> What about the qualifications you had in order to be hired by the dream company? Qualifications (and really, all the stuff you mention) simply punch you a ti

> What about the qualifications you had in order to be hired by the dream company? Qualifications (and really, all the stuff you mention) simply punch you a ticket to the race. But those things don't give you victory, and you often don't even know or get a chance to compete on many of the other factors that get you chosen (consciously or unconsciously). E.g. the 'hot girl', if you're 5'8" and she prefers a guy who is 6'2", good luck "working hard" to overcome that. The same applies in reverse, how many girls have been rejected because they are flat-chested or have the 'wrong' hair color? How many otherwise qualified candidates have been rejected because they didn't have the right 'intangibles'? How many people have screwed up networking because they ordered the wrong kind of drink? How many pitches have gone awry because a carefully-rehearsed presentation team had the pitchman get sick in the hotel? Sure, you could wear an anti-microbial mask to try to prevent that, but at some point luck will track you down. Operational Risk Management isn't about eliminating chance, it's about mitigating it. But in the end you're still crossing your fingers, and that applies everywhere in life.