To apply for a job when I don't have all the essential requirements?

[liptolinford]

Is it just going to be a waste of time for me? There's 8 essential criteria, 5 of which I have. The other three are dodgy though

1. Educated to degree level in a related field - it's a job for Communications Officer and I have a degree in Sociology which I could maybe make fit at a push...maybe?

2. Experience of working in a communications/media/PR field - I currently supervise a switchboard. Does that count?

3. Experience of the media, NHS and political landscape, including media handling and crisis management - no experience whatsoever. If I get a media enquiry where I work now, I pass it onto the media team. I have no experience of working with the NHS or political landscape.

I'd have to spend quite a while on the application and I'd rather not waste my time if they're going to dismiss it straight away. I'm 50/ 50 whether I should apply or not.

WWYD?!

Go for it, there must be lots of jobs where they don't find someone with the essential criteria so have to look to other experience.

It's experience at applying anyway, as long as you know you won't get further than the bin, if all the other candidates meet the criteria.

Wrt the 'research' in relation to men vs. women. Why are men likely to be hired despite not meeting the essential criteria, when presumably you have women applying who do in fact meet the criteria? That's the more telling result of such research justifying discrimination nonsense

Another public sector worker here. My uni has a very clear policy that candidates must meet 100% of the essential criteria (of which there are often 10+) to qualify for an interview. That's why I used the redeployment scheme to change roles (only have to meet 75% when you're on redeployment). It was the same when I applied for an nhs job.

Glad to hear things are a little more flexible outside of the public sector!

It's quite useful to know if you're after a public sector job as your job application is all about showing very clearly how you meet each criteria (or in the case of the NHS, writing a flipping essay on it! They don't do concise).

But what happens if they don't get any candidates who meet all the essential criteria? Or one who does but only just as opposed to one who meets 9/10 and is outstanding in those respects?

Depends who's screening. If you're applying for a research (ie academic) position it's best to approach someone you want to work for BEFORE they have a job going. If they want to employ then they will tailor the job spec for you when they have funding for a post. This has happened to me twice.
On the admin side they're pretty strict- if you don't fulfil the criteria then forget it. They will re-list the post if necessary.
The NHS application was nuts- I had some insider info otherwise I would never have got to interview stage. I HAD to meet the criteria (although some of my experience was a bit weak) and I was told not to use bullet points. I had to write a 2.5 page essay with lots of flowery description so that it was clear I hadn't cut and pasted from another job app. They also had a cut off, so once they had 20 CVs that filled the spec they stopped looking at any more. Seemed like an incredibly inefficient way of doing things to me, but that's the NHS I guess

I do prefer the way it used to be done in academic science- short cv, covering letter, done. So much quicker for everyone.

As some others have said, in an organisation like the NHS they won't interview if you don't meet the essential criteria. I've done local authority recruitment and sorry, but even if you were the only person to apply we wouldn't interview you as you don't meet the essential criteria. The public sector is very different to private and there isn't room for negotiation when it comes to recruitment, it's a score based system. I've had to employee people before who I didn't feel would be as good as another candidate because they scored higher on the interview questions.

BestIsWest, the NHS is a monumentally popular employer. For things like admin, comms, HR, accounts etc it's just not going to happen. They get hundreds and hundreds of applications.

For something more specialised they might revise and re advertise. But they're really, really strict. It's all to do with avoiding legal action and litigation etc. It's very, very different to private recruitment. Even if you get a job for something like reception the checks to allow you to start can take months and months. It's not a case of finding a person who will do, but the perfect person. It's a lot harder for them to get rid of a dud employee.

It's an IT post with a University as the employer so not NHS. I'm perfect for it, I just lack that one thing, previous experience of Education sector IT systems. So how do you get that without working for them? Seems they are limiting themselves to people with limited experience. I've worked in IT in Finance, insurance, lots of other public sector bodies, including various Government departments, manufacturing, transport etc, so I have really wide experience of complicated systems and yet I'd be ruled out because of this one thing. Ah well.

The university process is similar but a bit more transparent I think. The NHS recruitment process is very self-selecting ie you need to work in the NHS to know how to approach it correctly. Without a friend guiding me through it (right down to the style of writing they wanted) I would not have stood a chance.

Often, if the job spec is that specific it's because they already have someone lined up for the post.

best apply, universities are not the NHS and we often take people who mostly meet the criteria- in this instance, everything you say sounds great and I would apply.

I know what you mean about the application form and style of writing though. I applied for a civil service post last year. It took me two solid weekends to fill in the application form. It came with a 64 page booklet on the various competencies which needed to be addressed.

I managed to get to interview stage but that was such a farce and so badly organised that I decided I couldn't bear the idea of working for them and withdrew.

BestIsWest definitely go for it. Tbh there are so many different ways of doing university IT (and so many different aspects of it) that someone could easily tick that box and have zero experience with any system that university actually uses. Do have a think about what IT in a university is actually about, though, and be prepared to be grilled on it: it's possible that item is actually code for "has some idea what a university is"!

Best - try and find out what systems they use. They'll have a VLE, student records, data management etc but a lot of them use the same systems eg capita or moodle which you can look into and at least say you have an awareness /understanding of them. Sorry to hijack OP! You sound lovely and hate to be negative but it's unlikely. But even writing an application is good experience.

Yes, sorry to hijack too OP. Thanks Hp, ScottishProf, Muchas, you've all given me a lot more confidence and I will have a serious think about applying.

It could even be SAP, Best. Uni I work at uses SAP and that is used outside education.

Good luck! I'm afraid all this score based systems etc rather puts me off applying for any promotion ever!
I'm hopeless at interviews, and my only hope of ever getting a job is if no one else applies!

My office is currently advertising a number of Comms jobs and are requesting experience of a Comma role in an NHS environment. There are so many applicants that people who don't meet those criteria are not being considered. A lack of a degree, however, is not an issue if you have experience. Sorry!

Put it this way OP, when the shit hits the fan, the last one you want to be is the Comms person. You will have the CEO, media, the public, investors etc. breathing down your neck for a naice statement to solve everything.

You're not the one who caused the problem, but it's your job to solve it.

It's also about positive media, meeting/greeting, focus groups etc.

It can get as mundane then as making sure the correct letter-head paper is used in outgoing correspondence.

It is simultaneously a thankless task and a high profile one. CEO's etc. will demand that you snap into action to draft something for them to email out etc.

You would need to have at least worked in PR/Comms/NHS to be remotely qualified for the intensity of this role. The two most relevant degrees in this case would be either law or media studies.

I have worked in comms for more than a decade (with a degree in English Lit btw) and I doubt I would even get an interview for an NHS press role. I'd imagine it is a tough, tough job: potentially long hours and unpredictable scenarios. For starters, you would need to be an excellent writer and smart and confident enough to speak with authority on and brief others about something you only learned about that morning. I agree £21k is not a lot of money for that kind of role but there will be enough experienced, ambitious people working at papers or PR agencies for less who will be itching to get into the public sector.
So, sorry OP, but I don't think you will get anywhere with your application.

Yep, and when it's the NHS crisis management can often mean dealing with the fall out from some pretty nasty cases eg death.

Not a job I'd take on for 21k!

Since when do job applicants have to write a 500 word essay?! What happened to sending in your CV with a covering letter?!

x0x0x. For all public sector jobs you fill in their own official form (which is normally online). It's the only way to apply.

And the bit for the 'essay' or personal statement is the most important bit. Because they expect you to say why you are suitable for that specific job. It gets rid of the guesswork for them of looking at a CV and trying to work out whether or not someone is suitable which is important with a high volume of applications.

For example, an administrator can cover anything from someone who stuffs envelopes, does the post and makes tea, to someone who is compiling complex high level reports using advanced IT skills and complicated data. Stops them wasting their time.