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1) The job description is a wishlist. They're shooting for the moon and they intend to miss and get the stars instead. Go ahead and apply if you don't have 100% of the qualifications.
2) "Stop applying if you don't have 100% of the qualifications, we are tired of getting 400 applicants and only 1% may be qualified at all!"
I put a lot of time and effort into each resume and application. I also only apply if I have 80% or more of what the job announcement said the company is looking for.
This is a good point because many companies use algorithm to scan your resume theses days so make sure your resume has the KEY WORD that the job requires. Otherwise it will just kick you out into the "not qualify" file.
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I don't want to wast MY time. MAYBE if I didn't spend so much time on each resume/application I'd feel differently. I see a LOT more jobs open that I would apply for, but with only one position open. And with a hundred -- to hundreds of people applying for one spot to me the odds just don't justify applying for a gig when I don't think that even I would pick me.
When I scan a job description, usually the position separates out qualifications in 2 areas.
1) REQUIRED skills/ experience/ education
I usually make sure I meet ALL requirements in this category. Like you, I don't bother to waste my time to apply if I don't.
2) DESIRED qualifications
This area is more optional if I don't meet ALL requirements and I like the job.
But at this age, I enjoy a privilege. Most of my job leads come from Head Hunters that identified me through my LinkedIn profile and thought I would meet a particular job position. So that saves me tons of work combing through job ads.
Another scenario, the hiring manager after reviewing your resume think you may be better fit with another opportunity that they did not advertise and decided to interview you for that position instead. That has happened to me recently.
As a hiring manager, most applicants who apply for a job usually have around 75% of the requirements. You rarely get someone who has all the bases covered.
We often hire folks even if they don't have it all.
Some job postings have very specific requirements like "3 years of experience in the design and maintenance of SAP HCM Security architecture".
What if you meet the other requirements but don't have this any experience with this particular software? Should you even bother applying?
A job description is really their wish list. Often it is put together by a committee and each wants to put something in to represent their own turf that it is important. So you look at the job description, and you match everything except one thing. In your mind, you make a big deal out of it, and often if you get called for a phone screening they might not even ask you about it. My point is, don't build things up in your mind to be an obstacle when it might not be one. Let them screen you out if it is that important to them, but don't you do it for them.
Some people have this silly idea that someone is sitting there in HR all upset cause someone applied for a job and didn't have every single thing matched 100%. They do keyword searches and they only wanted people with SAP HCM on their resume, they would only see those resumes. If you are contacted and didn't have that on your resume that's a strong indication that isn't the most important element to the job. Go ahead and apply!
I'd like to share a story about applying for a job that I didn't meet all of the requirements for: About 2007 or so I did just that (I don't remember the company), and I got a reply back saying that they consider applications from unqualified candidates spam and if I were to do it again they'd report it to the authorities (what could "the authorities" do with something like that?).
Sounds like a crazy staffing firm or small business run by an idiot. There are no authorities to report SPAM to, cause if that existed there would be no more SPAM sent.
We just hired someone who was very well qualified but lacked experience with one requirement, Sharepoint. Since it's something that can easily be learned in a short time, we hired her anyway.
And anyone who thinks that knowing Sharepoint is something you need 3 years experience with to be considered is an insane place to work. Yes, it is nice if someone is using the same CMS your company is using, but as you said, it can be learned in a short period of time. Any place that isn't aware of it has a lot more problems and would be best to avoid them.
I used Sharepoint and I can't believe that is a requirement. It's so easy to pick up and learn.
Maybe under "desirable experience"?
What happens sometimes is that the hiring manager's committee put Sharepoint in the job description, and HR will reduce the job description down to a few keywords and decide that Sharepoint is important without understanding anything else about it or asking questions.
In my industry, about 95% of applicants are unqualified. This is more a function of fantasy wanna-be's pretenders versus the reality of the actual industry professionals. This is why we often recruit via targeted headhunting and not general advertising or postings. The frustrating thing about this is that many really think their piddly distant knowledge is anywhere close to the reality of the real world. It's akin to someone who built a backyard shed thinking they are qualified to design and build a SuperMax.
Any good hiring manager has a couple of questions to ask and based on the answers that screens if you should go forward with someone or not. And the questions can't be answered with "yes or no".
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