You Should Apply For A Job When You Only Match 70% Of The Skills

These are statistics we often see bandied about: Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them. The finding originally came from a Hewlett Packard internal report and one of the reasons women, in particular, don’t apply for a role unless they feel they can do everything on the laundry list of job requirements is that old chestnut: confidence.

Men think this way too, but just not as much as women do – so one of the things that stands out here is that everyone needs to try to get under the hood of what it is that recruiters are actually looking for.

At the outset of a hiring process, an HR professional or recruitment manager often creates a job description that’s essentially a wish list for a fantasy employee who has every possible skill they could ever possibly need – and then some more. However, in reality, it’s not that common that a company or organization will expect you to have every single skill, certification, or ability they have listed in a job advertisement.

There are signs the field is leveling a little. Nowadays, companies often add caveats to their listings in order to encourage you to apply, with entreaties such as: “if you meet 70% of the requirements, we’d love to hear from you.” Or, “We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so please don't hesitate to apply — we'd love to hear from you.”

You might not even need to worry about matching 70% of the requirements. A 2018 survey assessed hundreds of job listings and found that while it’s important to meet requirements, you’re as likely to get an interview when you match 50% of the listed skills as you are when you match 90% of them.

So, if you’re in the market for a new role, then we have three worth checking out below, plus thousands more on the Hackr.io Job Board.

IT Infrastructure Engineer - Washington, DC, TikTok

Location: Washington, DC.

The Role: The leading destination for short-form mobile video, TikTok’s mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. It is looking for an IT Infrastructure Engineer to build and grow its IT environment. You will be very knowledgeable and will be a point of contact for building out infrastructure. You’ll be focused not just on resolving incidents, but will find underlying problems and develop long-term solutions.

Responsibilities: You will administer and maintain the existing network and systems infrastructure as well as evaluate and design new systems and network equipment. You will make recommendations on global policies which relate to IT services and operations, business systems, and related processes and procedures and you’ll work with management to establish requirements for new systems and modifications.

Requirements: You’ll need five-plus years of user hardware/software/peripheral support as well as experience supporting Microsoft Windows and macOS. You will also need proven skills in PC troubleshooting, deployment, and asset management.

Discover more about the IT Infrastructure Engineer role and find other opportunities at TikTok too.

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VMware Administrator, Amadeus

Location: Austin, Texas.

The Role: Reporting to the Austin site manager, the VMware Administrator will provide hands-on network experience and training with Cisco routers and switches, VMware ESXi, vCenter, SAN Devices, and Virtual Networking and will be primarily responsible for hands-on support of a converged virtual network and infrastructure.

Responsibilities: You will be responsible for the installation, configuration, maintenance, and support of all SUPPS virtual and physical infrastructure, servers, and related devices, with a heavy emphasis on customer support.

Requirements: A BS or equivalent work experience is required as is three to five years’ related network and VMware experience and/or training. You’ll also be a competent problem solver, identifying and resolving problems in a timely manner; gathering and analyzing information skillfully, and developing alternative solutions.

Check out more information on the VMware Administrator role and find other opportunities at Amadeus here.

FPGA Design Engineer - Early Career, ASML

Location: San Diego, California.

The Role: An opportunity for someone in their early career to contribute to the specification, design, implementation, and validation of FPGAs within highly reliable electronics for ASML's EUV systems. The FPGA Design Engineer will participate in cross-functional teams and work with multiple engineering groups to outline and create FPGA designs and associated engineering documentation.

Responsibilities: You will incorporate new features and enhancements of existing design based on specification and system requirements, design and develop new protocols to ensure communication of new modules are covered utilizing existing design constraints and develop new protocols over existing design interfaces and enhance existing designs to include new metrics to relay between modules.

Requirements: Two-plus years’ experience in FPGA design, design constraints, design validation and qualification, and a BSEE or related engineering degree are required.

More on the FPGA Design Engineer is available as are additional openings at ASML.