After spending hours and hours searching, you’ve finally spotted a perfect job for you.
Feeling all excited, you read through the job qualifications and…
YOU DON’T MEET ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS.
But don’t get your hopes up so fast, because job qualifications don’t necessarily mean job requirements.
If you were able to win a chance to go in for an interview, the odd is that the recruiter already knows you are missing a piece or two of the qualifications. But there must be a special reason, or qualifications of yours, which made your resume stand out to their eyes. So what you will need to do is take advantage of other special skills you have to prove them why they need you in their company.
1. Show how your existing skills can easily be applied to the requirements.
One strategy is to read through all the job qualifications and come up with stories of similar experiences you had regarding the qualifications. For example, a requirement is experience training new employees and you don’t have an employment experience for that – but you coach soccer on the weekends, so you acquire the basics of teaching skills to new learners.
Another strategy is to focus on the knowledge and skills you already have that can be applied to the job. Show them how confident you are about those skills and be specific about how you will apply them to the position you are applying for.
2. Be ready to learn new skills fast
It’s not the end of the world even if you don’t have knowledge in programs or skills they’re asking for. You still have some time, before the interview, to search it online, watch tutorial videos, and study to get familiar with them. And just be honest with your interviewer – you are not an expert in those programs or skills, but you took the initiative by studying them on your own in a short period of time. They will be impressed with your attitude – double win.
3. Prove them you know how to take a challenge
Another way to swap your lack of qualifications out with strength is to talk about a time you had to adapt to a new job or responsibilities in the past. The key here is to explain how you coped with the problem and figured out the solution. It will be a proof of how you are a problem-solver and a fast learner.
Don’t be discouraged just because you lack some of the qualifications; instead tackle them down with other qualifications you have by providing your own personal experiences and how they are related to the qualifications they are asking for.
You should check out our previous blog about the Behavioral Interview Question that also might be helpful for your job interview.
Here is the link to the blog - http://jobkoreausa.com/blog/view.html?no=65&page=1
JobKoreaUSA | Irene Na
