How to respond to a job you're not qualified for

Hi Guys,

As of late, I’ve been getting interest from recruiters for roles that I’m not qualified for. Take for instances this linkedin message I received:

Mr. Stockham

We are a local payments solutions company that specializes in ACH products. I am currently recruiting for a Senior Full Stack Developer for our IT Development team. I believe your background would be an excellent fit for.

I would love to talk to you about this position.

Thank you in advance for your time.

I’m flattered, however, I can already tell that this position is out of my reach from the “senior” part.

How would you respond back? Is this salvageable? Can I lead this into a role that I’m qualified for?

They’re just reaching out. If you’re interested in going through a recruiter, respond positively and have a chat. If they don’t think you’re up to the job, they won’t continue to an interview, but they will have you in mind when a more fitting position comes up.

They’re just doing a blanket search for keywords, not scrutinizing your resume. As portable says, go ahead and reply. Be honest with them. Who knows? A lot of this business is about contacts. If you send them back a letter that is honest, but persuasive and full of enthusiasm, they may not want you for this job but may keep you in mind for someone else. Or maybe he’ll be having lunch with a friend who says he’s looking for an enthusiastic junior developer and your name will come up. You can’t catch a fish if you don’t put your line in the water.

Don’t be flattered :stuck_out_tongue: they usually are not competent enough to properly asaess your skills. These recruiters just do the preliminary screening based on keywords that they find in your linkedin profile. But like others said do contact them and explain. They may place you in their database and reach back to you with more suitable offer. You never know.