4 Ways to Shine When Job Competition is Highly Qualified

Chances are if you’re in the current job market, it’s pretty tough to find the position that’s a shoe-in. Granted, that’s probably because there are automated HR systems now, much more stringent requirements for mostly the technical jobs.

Shine through the barriers.

I just think in the world of social media, and the connectedness of everything nowadays, it’s tough to not just blatantly say no to as many as possible and hope for the four or five yes’s that remain. Well, if you really want to look to be one of those yes’s, there are at least four ways to shine when competition in the career market is so highly qualified. You can be one while being completely honest and awesome. I’m here to give you those four tips.

1) Maintain An Air Of Confidence

You already know that you’re not the number ten on the scale to one to ten super-duper expert with what you do. Can you get over that already? You also know you’re not number one? You’re somewhere in between and depending on what the position is asking for, you’re probably a good fit because you know yourself well and what the description is telling you.

Companies need fives; companies need sevens. Companies need threes. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, it just matters how you fit and that you’re confident that you can meet the requirements of whatever it is that you are looking for.

There are a lot of people out there that are probably overly qualified or they don’t put themselves in the positions of what they do and sign up to what they need to do to fulfill that job. Adding value to the company and proving that you have the confidence and motivation to get done is the important part here.

2) Come To The Interview Prepared

If you haven’t done your research, haven’t polished your resume, you don’t have a specific cover letter or reference list for the position that you are interviewing for, you’re not sure of any names or location or the time, the commute to get there.

These are pretty basic things you need to check into that if you wait to the last minute there is a high probability that you are going to miss something. Create a checklist and write down the things I just mentioned and sprinkle in more that makes sense for you and what you’re going for, and do it.

Open up Word, create a checklist a week or two before (or as soon as you can), print it out and start checking through them. The day before, if you have a Skype call interview, make sure that you have everything set up. I know I spent around a good one and a half trying to find a good 4G connection to call someone over in Europe. It was a challenge, but I’m sure glad I did it early instead of hustling around on the day of.

3) Keep Your Past Successes In Mind

Too often, we know the one or two most awesome things in our life, but we have the plethora of hundreds of things that probably didn’t go as well as we planned them to. Forget about those. Yes, they are important, but they are not something that you need to bring up explicitly or that plainly in the interview.

You need to harp on the two to three things, the most wonderful awesome things that you have accomplished, but spun honestly and effectively in a way that is relevant to the position you are going for. There’s no time for drama or emotion.

This is professional. This HR or hiring manager is looking for can you meet these qualities, are you a good person, and are you a good person over all, and if you communicate well. These are basic things, sure personality is part of it, but you can let some of that shine once you’ve proven you’re a good fit for the company.

4) Provide Evidence On Why You’re The Best Choice

You got your confidence. You came prepared. You got your best examples. All of these things meld into you providing concrete evidence on why you’re better than the rest. Now this is may be specific examples on projects that you did especially did well on.

Have something that is an honest representation of what you’ve done, but super concrete, sounds awesome, and shows that you did the work and you know what you’re talking about because a lot of people don’t.

Keep on Shining – You’re a Star!

It’s your time to shine when it comes to these new positions you are looking for, and in a market where the competition is especially and highly qualified, you have to stand out.

You maintain an air of confidence, come to the interview prepared, keep your successes in mind, and provide evidence that you are the one that is going to do the job the best.