Applying/taking jobs you feel you're unqualified for

Looks like things are heating up again on the hiring side. While I often get pitched jobs that I’m laughably overqualified for, like actuarial analyst, I also get thrown things in the other direction, for positions not just one but maybe two or three rungs above where I am now but also in specializations where I don’t really have experience. I guess they’re casting a wide net here.

But, since the comp packages tend to be high I feel like maybe it’s worth hearing more about, even if I feel like there’s a strong chance of being rejected and then spectacularly failing at the job if I somehow take it.

Anyone actually take a job like this? Did your succeeed or have any regrets?

There’s a certain satisfaction that comes from being overqualified in a job, assuming that you’re happy with the salary and work life balance. Because you just go pewpewpew and then you can enjoy your weekend, get high, and come with a scrambled brain come Monday.

A lot of the jobs that you think you’re underqualified for requires a lot of self motivation, which I lack. Like, you have to find things to do, and that’s not me.

I like to be told what to do, but I also like to tell people what to do.

straight shooter with middle management written all over imo

pretty much. I’m a party boi. I don’t devote my life to my job.

If I have to think about my job on the weekend, that is not for me dawg. With the substances I’m on, there is no thinking on the weekend.

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Yeah the older I get, the less I do work outside of work hours. Been burned too many times through the years, and I really am trying to work smarter.a big part of that is delegating. It was a bit of a hurdle to go from ‘its quicker to do it myself’ to now ‘its quicker and better if someone else does this’ though.

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I’ve taken two positions in my career where the skills they hired me for were not the skills the role needed. Both were very good learning experiences for me. I didn’t fail in either role but I received average reviews which is historically odd for me. The downside was that the skills I needed to develop to be good in those roles are not skills I enjoy. I ended up leaving both roles for other opportunities in fairly short order, between a year and 18 months. That doesn’t always look good on a resume. It worked out well for me as I wouldn’t be where I am at without those two roles and I really know what I need out of a position now. My opinion, which isn’t worth the cost of the pixels you are looking at, is that exploring an opportunity is always worth it. Sometimes it just gives you an insight into a company or a recruiter or whatever that you may leverage in the future. Sometimes somebody buys you lunch too!

I mean, can you manage? Will you have a team who IS qualified? Go for it!!

Just got another rando pitch for actuarial analyst.

I feel offended!

Our department is going through a reorg and has had trouble hiring team leads. I was just promoted to a team leader last May and they asked me to move to another higher profile lead role on another team due that lead leaving the company. There was another lead role open on the same team that has not been filled for 3 months. I just asked to lead both teams and I think it is going to pay off. We have had conversations and they like my plan so the VP is making things happen with HR. In about a year I will have gone from Sr producer to Associate Director now because I made a bold request in a thin market for new talent.

If you want to climb now is the time to make bold moves. Boomers are leaving the big chairs at the top of your company and other companies so they are open waiting for the next generation to grab them.

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Happens a lot on LinkedIn with recruiters I never heard of before (or Orange Juice/SJ)

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