Blog Post: Are My Skills Good Enough?

Fretting about your skills making the grade when you apply to certain positions? You're not alone. Some job descriptions can make you feel as if the years you've spent proving yourself as a professional have all been for nothing. If you lack experience using a particular software program, or are light on how to execute a specific technique, you're hosed, right?

Well...maybe not. When a hiring company puts together a job description, it's most often a wish list of everything they hope for in a candidate. But that doesn't mean they'll find someone who possesses everything.

As an example, I once helped a woman apply for a job overseeing the continuing education department at a community college in Maine. At that time, she worked as a customer service manager for a plumbing supply company. While she did spend a small part of her time  organizing training programs for her team members (about 10%), it would have been stretching it to say that she oversaw a continuing education department. Although I didn't say it out loud, I thought to myself, "This will be a long shot".

Still, I helped her put together the best resume possible, clearly emphasizing the parts of her background that were relevant, including positioning her training background to its maximum advantage. In the end she landed an interview...received an offer...and accepted the job.

I learned an important lesson with that experience: if you believe you can do the job, even if it looks a bit out of your range on paper, throw your name in the hat anyway. And if you're wondering if it's even worth your effort to apply, use the 75% Rule as a guideline: If you have 75% of what they're asking for--or 3 out of the 4 requirements listed--go for it.

What if you lack more than 25% of what the job requires? You can be competitive if you apply some speedy skill-acquistion strategies. Let's say, for instance, that a juicy-looking project manager position requires that you know ABC Program, and have absolutely no experience with this software. Rather than throwing your hands in the air and wailing, "All hope is lost", you can jump into one or more of these activities to help you fill the skill gap:

• Email your professional colleagues and ask if anyone knows how to use the program. When you find someone with experience, ask if they'll brief you on the basics.
• Hunt down a tutorial that you can work through on your own. Many software companies offer intro programs at little or no cost.
• Contact a former instructor and ask if she has access to the software, or knows someone who does. Spend some time getting familiar.

Complete any of these techniques and you'll be able to list "Knowledge of ABC Program" on your resume--and that could be all that you need to get in the door.

So are your skills good enough? Possibly...or maybe not. But as hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky says, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take".