It's time to stop self-bias from limiting your job opportunities.

We often hear about bias within the recruiting and hiring part of job search, but what about self-bias from the candidate perspective? According to Harvard Business Review , women believe they must match 100% of the job posting criteria to feel qualified to apply. In contrast, men generally apply if they meet 60% of the qualifications.

With this belief system, many women are self-selecting themselves out of the hiring pool from the very beginning, not giving themselves a shot and decreasing their potential opportunities. Why? All because they ‘think’ they’re not qualified enough. They’ve made the justification in their mind that they are not what the hiring manager or recruiter is looking for. They think they’re doing them a ‘favour’ by not wasting their time and clogging the system with applications.

If you’ve struggled with this, next time you’re looking at a posting that you don’t meet a 100% of the criteria, take a minute to ask yourself a few questions.

• Is missing this criteria really a deal breaker?
• Is this something I can learn or develop?
• Do I have adjacent experience?

If you can learn the skill or have other experience that is beneficial, consider applying for the role anyways, focusing your resume and interview prep on the items that fit and the value you will bring to the position.

To help work through the job search process, and adjust your mindset, you may want to consider working with a career consultant.

Whether you’re navigating a job loss, or considering a career change, our career management consultants use various assessments and coaching techniques to help close that self-bias gap, encouraging you see what opportunities are available and land your ideal role.

If you need additional support in your career search, reach out to Senior Career Consultant, Heather Christensen to learn more about our self-guided and consultant led career coaching programs.