Are you ready for that new job?
Posted by
Recently I’ve been helping people think about their potential career moves, and several times they have asked me a question on the timing of taking a leap into something new in their career. Often people add: “I’ve been waiting to make this career move for a long time – but I want to feel I’m ready and that I can do everything in the job description”.
This is a very laudable attitude, but does it actually make sense?
A few years ago, when Hewlett-Packard wanted to see why more women weren’t in top management positions they made an interesting discovery:
“Women working at HP applied for a promotion only when they believed they met 100 percent of the qualifications listed for the job. Men were happy to apply when they thought they could meet 60 percent of the job requirements.”
This made me consider the question more closely – do we have to wait until 100% ready? While it is great to aspire to, I’m not convinced that it makes any sense to work to meet 100% of the requirements of a new position.
My own experience is that there are both men and women who want to meet 100% of the requirements before applying, so intrigued, I pursued the subject.
Further research by Tara Mohr gives more data. She surveyed over 1000 people to find out WHY people don’t apply when they don’t meet the job description. Her findings are that for both men and women, it isn’t primarily about confidence. While 9% more women than men do report that they didn’t apply because not meeting 100% of the requirements made them fear that they would fail in the role, this was not the dominant reason. The biggest reason both men and women don’t apply when they don’t meet the job requirements is that they don’t know the reality of how ‘job requirements’ work.
Getting nearer to 100% ready is not a bad thing; you will hit the ground running and will make a great impression from the start. But it’s likely that you will get bored very quickly. Instead, go for 60% – 80% ready. And work out a great action plan for the 20-40% you’re lacking, as that can turn the trick at interview. Make sure the manager feels comfortable that you’ve thought ahead, have a solid understanding of the challenges, and already started to engage the support you’ll need in the early days – it will reduce the risk of appointing you.
This is a very laudable attitude, but does it actually make sense?
A few years ago, when Hewlett-Packard wanted to see why more women weren’t in top management positions they made an interesting discovery:
“Women working at HP applied for a promotion only when they believed they met 100 percent of the qualifications listed for the job. Men were happy to apply when they thought they could meet 60 percent of the job requirements.”
This made me consider the question more closely – do we have to wait until 100% ready? While it is great to aspire to, I’m not convinced that it makes any sense to work to meet 100% of the requirements of a new position.
My own experience is that there are both men and women who want to meet 100% of the requirements before applying, so intrigued, I pursued the subject.
Further research by Tara Mohr gives more data. She surveyed over 1000 people to find out WHY people don’t apply when they don’t meet the job description. Her findings are that for both men and women, it isn’t primarily about confidence. While 9% more women than men do report that they didn’t apply because not meeting 100% of the requirements made them fear that they would fail in the role, this was not the dominant reason. The biggest reason both men and women don’t apply when they don’t meet the job requirements is that they don’t know the reality of how ‘job requirements’ work.
- Job requirements are rarely carefully produced
What are we measuring ourselves against? In most cases, people will look to the advert, the job description, and the person spec to decide if they fit the requirements. But if you’ve ever been involved with the production of these documents, you’ll know that many are written quickly or cut-and-pasted from other job descriptions at the last minute – purely because it’s a required hurdle to get the job advertised!
When I run sessions on preparing for interviews, I hand out job descriptions and ask several groups to look at the same one and to tell me what they think the 3 highest priorities are within the document. Very rarely do the groups agree. So, using a job description as a baseline to decide whether you are 100% ready is nonsense.
An example I often use to illustrate this point is the role of “Bank Manager”. Imagine your local bank and think about the fact that they probably have hundreds if not thousands of branches.
If each one of those Bank Managers is hired using the same person spec, does that mean that they are all clones of each other? Of course not. I’ve worked with many Bank Managers over the years and they come in all shapes and sizes. I strongly suspect that at selection they didn’t hit all the listed requirements – yet some of them are among the highest performers I’ve ever met. - The requirements change during recruitment
Looking back, one of my previous roles gave me an interesting perspective on this when I called the hiring manager out on it and honestly challenged them on why I was given the opportunity when there were far more qualified candidates. The response surprised me. They hired me because I had something they didn’t know they wanted until they saw it. If you know me well enough by now you’ll appreciate I’m not sharing that to be boastful, but to illustrate that sometimes the people looking for the role have tried their best to describe it but are not 100% sure about what they are looking for. Don’t assume that what you have isn’t the very thing they need. - The requirements are ‘what perfect looks like’
Managers are inclined to list everything they think will be useful – but it’s likely that no one will have the perfect profile. Looking at actual appointments, the preferred candidate rarely has all the things described as ‘required’.
Hopefully I have convinced you that the “100%” approach is too much, but conversely, is the “60%” approach enough? If I’m honest with you – and I know this will go no further – I’ve taken roles where I’ve felt like I wasn’t even 60% ready for it. Youthful bravado, a touch of arrogance, overconfidence… call it what you like, I’ve been guilty of it. And there have been overwhelming moments where I’ve wondered “Why on earth did I put myself in this position?!”
In my experience – and having seen other people in this situation – having 60% of the skills is doable – but you must also have a couple of other characteristics that will get you through. The first is humility – you need to realize that often you won’t have the answers and that other people will – and prioritize developing the relationships that will give you the advice you need. The second is resilience. It could well be bumpy for a while, things may go wrong – so how do you respond to that? Do you fight or flee? If you stand your ground and are authentic, you may well find that 60% is enough. - Meeting the requirements doesn’t allow room for growth
I see every role I do as an opportunity to grow and develop and would encourage you to do the same. If I was 100% ready I wouldn’t get anything more out of the job by staying in it for a year or two. I want to be less than 100% ready because I want to use the role to push me out of my comfort zone and to make me strive to expand my skills.
Getting nearer to 100% ready is not a bad thing; you will hit the ground running and will make a great impression from the start. But it’s likely that you will get bored very quickly. Instead, go for 60% – 80% ready. And work out a great action plan for the 20-40% you’re lacking, as that can turn the trick at interview. Make sure the manager feels comfortable that you’ve thought ahead, have a solid understanding of the challenges, and already started to engage the support you’ll need in the early days – it will reduce the risk of appointing you.