When we talk about job hunting or job application, there's often a sense of competition involved. It's common to have more applicants than open positions, so the said applicants are encouraged to put their best foot forward and hope that they'll be the best choice. (Yes, there's cheating and lying about your qualifications, but that's a topic for another post... maybe.)
Because of this, I understand if people would think it doesn't make sense for them to be actually happy for their fellow candidates when those others get the job instead of them. And when I say actually happy, I mean truly, genuinely happy for them without being fake about it or feeling bad or pitiful for oneself.
I would say that I had that sort of mindset before. Back then, especially during the times I would try for call center jobs, I would feel bad cause I did have some education, and I also believed I had a good grasp of spoken English, but I just fell short when it came to the interviews, because I wasn't that much of a talker. And I felt that weird mix of envy towards the people who I saw were really better than me, and pride in the sense that I couldn't accept that people who were "lesser" (at least in my very hierarchical worldview at the time) got in.
(I really am just glad that I didn't get into it, because I don't want the unnecessary stress of irate callers, and I might have some sort of difficulty with understanding what people on the phone say for some reason.)
But anyway, recently, I had an experience not too long ago (from this time of writing) where I was surprised that I didn't react like how I did before. It could be that external circumstances are slightly different, but I believe that it is mostly due to something that changed internally.
For context, I've chosen to apply somewhere, but I had chosen not to put down the work experience I've been doing so before in my resume. I've realized that a lot of my work has been informal in nature, with almost no contracts or anything, and some of them have been done under my friend's group so any agreements were with her and not me. And that one job with an actual contract, I left without notice. So, no chance of even getting a reference from there.
So far, I was quite surprised to reach an interview stage. There were a few of us, and based on what I got from the conversations between me, my fellow applicants, and the people in that company, my fellows are actually more suited for the job than I am. Or at least any one of them was more likely to be accepted than I was.
Based on my past experiences, I thought I would feel bad about it, but to my surprise, I didn't. I was happy for them, even though I didn't know who would be offered the job in the end. I was even really happy for one of them who got a call before her turn and was accepted for another job, and this wasn't because I thought there would be less competition. It was because she got a job, and I could relate to her finding it a challenge to go through the process of application.
For the others, I believed that any one of them would be better, since they were already familiar with the type of workplace and the type of people there, and could fit a lot better than I would. And it helped that I heard that they somewhat needed guys more, perhaps with lifting things and whatnot. So, I thought, if any of them were accepted, the company would get a person they need.
I guess that change in mindset, actually thinking more of others' well-being, whether it be the employer's or fellow applicants', and also thinking about things in a more realistic, "bigger picture" sense, made me feel a lot more at peace when it came to job hunting. I mean, sure, I did go there mostly only to show up since I had doubts about the possible schedule working for me, but the point still stands.