You see a role that sits below where you've been, and you hesitate before you hit apply. You see a role that sits above where you're at, and you hesitate for the opposite reason. Either way, the doubt sounds the same. Will they think I'm too much, or not enough?
Stepping down is not a step backwards, but it does need a reason you can say out loud. A Property Manager who has run a large portfolio and wants smaller, steadier work, an Executive Assistant who has done the high pressure end and wants more balance, a return to hands on work after time spent managing people, these are legitimate reasons, and the businesses worth working for will hear them as exactly that. What doesn't land well is silence. If you can't articulate why you're applying below your experience, the hiring manager will fill that gap with their own theory, and it's usually the wrong one.
Stepping up asks a different question of you. Ambition is not the problem, but ambition without honesty about the gap is. If a role asks for skills you haven't used yet, name that plainly rather than stretching your resume to imply you have. An Administration candidate moving toward an Office Manager role, a Property Management Assistant reaching for something with more autonomy, these are real and reasonable moves, provided you can speak to what you'll need to learn, not just what you hope to prove.
The common thread is the same for both directions. It's not about whether the role sits above or below your last one, it's about whether you can explain the fit in your own words. A vague application leaves the reading up to someone else. A clear one puts you in the conversation on your terms.
Are you applying for the role, or just applying for the next thing that came up?
realestatejobs.com.au