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Free Job Post Decoder

Job postings are written in a dialect: wish lists dressed as requirements, stock phrases that mean something specific, and occasionally a scam wearing a job's clothes. This decoder from Pass ATS Resume translates one posting into plain English — what it requires, what it merely wishes for, and what deserves a second look.

The whole posting, including the parts that look like boilerplate — the boilerplate is where several signals live.

How it works

Every line of the breakdown is traceable to words in the posting you pasted. Requirement lines are sorted by the posting’s own markers — required, must have, at least versus preferred, a plus, ideally — so the split shows the employer’s priorities, not our guesses. Experience asks are extracted verbatim (including the classic contradiction: an “entry-level” title asking for five years). Stock phrases are translated from the phrase, not from any knowledge of the company.

Honest limits

The decoder reads text, not companies: it cannot verify that an employer is real, and a clean decode is not a safety guarantee — always reach an employer through its official website before sharing personal details. It adds no salary data of its own, ever: what a posting states about pay is quoted exactly, and what it doesn’t state is reported as absent. Signals are labeled signals.

Frequently asked questions

What does the decoder actually check?
Only the words in the posting you paste. It sorts requirement lines into must-haves and nice-to-haves by the posting's own language, extracts the experience and education asks, translates stock phrases ('wear many hats', 'fast-paced'), and flags patterns — including known job-scam patterns — always showing the exact words that triggered the flag.
It says there's no pay range. Does that mean the job is a scam?
No — and the decoder never says that. Plenty of legitimate employers post without a range, and some jurisdictions require one while others don't. The decoder states the fact because it matters to you: with no range in the posting, asking for it early in the process is normal and expected.
Why doesn't it show what the job should pay?
Because we don't publish salary data. Third-party salary figures are routinely stale, mismatched to the role, or averaged across unlike jobs — and a wrong number in a real negotiation does real harm. What the posting itself states, we quote exactly; what it doesn't state, we say so.
A posting got a 'scam pattern' flag. Is it definitely a scam?
No. A flag means the posting contains a pattern that appears in a large share of job scams — interviews routed through consumer messaging apps, fees or equipment purchases asked of applicants, sensitive data requested up front. The right response is to verify the employer through its official website before sharing anything personal, which is good practice for any posting.

Related tools

Job description matcher · Skills gap analyzer · ATS resume checker

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