What can an underconfident person do to get a job?

[coloradodem2005]

The fact is I am still struggling with my lack confidence and I want to find work that I can deal with but I just don't have the confidence to get out there and do it.

[nini]

1. do you have access to any job placements groups?

they can help with interview skills etc.. that may help.

good luck

[pretzel4gore]

2. yes, confidence is the only skill!

i recall driving to west coast with an acquaintance 30 years ago who told me he once needed a job at an open pit mine so visted before applying to talk with drivers of the huge earth mover trucks you need ladders to get into: one guy showed him what he needed to know, so next day he conned his way into high paying job.....
i think alot of 'confidence' is simply being misleading to others while knowing you're misleading them (for their benefit too, of course)
like the poet Robert Frost once wrote: "Freedom lies in being bold!"
just don't apply for brain surgeon job, or jumbo jet pilot, US prez etc!
;)

[SarahB]

3. Figure out how to fake it.

Play the part of "confident guy", practice in front of a mirror, and do what it takes to come across like you are even if you're not.

[oblivious]

4. This might sound a bit weird, but try using it as a selling point.

Some employers, for some positions, may value that trait, not for a sales position obviously, but perhaps for many others.

I really think you should come straight out and say in your cover letter or resume that you regard this as a weakness of yours, but that it doesn't affect your ability to do an excellent job. There's no point in hiding it because it would show in the interview anyway, and employers should appreciate your honesty.

Here is an extreme example of that approach from Reuters. Sorry, no link. It's no longer on line.

'Talentless' Woman Proves Any Publicity Is Good

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Negative advertising works, at least for a Swedish care worker who gave it a try after fruitless attempts to find a new job by more conventional means.

"I want a well-paid job. I have no imagination, I am anti-social, uncreative and untalented," read an advertisement posted by Angelika Wedberg, 30, in the regional daily Goteborgs-Posten on Sunday.

Her phone started ringing incessantly and job offers poured in, Wedberg told the Internet edition of the daily Expressen.

She has an interview on Wednesday with a company called Map Media offering a salary of 18,000 crowns ($2,118) per month -- an increase of more than a third on her current job as a care worker for the elderly. Expressen did not say what the new position was.

[jayavarman]

5. I would agree that confidence is the #1 thing in getting a job.

Not #1 in doing the job or keeping the job, though.

I've seen you make similar posts before, colorado, about confidence, etc . . .

Seems like you are confident in your lack of confidence! :)

Seriously though, give it a shot, try to be full of bluster & convince people to give you a job.

Not to be mean, but if you are not confident in yourself, it becomes harder for others to feel confidence in you.

What sorts of things have you done well in the past?

Dont be shy, you know that you can rattle off many things that you're good at! Even though it may be strange, revel in your strenths on a personal level & it will become easier to do so with others.

[coloradodem2005]

7. I have done good at getting jobs and losing them.

I appearently have done a good job at pissing people off and making them consider me abrasive. The last two years have destroyed me in every way. Before that I did not have confidence in my ability to attract women, now I have lost it across the board.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Get a doctorate of physics from MIT

[Philosophy]

8. Competence

Just pick something you want to do and make yourself an expert in it. I used to have the same problem as you, but then I focused on telling people who interviewed me exactly what my strenghths are, and making sure I was actually really an expert in those things, and never trying to fake competence in stuff I didn't really know anything about. I've interviewed a few people for jobs in my time, and what I look for more than anything is proof that people know what the hell they're talking about, and what pisses me off more than anything is when people try to fool me into thinking they know what they're talking about when I can easily tell that they don't. I don't know, maybe I'm different, because I'm not real personable myself so I just don't care if people try to be friendly in jobs that don't require friendliness.

[CO Liberal]

9. Have Your Father Get You In To Yale & Harvard

After you get your purchased MBA, go AWOL from the National Guard for a few years, and then use your father's friends to get an ownership in the Texas Rangers.

:-)