SECTION TWO

GETTING THERE: HOW TO FIND AND SECURE THAT PERFECT JOB

Those who find success in life put themselves in positions and situations where they will have a high likelihood of thriving. Many people discount the success of others and claim those people are lucky. There’s a bit of truth in that, because good fortune does play a role in being successful. You must be lucky enough to be presented with opportunities and then be prepared enough to make the most of those opportunities and succeed. With some careful planning, you can strategically position yourself where you need to be. Why wouldn’t you do everything in your power to be in that place? Obviously, giving yourself as many chances as possible will increase the likelihood of your success.

This plays out every day in the business world, but it is not as easy to spot when compared to how this plays out in sports. In professional team sports, athletes on a dominant or winning team are more likely to excel because of their strong supporting cast members, great coaches, and polished, proven team strategies that put the players in the best positions to succeed. While it doesn’t guarantee success, the odds of the athletes on the top teams excelling are far greater than those of athletes on struggling or poorly run teams. Take this football example. The New England Patriots from 2000 through 2017 experienced unparalleled success in a sport whose governing body, the NFL, had designed rules to create parity. Year after year they bring in talented players who had previously underperformed but then ended up excelling with the Patriots. The reason many of these players experienced a career renaissance is because the New England Patriots are one of the best-run organizations in sports. They have a strong ownership group, one of the best coaches of all time, and the entire organization is committed and running in the same direction. We see this echoed in the business world, where being part of a superior team allows those team members to benefit from advantages that others do not have.

This is one of the main reasons for you to be selective in your career search. Your goal should be to seek out the types of organizations that provide you and your career with the best opportunities to succeed. For instance, look for companies, and their teams, that possess:

• A superior product or a distinct advantage in the marketplace
• A stellar reputation spanning across industries
• A supportive and collaborative culture and programs for talent development
• Management that invests in staff development and stands behind their employees

A work environment with these types of characteristics is one that will offer you an increased number of opportunities to succeed, even if others will call it luck.

As you would expect, positions at these types of organizations are more attractive to job seekers, and you will face more competition for them. In the following chapters, in addition to outlining how to evaluate job opportunities, we will walk through the basics on making yourself a far more attractive applicant to these strong companies.