Situation 1 – Overqualified for the job
Clarify why you want the job that you are overqualified for.
Don’t sound desperate or begging for the job!
It’s not going to help you.
You may be looking for greater work-life balance, or a less stressful and less time-consuming job than your existing role.
You may be entering a new industry and feel the need to start in an entry-level position.
Or simply, you are looking to move away from your current employer regardless of whether it’s an upward, lateral, or downward movement.
Whatever your reason, not excuse, always be clear about your own motives.
If you’re trying to change careers, you may feel that you’re overqualified for an entry-level position because you have 10 years of unrelated experience.
It’s natural for a company to hire someone with over one year of exactly applicable experience over someone with ten years of vaguely applicable experience.
You have to be explicit in how your skills are transferable to the new job. No one is going to do that task for you.
The hiring manager isn’t going to hunt down those details and make the case for you. You have to do that for the hiring manager if you are truly interested in the job.
Situation 2 – Under-qualified for the job
It may come a time where you may want stretch yourself and go up in the career ladder.
The job you are eyeing on maybe two or five steps removed from what you are currently doing.
Therefore, you may feel under-qualified for doing the job.
My advice is “Just do it” – Just go for jobs that you may feel under-qualified for.
If you don’t try, you wouldn’t know what you are capable of.
It’s a way for you to grow as a person and professionally achieve new career goals.
Do keep in mind the following when you are going after jobs that you may feel under-qualified for.
Confidently sell your complementary skills for the job
Give a clear understanding of why you are applying for this role and how your current skill set will complement the work that you will be doing if you are hired.
Your skills are portable in many other jobs – For example, decision-making and communication.
Package your skills as transferable
Always highlight the specific skills that will help you succeed in the position since you are already successfully using these skills to generate tangible results.
While you may not meet all the job requirements, do focus specifically on what you’re missing in your personal development and training.
Be willing to learn
Always be open to continuous learning and acquiring new skills and knowledge. The future of work requires you to do so and you really can’t stop learning until the day you stop working.
Having the commitment, desire and willingness to learn what you don’t know can be just as valuable as already having the skill and knowledge.
It’s not what you know, but who you know
It goes without saying that personal connections do help you increase your success rate of securing a higher level job.
Use LinkedIn to find people who are already working in the company or profession that you are targeting.
Connect with them to ask about the company, job, etc.
Be honest
You must be proactive and honest.
Strategically but tactfully bring up the fact you are aware that you don’t meet all of the job qualifications on paper. This shows maturity and honesty.
The key is to be absolutely clear that you are ready, able and willing to take on the job and that you can do the job at the required standard and requirement.
Sell yourself and your skills
You must show and not tell.
Be mindful that hiring managers may not know 100% what they want in the candidate until the right one walks through the door.
Always sell your background, skills, connections, enthusiasm, and references through tangible evidence of your work and how you can add value.
Provide concrete examples or evidence of how you have tangibly added value in your jobs and how you can use your skills, experience, and knowledge in the job you are applying for.
Get your referees to help you
If you lack experience, do make sure that your references or referees can make you glow by singing praises on your behalf.
Reach out to each potential referee to make sure that he or she is willing to provide a very positive review or feedback of your performance or work.