The Puzzle: Blog

When you’re a candidate with CS&A, your inbox and CandidateConnect account can fill up with job referrals from your personal Placement Team.  You receive a notification that you’ve been referred to a job, check out the position on CandidateConnect, and start crafting the perfect cover letter.

But what happens when the job description leaves you feeling like maybe you’re not quite qualified for the position?  Perhaps it calls for an educator with five years of experience, and you only have four, or it hints at a need for a soccer coach, while you’re a football pro.  Should you still apply for this position, or should you count yourself out?

Often, when schools—or any kind of company—list positions, the job description serves as a kind of “wish list.”  More often than not, schools won’t automatically discount a candidate who doesn’t meet every last credential they’ve listed.  If they did, they’d be limiting themselves to a smaller number of candidates who might lack the qualities that some “less qualified” candidates might possess.

It’s safe to assume that you can trust the Placement Associate who’s made the referral.  When schools list positions with us, they tell us their criteria up front.  Sometimes they indicate that they won’t consider candidates without certain qualities: a master’s degree, for example, or coaching experience.  Sometimes, though, they’re purposefully vague, expressing an interest in candidates with “some” or “significant” experience.  In those cases, the guidelines are a little looser.  Your Placement Associate will make a judgment call about whether or not you meet the requirements of the position.  If you do, apply away!

With that said, sometimes our client schools are looking for something intangible that they haven’t articulated.  It’s always the prerogative of the school to decide which candidates advance and which do not.

In instances of uncertainty, it’s always helpful to communicate with your Placement Team.  Feel free to ask questions and to give feedback on referrals.  If you’ve been referred to a position that doesn’t interest you for whatever reason—whether you feel you’re qualified for the job or not—let your Team know.  It’s equally important for your advocates at CS&A to know what doesn’t interest you as it is to know what does.  At bottom, it’s all about making the right match between our teaching and administrative candidates and our client schools.

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