Luck O’ the Job Campaign—or is it?

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. Our family looks forward to an annual town parade and festival. I turn my attention to recipes and decorations around Irish themes. Having a fair amount of Irish ancestry, I was also recently thinking about discussions I had as a teenager with my Dad about Irish history and trivia. A phrase we explored was the origin of “Luck of the Irish”. Our research showed that there is little agreement and wide speculation.

Some say it means that the Irish are inherently lucky, and seem to be able to land on their feet when bad circumstances occur. It’s as though there’s something instinctive about being Irish that makes folks naturally lucky! Others trace the origin of the phrase back to the US where especially during the exploration for gold in the west, there were a high number of Irish people who got lucky and found their “pot o’ gold” in California.

There are those who theorize it means bad luck or lack of good fortune. History shows that the Irish endured extensive ill fortune. They had their homeland taken from them, faced famine and poverty, and were at one time, met with widespread discrimination in their new homeland, the U.S.

My dad shared his own father’s definition of the phrase. My grandfather, who came to the U.S. from County Cork, Ireland, took “Luck of the Irish” to simply be a reference to a person’s making the best of overall circumstances or condition in life. In short, it’s taking the power to rise above what you can control; and accepting what you cannot control. My father said that belief helped get Grandpa through a tough sea journey, the depression, the loss of his farm, and other major challenges.

I think it’s a great tie-in to one’s career campaigns. Yes, perhaps there’s a certain degree of luck. You might be in the right place at the right time. You might get noticed by a key decision-maker. You might also be the last in line at a mass interview and be told, “Sorry.” There are all kinds of possibilities. That said, I think positive mindset, strategy and effort often create “luck”. What if we crossed off the word, luck and replaced it with a definition of residual consequences or outcomes.

We help make our own luck—or at least we should be poised to take advantage of a situation when luck happens. Isn’t opportunity itself a form of luck? Isn’t at least part of the secret to success in career design and management (whether in search mode or maximizing a current position) learning how to set the stage for opportunity, and learning how to recognize it when it happens?

I had a client; I’ll call her Mary. Mary was a cancer survivor, undergoing her third round of chemo when we first worked together. She had a 10-year career as a trucker and dispatcher. She wanted to get into healthcare. First, she could no longer take the physical demands of her job. Secondly, her exposure to healthcare as a patient had fueled her passion for what could be possible in that new field. She brainstormed her transferrable talents. She then researched, networked and took the training to become newly certified as a phlebotomist. She worked with me to create marketing documents and scripts, value pitches, etc. She picked up the phone every day and called people. She told almost every person she met what she could do, and what she was looking for. She literally walked into a busy clinic and convinced them to hire her. She had the new skills. She knew what it was like to be a scared patient. She really cared about making a difference in this new role. She could do it and keep her self-care a priority. She could do it and earn what she needed to (with full healthcare benefits). In a nutshell, she had the mix needed to be a perfect addition to their team. She loves her new job, and has received two promotions in 6 months—in a very tough economy! Was Mary lucky? Or did Mary create her own luck?

As always, some of the best advice is that which we’ve heard before and often have taken for granted. It’s the “no duh” stuff. So, as irritating as it may be, here are 10 brief but absolutely surefire ways to help keep that luck at your door:

1. Face your fears and shake off self-doubts. Think of career guru, Susan Whitcomb’s acronym for fear: False Expectations Appearing Real.
2. Picture yourself succeeding in whatever it is you want to do. What does that look like?
3. Keep your mind open to new possibilities and experiences.
4. Be very observant as to what’s going on around you. Pay attention!
5. Build and expand your networks continually—online and face-to-face.
6. Pay it forward and earn a reputation for being there for others.
7. Find a niche.
8. Learn new skills.
9. Do the best job you can at every task—whether it’s creating marketing materials, supporting current co-workers, or returning a phone call with prompt and gracious courtesy.
10. Develop opportunity channels that include networking, online research/applications and recruiters.

In general, try to focus on and adopt four characteristics which may keep you in the “lucky” club of which Mary is a member.

1. Beyond being in the right place at the right time, be aware of opportunity; have the courage to seize it.
2. Listen to your hunches. These intuitions are often correct.
3. Persevere in the face of failures or obstacles. Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 shots in his career and lost 300 games. By his own admission, he’s failed over and over. That is why he has said he’s made it a point to succeed.
4. Take the old adage to heart and turn lemons into lemonade. Think about what lessons can be learned. What good came out of it?

Don’t be trapped by your current circumstances. You probably have more control over your life—and luck—than you realize. What are you doing to keep the Luck of the Irish in your job search or career management campaign? Here’s to your pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow!