Hey, Have You Seen This? Job Applicant Explains How He Got a Job He Wasn’t Qualified For

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• May 18, 2012
• By Team Brazen
• 10 Comments

Nothing beats first-hand experience as Tim Murphy knows.

Tim, a Brazen Life contributor and the founder of ApplyMate.com, decided to take a break from writing about job search recently and instead put himself in his reader’s shoes and applied for a job. The catch: he went for a job even though he thought he wasn’t qualified for it. He got the job and wrote a series of posts about how he did it on his blog.

Take a look here where Tim discusses the dreaded “experience gap” and explains how he used the experience he has to sell himself:

I have a blog, so I started there. I also write for Brazen Careerist (here’s my latest post), so I used that too. The site where I was applying is one that reviews high-end men’s gear so writing about careers isn’t a natural fit. But it is something, and it shows I can and do write for a large audience.

The next post in the series describes exactly how he revamped his resume for the specific job requirements. Biggest take away from this post: Tim didn’t just edit his resume, he completely rewrote it to seem like all he ever did was what this job required. And he didn’t do it by lying, but by only talking about his most relevant experience. “That’s all employers care about anyway, why talk about anything else?”

The final post, titled “Packaging and Spin,” talks about the importance of offering employers something different. Tim writes:

Why would I pitch myself to a company by saying, “Hey, I’m really excited about giving you more of what you already do really well!”? Employers are looking for something NEW. Fresh perspective, different ideas, alternative skill sets, new solutions. We can’t pitch ourselves as more of the same!

So I took a hard look at their site and noticed a type of outdoor gear that was somewhat under-represented. For example – they cover high-end, luxury travel gear extremely well, but there was room to beef up the equally high-end hunting and fishing gear. I pitched myself as just the person to help them capitalize on this opportunity.

What do you think of Tim’s strategies? 

Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work. Be Brazen!