A strong job market combined with a talent shortage provides you with serious leverage. However, no one (and I mean NO ONE) likes a cocky candidate! Your hard to find skills may be in demand, but there's ALWAYS competition in play. Stay humble and sell yourself whether you think you have to or not. Read on as to why...

Below are all the different reasons you are not likely to ever be in the safty zone of being the only person considered for a job. Understanding these realities will hopefully keep your ego in check and remind you to sell yourself for every job you interview for.

• Backup: Managers know that the really strong candidates will likely generate multiple offers before accepting one. Because of this, they'll need to have backup in case their top choice doesn’t accept. Sometimes these "backup" candidates begin to shine in the later stages and could end up out ranking the #1 candidate of interest.
  
  
• Requirements: Managers typically have a set # of how many applicants need to be considered before pulling the trigger. These are either HR mandated guidelines or just a personal rule of thumb. This happens even more so when agencies are involved and the expense of a fee needs to be justified. These add substantial competition to the plate.
  
  
• Home Team Advantage: Unknown to you, they may also be considering an internal candidate. Sometimes they want to see what else is out there before moving someone within the company into that role and many times they will come back to hiring that internal candidate if no one else presents itself as a more compelling choice.
  
  
• Wider Net: Managers will ultimately hire the person who makes the best overall impression. They will typically interview both over and under qualified candidates within reason to widen this scope of finding that perfect chemistry match.
  
  
• Comparison: Most Managers aren't comfortable marrying their high school sweetheart (metaphorically speaking). If the 1st person they interview is a match, they'll likely want to do at least 3 or 4 more just to make sure that this is true.
  
  
• Agency Standard Practices: All recruiters want to increase their chances of doing a placement since their client is probably working with more than one agency. As a result, most will refer a group of qualified candidates as opposed to just their top guy.
  
  
• Continual Consideration: It "ain't over until the fat lady sings." Managers will interview more 1st rounds right up until the point of an offer being accepted to keep options open. This continued acceptance of new referrals can typically pad the amount of people interviewed by at least 2-4 more candidates in contention.