If you have recently finished higher education, you probably think that some subjects helped you prepare for your first job. Unfortunately, much of what it takes to succeed at the professional level involves skills that were never acquired during higher education. This can complicate the job application process.
When considering qualifications for entry-level positions, many of the items on the list may be unfamiliar. Even when your new job involves technical skills covered in class, your future employer will likely use tools you've never seen before and will rely on processes beyond what you've studied.
However, and this is important, just because you don't have all the qualifications doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for the job, HBR ensures.
Organizations expect people who are new to a role (particularly those who are new to the company) to grow into the position. They want new employees to ask questions, seek guidance, and even make some mistakes as they adjust to the role. This means that you should look for jobs that make you grow, not those that meet all the requirements.
Unfortunately, many professionals (especially women) focus on potential jobs for which they are already qualified. There are advantages to doing this: they adapt to the work more quickly, which often makes the employer happy and can increase the employee's self-confidence. But this role is unlikely to lead to a lot of growth, and stagnating in one role may make it difficult to move to the next.
An upward trajectory in the workplace requires consistent acquisition of the skill set needed to take on the next position. Learning these skills, in a position for which you are more qualified, will require you to learn “off the clock” rather than integrating the learning into your daily job performance.
One factor that often prevents professionals from applying for jobs is imposter syndrome, that is, the feeling that they have stepped into a position they did not earn or deserve. Those suffering from this syndrome fear that if others know how unqualified they are for the position, they will not be able to keep their job.
However, imposter syndrome is essentially a deception. Since you cannot see other people's thoughts, you may assume that they are more confident in their abilities than they probably are. Because of this, you don't recognize how many other people also have to learn new skills on the job, and thus you avoid positions for which you feel you are not qualified.
Instead, treat new situations as a challenge. Research conducted by psychologist Carol Dweck and her team at Columbia University developed the concept of a growth mindset, whereby the best way to maintain the spirit of continuing learning is to treat difficult tasks as a deficiency in some (learning) skill rather than as a defect. Lack of talent (that can't). Organizational psychologists believe that a growth mindset also leads to work engagement.
In practice, it is useful to treat job advertisements as a set of guidelines for what a particular position entails, rather than a strict list of requirements that any candidate must meet. It is important, of course, to have at least some of the skills the job requires beforehand. But no one should limit themselves to positions for which they already have higher qualifications.
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