#cvtips — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #cvtips, aggregated by home.social.
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Not ticking every box on a job ad? On its own, that usually isn't a reason to skip it.
Requirement lists are often a wish list written before anyone knows who will apply. A practical way to decide:
1. Split the list. Separate hard requirements (a licence, a legally required certification, right to work, a core skill the job can't function without) from preferences ("ideally", "a plus", "familiarity with"). Missing a hard requirement is a real blocker. Missing a few preferences usually isn't.
2. Look at the day-to-day work. If you can do the core of the job, a gap in a secondary tool or a year less experience is something a hiring manager can weigh, not an automatic no.
3. Name the gap yourself. In your cover letter or interview, acknowledge it briefly and show how you'd close it: a related tool you've used, a course you've started, a time you got up to speed quickly. That comes across as self-aware rather than hopeful.
4. Be honest about the size of the stretch. Meeting most of the core requirements makes a reasonable application. Meeting almost none is probably a poor use of your time and theirs.
5. Don't pad your CV to hide the gap. Claimed skills you don't have tend to come apart at interview.
If you don't apply, the answer is already no. A well-targeted stretch application at least gives you a chance of a different one.
How do you decide when a role is a stretch worth going for?
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Not ticking every box on a job ad? On its own, that usually isn't a reason to skip it.
Requirement lists are often a wish list written before anyone knows who will apply. A practical way to decide:
1. Split the list. Separate hard requirements (a licence, a legally required certification, right to work, a core skill the job can't function without) from preferences ("ideally", "a plus", "familiarity with"). Missing a hard requirement is a real blocker. Missing a few preferences usually isn't.
2. Look at the day-to-day work. If you can do the core of the job, a gap in a secondary tool or a year less experience is something a hiring manager can weigh, not an automatic no.
3. Name the gap yourself. In your cover letter or interview, acknowledge it briefly and show how you'd close it: a related tool you've used, a course you've started, a time you got up to speed quickly. That comes across as self-aware rather than hopeful.
4. Be honest about the size of the stretch. Meeting most of the core requirements makes a reasonable application. Meeting almost none is probably a poor use of your time and theirs.
5. Don't pad your CV to hide the gap. Claimed skills you don't have tend to come apart at interview.
If you don't apply, the answer is already no. A well-targeted stretch application at least gives you a chance of a different one.
How do you decide when a role is a stretch worth going for?