In our business we talk a lot about the “right fit.” As
recruiters it is our job to find candidates that are the right fit for our clients.
The concept is nebulous – hard to pinpoint or quantify. We spend a lot of time developing
relationships with our candidates and clients in order to try and grasp fit,
interrogating personality traits and understanding talents.

I studied English Literature during my undergraduate, a last
minute decision after being accepted into the school’s business program. I had
focused on business in high school and always imagined I would go into sales and
marketing - but something didn’t feel right so I chose English instead.
You might be familiar with the concept of “truthiness”
coined by comedian and political pundit Stephen Colbert – the idea that truth
comes from the gut, not the head. The truth feels
right. Politically this might not be a great idea, but maybe personally it
makes sense.
After my undergrad I decided to return to business. I
enrolled at Sheridan College to undertake a Marketing Management certificate.
It made sense logically. Business was practical; there were jobs,
opportunities, money. In my head it sounded right, but very quickly my gut told
me otherwise. It was wrong, really wrong,
and I did not complete the program.
I never really thought about my undergrad as being the right
fit until confronted with the wrong fit. I suppose clarity comes through
contrasts.
A few months ago, tucked away in the last pages of the
Harvard Business review was an article by Daniel McGinn that asks, “Do you
really have to fail to succeed?” Inside, McGinn explores our culture’s
“reverence” for difficult experiences, and the idea that endurance and the
ability to handle hardship are valuable learning experiences.
McGinn cites the recent abundance of books that discuss the
virtues of resilience, but worries that this narrative is becoming too
idealized, even noting the “failure fetish.” McGinn quotes Marc Andreessen, a
leading venture capitalist, who argues that “taking the stigma out of failure
is very exciting, but we [are now seeing people] who give up too quickly…Maybe
it’s time to add a bit more stigma.”
Kat Cole, president of Cinnabon, has a unique perspective,
suggesting that it is our successes that we should be interrogating – not our
failures. In a recent interview for the New York Times, Cole offers that “I’ve learned to question success a lot
more than failure…This approach means that people don’t feel beat up for
failing, but they should feel very concerned if they don’t understand why
they’re successful. I made mistakes over the years that taught me to ask those
questions.”
Whether it’s success
versus failure, or right fit versus wrong fit, the key is reflection. It is
essential to be able to understand your choices, and how they lead to success
or failure. I willingly explain my college experience to potential
employers. Just because something doesn’t work out the way you planned doesn’t
mean you didn’t learn in the process. Success and failure are sides of the same
coin, and you must learn to understand both sides. Finding the right fit and avoiding
the wrong fit will become and clearer path to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments on Thoracle are monitored. Reasons a comment may be considered unacceptable for publication include: the use of profane and inappropriate language, a general lack of courteousness, spamming, and self-promotion.
Comments that are deemed inappropriate will not be published on Thoracle. Commenters who submit inappropriate material will not (in most cases) be informed that their comments have been blocked from publication. Commenters who submit inappropriate material may be banned without warning from commenting on Thoracle.
Thoracle editors reserve the right to remove any comment that has been published.
Thorek/Scott and Partners accept no responsibility for the content of the comments that are posted on Thoracle. The views expressed in comments appearing on Thoracle are not in any way attributable to the editors of and contributors to Thoracle.