The Job Seeking Advice I Learned X Factor 2012

 By Mary Salvino, Career Coach

Age trumps youth, at least in the grand finale of X Factor 2012.  In this year’s finale, 37-year-old country crooner Tate Stevens won the singing competition over a 13-year-old vocalist and child prodigy, Carly Rose Sonenclar.   

The X Factor 2012 competition ultimately became a two-person race between Tate and Solenclar, with one or the other taking the top spot on the show’s leader board for weeks on end.  Both artists are commercial, professional, and very marketable and both leave the completion with record deals. 

The fact is that of all of those who entered the competition, Tate was never the type of person who was supposed to win the show.  He was the least “X Factor-like” of all the contestants.  He was older than his completion.  He wasn’t flashy and his workaday life before competing on X Factor was both hero-like and unremarkable insofar as he worked as a labourer to support his wife and family.  He always put the needs of his family before his ‘not-so-secret’ desire to sing professionally.   Moreover, it was at the insistence of his family that he even tried out for the X Factor in the first place. 

So, why did Tate ultimately win the competition? He was talented, personable, easy to work with, reliable, dependable, and he never gave up on his dreams.  The fact is that the same can be said of a great many of his competitors.  Ultimately, the only difference between Tate and his competition was the fact that he asked for the job.  “The only difference between me and the others in this completion is that they ‘want’ to win and I ‘need’ to win.” - Tate Stevens.

Does ‘needing’ something put you in a different head-space than ‘wanting’ something?  What are your thoughts?

Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog authored by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca