When you’re applying for jobs, it’s important to ensure that you do in fact qualify for the jobs you’re applying to, however it’s important that you don’t aim for perfection. What does this mean? It means that you can still apply for the job if you are missing one minor requirement or qualification.
The Facts:
Back in 2014, headlines were made with the statement that men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women only apply if they meet 100% of them. It would be interesting to see if that statistic has changed, but it’s a fair assumption that there’s not a major difference from three years ago.
According to this statistic, neither men nor women (in general) have gotten the formula right. You probably won’t succeed if you only meet 60% of the qualifications, however waiting until you find a position where you meet 100% percent of them isn’t great either. If you meet every qualification, chances are that you aren’t pushing or challenging yourself with a new role.
Part of getting a new job is challenging yourself to learn more and take on more responsibility. If you already do everything specified in the job description, where’s the challenge in that?
Finding Balance:
If you meet at least 75% of the qualifications, apply—but be smart about figuring out the non-negotiables. This is an important point. When you’re applying for jobs, ask the question: do you meet about 75% or more of the requirements? If so, you should probably apply, as long as you meet the non-negotiable requirements.
For instance, say a company is looking for an accounting professional who is a CPA with 10 years of experience, a track record of liaising between clients and internal personnel, and an understanding of QuickBooks software. If you have the CPA, understanding of QuickBooks, and are able to build rapport with clients and peers, but only have 5-8 years of experience, go ahead and apply. While experience matters, if you can show what you’ve achieved and what you can bring to the company, it won’t make or break you. However, if you have 10 years of experience working with QuickBooks and cultivating client relationships, but you’re not a Certified Public Accountant, don’t apply. Certifications and important software knowledge are usually non-negotiables.
How You Can Make Yourself More Qualified:
See software knowledge that’s required? Or is there a skill you think you can brush up on? Take it upon yourself to learn the skills needed for the job. If you find that you need to use a certain software or know more about a certain subject area, learn more about it so you can put it on your resume. Do a quick google search and find an online class or tutorial. That way, you can at least familiarize yourself with it and put it down on your resume to increase your compatibility with the job description.
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When applying for jobs, you want to ensure that you meet the non-negotiable qualifications, but don’t aim for perfection. If you have every single requirement and are confident that you already take on every one of those job duties, there won’t be much room for you to grow and learn in that position. Aim to apply to jobs where you are confident that you can take on the duties, learn more about your field, and where you can grow as a professional. Push yourself to go out of your comfort zone as long as you meet the most important qualifications.