I don't know if I was ever second choice, but one job I got came totally from left field. I was working in aircraft billing and bored stiff because the job was going automated and there was very little to do, when out of the blue I got a call from the personnel office telling me I'd been chosen for a job as a secretary/receptionist. I had been on a standing list of eligible employees for a promotion to the next level, and the bosses had done a personnel record review of of everyone on the list, and chose me because of my experience. This was strange as far as I was concerned; the job was in a hospital and I had absolutely no medical experience at that point in time, so it made me wonder who else was on that list of eligibles.