How to read a job posting, requirement by requirement

Most people read a job posting the way they read a weather report. They skim it, get a feeling, and decide: "I could do that" or "that's not me". The feeling is usually wrong in both directions. People talk themselves out of roles they fit, and into roles where they'd struggle with the first real task.

There is a slower way that takes about fifteen minutes and gives a much clearer answer. Read the posting as a list of separate requirements, and check each one against evidence.

Step 1: Split the posting into single requirements

A posting mixes many things into one paragraph. "5+ years in growth or lifecycle marketing at a consumer brand, comfortable with SQL and experiment design" is really four requirements:

years of experience in a kind of role
the kind of company
a tool (SQL)
a skill (experiment design)

Write each one on its own line. If a sentence says "and", it is usually two requirements. If it says "or", you only need one side.

Leave out the decoration: "fast-paced", "passionate", "rockstar". They describe the team's mood, not the work.

Step 2: Sort them into must-haves and nice-to-haves

Postings usually signal this themselves. Words like must, required and you have mark the hard line. Words like bonus, preferred and nice to have mark the soft one. When a posting doesn't say, the order is a hint: the first few lines are usually what the hiring manager wrote, and the rest is often copied from older postings.

Some requirements are really conditions, not skills: a location, a notice period, a work permit, being able to travel. Put these in their own short list. They are yes-or-no questions, and it is better to know the answer before you write anything.

Step 3: For each requirement, find one piece of evidence

This is the part most people skip. For every line, ask: what have I done that shows this?

Good evidence is specific and checkable:

a line on your resume that describes a result
a project you can link to
a repository, a portfolio piece, a published article
something a former manager would confirm if asked

"I'm a fast learner" is not evidence. "Shipped the checkout redesign in React, and the payment step got faster" is.

Write the evidence next to the requirement. If you can't find any, don't stretch. Leave it blank for now.

Step 4: Mark each one honestly

You now have three kinds of lines:

Covered. You have clear evidence.
Partly covered. You have related evidence, but not the exact thing. You used a similar tool, or did the work at a smaller scale.
Gap. You have nothing yet.

There is also a fourth kind that is easy to miss: things you have done but never wrote down. Many people have run experiments, mentored someone or owned a budget, and it never made it onto the resume. These are the cheapest gaps to close, because the work already happened. You just need to describe it.

Step 5: Decide what to do with the gaps

A gap is not a reason to stop. It is a decision:

If it is a must-have and you can't close it soon, the role may be a stretch. That is useful to know before you spend an evening on a cover letter.
If it is a nice-to-have, mention what you'd do in your first months instead of pretending.
If it is something you have done but not written down, add it to your resume. Use your real words and real numbers.

What you should not do is copy the posting's words onto your resume for skills you don't have. It might get past a filter, but it won't get past the first interview question about it. And it makes the honest lines on your resume harder to believe.

What you end up with

After fifteen minutes you have a short, honest picture: which requirements you clearly meet, which you partly meet, which are real gaps, and which conditions you need to confirm. That picture is worth more than any single score. It tells you whether to apply, what to lead with, and what to prepare for in the interview.

This is exactly what Tayyari does with a pasted posting. It splits the posting into requirements, checks each one against evidence from your resume and links, and shows you the cited line behind every "covered". It shows gaps as gaps. If you'd like to try it on a real posting, map your skills in the app and paste one in.