Is a job worth applying to? Asking that before you start saves hours, because applying to every role that looks close is a slow way to search. Each application costs an hour or more once you tailor a resume and write a message, and most of that hour is wasted on jobs you would not take or could not get. A short check before you start fixes that. It takes ten minutes, and it ends with one of three answers: apply, apply and ask, or skip.
Quick answer
Run five checks in this order: the work, your fit, the pay, the place, the employer. Give each one a pass, a question mark or a fail. Two fails mean skip. One fail with a strong reason to want the job means think again before you start. Question marks are fine, because many postings leave facts out on purpose or by accident.
Minutes 0 to 2: the work
Read the sentences that say what you would do each day. Ignore the company pitch. Ask whether you want to do this work for the next year or two, and whether you could describe it to a friend in one sentence.
If you cannot, the posting is vague. Mark a question mark and move on. The post on how to read a job posting shows how to find the real work inside a long text.
Minutes 2 to 4: your fit
Split the requirements into must have, nice to have and decoration. Count the must-haves you meet. Meeting most of them is enough. Meeting a few of them is a fail, and a fail here is hard to repair with a good cover letter.
For each must-have you meet, think of one example from your work that shows it. A requirement you meet but cannot show is close to one you do not meet, because the reader only sees what you write. Requirements near the top of a list usually matter more than those at the end, and a posting that splits “essential” from “desirable” has told you which ones decide.
Look at two requirements in particular, because you cannot tailor your way past them. The first is a credential or licence the role names as required. Some regulated work needs one. If you do not hold it, check whether the employer accepts an equivalent from another country. The second is a language. If a posting asks for a language level, take it at its word. If it says “fluent” and you are not, mark a fail. If it says “good working knowledge”, you may be fine.
Minutes 4 to 6: the pay
Look for a salary or a grade. Public-sector and international posts often publish a grade or band instead of a number, and that is a real answer. Compare it with the lowest pay you can accept.
If the posting is silent, mark a question mark. A missing figure does not mean low pay. It means you do not know yet. The post on preparing for a recruiter call covers the next step: finding a range and asking about pay. Also check whether the figure is yearly, monthly or hourly, and which currency it uses, so that you compare like with like.
Minutes 6 to 8: the place
Find three facts: where you must live, where you may work from, and what right to work the employer expects. A posting that says “remote” can still limit you to certain countries or time zones. Visa, work permit and tax rules differ by country and by employer, so read the employer’s own statement and the official government source for your case. This post is not legal or immigration advice.
Mark a fail when the posting plainly requires something you cannot meet and the employer does not offer to help. Mark a question mark when it is silent. The remote job checklist goes through this in detail.
Minutes 8 to 10: the employer and the posting
Two quick looks. First, is the posting real and open? Find it on the employer’s own careers page. If it is there, good. If it is not, the posting may be old or copied. A date on a card can be unreliable, as this post explains. Look for a closing date in the text itself.
Second, is the employer what it says? Open its website. Check that it exists, that it names the people or the programme, and that the contact address matches its own domain. Be careful with any posting that asks you to pay a fee, send a copy of your passport or bank details before an interview. Real employers do not need these to consider an application.
A worked check
Illustrative: the posting and the person are invented. A posting reads: “Operations Coordinator, regional health nonprofit, Nairobi office with two days from home. Essential: three years in operations or logistics, strong Excel, English. Desirable: Swahili, a project management certificate. Salary: grade B4 on the published scale.”
| Check | What the person finds | Mark |
|---|---|---|
| The work | Running schedules, suppliers and reports. Wants this work | Pass |
| Fit | Four years in logistics, uses Excel daily, English at work. No certificate, basic Swahili | Pass |
| Pay | Grade B4. The scale on the employer’s site puts it above their floor | Pass |
| Place | Lives in Nairobi. Two days from home suits them | Pass |
| Employer | The role is on the nonprofit’s own careers page, with a closing date | Pass |
Five passes, two gaps on the desirable list. Apply, and in the letter mention the Swahili lessons they are taking, honestly, at their real level.
Change one fact: the person lives in another country and the posting says the role is for people with the right to work in Kenya. The place check becomes a fail. With four passes and one fail, it is a “wait one day” job, and the question to settle is whether they can meet that condition at all.
What should I ask when I mark a question mark?
Keep a short list and ask at the first contact:
- What is the salary range or grade, and is it before tax?
- Is the role open to people living outside the country?
- Which of the listed requirements matter most for the first six months?
- When does the employer expect to decide?
One clear answer can turn a question mark into a pass or a fail.
Decide, then write the reason
Count your marks.
| Result | Action |
|---|---|
| Mostly passes, up to two question marks | Apply. List the question marks to ask later. |
| One fail, strong interest | Wait one day, then decide. |
| Two or more fails | Skip, and note why. |
Write the reason in one line in your tracker, even for a skip. After a few weeks the lines show a pattern. If most skips say “language” or “right to work”, change where you search. If most say “pay missing”, you may be narrowing too much by salary.
Questions people ask
Should I apply if I do not meet every requirement?
Often, yes. A posting is often a wish list. Apply when you meet the essential ones and can show them with examples. Skip when you miss a required licence, language or kind of experience that the employer cannot waive.
How long should the check take?
About ten minutes. If it takes longer, the posting is unclear, and that is a question mark in itself.
Is it worth applying to a role I would only half want?
Only if your list of strong roles is short. An application you do not care about is hard to write well.
What if every job fails the place check?
Then the search is in the wrong place. Change the countries or the arrangement you search for before you change anything else.
What we know and what we do not
Zorlya gives each role a score from 0 to 100 and shows its parts, four of them for most jobs and a fifth when the posting states a level, and every role links back to the original posting at its source. That covers part of the fit and pay checks, and the link helps with the check that the posting is real. It does not cover the employer check or your right to work. Those are yours to do. The scoring post explains the parts. The place part follows the arrangement you prefer: with a preference for remote work, an on-site job’s place part is capped at 15 and a hybrid job’s at 35, so a job that would fail your place check also scores low there. Zorlya does not know which requirements an employer will waive, or whether you have the right to work in a country.