To ask if you think the jobs you get are “meant for you” and the ones you don’t aren’t?

[DreamyPearlPeer]

Do you believe that the jobs you land are somehow meant to be, and the ones you don’t get aren’t right for you? Or do you think it’s just about chance and hard work?

Chance and effort with some luck too.

No. It’s about how you measure up to the other people who apply. Sometimes you’ll be the best option, other times you won’t. Sometimes the recruiters have already got a preferred person in mind and interviewing others is just a formality.

I have thought this about DS. Took a long time to get a job after uni . Amazingly good grades throughout all of his education . When he finally got a job he loves it .Gets on great with everyone and is more than happy.

No, sorry, I don't think anything is 'meant to be'. You choose jobs to apply for that you think will work for you and that you can potentially do, then you meet strangers and try to look like someone they could work with. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The others also applying affect your chances.

There's no over-arching plan to the path we take in life in that someone/thing is guiding/nudging/choosing for us.

However, some decisions do very clearly lead on from previous decisions, but that is down to a combination of experiences, luck, ability, and wherewithal. Some people spot opportunities and pounce, while others deliberate and potentially miss out. Or the deliberators don't end up taking big risks that ultimately fail. It all depends.

The correlation/causation fallacy is a big error of thinking here.

I do actually. Not in a woo destiny type way, but purely pragmatically. Because if I like them enough to want to work there and they like me enough to offer me the job, then we're likely a good fit. Equally if they don't want me, well, fine. I want to work somewhere that does want me, so clearly that isn't 'meant' for me.

No.

I think sometimes the timing can be wrong or right. I got my current job a month after being made redundant. I got the job because I had a good interview and they liked me but it just happened to come up at a time when I really needed it.

Not at all, I was offered a job about a year ago, on paper it sounded great and it was more money but I absolutely hated it.

Just because I got it does not mean it was for me, I left after less than a year, they thought I was a good fit, I most certainly did not.

I believe that 100%

Yeah! I just go wherever the wind takes me and it’s always been lovely. DH has followed his luck too and it’s been great.

I took the ‘you’ in the title as individuals though not the masses. Lots of people are in shit jobs and they deserve better.

I once didn't get a job in team A (was actually someone already doing the temp job), I was later asked to apply for the same organisation but for team B, I got the job. While working for team B I discovered team A had an ineffective manager and a terrible reputation for bullying. I was very happy in team B so wasn't definitely worth the disappointment.
Df had a job interview got to final round and was turned down. However the week he would have got away for the first week of training (at headquarters in mainland Europe) his dad had a stroke and passed away. If he'd got the job he'd have never seen got back in time to say goodbye. Sometimes things happen for a reason (same as houses). Sometimes there seems no reason at all at just feels like bad luck. Maybe it's all just coincidence.