People say you'll know the right job when you see it. Like a bug, you mostly see it about a week after it reaches production.
There's a cheaper way to find out.
How do you find the right job? Write down what you need before you start looking. Search for the work itself, because titles tell you surprisingly little. Read each ad like a spec, then use the interview to test what the ad leaves out. The right job is the one that passes your tests. It doesn't have to be the one with the nicest logo.
TL;DR
- Write the requirements first. Otherwise a nice logo rewrites them for you.
- A title doesn't even tell you the level. Of Project Manager postings, 33% are entry level and 39% are senior.
- Some titles barely define the job. The most common skill in Security Engineer ads appears in only 17% of them.
- Pay hides inside the title too. The middle half of Dutch Account Manager salaries runs from €3,500 to €5,000 a month.
- Ask where the last person went. An ad never tells you that.
Write the requirements before you open a job board
Nobody starts a project by asking which bugs they'd enjoy. (Some of us have joined that project.) Spend 20 minutes on this list first:
- Must-haves. The minimum pay, the commute you'd accept, whether you can work in that country at all.
- Dealbreakers. Three at most. If you list twelve, you're describing a person you'd like to date.
- Work you want more of. Think of tasks from the past year. Your last job title isn't an answer here.
- Your next job. Name it, then list the three skills it needs that you don't have yet.
That list is your test suite. Without it, you'll judge each offer by how the last interview felt, and that test is famously flaky.
A job title is a void*
In C++, a void* points at something, and it won't tell you what. Job titles work much the same way.
We looked at the postings behind 44 AI-related roles, and the same title covers very different jobs:
- The level is unclear. Of 6,480 Project Manager postings with a level, 33% are entry level, 27% mid level and 39% senior. In 15 of the 44 roles, at least a quarter are entry level and at least a quarter senior.
- The skills can be too. AI Tools Literacy appears in 98% of Finance Manager ads, so you know what you're getting. In Security Engineer ads, the top skill (Cloud Security) reaches 17%. That title covers a whole family of different jobs.
- So can the pay. In the Netherlands, the middle half of Account Manager salaries runs from €3,500 to €5,000 a month. That's a €1,500 gap under one title, and only among ads that quote pay.
What I take from this: searching for your last title gets you the wrong jobs as well as the right ones, and it hides good jobs with other names. Search for the work. "Keeping production up" should also find SRE, infrastructure engineer and platform roles.
Read the ad like a spec
An ad is a spec written by a busy person, partly copied from the last ad. It's still the best document you'll get this early. Check four things:
- Responsibilities over requirements. The requirements are the wish list. The responsibilities show what fills your week.
- The real level. Ignore the title. Look at who you'd report to and what you'd decide alone.
- The pay. Only 13% of Project Manager postings in our data carried a salary we could use. If it's missing, ask early. It's a short call compared with five interview rounds.
- The contradictions. My personal favourite: a junior title that wants ten years of experience. It may be sloppy copy-paste, or nobody has decided what the job is. Neither is fatal, but ask.
If you're still in, tailor your CV for that one job. If you can't find anything worth tailoring for, that's useful too.
The interview is your integration test
You're testing them as well. No data here, just the questions I'd ask:
- Why is this role open? Growth and replacement are different stories.
- Where did the last person go? Promoted is a good answer. A long pause isn't.
- What does good look like after 90 days? If nobody can say, you won't be able to meet it either.
- What broke recently, and what happened next? You're listening for a post-mortem. Blame is your answer too.
One vague answer may just be a tired interviewer. When two or more questions get vague answers, treat it as a pattern and retest before you sign.
Looks good or is right?
Prestige and pay are easy to read, which is why they get too much weight. So run the offer against the list you wrote at the start:
- Does it build your next three skills? If it builds none of them, call it a detour. That can still be fine, as long as you know that's what you're choosing.
- Is the money buying something? Taking more pay to clear debt or build savings is a plan. Taking it because the number felt nice is how you end up searching again next year.
- Can you sustain it on a bad week? Everything's fine on the demo day. You'll be living in the other weeks.
I can't tell you how to weigh these, and our data can't either. It knows what employers ask for. It has no idea what you can stand on a Tuesday.
What we built for this
SlashHash can do some of the legwork, but the decision stays with you.
- Search in plain language. Describe the work and your dealbreakers, and the chat also looks at alternative titles and adjacent roles.
- Alerts on your criteria. Role, seniority, location, dealbreakers. Instant alerts help when being early matters.
- Discuss my fit. Puts your CV next to one job and lists strengths, gaps and what to prepare.
Curious how the ranking decides? Here's how our matching reads a job, including where it breaks.
FAQ
How do I know if a job is right for me? Write your must-haves, dealbreakers and next three skills before you look. Then test each job against them, using the ad first and the interview for what the ad leaves out.
Should I search by job title? Use it as a start, then search for the work too. Titles are unreliable: 33% of Project Manager postings in our data are entry level and 39% are senior, and the same work can sit under several names.
What questions show whether a job is a good fit? Ask why the role is open, where the last person went, what good looks like after 90 days, and what broke recently. Several vague answers together are worth following up before you sign.
Should I take a higher-paying job that doesn't match my goals? It can be a sound choice if the money serves a purpose, such as clearing debt or building savings. Check whether it builds any skills your next job needs, and decide knowing it may be a detour.
What if I'm changing fields? Compare the skills of both roles first. Our career transition guide shows how.
Your move this week
- Write the list. Must-haves, up to three dealbreakers, next three skills. Twenty minutes.
- Pull five ads you like and check them against it. Note the level, the pay and any contradictions.
- Prepare the four questions for your next interview. Ask at least the one about the last person.
Figures: SlashHash AI careers snapshot, September 2026: AI-related postings in the Netherlands and Australia over the previous 180 days. It covers AI-related postings only, so its skill lists lean toward AI. Levels are as classified from the postings. Skill shares are the share of a role's postings asking for that skill. Salaries are advertised amounts from postings that quote pay, with the middle half running from the 25th to the 75th percentile (613 Dutch Account Manager postings). The conclusions and the interview questions are my own opinion.