements — do I meet roughly 60 percent? That is enough; the lists are wish lists.
- Company — do real people work there, and has anyone stayed?
Two minutes per listing. It sounds like it slows you down. It does the opposite, because it stops you spending forty minutes applying to something that was never available.
Every role on our members-only board goes through a five-point check before it is posted, precisely so you do not have to run this filter yourself. See what is included.