How to Make Competition Irrelevant

Job candidates at every level worry a lot about what other candidates are saying during interviews. Oftentimes they are also worried about credentials, status and experience. In other words, they’re worried about the competition.

While it’s completely normal to be a little concerned about your competition, the reality is this can actually make you fumble during job interviews. If you’re stressed about what other people are doing it will undoubtedly affect your own performance.

That being said, there are ways to become more confident in your own abilities while making the competition irrelevant. Below you’ll find just a few examples.

 

Focus on your key strengths.

Everyone has something that are really good at. Those are the things you should be leveraging during the hiring process.

In the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, the authors advise companies to focus on their particular strengths in comparison to other companies. They use Cirque du Soleil and the traditional circus as an example to make their point. For instance, Cirque du Soleil has a killer soundtrack while the traditional circus does not.

Rather than Cirque du Soleil worrying about how to compete on price and concessions which are big points for the traditional circus, they decided to focus on the things that made them unique.

The same concept can apply to individuals on the job hunt. Cirque du Soleil may be selling tickets, but when you’re looking for a job you’re essentially selling yourself.

 

Provide concrete examples of your experience.

Most people have vanilla resumes and fail to actually show recruiters what makes them a good candidate. One way to avoid making this mistake is to give concrete examples of your experience.

First, you’ll want to give specific examples in your resume. This is a great time to tell recruiters how you increased revenue or productivity. In fact, if you have exact numbers and percentages it will be like music to a recruiter’s ears.

Second, you’ll want to have a few stories ready for the interview. Not only will recruiters want to know how you did what you claim in your resume, they’ll also be keen on stories relating to how you saved the day. One great resource you can use to help you prepare is to use the STAR interviewing method.

 

Hone in on your soft skills.

Soft skills are those that essentially make you human: communication, having a good personality, knowing how to deal with people, etc. These are also the skills most people completely forget about in the interview.

The truth is people hire people they like. This is why really cultivating your soft skills can go a long way.

 

Keep the competition out of your head.

What’s the best way to make competition irrelevant on the job hunt? Stop worrying about other candidates. In reality it’s really none of your business how other candidates are responding to certain questions or what credentials they may have. This only leads to a ton of stress which can hinder your job hunt.

Your only real job is to worry about what you can bring to a company. Focus on that as your bottom line and you’ll be able to nail the hiring process.

 

Be Well!

Lisa