In our final year, we think our class is the only competition we need to beat in order to get the best job through CAMPUS PLACEMENTS. In the same way, when we already have a job, we feel our peers in the company are the only ones we need to surpass in order to move ahead in our career. But what if you do not have the luxury of sitting for multiple interviews on your college campus or already having a job in hand while looking for a better one? What if, you are in that stage of your life where getting a job is a must for you but the only means of getting one is to first find the one that suits you and then prepare with all your might to crack the interviews?

Even after taking all the necessary efforts (multiple times because there will always be better opportunities out there), we cannot be sure that we will end up getting the job, and why not? Though we do like to stay in our own bubble thinking that our competition is merely limited to the number of candidates we see in front of our eyes, that is never the scenario. All over the country, many young individuals like you are applying for the job you have applied to and there are chances that some or most of them are more experienced than you are, maybe even more knowledgeable, so what do you do in such situations?

How do you beat the ones you have never met in your life, the ones who have a better job profile than you do, the ones who have better references, better experience? It is tough out there and the only way to beat the unknown enemy will require not just luck but skills as well.

Here are some methods and techniques you can make use of in order to be better than your competitors and beat them when you are out looking for a job-

1. Prepare yourself for the big battle

Getting a job in today’s world is the worst Battle that you’ll ever fight because you have no idea how good your competitors are and what strengths they possess that can prove to be dangerous for you. The best you can do in this case is prepare yourself for everything, the good and the bad, not just physically but emotionally as well.

The level of preparation will depend on you. DO you desperately need a job or you are just looking for a career move? Your role in this matters because it will decide how dedicated you are in this hunt. If you just graduated and are in desperate need of a job, you will give your 100% in the process of searching for a job. On the other hand, if you already have a decent job in hand, and only want to switch your jobs for a higher pay check, your commitment won’t be a 100% because somewhere down you’ll always know that you do have a good job even if you don’t get a better one.

Whatever the situation, prepare yourself physically by making a schedule and allocate yourself a time slot when you can give most of your attention to the job hunt process. Get the required sleep and eat healthily. One day of sickness can push you way down in the competition and you can miss out on important opportunities. Emotionally, make sure one rejection doesn’t pull you back and crush your confidence. There are always better jobs out there.

2. Use the best sites for job search

We all are very well aware that the chances of finding an advertisement of the job opening you are looking for in the newspapers anymore. Gone are those days when companies believed that print media was the best medium to reach out to job-seeking individuals. With almost all of the youth moving on to the Internet looking for information on daily activities, so have the companies.

But not all the sites on the Internet are going to be the best choice for job search. For example, people go on Facebook as their favourite choice for a social networking site but the problem with Facebook is, even if you use it to find a job, the hiring professionals are looking somewhere else for acceptable candidates, somewhere like LinkedIn. So, you see what’s happening? You are not at all aligned with the recruiters and therefore, getting a job becomes all the more difficult.

Using online sites for the job hunt is a trend you must be a part of, not only to be open to a huge market of opportunities but also, to be aware of the next possible job that you can be aware of due to the notification system of all these sites which reduces your efforts in terms of manually searching a job.

3. Your Degree is not enough

We often have the misconception that walking into an interview with a degree from IIT or an  IIM is enough to consider you as the desirable candidate for the job or that your previous working experience in an esteemed organization will be a huge plus when you will be compared to other applicants. Unfortunately, your Degree or work experience will not be that significant a part of the decision-making process.

A degree only tells the recruiters that you have acquired the required knowledge for the job but doesn’t guarantee that you are the best applicant out there, that you would be able to apply all your acquired knowledge when it comes to the real world. Even the best student from IIT need not be the ideal candidate for the job if he/she fails to prove his/her worth on the interview day.

Sometimes, we also demand higher salaries based on our educational qualifications but that can be a huge reason behind you being turned down because all you are basing your demands are on a piece of paper instead of actually measuring your skills and matching them with the job requirement. All you need is a clear confident mind to beat the competition not a degree from a better college than the others.

4. It’s now what you want, It’s what they want

Your requirements and your expectations are not what the job interviews are about. Obviously, when we are looking for a job we think about the salary, the working environment, the work that we would actually be doing, all of it to be favourable for us but we must remember that we are applying for a company that needs our services and we must be what they are looking for and not the other way round.

The questions that you need to ask are not about how much you will get paid or how big your office will be or how many times you will get to visit foreign countries in your career but instead, what the company is looking for, what skill sets they need in the new employee and are you the one that best fits the requirements?

All you need to do is actively listen what the recruiters are trying to say and ask questions about the company giving the impression that you are really interested in the job. Remember to acknowledge the recruiters for giving their time to you by sending an e-mail saying thank you. Try to keep the company’s needs above yours and show it in your actions. That is the best way to be better than all your competitors.

5. Your Resume is your weapon for Competition

Getting a job is almost like a real battle or war where the one with the better weapons is most likely to win. Your weapon in this battle is your Resume. The better resume will always be the reason behind someone’s acceptance for the job.

It is one of the fundamental rule of the interview process that in the first 10 seconds of reading your resume, the recruiter is almost sure about whether to hire you or not and the series of questions that follow are only to prove his assumption. 10 seconds might not seem like a fair enough time to assess you as a suitable candidate but that’s all you get. So, how do you make the most of it? Writing a good resume is not about listing all your accomplishments so far but being smart enough to mention the ones that really matter.

Your resume is a guide for the recruiter to know you and that is what it should look like. Not just that, your resume should be able to help you anticipate the line of questioning that would follow after the recruiter is done reading it. When you can anticipate the questions, you are ready with your answers. That indicates your level of preparation and to some degree your smartness and intelligence.

6. Research about the Company

Like I said, getting a job is a battle and you do not enter a battle without studying your opponent. As you can’t have any idea about the applicants, all you can do is learn everything about the battlefield to have that edge over your opponents. Research all you can about the company you are about to interview for and be ready for the battle.

The most common questions that are asked in the interview process are- Why do you want to work for this company, what do you know about our company, what is our company currently working on? These questions are the make or break questions as they can very well be the questions that decide your fate in this battle.

Don’t limit your research to the Internet, because though it might be knowledgeable, the best source is always the people who are the part of the organization. Talking to employees will not only give you insights on the company you cannot find online but also, help you get referrals from the employees. This indicates how much dedicated you are to get the job.

7. Dress to win

Your suit of armour in the battle plays a big role. There are a lot of indicators of your preparation for the interview and your attire is one of them. Making efforts to dress the part speaks a lot about your seriousness to get the job.

It might not seem very important to you that what it matters if you wear a suit or just jeans and t-shirt, but it does. Spending time and money on resume writers and career counselling is good, but it is equally necessary to have an attire that looks professional and reflects your personality.

Though dressing well is more important for female applicants (minimum jewellery and make-up), it applies to men as well. The income statistics of well-dressed and maintained individuals is a proof about how important dressing up is for the interview process.

8. Do your best on the day!

So, the preparation for the battle is done. Now, it is all about what you do on the big day. All your preparation might go in vain if you fail to give your best on the day of the interview and your performance starts well before the actual interview.

Make sure you wake up early enough to pack all the important documents and notes you might have prepared for the interview. Coming back to the dressing up part, iron your clothes, polish your shoes and take a nice long shower to look fresh and agile. Eat your meal of that time of the day because you will need the energy.

After doing all of these necessary chores, reach the location of the interview 30-45 minutes before the actual time of the appointment. This will not only help you be calm and ready for the interview but also, do a quick study of the company in terms of learning the working environment and ethics of the company. How the company employees interact can tell you a lot about what you might need to do if you are hired. Make use of the extra time to do some last minute preparation by going through your notes.

Follow these tips to prepare for the most important day of your life. Your competition will only increase with each passing day. All you can do is prepare to be your better self. All the best!

The post 8 Steps to Beat the Competition When Looking for a Job appeared first on eduCBA.