Is The Job Posting Worth Applying To? 7 Ways To Tell

By Seth Fiegerman

NEW YORK -- There's only so much time you have in a given week to search for jobs, so don't waste it responding to bad job postings.

"You really shouldn't spend much time applying to job ads anyway," says Robert Hellmann, a career coach with The Five O'Clock Club, who urges job hunters to focus on networking and attending events offline. But when you do respond to job postings, it's important to make sure the posting is good enough to justify the time it takes to apply. Otherwise, Hellmann says, you'll spend hours tailoring your resume and cover letter only to end up in a headhunter's slush pile – or worse, ending up the victim of a scam.