To think a lot of career success is down to luck over judgement

[SadlyNotATroll]

Was having an interesting chat with friends today about life and careers. We were split down the middle on the issue of whether a “successful” career is down to working hard or sort of being in the right place at the right time. I think the latter. I got an average degree and took the first job I was offered out of uni; 6 months later promoted and then quickly again because management liked me and the business happened to be in an area that was receiving a lot of traction. I’m now very successful in my field even though I don’t feel I really “earned” it by working hard and being strategic. Similarly my dad got a job because he sat next to a man on the train, got chatting and this bloke saw something in him and it skyrocketed his career.

On the other hand my friends husband has the worst luck with jobs, redundancies, etc. which means he isn’t where he would like to be through no fault of his own.

Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts!

For me it was a combination of both. Total luck to end up in a junior role with a really good company. An absolute strategic choice to go head down arse up, prioritise my career over everything and take every opportunity offered to me, at the detriment of my personal life, at the time. I ate an awful lot of shit, but I knew what I wanted, I thought I could get it and I thought the sacrifice would pay off. And it did.

I think it’s both.

I used good judgement to identify the best paying industry in my local area that would suit my skill set. I spent a year doing another role in another firm to build my CV to get myself an entry level role. I have carefully planned, negotiated my way through the ranks, leaving roles when managers were ineffective and selecting roles where I had the best chance of success.

I was however, pretty damn lucky, that a company with such great opportunities is local to the area where I grew up and where I wish to live. I know not everyone is that lucky.

There is a lot of luck and although it is not everything, family background makes a huge difference. When I think about people I knew at university the ones who have done the "best" are the ones who grew up in comfortable families, went to good schools, had tutors and extacurriculars, money from parents so they could study and network instead of working in a takeaway etc. Their families often knew people in the right industries or could afford to support them to do unpaid work experience to get a foot in the door. Of course there are exceptions and your background doesn't have to define you but that early leg up certainly helped the people I know. Success is definitely not always proportionate to hardness of working.

I think that sometimes luck creates the opportunity but if the individual has neither the skills, personality or drive to take it on then the opportunity won’t go anywhere.

I think a lot of it is personality and the ability to network. I’m pretty much stuck where I am because I’m a bit shy and can’t ’talk’ to people. I’m excellent at my job and do extra duties but I haven’t got the people skills to be a leader.

You’ve said your Dad talked to someone on a train. Most people wouldn’t have even said hello in this situation let alone wow them enough to get an opportunity. Then you’ve said management liked you, again, you had the ability to talk to them in the ‘right’ way. You may not be aware of this, you were probably taught it as you grew up and might also be an extrovert which I think helps.

When I started my current role 13 years ago I used to drop my DD at nursery. Her nursery nurse got a job in my place some time after, in a different department. It was a totally different type of role. She is now my Team Leader. I find this quite embarrassing, buts it’s also fair enough. She was good at putting herself out there and networking. She is still young so I expect she will still go higher in the organisation.

I always thought working hard would get me noticed but it doesn’t count for anything without the soft skills.