Could you do everything on the job spec list for your job when you applied for it?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Am curious. Studies show that men will apply for positions even if they don't meet all the criteria on the job spec.

I'm looking at current vacancies at the min and with loads of jobs, I meet almost all criteria but there will be a one point or a few points I don't meet. Sometimes it is obvious that I cannot perform that job - but other times, it feels more like a grey area, because in one way you could see that the good old 'transferable skills' would work.

But then it's such a tough market and employers have their pick, so surely they'll just pick someone who ticks every box?

How do you approach this?

No.

I also had a (female) colleague who applied for a role where she didn’t have some of the essential criteria and had no experience, just because she liked the company / brand. They liked her so much they appointed her.

My current job I got without fitting all the requirements. It has been really hard getting to grips with the job though, I've felt like packing it in more than once.

Re negotiating.

An agent called me out of the blue for a role in a big five consultancy, the last kind of job I would ever think of. I'd been out of the job market for nearly ten years so thought some interview practice might be useful.

Six months later they offered me the role, and mentioned the lower end of the pay scale that they had originally mentioned. I just kept quiet, I had enjoyed the interview process with a weekends away but ...

The interviewer continued talking saying that with my experience of course I would be at the other end of the scale.

Only time I have ever just kept quiet...

No, because it was a promotion and there were some aspects of the job that I'd obviously not had the opportunity to carry out before.

I could do all the basics of the job, had all the qualifications necessary and was confident I was good at my speciality. The promotion meant that I would be overseeing other people (not a problem), but also doing certain types of data analysis that I hadn't needed to do before.

I applied because this was a very small part of the job, and I was confident I could learn how to use the tools needed. I was highly experienced at the jobs I was managing.

I applied for jobs even though I did not meet all the criteria.

In my mind, so long as I meet the few that are specifically listed as “essential”, then everything else is simply a wish list for their ideal unicorn applicant and I’m fine applying.

It has also led to call backs that go...hmmm you are a good candidate for the job you applied for with us, but we have this other position we were going to advertise that I think you’d be the perfect match for...leading to an internal referral and being offered a different job just as well paid or better.

This thread has me thinking. I’ve been approached by someone on linked in with a job/person spec that seems wildly above my pay grade (the words UN and WHO were mentioned 👀👀) but this thread is making me wonder if I should just see where it takes me. Ordinarily I’d not even respond to the approach.

No way! I did a career pivot, but they approached me so I was lucky.

It was a nerve racking first year learning on the job though!

@MrsTerryPratchett

Incidentally, men are also much better at negotiating to start on a higher pay point.

I negotiate after hearing this. And it does work. I also tell young women to do it.

Absolutely!

At one job interview (looong time ago) the HR bod on the interview panel tried 'since you don't have the exact experience we're looking for, were we to offer you the job we could not offer the payrange advertised'. I responded that they were unlikely to get exactly that experience given how niche the software was, and that my X years experience in an allied field and track record of x, y and z meant the requirements of the job were well within my capabilities. And, given I would have to relocate to a far more expensive part of the country I would regretfully have to decline any job offer below the advertised salary as I had calculated that to be the minimum salary I could possibly accept - I would not have applied otherwise. I got the job, at the salary advertised. And a hefty relocation package. Fuckers !

I suspect the default HR line is to try and get away with murder, and female socialisation meekly accepts. The slightest pushback - as in, you actually treat it as a negotiation - works wonders.