One of the reasons I am constantly reading (blogs, newspapers, magazines, shampoo ingredients) is that you can find lessons that apply to your current situation in places you would never think to look. This weekend, on Boston.com, I read about the concept of failure and what lessons we can learn from it - largely in the realm of our current economic crisis.

The article outlines 5 reason's why we are seeing a destabilization of many industries we considered immutable - the auto industry, financial sector, newspapers. Rather than simply placing blame, these factors apply to systematic failure of an institution in general. The reasons for failure, argues the author, MIT's Andrew Lippman, largely rest on over-extension and the failure to adapt.

Now, the important point that is being raised for the purposes of this here career blog is not why these industries are failing (or have failed), but rather the lesson of learning from failure on the whole. We see that when an industry loses it's way or overextends its market it needs to be able to adapt and change*. This is a point that can and should be applied to your job search.

First of all, you need to know what you are looking for in a job. Don't overextend yourself by applying for jobs that you are not qualified for. If the placement says 4-6 years of experience and you don't have it, don't waste your time.

At the same time, you need to constantly adapt to the job you are pursuing. Adapt your cover letter, resume and interview techniques. If you lose out on an opportunity (or, in the case of this post, Fail) find out what you did wrong and improve on that aspect of your search.

We can learn lessons from everything around us. In the case of the recession, we can see why these businesses failed and what lessons we learned from their failure - so as to resist that same failure in the future. By applying the same lesson of learning from job search failure you can increase your chances of success in the future.

*On a similar note, if this kind of why-did-this-happen story gets you hot, I recommend Gladwell's piece on Bear Stearns in the latest New Yorker.

On to the Links ...

On the Job's Anita Bruzzese Contemplates the Effectiveness of Online Classes: There is a lot of helpful information in this post. Basically, the classes can be good for career advancement for some, and not so good for others. The key is, look and ask around, make sure you find legitimate programs and be sure the class conforms to the direction your career is heading (or how you want it to head).

Blue Sky Resumes Blog Looks at Crowd Sourced Resumes: And doesn't like what she finds. "But anyone whose ever written a resume knows that feedback is highly subjective and generally not worth listening to. I say ‘generally’ because some feedback is valuable of course - an experienced hiring manager or recruiter can offer their own impressions of you based on your resume and those impressions are always useful to know. But peers? Friends and family? No way!"

College Humor Lists the 7 Kinds of Roomates: Spot on list of the type of guys (yeah, sorry, this one is dudes only) you'll end up rooming with. It's funny and largely on-point. Luckily, I didn't have any of these types and am still friends with my freshman year roommate (though our passion for Rushmore was uncomfortably similar to the "Wedding Crashers" reference in the post).

Penelope Trunk Gives You Stability in the Struggling Economy: Penelope has some very good advice to increase stability in an unstable market. Some may seem a bit cold - treat your job as an investment, don't view your job as fun vs. no-fun - but are nonetheless useful. My favorite piece is to volunteer to supplement your career and as a safety net in the even of a job loss. Good Stuff.

Alison's Job Search Blogs Adds Titles to Your Summer Reading List: Career titles, that is. It's always a great idea to sprinkle a little serious reading in with your beach books. Alison has some choices for those of you looking to add a bit of career advice into your reading rotation.

"Fail Road" Courtesy fireflythegreat via Flickr Creative Commons