How to Structure Your Resume When You Know You’re Underqualified for the Job

If you have most of the core skills listed in a job posting, but you don’t have every single skill a company is looking for, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply for the job.

We often encourage job seekers to reach for jobs they may be slightly underqualified for, knowing that employers often use job descriptions to scare off those who are completely unqualified. However, if you are going to reach, you need to have a strategy in case you are called out on not having every single skill listed.

You need to figure out a way you can to connect the dots between the skills that you do have and the job listed by the employer. This can be done by looking at your transferrable skills and your additive skills.

Leveraging your transferrable skills

Anywhere you see holes in your skill set as it relates to the job description, think about any abilities or experience you have that could transfer over to the posted position.

For instance, if you have analytical experience, you know how break down technical terms and ideas into plain English. That’ll allow you to flourish in any job that calls for explaining complex things to people, such as a customer service representative for a technical company.

With regards to connecting the dots for a hiring manager, you could say: “This job requires ‘X’, and my expertise in ‘Y’ means I have the ability to do that.”

While being able to do this is a big plus, it doesn’t completely seal the deal for most hiring managers. If can increase your odds by sharing any skills that make you a valuable professional, but don’t go with the job description.

Additive skills

Because companies will list valuable skills and experience in a job posting that aren’t essential to core job functions, it is perfectly reasonable to tell a potential employer about your supplemental skills that could add real value if you were to accept the job – commonly referred to as ‘additive skills’.

For instance, if you have criminal justice skills or experience, you could tell a manufacturing employer how you might be able to provide insight when it comes to understanding new regulations or working with government inspectors.

As with transferrable skills, it is important to introduce additive skills tastefully and in a way that appeals to a potential employer. So, you might say, “I have expertise in Y, and although it is not listed in the job description, it’s would allow me to succeed in this job, because I could help with X.”

Packaging transferrable and additive skills

Because you’re a bit underqualified, you have to stand out from more qualified applicants by packaging your transferrable and additive skills in an attractive way. This can be done by connecting a transferrable skill to an additive skill and then connecting the dots to the job duties.

So you could say, “I think my past technical experience could help in making easily-understandable Powerpoint presentations, while my criminal justice education would allow me to drop in some legal insights as well.”

At Career Concepts, we have years of experience helping job seekers who may be changing career paths or just getting out of school. Please contact us to learn more about how we can help you.