No matter your age or industry, there’s one thing all job seekers have to face: competition. Today, job market competition is fiercer than ever, and facing the competition is one thing that most job hunters hate.
On job search sites like JobTonic, job listings are posted and replied to in seconds, which makes it even more difficult to stay ahead of the game and standout from the crowd. To make matters worse, many of your competitors will resort to sneaky tactics to land the job or cheat their way to the top. If your fear of job market competition is holding you back, here are some tips on how to overcome them and confidently get the job you want.
Get Your Priorities Straight
As the saying goes, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. And this is true for the most part, but like most things in life, there’s a limit to how much you should try. Or rather, there’s a limit to how much you should randomly try. Yes, you want to try for as many opportunities as possible, but you want do so in a meaningful, efficient way.
How can you do this? Start out by learning to pinpoint which interviews are worth attending, and which ones aren’t worth your time. If a company uses favoritism and back door tactics to recruit new candidates, then the opportunity is likely not worth your time and energy.
Consult with Your Network
The people in your network can provide testimony to your competency, reliability and achievements, but they can also recommend you for job opportunities. Some companies prefer to keep quiet about their recruitment process, which can prove to be valuable if one of your contacts is involved in the discreet recruitment process.
Consult with your network and let them know you’re looking for a new job. The right contact with the right connections may just give you the leverage you need to move past the competition and to the front of the line.
Have a Backup Plan
Job competition – and the whole job search process – becomes a lot less intimidating and nerve-wracking when you have something on the sidelines to keep your career momentum going. You may be rejected after every interview, but if you have a freelance gig, entrepreneurial venture or other career-related project going on, you’ll feel indifferent to rejection.
Having a backup plan will also prevent you from making desperate moves just to secure a job. It’s never a wise move to put all your eggs in one basket, so have contingencies in place while searching for a job.
Why Are You Afraid of Job Competition?
What is it about job competition that gets our stomachs in knots? There are quite a few reasons why job seekers are anxious about facing their competitors. For starters, it tends to bring out the worst in people. Candidates who are hardworking and honest should land the most lucrative job positions, but that’s rarely the case. And unfortunately, many candidates resort to cheating their way a new job.
It’s no wonder job seekers are apprehensive and fearful of facing the competition. But if you use the tips listed above, you can overcome those fears and forge your own path to finding the right job for you.
