Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring: Take Charge of Your Career, Find a Job You Love, and Earn What You Deserve

Chapter 12. Seven Truths of Career Success, for Both Good Times and Bad

The Most Qualified Candidate Does Not Necessarily Get the Job Offer

Many times, candidates with lesser qualifications get job offers simply because they've prepared and presented themselves in a more compelling way. In other words, they're better self-marketers than the other candidates. In a tight job market, being qualified is never enough. You must demonstrate to the employer that you're the best candidate for the job. Depending on your age and how your parents raised you, you may be operating under a wishful thinking mindset regarding the concept of meritocracy. This would include the following cultural messages and ingrained assumptions that many of us were taught repeatedly over the years by well-meaning parents and teachers:

• Getting good grades guarantees success in college and in life.

• Being smart means that you'll do better than people who are not smart (or at least not as smart as you).

• Hard work is its own reward—and is also the best path to other rewards.

• Achievement and recognition go hand-in-hand. In other words, just do well, and other people (e.g., teachers, professors, employers, bosses, the CEO) will recognize and reward you for it.

In a difficult employment landscape, strong qualifications and accomplishments are necessary, but not sufficient, to find a job you love and earn what you deserve.

Note

In a difficult employment landscape, strong qualifications and accomplishments are necessary, but not ...