How many times have you clicked out of a job advertisement because you didn’t come as close as you wanted to fitting the requirements?
A new study by Talent Works revealed that there is no perfect candidate and that you’re just as likely to get an interview by matching 50% of a listing’s job requirements as matching 90% of them.
Talent Works analyzed job postings and resumes for over 6,348 applications from 668 different users across 118 industries from their database of users.
How qualified do you need to be?
The data shows that 50% to be a sweet spot, with no real benefit once an applicant meets 60% of the requirements:
- When people applied to positions where they matched 40-50% of the requirements, they were 85% more likely to get an interview than when they matched less.
- When people applied to positions where they matched 50-60% of the requirements, they were 192% more likely to get an interview.
- When people applied to positions where they matched 60% or more of the requirements, there was no additional advantage.
The study also showed that women, who according to past analysis have higher overall interview rates than men, have a higher chance of landing an interview while meeting just 40% of requirements.
So go ahead — apply to those jobs that you don’t qualify perfectly for. Chances are, nobody else does either.