Luck vs Hard Work: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Posted April 13th, 2012 in blog_news, For Job Seekers

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
- Samuel Goldwyn

“Make your own luck” may look good scrawled on a graphic t-shirt and paired with a snap-back and some Vans, but it makes less sense as a (non-fashion) statement.  Given that luck is, by definition, beyond your control, how can you make it?

Apparently, the respondents to a recent LinkedIn survey have the answer:  Over 70% felt that things like work ethic and communication skills contribute to the amount of luck we receive.  But if that’s true – if tireless effort, networking and taking advantage of opportunities are the things that lead to big breaks – what’s the difference between ‘luck’ and ‘hard work’?

I don’t mean to wilt the leaves on your clover, but I think there’s a danger in linking effort and luck, as it disassociates success from control, undercutting the hopeful spirit of the article.

Let’s say it’s your dream to become a management consultant specializing in corporate social responsibility.  One day, your boss decides to launch a ‘Green Workplace’ initiative and needs someone to lead the committee.  Though your boss may be completely unaware that you’re the Jeremy Lin of corporate social responsibility (hopefully with stronger knee ligaments), you happen to run into each other one afternoon at the coffee shop next to the office.  Your boss, who can’t be bothered to go through an interview process, arbitrarily offers you the position of committee leader.

Was it by luck that you were given this potentially career-making opportunity?  Not necessarily.  There’s obviously an element of timing involved – but let’s say you’d strategically chosen to choke down coffee shop sewage every day to match your boss’s break schedule, increasing the likelihood of getting some one-on-one time.  Can we really call your good fortune ‘luck’?

Those who apply the concepts identified in the survey – a strong work ethic, good communication skills, acting on opportunities – are likely to be the kinds of people who would come up with these types of strategies.  In doing so, the line between ‘luck’ and ‘reward for effort’ is suddenly blurred.  In our example, you clearly took action to put yourself in a situation to succeed, so, in a way, your new undertaking should be credited as an accomplishment, not just dumb luck.

Let’s just admit that we have more control over our careers than we’d sometimes like to believe

The survey results are meant to give the apparently unlucky reason to believe there are ways to turn their fortunes around, to restore faith in our ability to control our careers.  To me, if you want to empower someone, you should be making them feel that they control the breaks they get.  To keep calling it ‘luck’ even though you’re making calculated decisions to bring about certain results seems to snatch power from the individual, instead attributing it to random cosmic forces.

I don’t mean to get all Freudian, but if luck is driving our careers, what personal responsibility do we really have?

In spirit, the article is trying to debunk the notion that we are powerless unless we fill our briefcases with horseshoes and rabbit feet.  My issue is not with the message, but how it’s framed.  I’ll be the first to admit that luck plays a role in career success, but strong work ethic, communication skills and opportunism should also increase your career trajectory, and give you a better chance of catching breaks.  What they’re really saying is that we can’t increase our luck, but we can increase our odds.  Putting ourselves in more potentially luck-bearing situations increases the likelihood that, at some point, we’ll catch a break.

By thinking of it this way, we can disconnect luck from success and re-establish the notions of control and responsibility.  So maybe it isn’t the number of bowls of Lucky Charms you scarf down at the breakfast table – maybe it’s where you’re going, or who you’re eating with, that’s actually going to help your career.

 

Guest post by Geoffrey “Don’t Call Me Lucky” Gilbert, Recruiter at Poly Placements

If you could only choose one, which would it be: Success or happiness?

Posted March 23rd, 2012 in blog_news, For Job Seekers

They don’t go together as automatically as you think.

Whether you’re a virtue ethics professor or a shoe-gazing hipster trying to impress a girl with your emotional depth, many of us have pondered this question.  You may feel the answer is simple: success and happiness are one and the same.  If you have a great career, it seems natural to assume that it would make you happy.  It’s a nice idea, but I, for one, am not ready to join hands and go skipping off into the sunset.  The truth is, success and happiness are often unrelated.  The fine folks at the University of Notre Dame agree with me… sort of.

Their longitudinal study, the subject of a recent article on Fortune.com, found that high-achievers – educated, ambitious individuals that gain status and prosperity through career accomplishments – are not significantly happier than the rest of us (and to top it off, they tend not to live as long!).  It seems disheartening, at first.  Imagine you attended a prestigious business school, landed a great job at a venture capital firm, discovered the next Velcro and became wealthier than Croesus.  The thought that these accomplishments may have no effect to your ability to find contentment seems like a karmic punch in the gut, but aspiring entrepreneurs need not throw out their Steve Jobs turtlenecks just yet.

Don’t panic: Happiness is subjective

It becomes much less unsettling if we stop considering happiness an objective concept.  It doesn’t take much to show that there are more definitions of delight than there are Drake songs on the radio, which changes how we should interpret the results of the study.  If you were to ask a random assortment of people what happiness is, you’d hear a lot about beer and beaches, but you’d also get references to more substantive achievements, like advances in cancer research or the pursuit of universal morality.  I’m not judging, but it is safe to say that some people need more to be concerned about than a flip cup winning streak.

To some, happiness is simply the maximization of pleasure: do what makes you feel good.  Others see it as the by-product of meaningful pursuits: your mission is to dedicate your life to discovering XYZ, and true happiness is only gained when we make strides in that pursuit.  The pleasure-seeker has a distinct practical advantage – for them, happiness is well-defined.  The physiological and emotional responses you experience when you laugh at a joke, score a big goal for your rec league team or have a great date provide instant, unmistakable feedback, letting us know our score on the happiness high striker.

Those with deeper, more abstract definitions, on the other hand, may have a tough time understanding what happiness even feels like.  Sure, lessons learned from life experiences can help make us better people, but in terms of how happy they make us feel, it is isn’t exactly a wild night in Tijuana.  With constructs as fuzzy as “virtue” or “truth” as our guideposts instead of clear-cut physical indicators, searching for a deeper happiness can be like running a race without knowing where the finish line is.  This lack of clarity makes the journey much more rigorous, but the ultimate payoff is arguably much greater than that of the simple pleasure-seeker.

So what does this mean for you?

I am not trying to imply that the high-achiever is working on a more advanced philosophical level than the average person.  My point is that it is clear that with all the possible concepts of happiness, it is easy to see how it can be disconnected from career success.  Without any insight into how the participants of this study define happiness, we can’t draw any real conclusions.  I will be interested to read the full report when it is published later this month, because right now, it is a bit like anything by Michael Moore: sure, it brings an important issue to light, but it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Whether you work to live or live to work, simply understanding what success and happiness mean to you will go a long way in determining how to achieve them.  To borrow from two wise men – Socrates and G.I Joe – knowing yourself is half the battle.

Guest post by Poly Placements recruiter Geoffrey Gilbert.

When to say “thanks, but no thanks” to a job offer

Posted April 9th, 2011 in For Job Seekers

It’s flattering to get offered a job.
That doesn’t mean you should accept.

The only thing worse than being stuck in a job you hate for years on end is taking a job only to flee from it 3 months later:  A company who invests time and money to onboard you only to lose you almost immediately is definitely going to be cheesed off, and it’s a small world.  Plus it’s bad for your resume – having 5 jobs in 3 years makes you look like an unreliable job-jumper and a bad bet.

Approach the interview process as you would the dating scene

You already know that you don’t have to go out with everyone who asks you on a date, you don’t have to kiss everyone who buys you dinner, and you definitely don’t have to marry someone just because you met their family last Christmas.   Sometimes you just know there isn’t a future in the relationship.

Think of the interview process in the same way:   You may have a positive interview (or two), and the company may offer you a job – but that doesn’t mean you should automatically accept it.

Here are some situations in which you should probably decline the offer:

1.  It’s a counter-offer

You decided you hated your current job, so you went on a few interviews and now you have a good offer from another company.  But when you tell your current boss you’re leaving, s/he offers you a raise/title bump/corner office/car allowance to try to get you to stay.

Don’t accept it.  With a very few exceptions, all the reasons you wanted to leave in the first place will still be there (you’ll find that, after tax, that $5000 raise doesn’t actually compensate for the 60-hour weeks you’ve been working),  plus now your boss considers you a flight risk and your co-workers think you blackmailed your way to some kind of advantage.  99% of the time, people who accept counter-offers end up leaving within 6 months anyway, so you’re better off sticking to your guns and making a clean break.

2.  It doesn’t pay enough money to live on

Unless you’re living at home with your parents and just need some work experience, fast, you shouldn’t take a job that pays less than you need for basic expenses, even if they promise you a raise within a few months.  You’ll end up stressed out and resentful – neither of which are conducive to giving 100% to your new job.

What’s more, you run the risk of looking desperate, which means that promised raise may not be forthcoming (“If s/he was so desperate for a job that they took the absurdly low salary we offered, s/he isn’t going to leave even if we keep him/her on slave wages…”).

3.  You aren’t excited about the job

If you get a job offer and aren’t immediately on the phone to your best friend or your mother to tell them about it, it’s probably the wrong job.  It’s hard to succeed in a job, especially in the crucial first 6-12 months, if you’re not passionate about it.  What’s more, if you aren’t excited now, imagine how you’ll feel after a year or two.  Right:  You’ll be back on the market again.

4.  You don’t believe in the company or the brand

So you’re a die-hard fan of Brand X footwear, but you get a great job offer from their closest competitor, Brand Y.  Don’t take it. For most people, career success means being able to get fully invested in what they’re doing, and you’re only going to give yourself a serious case of cognitive dissonance when you have to pretend to love Brand Y all day and restrict your Brand X passion to the weekends.

Sooner or later your managers will notice this lack of enthusiasm and you’ll be passed over for promotion, while your co-workers move ahead.

(On the other hand, you should probably check out Brand X’s career opportunities, where your passion can be turned to good advantage!)

5.  You got a bad ‘vibe’ when you toured the office

Most of us have better gut instincts than we realize.

Think about the last job you really loved.  Chances are, the first time you walked into or through the office, you got a good feeling about it.  It may have been that people were friendly to you; it may have been that you picked up on good teamwork among the existing employees; it may have been the architecture.

We call our reactions to these things ‘vibes’, but in fact they’re quite rational:  People who are friendly to strangers walking through their office are likely to be friendly to new hires; people who appear to be working well together indicate a healthy office environment; and architecture you like means you probably have things in common with your potential new co-workers.

Well, these ‘vibes’ work the other way, too.  If you’re getting a bad vibe, it could mean that your potential new co-workers aren’t all that friendly, that the working environment isn’t healthy, or that you won’t have a lot in common with your teammates.  Regardless, it means you probably aren’t a good fit.

The good news?
Getting one job offer is a good sign that another one is on its way.

Job-hunting is funny:  It can take you a while to get on top of your game (finding the right opportunities, writing  a killer resume, getting confident in interviews, etc.), but once you do, it’s surprising how popular you start to become.

So don’t panic too much about turning down a job offer.  The fact that you got one – especially one that was close enough to what you wanted to be a serious contender – is a good indication that you’re putting your best foot forward and are attractive to potential employers.  Which means a better offer – one that’s more suitable for you, anyway – won’t be long in arriving.  Really.

The Happiness Project: Great ideas for work-related happiness, too

Posted January 25th, 2011 in For Job Seekers

Because ‘happiness’ isn’t just for your personal life

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already know our philosophy:  The ROI of Happiness.  For us that means that ‘happiness’ and ‘the bottom line’ aren’t mutually exclusive.

One of our inspirations for the ROI of Happiness was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  A couple of years ago, Gretchen – a writer and journalist by trade – decided she wanted to be happier, and spent a year trying out all the self-help books, workshops, scientific theories and pop-culture remedies to see which one(s) actually worked.

When most of us think about ‘happiness’ and how to be happier in our day-to-day lives, we tend to think about our personal lives, not our work lives.  We all know that our jobs and careers are a huge factor in overall happiness, but when self-help books or life coaches address the subject, they tend to focus on the big picture (i.e. “Don’t be afraid to quit your job, go back to school, and reinvent yourself in a whole new career!”) rather than smaller, day-to-day changes they recommend  for your personal life.

12 happiness tips for your whole life – including work!

After her year of experimenting, Gretchen came up with ‘12 Personal Commandments’.  Like most guidelines to happiness and fulfillment, at first glance they don’t seem to have much to do with work/jobs/career.  But take another look:  these are great tips for being happy at work and in your personal life.
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Wedding planning in the workplace: Avoiding backlash

Posted September 28th, 2010 in For Job Seekers

Yeah, getting married is a big deal and supposedly only happens once.  But it’s important to remember your co-workers aren’t as invested in your life plans as you and your mother are.

We may roll our eyes at bridezillas who spend $20,000 (or more) on wedding planners, but consider this:  When your company held a 1-day retreat for 100 employees last year, they probably assigned an experienced project manager and two coordinators who spent upwards of 500 hours pulling together the venue, catering, decor, speakers, materials, and all the other moving parts.

So it’s not surprising that as the big day approaches, you (as the imminent bride) are finding that 99% of your available brain space has been annexed by wedding details, and that it’s taking two hours a day just to appease various relatives, who have apparently forgotten that it’s your wedding and you’ve decided not to go with that seafoam-green colour scheme they’re so passionate about.

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Is your office lobby costing you A-list candidates?

Posted September 9th, 2010 in blog_news

“You never get a second chance to make  a first impression.”

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that we all make decisions about people based on appearances and a few short minutes of interaction, and that many hiring managers make hiring decisions within the first 5 minutes of the in-person interview.

Your office lobby is the first place candidates ‘meet’ your company in person.  What kind of first impression is it making?

The minute they walk in the door, they’re imagining themselves in the job

Interviews go both ways:  The employer is thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to have this person working here every day…”, while the candidate is thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to come to work here every day…”

So the minute a candidate walks through your door, they’re looking around thinking, “Would I like to come here to work every day?  Is the prospect of spending 40+ hours a week in this environment appealing?  Would I ‘fit in’ here?  Do I really want to pursue this opportunity, or does the thought of walking into this lobby every day fill me with despair?”

What message is your lobby sending to potential employees?

Here’s the lobby of Google Zurich:

This lobby says:  ”We’re creative, non-traditional, and interesting – and we’re successful enough to be able to spend money in our surroundings.  Sure, you’ll probably end up spending a lot of time here – we work a lot – but you won’t mind, because it’s so much fun and we’re all so invested in our work!”

Now let’s look at random clinic office:

This lobby says:  ”We’re serious.  We’re so serious that we don’t believe in having a personality of any kind between 9am and 5pm.  We think that spending a lot of money,time or energy on our surroundings is frivolous.  Hey – this is a workplace, not a funhouse!  We believe competency is more important than innovation.”

If you were an A-list candidate with 2 job offers, which one would you choose?

We’ve picked 2 extreme examples here, of course:  Hardly any lobbies or offices are as consistently appealing as Google’s, and it’s entirely possible that the photo of the ‘boring’ office was taken just after they’d repainted, and they hadn’t yet had time to replace the signage and decor.

But it’s worth thinking about.  Go take a look at your lobby, and try to imagine it through the eyes of someone who’s never seen it before.  Is it an accurate reflection of your organizational culture?  Your brand?  Is it likely to be appealing to your ideal new employee?

Cut your job-seeking time in half: 6 ways to stay positive

Posted August 12th, 2010 in blog_news, For Job Seekers

Job hunting may not make the list of life’s top 10 most stressful events (though being fired does), but it should.

Anyone who’s ever had to look for a new job knows that there is nothing more guaranteed to sap your self-confidence and induce panic than job hunting, and its the effects are cumulative and exponential:  Weeks 1-4 of a job hunt are tolerable, but by Week 8, even the most confident, optimistic and employable of us can find ourselves filling out applications for part-time minimum-wage positions at local fast-food restaurants, or leaving “Please, I’m desperate, I’ll take anything!  Call me!  Please!” voicemails for recruiters.

Neither of which is likely to further your career goals.

Desperation is a buzzkill

Remember in high school, when the ‘cool, popular’ kids were the ones who didn’t seem to care whether anyone liked them or not, while the ‘losers’ were the ones who seemed needy and too eager to make friends?

The job market is like that:  The more desperate you seem, the less attractive you are to potential employers, because it makes them wonder why you haven’t been able to get a job (“This candidate seems desperate, which tells me she’s been looking for a job for a while now.  If she hasn’t been hired by now, there must be something really wrong with her.  I think I’ll just take a pass on this one.”).

In other words, the longer you can keep your (very natural) feelings of panic and desperation out of your interactions with recruiters and potential employers, the more successful your job hunt will be.

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Positive feedback: The first step to happiness

Posted July 21st, 2010 in blog_news

The most effective $0 you’ve spent all week

Ever noticed that when you screw up, the ‘feedback’ comes fast and furious, but when you do something fantastic, the ‘feedback’ is usually muted or just plain non-existent?

Except here’s the thing:  Study after study demonstrates that a culture of positive feedback delivers immediate and long-term benefits for productivity and employee retention.

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Today’s candidate is tomorrow’s client. So you might want to return their call.

Posted July 19th, 2010 in blog_news

Most of us tend to think that the ‘C’ in ‘CRM’ stands for ‘Client’. For those of us in recruiting and HR, however, C also stands for ‘Candidate’ – and we need to do a better job of remembering that.

It’s a good idea to treat candidates the same way you would clients (i.e. returning calls and emails promptly, being friendly, responsive and enthusiastic when speaking to them, making them feel like a valuable asset rather than a headache-inducing annoyance, etc.) because it delivers referrals, increased word-of-mouth, improved recruitment brand awareness – not to mention that having positive interactions with people all day makes working a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

However, if you find all that touchy-feely, brand-building, positive-interaction stuff a little flaky for your taste (and it’s true that it can be hard to measure), there is one real solid reason you should put the ‘Candidate’ in ‘Candidate Relationship Management’.

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Welcome to the ROI of HappinessTM

Posted July 11th, 2010 in blog_news

When we started Poly Placements in 2006, we had a simple goal:  To make recruiting more enjoyable for everyone, clients, candidates and recruiters alike.

Why do we think this is so important?

Hiring the right person can be a game-changer for organizations; landing the right job can be a life-changer for individuals; and connecting the right candidate to the right employer can make you feel, just a little, like you’ve changed the world for the better.

In other words, we want people to stop thinking of recruiting (and job-hunting) as a stressful chore and start thinking of it as a terrific opportunity for their organization, for themselves, and for the recruiting partner they work with.

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