A Job Which You’re Not Qualified For

Finding the perfect job is hard work. You spend hours which drag into days that lead to weeks of trawling through the job ads before you spot the ideal career move. Then, out of the blue, you find a role you know you’d be perfect for in a company you’d love to be part of.

But before you even apply for the advertised role there’s one, somewhat tricky, problem: the ideal job you’ve just found features certain criteria, required qualifications and a job description that all appear to be out of your league.

The job advertisement may request skills you may not possess, or feature a requirement for five years’ worth of experience when you only have two. It’s at this point that you start questioning whether you should bother even reading further into the job advertisement, let alone taking the time and effort to actually apply.

While it’s important to maintain some semblance of realistic judgement, ensuring you don’t over-estimate your abilities too much, there is a growing body of evidence that you should indeed make the leap and apply for a job that you may not be immediately qualified for.

At this critical point, when you are deciding whether to apply for a job you may not be qualified for, the first step is to seriously consider whether you can actually do the job. While it may just be your dream job, there needs to be an element of realistic assessment in your decision to apply for it.  Ponder whether you can accomplish the tasks and meet the responsibilities the potential job entails.

If you know that you are capable of doing the job, then you should apply for it. Once you’ve reached that conclusion, the next step is to deliver a CV or resume that reflects and matches the type of candidate the prospective employer is looking for. Consider all the ways you can demonstrate what you have achieved, learnt and experienced in your previous roles and how those lessons and skills are transferable to this new position.

If you are under-qualified for the dream job you’re applying for, use your resume to demonstrate how you could deliver tangible outcomes in the role. Employers will respond to candidates who they believe can deliver outcomes and results. Even if you may be under-qualified, potential employers will look kindly upon those job-seekers who have a track record of achieving results.

A final tip for resume and CV ideas when applying for a job you may not be qualified for is to thoroughly research the role and company you’re hoping to land a job with. Taking the time and effort to go the extra mile in researching and learning about the company you’re applying for might just mean the difference in getting to the stage of an interview. While others who apply for the job may be relying on their paper qualifications, you can impress potential employers with extra research and knowledge beyond your more qualified competitors.

Going the extra distance in a competitive job market might just be the tipping point you need to secure the dream job you might otherwise miss out on.