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A passion for food, with an especially good palate for chocolate is essential, as is the commercial acumen to negotiate successful business deals. Also, possessing the flair and ability to bring products to the customer in Fortnum's inimitable style is highly desirable.

The position is full time, permanent, 5 days, 37.5 hours per week.

It's probably one of the few job ads that have received international attention: Chocolate Buyer at Fortnum & Mason's world-renowned Food Hall. I first heard about it on the radio and was sufficiently intrigued by what I heard to hunt down the job ad itself. (Note to my boss: It was for research purposes only. Not that I would ever consider changing jobs anyway.)

As I thought about the ad, I asked myself: Is this a good ad? Does it really give job seekers all the information they need to respond and, more importantly, make it into the first round of interviews? What does the ad tell me about the company and its expectations?

This article examines how to begin formulating questions when you see any job ad, display or classified, using the above ad as an example. Sure, I could have borrowed an ad from Chemical & Engineering News—or made one up—as an example for this story but this makes the exercise a bit more fun and the same principles apply when you review any classified or display ad.

Dissecting A Job Ad

Let's say you're in the market to make a career transition and you see this ad. It's probably a given that you love chocolate and you're intrigued about a full-time job deciding which chocolate products this retailer will sell. It's important to gather as much information as you can about a company and an advertisement can offer some clues about how things are run and what type of work they do. Using the Chocolate Buyer ad, let's dig out the clues.

Business skills.The ad emphasizes the ability to maintain relationships with existing suppliers while looking for new products and new suppliers. The ad also indicates "a successful candidate must be able to negotiate business deals and have some sense of customer demand. Having a flair and ability to bring products to the customer in the store's unique style is highly desirable."

If you had no clue about what a buyer does, one resource to use is the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is an outstanding source of career information and it provides valuable assistance in making career decisions. Revised every two years, the Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations. Here is some of the information you would learn from reading the section about buyers in the Handbook:

• Buyers largely determine which products their establishment will sell. Therefore, it is essential that they have the ability to accurately predict what will appeal to consumers.
• They must constantly stay informed of the latest trends because failure to do so could jeopardize profits and the reputation of their company.
• Buyers also follow ads in newspapers and other media to check competitors' sales activities and watch general economic conditions to anticipate consumer-buying patterns.
• Computerized systems have dramatically simplified many of the acquisition functions and improved the efficiency of determining which products are selling. Buyers can gain instant access to the specifications for thousands of commodities, inventory records, and their customers' purchase records to avoid overpaying for goods and to avoid shortages of popular goods or surpluses of goods that do not sell as well.
• Some buyers are also responsible for creating merchandise displays and advertising plans.

It's clear from this entry that a buyer's decisions have a big impact on a store's success. The job demands high performance under high pressure: a good buyer is always in the marketplace, analyzing information, talking to people, and negotiating the best deals possible. After all, no store wants to be stuck with slow-moving merchandise that will have to be marked down, resulting in a profit loss.

Working conditions. The ad specifies that the position is full-time, permanent, 5 days, 37.5 hours per week. According to the Handbook description, most buyers frequently work more than the standard 40-hour week because of special sales, conferences, or other deadlines. Evening and weekend work also is common. For those working in retail trade, this is especially true prior to holiday and back-to-school seasons. Also, buyers and merchandise managers often work under great pressure because retail stores are so competitive. Many buyers also travel several days a month; this is how they maintain their relationships with existing suppliers and find new suppliers and products. Since this job is located in the UK, travel throughout Europe is probably a given.

Some questions to consider:

1) The stated work hours seem to diverge from what the nature of the work seems to be. Can someone perform this job successfully during a 5 day, 37.5-hour workweek?
2) Does the store discourage vacation time during peak retail periods? (The answer is probably yes, but if you don't ask, you won't know.)

Salary. What is the salary for this position? While it's not stated in the advertisement, you would need to find a resource that will give you some idea of what buyers earn. At Salary.com, for example, the median reported salary for an entry-level buyer (Buyer I) is $36,807 while the median salary for a more experienced buyer (Buyer IV) is $65,415.

(A story about this job ad appeared in The Daily Telegraph reported that the salary is $35,000, or about $54,000. Another indicator that whoever applies ought to have some experience behind them.)

American Chemical Society members can find relevant salary information at the ACS Salary Comparator, which reports the complete range of full-time base salaries being paid to chemists in jobs like yours (or any other position for chemists which you choose to define). The comparator gives attention to many specific factors that influence pay, including experience, level of education, professional specialties, job functions, types of employers, and geographic location. Both academic and non-academic positions are covered. Nonmember chemists can find general salary information in the Occupational Outlook Handbook or on Salary.com.

Benefits. Some ads will also mention fringe benefits, such as retirement plans, medical, dental, and vision insurance, and tuition reimbursement as a way to sell the company to potential applicants. If this information doesn't appear in the ad, you can search the careers section on the company's Web site or contact Human Resources and ask.

Corporate Environment. What can you tell about the environment from the job description? In this case, you can look at Fortnum & Mason's Web page and read a history beginning with how Mr. Fortnum met Mr. Mason in 1705. Read some more and you'll discover that the store is very proud of its reputation for fine food and service to their customers, including their world-famous Food Hall. This is a company that has a very long history, and a particular reputation and image with its customers which all employees have a responsibility to maintain.

Company Web pages often feature a history of the company from its establishment to the present and may also list particular milestones and accomplishments. These will give you some sense about the image the company wants to project to the public. One trend in corporate Web sites is to promote the company's mission and vision and other statements that convey a particular philosophy. For example, here is the credo that has guided Johnson & Johnson's business for over 50 years.

This information is easy to find if the company name appears in the ad. If the ad has been placed by a recruiting firm or simply doesn't identify the company, then you'll have to get a sense of the company environment if you're invited for an interview.

Company expectations. What does the company expect of individuals who would be eligible to fill this position? The clue here is "…possessing the flair and ability to bring products to the customer in Fortnum's inimitable style…" which says that this person is going to have to have enthusiasm, energy, and creativity to succeed on the job. This person should also have a "passion for food" and the "commercial acumen to negotiate successful business deals". Clearly, the successful candidate will have to further develop a diverse range of products this retailer sells.

The ad also states "an especially good palate for chocolate is essential" but what does that mean? Is it simply sufficient to love chocolate or should you have some knowledge of what you are buying? Did the company just assume that people with the "right" background would apply? This qualification isn't so well defined and the company did not respond to a request for additional clarification. The lack of clarification didn't benefit the company, either: it was inundated with applications from people with no qualifications but who applied because they love chocolate.

Yes or no? What is your level of interest after reading the ad? If you are sufficiently motivated to apply after reading the ad, then you can use these clues to pull your resume and cover letter together in response. Some ads will contain more information than others so look to other job search resources that may help fill in as many of the blanks as possible such as networking, Web sites, and articles in business publications like The Wall Street Journal, Fortune or Business Week.

Corinne Marasco is Content Manager of JobSpectrum.org.

Related Resources

It wouldn't be fair to mention chocolate in this article without a review of how chocolate is made from the bean to the bar.

Chemical & Engineering News publishes an annual salary survey article. In 2002, the median salary for American Chemical Society members who are chemists and have a full-time job in the U.S. has posted a sixth consecutive year of solid growth. The increase this year is almost four times the unusually low rate of inflation. Meanwhile, unemployment among chemist members has reversed a substantial year-earlier decline and spiraled to its highest level since ACS started measuring it annually and on a reasonably consistent basis 30 years ago.

Internet recruiting expert Barbara Ling offers this advice to recruiters on how to write a dynamic job ad that will attract candidates. Sometimes, it helps to see what folks on the other side of the table are reading.