I know you've been there: that moment you get to the end of the perfect job listing, the listing for your dream job, only to find you don't have all of the required qualifications—you're missing that infuriatingly elusive "2-5 years of work experience" that every employer seems to need.
So what do you do? You slam your head into your keyboard knowing that you're not qualified, so you will never get this dream opportunity. The experience is required, after all.
Now, what if I told you that all the head slamming wasn't necessary?
It's true—having the "right" qualifications, particularly work experience, is important (and will likely make your job hunt a lot easier).
But experience isn't everything. It is possible to get a job without it.
I feel confident saying this because I've seen it myself: I've landed at least two jobs where my experience didn't quite match up with the job listing. (And in one case, I had no relevant work experience whatsoever.)
In other words, don't be one of the women who will only apply for a job if she meets 100% of the "required" qualifications. Seriously, ladies, back your forehead away from the keyboard. Instead, here are three things you can do.
But first...
Do a quick reality check.
This blog is all about confidence, but there's a thin line between confidence and naiveté that's easy to cross.
So before you do anything, do a quick reality check: are you a seasoned floral designer hoping to land a job as a spaceship technician? If so, you might want to take your dream job's requirements a little more seriously.
Basically, while the "required qualifications" can usually be thought of as an employer's "wish list" rather than actual requirements, be reasonable. If you're applying for an extremely specific or technical job and your qualifications aren't even in the same ballpark, it may be wise to gain at least some qualifications—a certification, internship experience, etc.—before you start sending out your resume.
Now, once you've passed your reality check, it's time to get to work.
1. List the experience you do have.
The first step for getting a job without the "right" experience is to make a list of all the experience you do have. While this experience may not be what is "required" by the job listing, you will be able to use your unique experience to prove you are a qualified applicant.
Now, when I talk about your experience, I'm not only talking about conventional "9-5 with benefits" experience. For example, did you help organize a charity 5K in your neighborhood? Were you chapter president for your sorority? Do you have a blog? In addition to your "conventional" work experience, you should also add these to your list. (They'll be useful, I promise!)
2. Lay out your skill set.
One you've listed the experiences you've had, it's time to figure out how these experiences translate into your specific skill set.
For example, if you helped organize a charity run in your neighborhood, you might have experience managing a large group of people to meet hard deadlines. If you have a blog, you might have experience using and managing multiple social media platforms.
Your goal is to add to your list three or four skills that each experience helped you learn or develop. When you're finished, you will have a list that's extremely valuable: not only does it contain your unique skill set, but also concrete examples of how you put each of those skills to work.
3. Look for overlapping skills.
This should hopefully be the easy part: using the list you created, look for any skills that overlap with your dream job listing.
For example, if you're applying for a social media coordinator position, the job listing may require you to "manage digital advertising campaigns on a number of different social platforms" and "collaborates with the creative team."
While you don't technically have any experience as a social media coordinator, you do have experience managing a large group of people, and using and managing multiple social media platforms. And not only that—you have specific examples to back your skill set up.
tl;dr - How to apply for a job without the "right" work experience
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Of course, these steps are just the first three steps for applying for your dream job; you still have to write your cover letter and nail the interview. But these first three steps will be the foundation for everything that comes next. By focusing on your skill set and how these skills are what your employer needs, you've transformed yourself from some rando with a resume to an A+ applicant.
And best of all, there's no keyboard forehead slamming required.
And best of all, there's no keyboard forehead slamming required.
PS - I found this topic so dang interesting that I talked about it on Laura Yamin's NSFW Podcast. Check it out, and let me know if you love the show as much as I do!
