The phone call

I'm reminded of a phone call we received a while back, from a potential client who apparently thought we were a placement agency. As our receptionist told the story, the caller said he "wanted us to put him in a job."
She explained that we don't just "put" people into jobs, but instead teach classes in managing your own effective and efficient job search campaign, including finding companies who might need your skills; preparing to interview and negotiate your best, etc... that essentially we help our clients find and land what is a great fitting job for them.
He replied, "that sounds like a lot of work." She replied, "well no, not really," and he added, "I mean I'll work really hard when I'm in a job - I just don't want to work hard to get one."

Another client reported back after an interview that she didn't get a marketing job that she wanted very much. Instead it had been offered to a candidate who brought a PowerPoint.

Not only does luck favor the prepared - in my experience the better jobs frequently go to the candidate that knows that how they conduct their job search is evidence to the hiring manager of how hard and smart they are going to work once they are on the job.