Once you identify what you are in control of throughout your job search, you begin to realize just how much control you have over “creating luck,” which is an integral part of job searching.
Ask yourself:
Do you often blame your circumstances on bad luck?
How can you add more luck to your life?
There are many things you can do to increase your job search luck. Meeting more people will make you luckier. Learning more skills will make you luckier. Becoming comfortable with taking risks and failing will make you luckier. Helping others will make you luckier. A well-crafted, result-oriented, optimized LinkedIn profile will make you luckier.
There is a tendency to think that luck is entirely random and uncontrollable, which leads to a victim mentality that successful people are lucky and we are not. Furthermore, when we succeed, we often minimize it due to luck, which undermines our self-esteem.
Without getting too existential, life’s hard truth is that every action we take is uncertain; therefore, there is an element of luck in everything we do. I am sure you have experienced more than once having done “all the right things” and not having achieved the results you were aiming for. Job searching is full of such scenarios. On the other hand, you can do everything wrong and achieve success. This paralyzes many people, but others find ways how to influence being lucky.
The key to creating luck is to be able to determine what you can and cannot influence. Making such determinations requires extinguishing your ego and any sense of entitlement you may have while doing so.
Anything you cannot influence is simply blind luck. Giving in to these factors and giving them mental energy is pointless. Blind luck includes things like your family, acts of God, where you were born, your life starting point, and the result of any single action you take. The last one is the one you need to come to grips with because many times, despite your best efforts, not everything will go as you wish, which is why the number one factor, which you have complete control over, in creating a job search luck is your hustle.
In other words, are you taking enough shots at your goal? Do you believe in your actions, or are you going through the motions?
Because we want “easy” (READ: feel entitled to), we drastically underestimate the number of attempts we must make before finding what respectively works for us to achieve the success we are after.
When we see success stories, we only see the end of the success story; we do not see all the struggles, failures, and hustles between the beginning and the end.
The second most important factor in creating luck is identifying opportunities. Not just any opportunities, but the right opportunities. This entails defining your circle of competence — an area of expertise that matches a person’s skills — which I often talk about. Having more than a rudimentary understanding of your field and industry, relevant topics to your career, skills you need for success, or your surrounding political and economic landscape positions you for lucky breaks. Additionally, you will be able to recognize emerging trends and subtle changes and capitalize on them.
Warren Buffett summarized the concept by saying, “Know your circle of competence and stick within it. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.” As Inspector Harry Callahan in Magnum Force, Clint Eastwood simplified the circle of competence concept when he said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
Dancing, music, gardening, and numbers, to name a few, are outside my realm of competency, which I accept; thus, I focus on what I am good at. Focusing on my competencies makes me luckier. After all, am I not more likely to succeed by doing what I am good at and enjoy versus trying to succeed outside my circle of competence?
The third factor in creating luck is to stand out so luck finds you. Being visible is crucial to being lucky, hence why networking is undoubtedly the most efficient way to find a job. Thanks to social media, promoting yourself, and connecting with like-minded people, is easier than ever.
The more people you connect with, the luckier you get — it’s not who you know; it’s who knows you.
In a previous column, I pointed out two life truisms:
The world is made of extroverts for extroverts.
The most connected people are often the most successful.
Being social, talking, learning, and listening to other people’s experiences will make you luckier. Participate in ongoing conversations and your community by building relationships online, posting, and commenting on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. As much as possible, spend time talking to people who are ahead of you — who are where you want to be. I like feeling as if I am the dumbest person in the room; that is how I learn. I am sure you know the adage, “The more you know, the further you go,” which can be interpreted as, “The more you know, the luckier you get.”
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
