The Career Tools Rule of Job Applications - 75%

Summary

Career Tools Podcast: The 75% Rule of Job Applications

Episode: The Career Tools Rule of Job Applications – 75%
Hosts: Sarah and Mark
Date: June 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Sarah and Mark tackle the perennial question: “When should I apply for an advertised job?” They introduce and break down the Career Tools “75% Rule,” a practical guideline to help job-seekers decide whether to apply for a position, even if they do not meet every requirement listed in the job description. The discussion draws on extensive recruiting and managerial experience to clarify why a rigid, perfectionist approach can sabotage your job search, and how structured self-assessment empowers more effective and less stressful applications.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Two Types of Job Seekers (01:18–02:24)

• Sarah: Job applicants tend to fall into two categories: those who won’t apply for anything unless they’re sure they’re 100% qualified, and those who apply for every role they see. Both approaches have pitfalls, particularly due to the opaque, “black box” nature of the hiring process.
• Mark: Frustration with the lack of feedback from companies is normal—candidates want clarity, but rarely get it.

Notable Quote:

“It’s a black box. And I wish more companies would do a better job of being more candid... If you rule somebody out, tell them you’ve ruled them out.”
— Mark (02:24)

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The 75% Rule Explained (03:41–06:47)

What is the 75% Rule?

• Mark: “If you can do 75% of the job that you’re reading about, apply for it. You do not need to have 100% of the skills, traits, abilities, characteristics as a job description or advertisement asks.” (04:16)
• Job descriptions are often a blend of essential and desirable requirements. Desirable requirements are ‘nice-to-haves’ but not mandatory.

Why this Rule?

• Sarah: Many job postings, especially for newly-created roles, are “wish lists” rather than hard-and-fast requirements.
• Mark: “You don’t get any job you don’t apply for... But applying for hundreds of roles and not even being invited to an interview is demoralizing.” (06:47)
• The 75% Rule helps find a balance between too few and too many applications.

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No Such Thing as a Perfect Candidate (08:07–12:41)

• Sarah: Recruiters know no candidate is ever a perfect fit at the résumé stage.
• Candidates shouldn’t self-eliminate based on lack of perfection.
• Mark: Uses the analogy of buying a car—there are always trade-offs and unlisted factors.

Notable Quote:

“Hiring managers and recruiters work the same way. There is inevitably... skills or experiences which are very important to them, but they could be dropped if they were mitigated by another skill which isn’t even listed.”
— Mark (10:10)

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The Process: How to Assess Your 75% (12:41–19:02)

1. Preparation:
   • Get the job description or ad in front of you (12:41).
2. Listing Requirements:
   • Write down every requirement from the job posting on a sheet of paper, leaving a few lines blank between each (14:38).
3. Reference Your Career Management Document:
   • Use your systematic career documentation—a super-long résumé housing all your achievements and responsibilities (15:03–15:34).
   • For each requirement, write down specific, relevant accomplishments from your document (16:01).
   • Include the employer name for context.
   • It’s okay if some accomplishments relate to more than one requirement (16:01).
4. Accounting for “Soft” Requirements:
   • Some requirements (“works well under pressure”) can’t be proven on paper; note them for interview prep, but don’t stress about demonstrating them on the résumé (17:06).

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Applying the Rule: The Math (19:38–21:36)

• If you have 2–3 relevant accomplishments (“bullets”) for at least 75% of the job’s requirements, apply for the job.
• It’s not a perfect system, but it beats guesswork and helps focus applications.

Notable Quote:

“If they had 12 requirements and you have two bullets for six of them and three bullets for three of them, then it’s worth applying.”
— Sarah (19:38)

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Tailoring and Efficiency (21:36–23:22)

• Mark: When preparing your résumé, ensure relevant accomplishments that match the job requirements are front and center.
• This method reduces wasted effort and helps you target roles where you stand a real chance.

Alternative Approaches:

• For some, a gut check—simply reviewing the job against your experience—might suffice.
• Others may benefit from a more detailed, point-by-point comparison.

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Final Guidance & Summary (23:22–24:18)

• Use the 75% Rule to assess job fit and make informed application decisions.
• Job postings are often wish lists; the perfect candidate doesn’t exist.
• Structure your application process—match at least 75% of requirements with tangible accomplishments.
• Carefully tailor your résumé for each application by highlighting relevant achievements.

Memorable Closing:

“When deciding whether to apply for a job, you can use the 75% Career Tools Rule. If you can demonstrate you meet 75% of the listed requirements, just apply.”
— Sarah (23:22)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Highlight | |-----------|---------|----------------| |02:24|Mark|“It’s a black box... You should be telling them [if they’re ruled out].”| |04:16|Mark|“If you can do 75% of the job that you’re reading about, apply for it.”| |06:47|Mark|“You don’t get any job you don’t apply for.”| |10:10|Mark|“There are, inevitably, skills or experiences...very important to them, but they could be dropped if they were mitigated by another skill.”| |19:38|Sarah|“If they had 12 requirements and you have two bullets for six... it’s worth applying.”| |23:22|Sarah|“If you can demonstrate you meet 75% of the listed requirements, just apply.”| |24:35|Mark|“Don’t be applying the 75 rule to that [podcast reviews]. Five stars only, please.”|

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Types of job seekers & recruiting confusion: 01:18–02:24
• Why the 75% Rule? 03:41–06:47
• Analogy—no such thing as perfect: 08:07–12:41
• How to do the 75% assessment: 12:41–19:02
• Counting accomplishments & making the call: 19:38–21:36
• Efficiency, tailoring, and alternative approaches: 21:36–23:22
• Summary & closing: 23:22–24:35

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Tone, Style, and Takeaway

The conversation is pragmatic, friendly, and supportive, using relatable analogies and a reassuring tone. The hosts emphasize actionable steps and the reality that nobody is a perfect fit for most jobs. Their advice is to act decisively, armed with a structure that removes self-doubt and saves time.

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Bottom Line:
When in doubt, if you meet roughly 75% of a job’s requirements—and can show it with real achievements—apply, and let the hiring manager decide. Don’t self-reject, don’t aim for the mythical 100%, and use this process to focus your efforts where they count.

Transcript

[Sarah]

Welcome to Career Tools.

[Mark]

This is Sarah and I'm Mark.

[Sarah]

Today's podcast, the Career Tools rule of job applications 75% Part 1 of 1.

[Mark]

As always, our content has been crafted by humans and we're now certified by Proudly Human. The questions this cast answers are, when should I apply for an advertised job? Do I need to have all the skills before applying for a job? How do I assess my skills for an advertised job?

[Sarah]

If you want answers to these questions and more, keep listening.

[Maggie]

Manager Tools will be back in Europe in late November, early December. If you have been considering Manager Tools, deliver training to your organization and you are located in Europe, here is your chance to take advantage of bringing us on site with our standard training cost, no travel fees. Contact Maggie at customerserviceanager-tools.com to secure your dates. Now, our public conference will be in London starting November 24th and will include the effective senior manager conference on November 26th.

[Sarah]

Mark, I'm hearing more and more from community members. Manager Tools, Career Tools, Executive Tools, community members that are on the job hunt right now.

[Mark]

The market is improving. That's a good sign for those who are looking.

[Sarah]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I thought I'd give us a little bit more guidance today on the career hunt, the job hunt, just to continue to help those individuals who are currently in this situation. And folks, there are really two types of job seeker. Those who won't apply for anything they're not 100% certain that they're qualified for, and those who apply indiscriminately for any and every role which they come across. And we understand that as a job secret. It's difficult to understand the reaction of recruiters to our resume, especially when we've been through the confusing situation of being asked about roles we're not interested in, or even rejected roles, or rejected for roles, I should say, that we thought were perfect for us.

[Mark]

Yeah. I have to tell you, Sarah, that is one of the reasons why people are so fearful of job searches, because it's an entirely. It's a black box. And I wish more companies would do a better job of being more candid. Like, for instance, if you go in for an interview and three months later you still haven't heard and the company hasn't said boo to you. Gee whiz, guys, is that what you want people to think of? You know, you should be telling them also, if you rule somebody out, tell them you've ruled them out. Don't think, oh, I don't want to hurt their feelings or whatever. So, no, unfortunately, we have better. I mean, there's so much black boxness to the entire thing. And interviewing specifically as well. It's unfortunate.

[Sarah]

I mean, I want to know when I'm walking out the door.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

If you know, if you know, I want to know. You're not going to hire me. Yeah. Anyone would.

[Mark]

Yeah. So what we've done here is to help you with making the decision about whether or not to apply. We've basically converted our experience as recruiters and hiring managers into an exercise. We're going to help you make the decision about whether or not to apply. It'll take some extra time initially as you get used to this process, but going through it a few times will help you understand the thinking required to make appropriate applications.

[Sarah]

So today's outline. First, the career tools rule of job applications, which is 75%. Then there's no such thing as a perfect candidate. And then ultimately how to assess the 75%.

[Mark]

All right, so I'll start us off with the 75% rule. The rule. I want to explain the rule. We know you'd like to get to the how, but in this case it's more important we cover the why. This reminds me, Sarah, of our conversation the other day. He who has a why can tolerate almost any how.

[Sarah]

Yeah. Yes, exactly. That's exactly it.

[Mark]

And so we're going to explain the why. The rule says if you can do 75% of the job that you're reading about, apply for it. You do not need to have 100% of the skills, traits, abilities, characteristics as a job description or advertisement ask. This is true for internal and external jobs as well. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is, even if it is not explicitly stated, the published job description is often a combination of essential and desirable experience. It's not just essential. Okay? Since the desirable is by definition not essential, you do not need to have it in order to apply or be successful in the role. Now, if you don't put the desirable stuff on there as a company and somebody doesn't apply because they have more stuff, the company's shooting itself in the foot. So by definition, there's always more in the job description or in the ad than is necessary. So given you can only guess which ones are essential, they don't flag you, and which ones are desirable. Yeah, that would be nice. Good. The 75% rule gives you a rule of thumb which is more secure and than just guessing.

[Sarah]

And folks, another thing to keep in mind is when you're applying for roles, they may be newly created Roles. And again, you may have, as a candidate who's applying, no idea whether it's newly created or it's filling a vacancy that's already existed. You don't know that. So because this is a newly created role, potentially the job description is often nothing more than a wish list. I mean, we'd be rich if we had a penny for every time we've heard a hiring manager say, you know, I'd really like it if they had this, but you know, I'm okay if

[Mark]

they don't, but that this is on the job description.

[Sarah]

But it's on the job description. Exactly. Exactly. And we know that by the time the job seeker sees that requirement in black and white, it looks as if it must be essential, but it really isn't. And frankly, it just never was essential. So the 75% rule saves you from the hiring manager's wish list that they're probably never going to get because they're attempting to hire a unicorn. But no one has ever done this job before, so they're going to ask for everything and see what they get.

[Mark]

Yeah. Now look, the reason this rule helps you is as a job seeker, there's an important balance for you to strike between applying for very few roles and applying for too many. We even have a saying for this one. You don't get any job you don't apply for. Okay. It's a subversion of the old one. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. On the other hand, applying for hundreds of roles and not even being invited to an interview is demoralizing. Most people don't say, I'm applying for 100 roles and I care about all of them equally. But even if you get told no at a job, you were just threw it out there just in case on a whim, you're still like, there's another no. You're going to get more no's the more jobs you apply to. So it's better to not be that broad. But it's also good not just to apply for one or two or three. So by applying the 75% rule and going through the exercise, you're going to avoid the negative of those two extremes. You're going to be able to find jobs that you have a legit shot at and you're going to have some math that you can do. Basic math about your abilities and your strengths and weaknesses and accomplishments and skills and so on and behaviors that you've proven.

[Sarah]

Exactly. So that takes us then to there's no such thing as the perfect candidate. And we include this for all of you who are concerned that 75% is just not enough of a fit to apply for the role.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

No folks, recruiters and hiring managers know that there's no such thing as the perfect candidate. Especially at the resume stage when they can't even possibly know every single thing about you. Just what you can fit on your one page resume. And we work hard constantly to teach hiring managers the fact that they won't have 100% of the skills that you're looking for. And we're trying our very best, or they ought to be trying their very best to find a candidate that is a good enough fit for the role.

[Mark]

Yeah. Okay, let's give you an example. Suppose you're going to buy a car. There are three things that are really important to you. You live in the city, so city fuel economy is important. You have two small children, so safety is important. And third, you like to go off road. So a car with four wheel drive is important. Wow, that's an interesting mix, I gotta say. Then there's a whole list of things which you think are less important. You really like a red car, but blue is okay. You'd like to have something which is easy to clean though you could stain guard the seats yourself. And your budget is really $32,000, but you could spend another 5,000 for something you really love.

[Sarah]

So these are your, these are your requirements. That is the analogy or the comparison to the job description. But then you look at all the car dealers websites and decide on really three options which fit all of your criteria. But when you go down to the showroom, you then fall in love with the minivan which can't go off road but does have a built in entertainment center for, for your children.

[Mark]

Yeah. And we give you this example because hiring managers and recruiters work the same way. There is inevitably, inevitably, sorry, three or four, maybe more, maybe less. But generally around there, skills or experiences which are very important to them, but they could be dropped if they were mitigated by another skill which isn't even listed. I think sometimes people think they're perfect for job and they lose out to somebody who by skill is not as good as them. Skill to skill. But they're in the same industry as the company they're applying to. They know the rhythms of the industry. They know what the fiscal year is. They know how budgeting works in construction versus manufacturing versus consulting and so on. There's all kinds of things that can go into it. So yeah, this guy doesn't have these two things, but. But he's got this and this and this and this. And oh, by the way, this job has to. It has to send a weekly email to the C suite. And this guy's been an aide to a CEO in college, so he knows a little bit about the C suite, which most people in this role don't have. And that's the hardest thing for me to teach him. So if the job is close enough for you to be considering it and you go through the exercise, this exercise we're going to share with you and decide to apply, you probably have the things which are most important.

[Sarah]

Absolutely. Folks. Hiring managers can sometimes deny that this is the thought process they go through, in part because it's, it's an unconscious thought process.

[Mark]

Oh, yeah, that's a good point.

[Sarah]

They're not really thinking of it this way. They see the 10 or the 15 resumes that HR or the recruiter allows them to see and imagine that out there in the vast pool, there's this mythical perfect candidate. And they say, well, let's just keep looking. But again, at manager tools, we're trying our very best to educate them, but if you come across an uneducated hiring manager, we are doing our very best to help them understand that there's this need to identify the most important skills or, and as, as you just said, mark this idea that there are some skills which we may think we really, really want or need, but could very well be taken care of or fulfilled by some set of that prove that person has got enough of what the hiring manager wants to be successful in that role.

[Mark]

Yeah. And I want to take them through how to assess the 75%. But I also want to say this. If you're a particular person, if you're a high C or you're a high D and you like facts and numbers and so on, then this is great for you, okay. Because it gives you a process to get you to feel good about the outcome of what you're applying to and whatnot. On the other hand, if it were me, I probably wouldn't need. Not at this point in my career. I'm 65 years old. But to me, I would not have used a point by point comparison of my resume to a job description. I would just look at it and say, yeah, I think I can do that job. That's how I would do it. And I would probably look for things on the job description that would tie to my resume and I would definitely prepare significant accomplishment answers that address that. Okay. So in this case, some of you will find this a nice help. Some of you'll find you. You will find it indispensable. Like, wow, I can actually do some math. Not exactly math. I can do a detailed comparison of my resume and this job description or this advertisement. And I can tell I can do that job. I don't have to have everything, because you'll never have everything. But 75% is a good barrier and once you reach it, you don't have to go any further. You apply to that job. So how do we work out Whether we have 75%? First, you need the job description or the advertisement in front of you. Take a sheet of paper on the top line, write the first requirement. If it's digital, you could probably drop it into AI, your AI bot and get some information out of that. Okay, for example, you'd write, or maybe the bot would write for you experience implementing Oracle database structure or experience in sales in Southeast Asia. Right, Those are both responsibilities of the job. No, they're requirements of the job. Hiring requirements.

[Sarah]

Yeah, and then on that same sheet of paper, folks, leave the four lines below that blank and then write the next requirement. Then again, leave four lines blank and write the next requirement and continue on down the page writing all of the listed requirements until you have them all written down with again, four blank lines between each.

[Mark]

Yeah, now you're done with the advertisement or the job description. Now you pick up your career management document. For those of you, by the way, who have not heard of our systematic career documentation Podcast, that's the document which lists all of your responsibilities and accomplishments you've ever had. It's basically a super long resume from which you take out the key parts that are relevant to job A, and there'll be different key parts that are relevant to job B and to create

[Sarah]

your tailored resume from.

[Mark]

Yeah, exactly. So under experience implementing Oracle database structure, you would Write delivered Oracle 19C Implementation Project on time and on budget across four European countries. Just to help you remember, write the employer name after that on the same line so you remember that's the part of your resume that thing is coming from.

[Sarah]

Yeah, exactly. And folks, we would then recommend that you do this for all of the requirements and all of your accomplishments. Some of the accomplishments are going to repeat themselves. They'll be in multiple different requirements. And that's okay, that's fine, Totally fine. Exactly. Only you're going to see this accounting also. So keep in mind, it doesn't need to be neat if you're doing it by hand. If you're scratching it on a piece of paper, that's totally fine. It's going to facilitate your interview prep later on. So you do want it to be somewhere that you can maintain it, you can keep it, you can return to it. You do want it to be tidy enough that you can go back and you can read it and you can understand it. I mean, that's why, to Mark's earlier point, we say write down the employer on the same line so that it jogs your memory when you're doing that interview prep, studying piece of it. So keeping it in a location, saving it in a folder or a file somewhere that, that you can refer to it, those things are going to be valuable because you are going to want to go back to it later.

[Mark]

Yeah, there are some requirements, job requirements, which it is impossible to demonstrate on a resume or on a written application. Now, we have a second document for those of you who are licensees that's going to be available on the website with these show notes. And it's called a worked example. And what we have done is we've got a job description there. The job description is for a project manager in the City of London in the IT and telecoms sector. And then we have somebody from our community's systematic career management document, cmd. And we did the comparison, we worked this example through to determine whether or not this particular person's background met the 75% criteria suggesting that they should apply. So the one we cover is works well under pressure. Okay? If you've achieved great results, it's likely that you can work well under pressure. On the other hand, you wouldn't write I work well under pressure on your resume, okay? Unsubstantiated statements like that are disregarded by the reader and even electronic systems. Instead, you demonstrate that at the interview by describing a situation where you were under pressure and the result was positive. You can skip writing any of those requirements when you write your list. Okay? When you're doing this list, you don't have to. On our list, we've written parentheses, disregarded next to it. So you know we didn't just forget. Okay? Now, when you're preparing, if you reach the 75% level, you'll want to remember that when you go back and prepare the accomplishments that do, you have to have at least one accomplishment which you work well under pressure.

[Maggie]

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[Sarah]

okay, so now the accounting. If you have two to three bullets for 75% of theirs, then apply for the job. And just to be clear, folks, if they had 12 requirements and you have two bullets for six of them and three bullets for three of them, then it's worth applying. It may be that the three essential requirements are the three you don't have any bullets for. But again, the system is not foolproof. It's unlikely that they're going to let you know which ones are mandatory versus which ones are preferred or optional bullets. And again, the method is better than guesswork to help you make decisions about for which roles to apply.

[Mark]

Now, there's a caveat which I think I was just recording with you earlier today, Sarah, and you said caveat?

[Sarah]

Yeah, caveat.

[Mark]

Yeah, caveat. Yeah, exactly. So just depends.

[Sarah]

Potato, potato, potato, potato. Canadian.

[Mark]

Potato. Canadian. There you go. Don't. So here's our caveat. Since we're in America and I'm American, don't forget that applying is not just about having the accomplishments, but demonstrating those skills. So when you tailor your resume for your application, make sure that the accomplishments you've just written onto your list are at the top of each of the accomplishment sessions. Right? We want the, we don't want the fifth accomplishment to be the one that ties you most closely in terms of the job requirements and what we've done in, in our worked example, we've created a resume from Bob, our mythical candidate, so you can see how he goes from his systematic career management document, cmd, into creating his tailored resume that has the right accomplishments that he would then list, he would account for, and that would go on the resume going to the company.

[Sarah]

Yeah. And again, folks, at the end of the day, some of you may not desire to use this method, but for those of you that are again, Those, those high Cs, those in the weeds, individuals. I mean, Mark, I even think to myself that this could be a valuable exercise for individuals who just want to pare down the amount of time spent on tailoring resumes, right? And absolutely applying for all of the jobs that may exist. Because if you've got tons of jobs to apply for and you're always going back to your career management document, you're always creating a tailored resume, then this will help you make some decisions about what's worth My time. What's not worth my time? Like, where should I focus those. Those energies knowing that I can't necessarily apply for all of them?

[Mark]

Right. Well, what I. When Wendy and I were developing this cast years ago. God, it's gotta been 15 years ago. I told her, I said, look, there's another way to do this. And she recommended we present the guidance this way. But the other way to do it is to get a bunch of copies of your career management document. Get a bunch of the job descriptions or advertisements you're looking at and put your CMD next to that and say, okay, which one of these tie to which one of those A ties to a, B ties to B, and so on. And then you could do a 75% that way without having to write anything down. You've got a folder for XYZ Company they're hiring for ABC job. You put XYZ slash ABC on that career management document and you're just mapping it and you're going to say, how do I feel about it? And what's going to happen is you probably don't even have to worry about the 75%. You're going to discover some jobs. It's not there.

[Sarah]

Yeah.

[Mark]

And other jobs. Yeah, it's there.

[Sarah]

Exactly.

[Mark]

Simple and fast.

[Sarah]

And fast. So, folks, when deciding whether to apply for a job, you can use the 75% career tools rule. If you can demonstrate you meet 75% of the listed requirements, just apply. Job descriptions are rarely a perfect match for any candidate. They combine essential and desirable criteria, and frankly, they're often just nothing more than a wish list. Recruiters and hiring managers know the perfect candidate doesn't exist. So to assess your 75%, you can list each requirement from the job description, then match your accomplishments from your career management document against them. And if you have two or three bullets for 75% of the requirements, apply. When you do, make sure those accomplishments are prominently featured on the resume, which you tailor for this job application.

[Mark]

Huh? Good one.

[Sarah]

It's a good one. I like it. We hope this one helped you folks. Now help us help others and tell your friends. And of course, follow rate and review our podcast. And remember, five stars only, please don't

[Mark]

be applying the 75 rule to that. Five stars only, please. Good one, Sam.