Most job seekers encounter the following scenario at some point in their career: you're not the typical worker bee; you have diverse experience and have performed a variety of functions in your career. Any employer should welcome your skills, but when you apply for your next job, the company wants at least '10 years of direct work experience' and couldn't care less about your eclectic background. So you're not even considered for the position.
It's pointless to ask if this is fair. The burden is on you to demonstrate why you're a good hire even if your qualifications aren't a perfect match for the position.
So here are 4 tips for getting past this hurdle and landing the job you want:
1. Fill in the gaps in your cover letter
Cover letters, once a staple of job applications, have become passe. With a large volume of job applicants to review in today's online world, most human resources professionals just scan through resumes with a cookie-cutter checklist by their side.
That doesn't mean, however, that a brief, well-crafted note won't attract the attention of a conscientious reviewer. In fact, if you can make a succinct case for why you should be hired, you will actually make the reviewer's job easier and differentiate yourself from the pack. It shows initiative and thoughtfulness on your part.
The key here is to tell your story and use it to demonstrate your value: how have you evolved as a professional, what specific skills have you gained from your various experiences, and how will those things add value to the company. Tell that story convincingly, and you should at least get an interview.
2. Be honest -- you're not perfect
Conventional wisdom encourages us to highlight the positive and stay away from the negative. That makes sense but the flip side of that coin is that if you don't address your obvious weaknesses proactively and show an employer why they don't matter (or how you will get around them), they will likely be held against you and eliminate you from the race altogether.
Using the above example, if a job requires 10 years of direct work experience but you only have 5, you need to acknowledge that discrepancy but explain why you believe you can do the job just as proficiently as someone who meets that criterion. Otherwise, human resources will simply throw your resume into the 'no' pile without a second thought.
This is yet another reason a cover note is so essential. Even most standard online applications allow you to make a personal statement in a comment box, so use that to help the reviewer understand why your track record, no matter how diverse or indirect, has honed you into the type of professional they're looking for. If you lack some particular skill, acknowledge it and explain why it won't be a problem (perhaps you're taking a course at your local college).
And don't assume that the skills you have can't be applied in a particular job just because the description doesn't say so.
Read the full article at FORTUNE.com by clicking HERE.