‘How many of the criteria do I need to meet to be considered for a job?’
It’s a question that never goes away. It’s a particular bugbear for researchers looking to move into sectors beyond academia, as you try to grapple with industry jargon and decipher exactly what it is that employers are really looking for.
I’ve seen articles suggesting that meeting anywhere between 40 percent to 80 percent is enough to give it a go. But in this post, I’m taking a different approach. Instead of plumping for a percentage, what if you had a technique to help you demonstrate as many of the criteria as possible, even if, in some cases, you don’t have exactly what’s written in the person spec? That’s what we’re going to try.
The first step is moving away from thinking about the requirements or person specification for a role as just a ‘tick list.’ Instead, the approach I’m focusing on here treats every item on the requirements list as if it is there for a reason. And, if you can focus on those reasons, then you can improvise a bit to show an employer that you’re still a safe pair of hands, even if your evidence of your skills and abilities comes from a slightly different place to where they might expect.
To identify the reason behind each requirement, ASK ‘WHY?’ TWICE.
Let’s practise this approach by looking at baking cakes (any excuse). Every ingredient in a cake recipe is there for a reason. For example:
- Baking powder: Why is that in there? Because it makes things rise, right? Yes, but WHY? It’s because the combination of alkali and acid in baking powder creates carbon dioxide when liquid is added, making bubbles which give the fluffy, airy texture that you want, and without which your cake will be flat and sad, and you will be laughing stock of the party (not that I’m speaking from any, *ahem* experience there).
- Caster sugar: Why? Your first instinct may be sweetness, but… caster sugar is the choice due to its fine texture, which makes it dissolve easily and hence give a smoother-textured cake that is less likely to be lumpy. And let’s face it, nobody wants lumpy cake.
I’ll stop there, but hopefully you get the gist… asking why TWICE gets us to the science behind why each ingredient is in there.
So, if we know the science behind WHY a recipe is asking for baking powder and caster sugar, then if we don’t have either of these ingredients in the cupboard, we can feasibly substitute them for ingredients that create a similar effect. For example, is your corner shop out of baking powder? Then baking soda (alkali) mixed with yogurt or kefir (acid) does a similar job. No caster sugar? Then taking a pestle and mortar to some regular granulated sugar will give you the desired texture.
Now, let’s apply this to job requirements, starting with one ‘ingredient’ that poses a perpetual headache for PhDs and postdocs:
‘2+ years experience in X industry’ (or something similar).
Why might an employer ask for this?
Your first instinct answer might be something like ‘because they want to know that you can work well in an industry environment.’ As well as having the high-level knowledge and expertise, a hiring manager wants reassurance that you can do things like adapt to a different pace of working, effectively communicate with colleagues from a range of departments to work towards a common goal, make quick decisions when you don’t have perfect data, and so on. A past track record of working in their industry is something that might give them this reassurance.
Ask why again, and you get to the heart of the matter. Why does an employer want reassurance you can do these things? Because, ultimately, their company’s reputation and profitability is (partly) in your hands. Be slow to make a decision, miss a deadline, and that may mean a new product doesn’t launch when it should, with potential repercussions for the company’s place in the market.
Asking why like this is useful not just because it helps to tune into what’s important to your potential employer, but because it can help you out in the recruitment process. Understanding WHY a particular requirement is listed on a job advert then means that, even if you don’t have that exact thing, you can use something that you DO have to give the employer similar reassurance.
For example, you may not have 2 years’ industry experience, but if you’ve made technical presentations to your research group, taught/ supervised undergrads, AND talked about your research to school kids all in the space of your current project, then you can use this to explicitly show how you can adapt your communication style to work with all kinds of colleagues with varying levels of technical understanding. That’s your kefir and baking soda to their baking powder.
Similarly, you may never have directly undertaken a research project for, say, a public sector client before, BUT… if you’ve done (for example) tutoring alongside your PhD, then you can use this to demonstrate your ability to understand and tailor solutions to clients’ (students’) needs, which you could apply to undertaking research projects that meet a client’s brief. That’s your ground granulated sugar to their caster sugar.
The same goes for academic jobs as well. For example: why would an advert for an assistant professor role at a UK university ask for experience of using innovative and engaging teaching methods?
The first instinct answer might be that obviously, they want students to be interested in their course material and not bored. But… WHY? Well, in the UK, continuation rates (i.e. the percentage of 1st year undergraduates who progress to 2nd year and don’t withdraw from their degrees) are recorded in university league tables. Hence, they contribute to a UK university’s position in these league tables. So, universities really want to make sure that students are engaged with their courses and having a good teaching experience to enhance their league table position, to appeal to more prospective students, and hence to bring in income from student fees.
So, if you feel like you’re scraping the barrel for examples of when you’ve used ‘innovative teaching techniques,’ you could use examples that show how you’ve helped keep students engaged, e.g.:
- 100% of the first year undergrads you taught in one module progressed to second year.
- An example of where you supported a student who was struggling to engage with their course and improve their grades.
- Perhaps in an outreach session you managed to get 13-year olds interested in feudalism in the Middle Ages.
So there you have it. If you’re struggling to demonstrate something in the job requirements, ask why twice. Get to the science behind it, and give them something that will do the same (or a similar) job.
And if you think the job you’ve seen advertised is a real stretch, then reach out to the person named on the advert, or the person who posted it. I’ve seen a number of masters, doctoral, and postdoctoral researchers find jobs because they’ve followed up with someone advertising a role a bit beyond their current reach, only to be signposted to another vacancy that’s been a much better fit.