(Spoiler: 432 applicants are not 432 qualified competitors) You’ve just applied for a job on LinkedIn or Indeed. You hit submit  and immediately see it: “472 people have already applied.” Cue the stomach drop. You picture a virtual line of hundreds of other candidates — all better qualified, faster, sharper, with color-coded résumés and executive references. You close your laptop, grab a cookie, and think, “Why bother?” Before you start catastrophizing, let’s pause. Those big