What you're really asking is "What role does the macroeconomic climate play in whether someone finds themselves successful?" At the end of the day, you might be very talented and be a failure because you didn't find a job in a reasonable time frame. That could mean competition was too high for too few jobs, at least at acceptable wage levels. Of course your failure to get a job does not mean the escalating job standards are necessary or reasonable, it is just what the market demands and what we have chosen to tolerate in this industry.