You find a remote job that looks unusually close to what you want.
The work sounds right. The company looks interesting. The salary works. You can picture yourself doing the job.
Then you reach the requirements.
Five years of experience.
You have three.
A particular software tool.
You have used something similar.
A degree you do not have.
Or one skill that you have never used professionally, even though you have done closely related work.
So you close the job posting.
That may be too quick.
Not every requirement in a job description carries the same weight.
More than half of job seekers have applied anyway
A new 2026 survey from iHire found that 53.3% of U.S. job seekers had applied for a job even though they did not meet all the requirements during the previous year.
That does not mean candidates should ignore job requirements.
It means job seekers do not necessarily need to eliminate themselves from consideration simply because they are missing one or two items.
The useful question is not:
“Do I meet 100% of the list?”
It is:
“Can I realistically do the core job?”
Not every requirement is equal
Consider these two situations.
A company says a position requires five years of experience, and you have three, but you have already done very similar work and can show results.
That is one kind of gap.
A regulated position requires a professional license that you do not have.
That is very different.
Before applying, divide the requirements into three groups.
Requirements you cannot reasonably skip
These might include:
-
a legally required license
-
work authorization
-
a mandatory certification
-
a language requirement essential to the role
-
a technical skill that is central to the job and cannot realistically be learned quickly
If you are missing one of these, applying may not make sense.
Requirements you may be able to compensate for
These could include:
-
fewer years of experience
-
a different but related industry background
-
a different software tool
-
a degree when equivalent professional experience is accepted
-
experience in an office environment instead of remote work
These are worth examining rather than automatically treating them as deal-breakers.
Requirements that are really preferences
Some job descriptions contain a long list of things an employer would like to have but may not require.
This is where candidates can make a mistake by treating every bullet point as equally important.
A 2026 NACE survey found that 70% of surveyed employers use skills-based hiring, up from 65% the previous year. Employers reported using this approach most often during interviews and screening.
That is a broader shift away from treating traditional credentials and linear experience as the only evidence of ability.
Look for evidence of the skill you are missing
Suppose a remote marketing job asks for experience with HubSpot and you have spent several years working with Salesforce and Mailchimp.
You do not have the exact tool.
But you understand CRM workflows, segmentation, email campaigns, and reporting.
That is worth explaining.
The same applies to job titles.
Someone who has never held the title “Project Manager” may still have coordinated projects, managed deadlines, worked with multiple teams, and delivered work to clients.
The title is missing.
The underlying experience is not.
Your application should make that connection obvious.
Don’t lie to fill the gap
There is an important difference between presenting transferable experience and pretending you have experience you do not have.
Do not add a software tool to your resume because it appears in the job description if you have never used it.
Do not change three years of experience into five.
Do not describe a project as yours if you were only involved in part of it.
Instead, explain what you actually have.
For example:
“I haven’t worked directly with HubSpot, but I have managed email campaigns and customer segmentation using Mailchimp and Klaviyo, including reporting and list management.”
That gives an employer useful information.
It also gives them a reason to decide whether the gap matters.
Your application should answer the obvious question
If you know you are missing something important, do not make the employer discover it.
Address it briefly.
If you have less experience:
“The role asks for five years of experience. I have three years in a similar position, including responsibility for X, Y, and Z.”
If you are missing a tool:
“I haven’t used X directly, but I have worked extensively with Y and Z, which involve similar workflows.”
If your background is from another industry:
“My previous experience is in financial services, but the role’s core requirements — client communication, reporting and account management — are central to my current work.”
The aim is not to apologize for what you do not have.
It is to show clearly what you do have.
Don’t rely on the “70% rule”
You may have seen advice saying you should apply if you meet 70% of the requirements.
It sounds useful because it gives candidates a simple number.
But requirements are not interchangeable.
Someone can meet 90% of a list and still lack the one certification the job legally requires.
Another person might meet 65% of the list but have exactly the experience needed to perform the most important part of the job.
So instead of counting boxes, identify the core requirements.
Ask yourself:
-
Could I perform the main responsibilities?
-
Do I have evidence that I can do similar work?
-
Are the missing requirements things I could realistically learn?
-
Is anything missing that makes me ineligible?
-
Can I explain my transferable experience clearly?
If the answers are mostly yes, applying may be reasonable.
Remote jobs make this question even more relevant
Remote work often brings together candidates from different countries, industries, and career paths.
Someone may have done the same kind of work under a different job title. Someone else may have years of experience in an office but only recently moved into remote work.
That makes a strict checklist less useful than understanding what the person can actually do. The same is true when comparing different remote job platforms and the opportunities they offer.
At the same time, remote work does not remove hard requirements.
Time-zone availability, language ability, work authorization, and specific technical skills can still matter depending on the role.
The key is knowing which gap is a gap you can explain — and which one means the job genuinely is not a fit.
So, should you apply?
If you are missing one or two preferred qualifications but can do the core work, there is usually a reasonable case for applying.
If you are missing a requirement that is legally necessary or fundamental to performing the job, the answer may be different.
And if you do apply, do not spend the entire application trying to explain why you are not the perfect candidate.
Show the employer what you can do.
A job description describes the person a company hopes to find.
It does not always describe the only person it is willing to hire.
Found a remote job worth applying for?
Don’t rule yourself out before you’ve looked at what the role actually requires. Explore remote opportunities on Online.jobs and find roles that match your skills and experience.