Beyond the Job Description

One thing most people can agree on is job searching can be stressful and difficult. The type of job you’re looking for, your qualifications, possible locations, desired salary, all distilled into a few key search terms. All you can do is hope the terms you’ve selected are pulling in all of the postings that match your qualifications and possible opportunities.

And then there is weeding through the results and trying to determine which jobs could be the right match for you. Job postings provide only a small fraction of information—company name, open positions, job responsibilities, and recommended qualifications. Some provide a bit of information about the company, but it’s hard to tell everything there is to know about an organization just from reading a brief description. And we all have our filters. Those things that make us reject a posting before really knowing about the job or the company. Maybe a job sounds interesting, but you have never heard of the organization and assume they aren’t well established. Or perhaps you have heard of the organization and just assume they aren’t the right fit. These filters can sometimes lead to missed opportunities.

When you look beyond the job posting into what a company stands for, you may find you are more aligned with that company than you might have known from your initial impression.

When Laura Dow first saw a job posting for Catholic Charities Serving Central Washington, she was drawn to the company’s mission – bringing hope to life, especially for those most in need. But she was concerned about joining a faith-based organization.

“When I first applied at Catholic Charities, it was a concern of mine that I wasn't Catholic,” says Dow. “I also wanted to be sure the community I would be serving wouldn't be limited to just a Catholic community.”

But Dow says she what she found when she joined the agency was that while Catholic Charities is founded on the social teachings of the Catholic Church, they employ and provide services for anyone regardless of faith, race, age, sex, or sexual orientation.

“I am not Catholic, but I do feel very welcomed here. I feel very supported here. I've never felt like that is something that I've needed to have to be a successful employee or a respected employee,” affirms Dow.

Best of all, Dow says she found an organization that matches her desire to make a difference.

I enjoy working for a Catholic agency because there's a greater purpose to the work that we do. I love the fact that this is an organization that is so people-centered and community-centered. I get to make a tangible difference in people’s lives through my work at Catholic Charities.”

It’s easy to miss a potential opportunity when just relying on your perception and the limited information provided in a job description. If a job sounds interesting, or a company triggers your curiosity, don’t let a job posting limit your interest. Give the organization the benefit of the doubt and do a bit of research. Here are a few tips:

1. Check out their website.
2. Look through their social media and read their reviews on LinkedIn.
3. Talk to other employees and ask about their experiences.
4. See what their clients have to say about them.

At Catholic Charities Serving Central Washington we encourage job candidates to learn more about our organization at workforhope.org.