The Advert Asked for the Moon: How UK Jobseekers Can Apply Without Talking Themselves Out of It

You spot an advert for an entry-level administrator. The list runs to eleven bullets: five years' experience, a degree, advanced Excel, line management, stakeholder engagement, a driving licence and, for reasons nobody can explain, experience with a specific payroll system. The salary is £24,000. You close the tab and decide the job isn't for you.

Maybe it isn't. But maybe it is. UK job adverts have a long habit of stacking up requirements that the role, the salary band and the team never actually needed. The trick is learning to read the advert as a wishlist rather than a contract — and working out which lines are genuine dealbreakers and which are a hiring manager's fantasy.

Why the list gets so long

Most inflated adverts aren't written to put you off. They're written by someone busy, often by committee, and copied from an old specification that was itself copied from another one. A manager adds a line because the team once had a problem with it. Someone else adds a qualification because it sounds professional. Nobody checks the list against the salary or the actual first six months of the job.

The result is the famous purple squirrel: a candidate who has five years' experience, will accept an entry-level wage, and can start on Monday. Recruiters see it too. But by the time the advert is live, everyone is worried about hiring the wrong person, so the list stays long and the language stays firm.

Read it as two lists, not one

Even if the advert only has one long list, split it into two in your head: essential and desirable. Look for words like 'must', 'required' and 'essential' — but don't take them at face value. Then ask a harder question: what would genuinely stop someone doing this job on day one?

Some requirements are real. A driving licence for a delivery role, a DBS check for school work, right to work in the UK, or a professional registration are not wishlist items. If the role is regulated, believe the advert. If it names a core system and the employer has no training budget, that can be a real barrier too.

Other requirements are trainable. Software, sector knowledge, report writing, internal systems, meeting styles — most of these can be learned in weeks or months by someone with the right foundations. If you can show you've learned something similar before, you're not unqualified. You're adjacent.

The 60–70% rule — and when to ignore it

A useful rule of thumb for UK candidates is to apply when you meet around 60–70% of the wishlist, provided you meet the genuine essentials. That isn't lowering your standards. It's recognising that adverts are often written for an imaginary perfect candidate who doesn't exist at that salary.

But the rule has limits. If you meet 30% and the gap is in the core work, you're probably wasting your evening. If the advert asks for a hard legal requirement you don't have, don't apply — unless you're actively getting it. And if you'd hate the actual tasks, matching the list won't save you.

How to explain the gap without apologising

This is where many candidates talk themselves out of the room. Don't open a cover note with 'Although I don't have five years' experience…'. Open with what you bring, then map it across. For example: 'Your advert asks for stakeholder management. In my current role I coordinate weekly updates between three teams and chase sign-off from senior staff.'

If you're missing a tool, name it once and move on: 'I haven't used the payroll system named, but I've used two similar platforms and built the reporting templates for my current team.' If you're missing a qualification, say what you've done instead and what you'd do in the first three months.

In interviews, answer the gap question forward, not backwards. 'I haven't managed a budget directly. I have tracked project spend, completed a short finance course, and in the first quarter I'd want to shadow the current budget holder.' That's evidence. Apologising is not.

It also helps to ask a recalibration question near the end: 'Which two or three requirements are most critical in the first six months?' Hiring managers often answer with a shorter, more honest list than the advert. That's your opening.

Quick checks before you hit send

Before you write the application, run through a short checklist. Is there a hard legal or regulatory requirement you don't meet? Can you do most of the day-one tasks, even if you'd need support? Have you got two solid stories that map to the main requirements? Is the salary band realistic for you? And would you actually take the job if it were offered?

If the answers are mostly yes, apply. The advert is a first draft of a conversation, not a verdict on your career.

For employers: the two-column advert that works

If you're hiring, the fix is simple and slightly uncomfortable: write two columns. One is 'Essential' — the things a person genuinely cannot do the job without, such as right to work, a required licence or registration, or core communication for a customer-facing role. The other is 'Trainable or desirable' — the software, sector knowledge and nice-to-haves that can be taught.

Keep the essential column short. Five or six lines is usually enough. Be honest about the salary band and explain what the first six months actually involve. You'll widen the pool, cut wasted screening time, and give candidates a fairer picture of what success looks like. In a UK labour market where good people have choices, that's not just kinder — it's faster.

At Employment Plus, we see the same pattern from both sides: candidates self-rejecting too early, and employers wondering why the perfect candidate never applies. The advert is usually where the mismatch starts. Read it as a wishlist, apply where the core fits, and make the gap part of the conversation rather than the reason to walk away.