Should You Apply Even If You’re Not Qualified?
A friend of mine recently left his position at our former company to start his own business. He has 15 years of excellent work experience, including 10 years of managing others, and an MBA. His former job is now advertised online, and over the weekend I met a woman who had applied for it. This woman was unhappy with her current company and had noticed that my friend’s former position paid really well. Interestingly, she failed to notice much else about it.
I talked to this woman about the position opening at length, and was surprised to realize that she had barely read the job description before deciding to apply. She told me about her previous work experience, which was only vaguely related to the requirements of the advertised job. She was stunned when I told her that the position required managing a department of 10 people, and then it started to sink in that her lack of supervisory experience might hurt her chances of getting the job. She also mentioned that the opening had asked that applicants have knowledge of a specific online database system. She then asked me the most surprising question of all: “Do you think they’re really serious about only hiring someone who has experience with that system?”
At this point, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for this woman. So I will offer you the same advice that I gave her. There are dozens of candidates applying for most open positions these days. Hiring managers will tell you that one of their main job duties is “shortlisting” these applications into a small pool of qualified applicants—in other words, disqualifying everyone they can in order to whittle the list down to only the best candidates for each job. Many times, companies find themselves ruling out perfectly qualified candidates simply because they have too many from which to choose. With this in mind, please do yourself the favor of not applying for jobs if you’re just not qualified. Employers purposely write their job descriptions in order to attract candidates who are a good match. If the ad says they’re looking for X, Y, and Z qualifications, I can guarantee you one thing: Yes, they really mean it!
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I work with employers on a daily basis and this is one of their biggest complaints. They are frustrated with applicants who do not meet their minimum requirements. So, if you don’t meet the minimum requirements, please don’t apply. If you apply for something you are not qualified for you will be remembered and not in a positive light. What happens when a position with that company opens up that you are qualified for? Will that recruiter or HR Manager believe what you say? Trust me, they are more than likey as not to remember you or at least your name and you may not get a second thought or be considered as credible.
Unfortunately I think that many people have been out of work for so long that they are desperate to get a job and are sending their resume to any job opening they find hoping to get a job. A better approach would be to check the company’s website or call the company to see if there is a job opening that is better suited to your background and skill set.
I disagree, if you have part of the qualifications you should apply. Especially if it is a high demand position. Many times a position may have very few applicants and your minimal qualifications can get you that dream job. Also I have noticed that almost every position posted out there asks for years of experience even entry levels. That makes it impossible to find positions that you are looking for if you don’t apply for ones that you aren’t fully qualified according to the description. Having been a supervisor I would hire someone slightly underqualified with great drive than a slug that’s fully qualified. The job I have now I wasn’t fully qualified for when I applied but because of my work ethic and abilities have gained $20000/year in less then 3 years. In other words, as long as you aren’t grossly underqualified, apply, it will not harm your carrier and you may get the chance to prove yourself and your dream job.
I will keep applying to these jobs anyway, it is I got my current job.
I agree on only applying to positions where your skills closely match the job description. But if they only look at those who perfectly match the requirements, why then do I see job postings that set unfilled for months and months.
As a rule if I match 75% of the general requirements and 100% of the specific technology requirements, I apply. Worst they can say is no. BTW it is no for other reasons.
I applied for a position and within six hours I was sent my rejection notice. The site had a match you skills to jobs tool which showed I had a 95% match to the rejected job. My gut feel for the rejection is I am over 50 and unemployed (laided off).
Although the person in the article was employed, one thing I would like for employers & recruiters to remember is that most states require that those on Unemployment apply for at least one open position each week in order to continue to get benefits. Some states require 3 applications each week. You are often not allowed to duplicate until 6 months have passed. When you only find 6 jobs listed in your home city what choice do you have? We want to work! And we have to keep food on the table and a roof over our children’s heads. It’s apply or die. That’s often why you are getting so many applicants who are only remotely qualified. I am reading so many complaints about applicants that I think recruiters have no clue this rule exists. They seem to be very insulated about what is REALLY going on in the unemployment realm. Recruiters, do you know about this rule? Please pass it on to your employers and stop being so quick to put the unemployed in a negative light. If you have a job, it’s easy to be judgmental. Remember there are 3 million unemployed.
This would be fine if employers and recruiters would write job descriptions that are realistic, and would also evaluate transferrable skills. I have no problem with requirements that will be truly needed and used, but many companies then pad their expectations to see what bonus skills they can get. Especially when they add requirements for experience with things that they might maybe consider doing some day in the nebulus future. The worst though is to be told that your almost identical experience is no use to them. As an example, I was told that my experience implementing the previous generation of a database system was no good – even though the version that this company was “thinking” of implementing was merely a slightly modified version of what I had used and also had a new name. Both the recruiter and hiring manager were blind. No wonder they cannot find their PERFECT candidate.