Job postings usually begin the same way: first the overview of the position, followed by a list of required skills and desired qualifications.It can be extremely frustrating to know deep down that you'd be great for the job, even though you don't fit all the requirements.The good news, says Aliza Licht, author of "Leave Your Mark: Land Your Dream Job. Kill It Your Career. Rock Social Media,"is that it's still possible to get the job. Here's what you'll want to do:SEE ALSO:3 common interview questions job seekers struggle with the most, and how you should answer themSEE ALSO:Here's the avoidable mistake that can cost you a jobDon't count yourself outHuman Workplace CEO Liz Ryan writes on LinkedIn that the recruitment process of putting out job ads is "bureaucratic," "faulty," and "idiotic.""The manager writes a job spec that describes an imaginary, magical person who doesn't exist on this planet. A compliant HR person takes the spec from the manager and publishes the job ad far and wide, no questions asked," she writes.As Scott Purcell, a Silicon Valley-based technology recruiter at Jobspring Partners, tells Quartz, a lot of job descriptions include everything the company could ever dream of having, which does include a list of things they need, but also includes things they may want to use in the future and every sort of technology in their environment."If you were to ask most hiring managers if they care about somebody that has every skill listed, versus somebody that has four or five [relevant skills] with a good attitude and a good work history, they're all going to say they care about the type of person, not some brand new technology skill,"Purcell tells Quartz.Unfortunately, the majority of people who don't apply for jobs say the reason isn't that they think they couldn't do the job well; it's that they think they won't get hired because they don't meet the qualifications.But as "Great on the Job"author Jodi Glickman writes for HBR, they're missing a basic mathematical principal when deciding not to apply: rounding up. If you're 60% qualified for a job based on its description, "Why round down rather than up when weve long been taught that a 0.5 gets rounded up to 1'" Glickman asks. She says that slight miscalculation can have huge repercussions in your professional life.The bottom line is, if you think you're a fit for the joband you can frame your skills to make a casedon't let an overly detailed job description intimidate you. It's likely you're more qualified than you think.Understand the job and your skillsYou always want to understand the job you're applying forthat's obviousbut when you're trying to position yourself outside of your normal area, it's even more critical than usual. That's because you're selling your specific, transferable skillsnot your previous titles. And the better you understand the job description, "the more you can hone in on what you know is important to that person," Licht explains. "You have to throw the skill set that you know they're looking for back at them."Cut the jargonCertain specifics may be very, very impressive to people inside your industry, but to people outside of itlike, say, the people in charge of hiring for the job you're trying to getthose details are (sadly) meaningless. Cut them from your rsum and cover letter.Licht tells the story of a candidate looking to transition from healthcare PR to fashion PRnot, superficially, at least, a drastic career change. But her rsum was filled with the names of pharmaceutical companies and drugs, and those details weren't doing her any favors in fashion. "The person in fashion is going to read this and think, 'OK, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know these companies, these drugs mean nothing to me,'" Licht says. The thing the fashion people do care about' "The actual PR skills that she performed on behalf of these brands. That's the nugget that they're going to care about."See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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