Submitted by Mgmt3trinNDel on
in
Forums
1st time caller, long time listener. I was "granted" an interview for a marketing job that I am not qualified for. In fact, I am kinda shocked. The job is one of the new compressed jobs (5 in 1) and it is crazy.
I sent it out to a few friends to get their read on it and they all said it would be a pretty rare someone with all the qualifications. One even did a mock rewrite of it and included some of her unique observations. But yet, I got the interview for Friday afternoon.
So how do you address major gaps in your experience that they know are not on your resume. For example, they want someone who has run an IT department and can write 5 types of code, and also knows how to do plumping and steamfitting. I don't have plumbing and steamfitting, yet they called me in.
Thanks.
Mgmt trinity & delegation
Smell of burning flux?
The only thing you can do is be honest about your experiences and abilities. They called you in knowing you didn't have the plumbing and steamfitting experience, so they must be assuming you'd be willing to learn them.
The good thing for you is since IT is fast-paced and constantly changing, you've developed skills that allow you to stay current in a relatively short time frame. You're familiar with steep learning curves because you've been on them your entire career. You can apply those same learning skills to the plumbing and steamfitting aspects of the position.
Of course, the hiring manager may already have a person in mind for the role and may have been required to post the position to meet company policies. The posting may have been written in such a way that only the one candidate will satisfy all requirements. If this is the case, you probably don't want to work there anyway.
The truth
MMann is right: just be honest about what you've done and not done.
In the interview, don't focus on skills. Focus on things you've done, how you're done them. Let them conclude whether you're a good fit. If they ask about your steamfitting experience, say "I've never done steamfitting." If the tone of the interview is right, you could add, "I love to learn new things" or some such.
John Hack
Writing a job description is
Writing a job description is often a wish list creating a tension for compromise in one axis or another. It is hard to find someone with A,B & C qualifications. So maybe we'll need to look for more experience in A and C while giving a pass on B. Happens all the time. During the interview my recommendation would be to focus on the way in which you do meet the criteria, even if your background doesn't line up perfectly with the description. I would also be inquisitive about which of the hiring criteria the hiring manager find most compelling and why. This info should inform the back and forth of the interview.