A new study by researchers at Yale and Duke Universities find that optimism pays off in job hunting and promotions. After studying the effect of an optimistic disposition on MBA students' job searches, the researchers found that optimists fared better than their less-optimistic peers. Optimistic grads found jobs more easily, with less-intensive job searches. Even better, two years after graduation, the optimists were more likely than their less-optimistic peers to have been promoted. What's the rationale? Some suggest that people who are optimistic by disposition are good at coping with problems and flexible about trying new courses of action when needed. And, the authors point out, there's the question of self-fulling prophecies.
