March 26, 2024

How to Get Hired When You’re Underqualified

How to Get Hired when You’re Underqualified

Presuming that like me, you’ve also spotted those ads about a job you so wanted to secure and fretted just because it was outside the field of your expertise. Maybe you told yourself ‘I could do that job,’ yet you have no experience in that specific area.

How do you prove your prowess with a career pick for which you have no proven track record whatsoever?

Well, the hack is all about getting the right tap of what the employers seek. They don’t ask for that degree but field-specific skills which make all the difference, eventually. It’s time that you stop feeling intimidated by the job adverts and go for the kill.

Here are a few tips which will help you in the same regard.

Find your USP

When half the world is trying to run in a rat race, finding a USP (unique selling proposition) that makes you stand apart is what’ll get you hired. Maybe, you started with a disadvantage, but all haven’t been lost yet. It may be an outstanding cover letter or any other creative way to get noticed but, being remembered in a positive light will definitely get you shortlisted through the screening process.

For instance, if it’s a web designing role you are targeting, you can always create a website that serves the role of a cover letter. Let the hiring manager know that you’re all game to go the extra mile.

Consider Some Unpaid Experience

Perhaps you don’t have all that job experience to vouch for a higher salary, but an unpaid experience like an internship is always a viable option. Don’t feel apprehensive over listing any unpaid or school experience under the main experience section of your resume. It rarely matters if it’s paid or not. If it has helped you to hone skills that are necessary according to the job you wish to score, then it’s a fair game for the experience section.

Focus on What Wins You the Game

If there’s a skill that will be helpful and isn’t there on your resume, don’t relent. Instead, you should just focus on those which you possess and highlight them in the best way possible.

For instance, an organization calls for the position of Finance Comptroller and you don’t have any such experience, focus on how you have managed the expenses and funds for your college’s cultural club. In addition to these, there’s one thing you can always convince the employer with. That is your willingness to learn and the flexibility with which you’ll work.

For example, ‘I’m committed to learning the series 9 and series 76 licensure.’ However, you might want to tread carefully, as most of the hiring managers hate spending time and funds on underqualified candidates.

Thorough Research about the Company

Again, this stands as an imperative step as well. You are already fighting the odds by applying for a job that stands outside the field of your expertise, so there’s pretty much everything you need to do, in order to impress the employer.

He needs to be convinced of the fact that you are well-versed with what the company does, its stand over various business ethics in the field, it’s business objectives, and precisely, how can you help it maintain its strength. Digging deep is all you need to ace this constraint. Find out about the company, what challenges it’s faced in the past, what are its recent goals and the kind of employees who have made it big in the organization.

There’s so much you can do. No, it’s not only about that degree. Take a deep breath and make the pick that suits your skills, a hard-headed approach is the only thing which’ll take you there.

Anshuman Kukreti is a professional writer and a keen follower of the global job market. An engineer by qualification and an artist at heart, he writes on various topics related to employment across the globe. Reach him @ LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.

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