We’ve all been there at least once: You’re plunging into the depths of Idealist and Linkedin searching for jobs, and you finally read a job description with exactly what you’re looking for. The only problem? Despite feeling like a perfect fit for the work described in the listing, you’re hopelessly underqualified. Much as that may trigger your professional insecurities, being “unqualified” shouldn’t deter you from uploading your resume and hitting “apply.”
First, for many job listings, the “qualifications” section is often more advisory than prescriptive. Notice how many posts lay out an ideal candidate’s experience—in many cases, someone with the “ideal” experience would, in fact, be overqualified for the job, to the point that those people are probably looking at bigger and better opportunities for advancement. Especially if you’re only slightly unqualified by their standards—say you’re a year short on experience or lack the exact educational background they specify—you should apply anyway.
Second, and just as importantly, the demographics of people who end up applying for and getting jobs is already hugely skewed, and closely adhering to “qualifications” may be a small part of the reason why. As a study from Linkedin shows, women apply for jobs far less frequently than men, and there is some evidence that it’s because women are less likely to apply for a job unless they feel totally certain they’re qualified.
People from less elite educational and economically comfortable backgrounds may face similar problems, especially when it comes to jobs listing a college degree or a specific area of study as a qualification. For many people, including hiring managers, formal education is much closer to a box to check than an indicator of future work performance. Your experience, recommendations and personality in an interview are much better measures of your worth to someone looking to offer you a job, and for the most part, they know it. So when you’re only missing superficial qualifications, there’s no reason to put that job aside.
If a job listing is especially confounding (“They want how many years of fundraising experience for that position?”) it may be time to tap into your network or reach out for more information. If you know people in the organization, call them up or meet for coffee to discuss the job. It may turn out that, yes, you do need a master’s degree for that position, but you could also learn that they just recycled an outdated job description and your work experience would be a perfect fit for them. You can also send a message to their office looking for more details or asking to set up an informational interview.
If none of that works for you and you’re still baffled about which qualifications are iron-clad and which can be finagled, here’s the solution: Apply for the job anyway. Sure, you may not get the position, but that happens to people all the time, even when they are qualified. There’s also a chance that your suspicions were right and the job is, in fact, perfect for you, with your future bosses agreeing. While our Blue Tent progressive career guide encourages people not to cast too wide a net in job hunting, we’re big advocates of going for broke when you find a really great job listing.
So ignore your inner anxiety and send in that application already.