why you should apply to that job even without all the experience
There is no hard and fast rule to knowing what job to apply to and which ones to avoid except learning to trust your gut as to whether or not you are genuinely interested in the role and that you want to give it a shot! The more technical the role, the easier it is to identify if you have the right experience for the job. But then there is “the number of years’ experience”. If they ask for 3 and you only have 1.5 years, do you avoid applying? The simple answer is no! Who is to say that your 1.5 years’ experience is more or less valuable than someone with 3 years’ experience? Also, you don’t know if the employer might be willing to look at someone more junior, especially if you have the personality, the willingness to learn and the ability to do what’s needed for the job on the most basic level and, it’s a role you can grow into?
As they say, “you have to be in it to win it”!! If, however, you find yourself passing up applying for a job because you lack confidence or you don’t think you have enough relevant experience then you need to rethink! As the US career coach Jermaine Murray explained in his recent interview for CNBC Make It, most recruiters recognise they aren’t going to find their ‘purple squirrel’ – the ideal candidate that has all three key elements: the technical experience, affordability and personality! According to Jermaine, most recruiters only expect to find two of the three criteria and then the rest is compromise, on the part of the employer, so why not apply to be in with a chance of selection?
When Sheryl Sandberg released Lean In in 2013, one notable insight from the book quickly gained traction: men tend to apply for jobs when they meet just 60% of the qualifications, whereas women often wait until they meet all the criteria(1). This statement, however was proven to not be based on fact or any quantitative date and instead was a speculative comment made by a senior Hewlett-Packard executive but it’s an interesting comment nevertheless. Over the years I have coached mums back into the workplace or women wishing to change career paths - the one common denominator has been the lack of confidence they felt in themselves. Plenty of times I have been greeted with “yes, but, why would anyone want to hire me? I’ve been out of the market for years” or “yes but I don’t tick all the boxes so why bother?”
When these ‘feelings’ have been explored a little deeper, during my coaching sessions, I noticed a more complex set of issues plaguing my clients’ thought processes - many of which involved the need to adapt to changes in the family dynamics, having children, moving to a new area, caring for an elderly parent etc. But, us females, also need to feel valued and, past experiences may have taught women to be more strategic in their applications because they have worked in male dominated environments, been passed over for promotion and set lower bars for themselves so as not to disappoint.
According to research coauthored with Manuela R. Collis and Leena Kulkarni, former research associates at HBS, women often hesitate to apply for higher-level positions, particularly in areas where men are traditionally perceived to have an edge, such as analytical
or leadership roles. Interestingly, according to a Harvard School article published in January 2024 entitled: “Working Knowledge: Business Research for Business Leaders, they write, “Ultimately, that means many businesses advertising for executive positions may wind up with applicant pools that are dominated by men, simply because women are more hesitant to dive in, a scenario that likely contributes to a gender gap in wages and positions that has persisted for decades. In 2023, the World Economic Forum declared that despite slow and steady gains in the proportion of women hired to leadership positions in the past eight years, at the current rate of change, the global gender gap is still 130 years away from closing.”
But those thoughts of self-doubt are exacerbated when considering a complete change of career. The reality is that women are still the dominant carers for children and elderly parents. And we have to fit our work in around the stuff that needs to happen at home and after school. That then precludes many from exploring other jobs or different industries because of the belief that they lack relevant recent experience or that the company won’t offer the flexibility needed to manage the home tasks alongside work. So what’s the answer?
First thing’s first, write out a list of your strengths and skills, ask yourself the following questions and list your answers:
1. “What am I motivated by?”
2. “What am I NOT prepared to compromise on?”
3. “What are the three most important things I need to have in a new job?”
4. “What matters to me most?”
5. “What do I like doing? What am I good at?”
6. “What don’t I like doing?”
And then put your list of strengths and skills into ChatGPT and ask “what sort of career/jobs would suit me best with these strengths and skills”?
Then go through each suggestion and search up jobs looking out for those that require the skills and strengths you know you could bring to the role.
What is the worst that can happen? You don’t get a response? Or you don’t get selected? But, what if, just what if, the recruiter sees something in your experience that would be worth exploring further? Then applying for as many jobs that are interesting to you and that have the flexibility and opportunity you are looking for, aligned with the strengths and skills you can bring to a role, becomes worth it every time.
The other thing to consider is that everything is up for negotiation during the interview process. Interviews are a two way street and it’s as much about figuring out if it’s the right opportunity, the right team, the right company etc, for you, as it is the employer working out if you are the right fit for them.
And, with the introduction of new expanded laws for employees (2), such as the right to ask for flexible working hours, passed earlier this year in April 2024, there are more reasons to be brave and apply for that job!