How To Bag That Job When You Are Under-Qualified?

Under qualified – Have you been looking for a job and everywhere you can only find one with a requirement of work experience or academic qualification more than yours?

Even if you belong to the same field of job as the one you wish to apply to and you feel you can justify the job requirements pretty well, you restrain yourself from applying to the job thinking that you are under-qualified for the position, especially when you go through the listed requirements.

Well, this is a commonplace occurrence with many of us so let us find out how our resume can be built in a way that provokes the recruiter to hire us, even if we are not having 3-5 years of work experience as per the job listing and rather have been working for only 2 years.

Let’s see How to get a job where you are under qualified

A Chrono-Functional Resume Format will serve you best

Instead of focusing on your work history and the years you served in each company, try to bring up skills that would emphasize on the skills you have acquired and learnt all this while. The chrono-functional resume format will deal with your accomplishments and will bring your skills in the picture. Though there will be the mention of when you were working with which company and on what job, yet this resume format will highlight what skills and knowledge you have imbibed during your work experience and even otherwise. Following this format would enable the recruiter to know which of your experiences and skills can be used in the company and have a fair idea on what job profile would best suit you.

However, refrain from making your resume fully functional as certain employers look forward to knowing your exact job responsibilities and the tenure for each job. So, making it chrono-functional would be helpful for both you and the recruiter.

 

Do not blindly follow the requirements in an employment ad

While it is not suggested that you do not do a thorough check on what the company requires and looks forward to in a candidate, you must not also adhere to each and every qualification details that the company you are applying to asks for in its employment ad.

However, if you do not belong to the creative field, or are not even remotely creative, and are still thinking of applying for a job in design or writing, the idea will be a failure, But, if you have done some volunteer work that is creative or have a creative bent of mind but have not worked in that field as yet, you can apply for a creative job like graphic designing or video editing. Employers/recruiters do have some job requirements and want some basic qualifications in the candidate that are related to the job, but they also do not go by the set criteria of requirements always. If you have the skills and/or knowledge on the field, you may very well fit the position. There might be many other candidates applying for the job who do not have the exact job qualifications as listed in the job posting. Also, there are certain requirements which come prior to others in the list, so, analyze if you have the qualifications that are a priority to the company and you may get an interview call from the company, based on your resume. If you are good at the qualifications the company most requires, they will be more than willing to let go of some lesser important ones.

Focus on Academics or internship/volunteer work more than work history depending on your forte

If the job you wish to apply for is a relatively new field for you where you don’t possess the required work experience, but you have pursued a course on a related genre, or have earned stipend at an internship experience working on a related field, mentioning that in the resume at the very beginning after a professional summary or career synopsis would help. You might not have been paid for learning skills that are essential for the type off job you are seeking currently, but skills you have learnt. People who seek to change career paths and have many years of experience in a certain field however, really want to work in a field for which they have immense volunteering experience, should rather list down what they have learnt in the volunteer session at the very start.

Make the best of your behavioural skills

Giving a mention to behavioural and inter-personal skills such as communication skills, team-building, leadership or friendly bonding as a part of your career summary can work effectively in your favour as these are skills that are universally accepted and wanted. You can also list in problem-solving and decision making abilities here. Also, give a mention of how these skills have come handy to your current work portfolio.

Prepare a cover Letter with company details and skill application intricacies

Where many candidates fail to get into the details of what the company actually wants/requires in a prospective candidate, you can impress and convince the recruiter to hire you even if you are under-qualified for the job by mentioning in the cover letter your achievements in the past companies and the fact that you are willing to be trained for the qualifications you do not currently possess. When you acknowledge the qualifications, the company requires that you do not possess as yet, it proves to the recruiter that you have read the employment ad well and have paid heed to the details the company has posted. Your humility and confidence will shine over the rest if you consider making a cover letter for your resume. Also, do not forget to mention the attributes you possess which might be beneficial to the company in your cover letter.

Always mention in your resume and cover letter that you are willing to learn, grasp things quickly and can adapt to different conditions and situations easily. This will strengthen your resume and even if you are under-qualified for the job, the recruiter will get an idea that you can be trained according to their requirements. Also, if you are already pursuing or enrolled yourself for a diploma course or certification for the job requirements, mention that in the resume and also provide instances in your cover letter where you have learnt a new skill quickly in the past.

You might be hired in the company as unpaid or less paid as they plan to try you and test your capabilities. Prepare yourself for such scenarios and offer time period till when you can manage with the pay amount while simultaneously proving yourself to the company. You can also take up an assignment or project to showcase your skills to the recruiter, that will also convince them to hire you if you are under qualified and if you do good at the project.

If you are under qualified – Your enthusiasm to work with the company, your confidence levels and willingness to learn are qualities that come far above the listed qualifications of a company so go and apply for the job you have recently spot in an ad while working on getting the additional qualifications!

All the Best!