I’ve seen a few comments in the last week regarding job advertisements and what criteria should be used to decide whether or not to apply for a given position. Perhaps one day I’ll write a more complete article on what to consider but for now I want to give some grey to a black and white perspective.

Repeatedly I’ve seen the advice that if you don’t match the criteria the employer is asking for then don’t waste your time applying. A statement with which I disagree. Here are a few reasons why:

Employer Intentions – Consider for a moment the intentions of the employer when writing a job description, they are looking for the ultimate fit and the advertisement refkects this. While in the current climate that fit may be easier to find, the perfect employee is not always available and the other factors listed below may contribute to someone who is not exactly as requested getting the job.

Imperfect criteria – A job advertisement often contains a clear list of skills, abilities while the human characteristics are vague and ill-defined. As a simple example, “competent in Word, Excel and team player”, someone who has excellent Word skills, good attitude and network, is a team player, can articulate a plan on how they will develop Excel skills and perhaps is even willing to start out at a slightly lower pay rate may be selected over someone who has all the requirements but is asking too much money and has presentation or attitude issues. When it comes to the interview a perfect match on paper can look less appealing.

People Learn – If a job seeker can prove that although they do not currently have a set skill but can develop it or an alternative that still allows quality work to be completed they may also be a better choice than the perfect on-paper choice. It takes any new employee time to come up to full speed and so it’s best to have a plan to remedy inconsistencies with the job descriptions as soon as possible when this transition would be affecting any of the employer’s choices.

Paper vs reality – As a career counsellor/coach I often remind job seekers that a resume gets you an interview but in most cases won’t secure you the job. This occurs because employers know that a resume can’t fully represent a person and that a resume is a perfected (hopefully) image of the individual. We should, I believe, take the same attitude to job advertisements. Job advertisements can never fully reflect what the job is really like and is most likely a simplified and perfected image of what is desired.

I’m not advocating that the skills and abilities in job advertisements be ignored, rather that the attitude that stops job seekers, especially the difficult to place, from applying for certain jobs because they don’t perfectly match be abondoned for a reasoned approach.

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