Applying and interviewing for jobs can be a nerve wracking process. In a competitive job market, you may be wondering how you can stack up against your competition to help you stand out amongst other candidates. Whether you’re a recent graduate newly entering the workforce or a seasoned professional looking to level up your career, using different competitor analysis frameworks to uncover your strengths and weaknesses can help you stay competitive in the job market and help you land your dream job.
While competitor analysis is a common tool companies use to analyze business competition, these techniques can also be used to evaluate yourself to better determine how you can stand out in the job market. Here are 3 frameworks you can use today:
1. SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, is one of the most common types of frameworks and one you may be familiar with. This framework is perfect to use in preparation for a job interview, as most interviews ask you about your strengths and weaknesses. To conduct a personal SWOT analysis, you want to start by uncovering your strengths. This can include your experience, skills, personality traits or any other key strengths that show you are a strong candidate.
Next, you want to highlight your weaknesses, which could be a challenge to most people. The best thing to do is to be honest with yourself and think about how you are going to develop a plan to work through your weaknesses. The next step is to highlight opportunities. To uncover these, ask yourself questions like:
- Can I get trained in any missing skills?
- Are there any areas I see others failing?
- Do any of my skills lead to opportunities?
Once you’ve uncovered opportunities, it’s time to uncover threats. To unconcover these, ask yourself questions like:
- Is my industry shrinking or growing?
- Could any of my weaknesses lead to threats?
- What would make other applicants more qualified than me?
2. Perceptual Mapping
Another competitive analysis framework that is useful during a job search is the perceptual mapping method. This framework is used to determine whether you’re a good candidate for a position by creating a visual representation of how a company may perceive you. To do this, start by drawing to perpendicular lines, creating a cross. Look at the position you are applying for and choose two required qualifications for the role. Once you have them, put one on the y-axis and the other on the x-axis. Finally, rate how you think you would align with those qualifications and put a dot in the spot where you feel you would fall.
3. Porter’s Five Forces
The last framework is Porter’s five forces, which helps you gather insight around your competition, helping you understand where you land compared to other candidates. The five forces in this model include:
- Existing competitors, which in this case would be other applicants and their personas
- Bargaining power of buyers, which in this case the power of the buyers would be the applicants
- Bargaining power of suppliers, or the power of the hiring company
- Threat of new alternatives, which would be technology or automation
- Threat of new entrants or the constant stream of new job seekers
To help you conduct these analyses to prepare for your next interview, JobHero created these free downloadable worksheets to make the process easier. If you’re worried where you may stand in a competitive job market, utilize these strategies and worksheets to determine how you can land the job of your dreams.
