Loads of experience but not the qualification required?

[Toorapid]

It's a job in the same field as I'm in now, essentially the same job, but for a much larger organisation, so bigger budgets, more people and premises to manage.

I can tick every single box on the person specification and tick it well, except the professional qualification. I have a qualification at the same level in a similar, but different discipline and I have other relevant, slightly lower level, professional qualifications, but not this one specifically. It's a biggy, I believe 5 years to qualify. It's not a statutory requirement. Some places do ask for it for this role, but a lot don't.

Any point applying?

We would consider equivalent experience in many cases. But only they will know.

I would go for it anyway! I got a role without the recognised qualification but the experience. They'll want to find someone whose the best fit and a lot of employers will overlook some things (or even pay for them) if the candidate is good enough

Some employers are short sighted enough to value bits of paper over actual experience. It happened in a career I was in where the system of qualifications changed. New people with degrees were coming into the workplace and often being valued and promoted over the heads of experienced people who had qualified under the older system. The new people had little in the way of experience but they had a bit of paper we did not have. Often the degrees were of average or poor quality.

At a later stage employers began to realise the folly of this and the requirements were made much stricter in the profession.

Not all workplaces are like this and there are employers who value experience and personal qualities rather than certificates. If you have the relevant experience and a degree level qualification (albeit in a different area) then go for it!

Go for it. I recently went for a job that required a specific degree. I don't have a degree at all. I got the job based on experience, knowledge and transferrable skills.

Apply. If you don't apply you'll definitely not get the job, if you do apply you might. If their HR dept is organised they'll go back to the recruiting manager and say 'you said this was essential but you offered the job to someone who didn't have this qualification, that means you have to downgrade it to a nice to have'.

Is there a professional body you can join at, for example, chartered level, where you have to apply and submit evidence of skills and experience? I don’t have a postgrad in my chosen profession but I was able to join as a chartered member because I had long experience and lots of publications in the field.