To bounce off this and even though Keno was quite blunt, his “average” comment does ring true.
I’ve found as I’ve progressed and gotten better that actually competition is relatively low. An example: an open position will have 100 people apply to it, but the reality is 95 just aren’t at the standard to get to the next stage meaning that if you are in the top 5 then you only have 4 other people to compete with at interview stage.
This happened recently to me when I joined a company, it was a small firm so when familiarizing myself with the network I found the folder for the position I had just filled. In it there were “no, maybe, yes” folders of applicants. In the yes folder was myself and another person that I actually know (and she is an incredibly talented designer). I could see the similarities in strength of both our portfolios and appropriateness for the role so it was no surprise we had beaten all those in the no and maybe pile.
Point of my story: if you have a top portfolio then the competition for positions is drastically reduced.