Applying when you do not meet every requirement
Requirement lists are wish lists. Here is where the real line sits.
Job postings list what a perfect candidate would have, and that person does not exist. The useful question is which of the requirements are actually load bearing.
The three kinds of requirement
- Legal or hard: work authorisation, a licence, a required registration, a clearance. These do not bend. If you fail one, do not apply.
- Structural: years of experience, management scope, industry. These bend somewhat, particularly years, which is a proxy for judgement rather than a measure of it.
- Wish list: the tenth technology, the nice to have certification. These bend easily.
A workable threshold
If you meet the hard requirements and roughly two thirds of the rest, apply. Below half, you are usually donating your time.
Handle the gap explicitly
Do not hope it goes unnoticed. Name it and say what closes it. I have three and a half years against your four, and here is the work that makes up the difference is a strong sentence. Silence on the point invites a worse assumption.
Do not round up
Converting three and a half years into four plus is the most common small lie in applications, and it is the one most likely to be checked. State the real number. The portfolio carries the weight, not the rounding.
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