No Experience, No Problem

Say you found a job you want to apply for but you don’t meet all of the requirements. No problemo! Repeat after us: Even without every qualification or experience needed to tick off the checkboxes, it is still possible to be called for an interview and yes, even receive a job offer at the end of it.

The key? A solid “why you should hire me” pitch! Shift your focus towards your knowledge and strengths to convince the person interviewing you that you are indeed the right person with the job, even if you don’t meet some of the requirements. Because let’s be real – not everyone will tick all the right boxes but if you tick just enough of the right ones, you’re on your way to being hired.

Hiring managers are there to find the right person, not the right resume. Ultimately, it is to find someone who can perform most of the tasks of the position with ease and also have the right attitude to learn while on the job. So compensate for what you’re missing with what you already have, even if it’s not listed as a requirement. Remember, what’s important to a successful career are also personal attributes – your willingness to learn, if you have leadership skills, if you work great in a team.

Here are some tips on how you can apply for jobs with less experience than required:

#1 Highlight your transferable skills
We all have them, skills and experience that will still make you seem like a strong candidate for the position, even if they don’t exactly match the requirements. For example, if the position requires five or more years of job experience and you only have four, you can do two things: Focus on your achievements for the four years and show how they can come in handy to the role you’re applying for to make up for the lack of experience. You can also direct the attention to experiences that may not exactly match the description but are related – for example, working on a company’s quarterly newsletter when applying for a content creation job. The scope may be different but the knowledge and skills required are pretty much similar. To the hiring manager, this illustrates that you have the skills required for the position without actually being in a similar role, which is pretty much as good as saying you have what it takes to get the job done.

#2 Show results
Everyone loves a go-getter, even if they don’t meet all the criteria. What’s important is your sense of achievement and what you’ll do to get them. Use these to highlight the positive impact you’ll bring to the company if hired. Be prepared to be specific and make sure the achievements you have align with what the employer is looking for. If the hiring manager is convinced you’ll bring the same A game in the role you’re applying for, you’re in for the win.

#3 Make your story interesting
Your cover letter is there to help you build a narrative on how you can be an asset to the company. Underneath all the training, education, and experience is a story of how your employment history has prepared you for this opportunity. It is also a story of how you have more in you to give with the right job, right time. If the hiring manager senses that you may bring something new to the position and have what it takes to shine, you may just be called up for an interview. So make that cover letter compelling!

#4 Focus on the experiences you do have, not the experiences you don’t have
Don’t let that lack of experience stop you from getting the job you’ve always wanted! What’s stopping you from creating an experience yourself? Gleam from your work history and see what’s relevant to the position that you can consider a relatable experience. Maybe it’s a freelance gig or perhaps a short-term role you stepped into to help another colleague out. All of these still count when applying for a job, especially if they show your versatility and capability to think out of the box (which is essentially what you’re doing when applying for a job where you have lesser experience with!).

#5 It’s the attitude that counts
Most of the time, the hiring manager is looking for someone who can fit in with the company culture. The right person for the job doesn’t necessarily mean someone with all the technical skills and job experience; it could also mean someone with new ideas, a great personality, and the potential to shine!

Have you ever applied for a job you didn’t quite match the requirements? Share with us @Graduan how that went!

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash.