Applying for jobs when you don't feel ready
I had a CV for eight months and never sent it. The problem wasn't the CV. It was the lie I kept telling myself about being ready.
The CV that never got sent
I had a CV. I'd written it, rewritten it, shown it to three people. It sat on my desktop for eight months.
The problem wasn't the CV. The problem was the sentence I kept telling myself: "I'm not ready yet."
Ready is a lie
Nobody is ready. Not really. The people who get the jobs aren't the ones who feel prepared. They're the ones who applied anyway.
The 70% rule
If you meet 70% of a job description, apply. Not 100%. Not 90%. Seventy.
Job descriptions are wish lists. They describe a fictional person who can do everything. That person doesn't exist.
What happened next
I applied for a role I was "underqualified" for. I got an interview. I didn't get the job. But the interview told me I could do the next one.
Three months later, I applied for a similar role. I got it.
The CV didn't change. I did.
