The "Law of Unintended Consequences"

The law of unintended consequences has been around forever, but it derrived its name probably from a an article written by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1936. Merton's Article, entitled The Unintended Consequences of Purposive Social Action, dealt with how actions, especially those on a large scale as by governments, may create unintended results. As true as this may be on a large scale, it's also true with regards to individual behavior.

Sometimes it's the most benign actions and behaviors on the part of an individual that may bring about large scale changes and/or consequences from those behaviors. These consequences may be good, bad, or neutral, but they diverge from the original intent of the action. They have happened to all of us at one time or another. Perhaps you went to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and met your future spouse in the checkout line. Maybe you were thumbing through a travel magazine in the doctor's office and ran across an advertisement that told you about a place where you decided to take a vacation. We've all had stories like that that happened to us or those we know.

In the job game, the law of unintended consequences is a major player. I've talked to hundreds of people about their jobs and careers, and while many of them are the result of focused and directed effort, a sizeable number of them came about because of chance meetings, networking, a "friend of a friend", or some such innocent activity. While the jobs and the people vary, what all of their stories have in common is that they all happened while the person affected was doing something.

When you're involved in a job/career hunt, the worst thing you can do is nothing...sitting around the house feeling sorry for yourself. You have to put yourself in a position to get lucky. You never know when a chance encounter may take place that can open the door to your new career. I've talked to several people who were inspired to start their own businesses when they saw a need or an opportunity for something as they were on the way to do something else.

According to the US Department of Labor, the average person will change careers three to five times during their lifetime. Just because you may have had a particular field of study in college or may have been in a job for a decade or two doesn't mean that you'll be doing the same thing for the rest of your life.

In this economy, many have been downsized, laid-off, terminated, or shown the door because of company closures, mergers, reductions-in-force, or acquisitions...but none of those circumstances mean that you have to accept permanent "used-to-be" status. You know more than you think that you know. Chances are that many, if not most, of your skills are transferable to other industries.

What's the point of this message? Get out, get busy...volunteer...network...stay connected through whatever means...but give yourself a chance to get lucky. The chances of something good happening are much greater if you're doing something rather than doing nothing.