Insider's Guide to Finding a Job
Expert Advice from Americas Top Employers and Recruiters
“The easy days of mailing a resume and getting a job in a week or two are long gone,” say the authors. This book captures the readers attention by explaining how job-seeking today is much more complex than it was twenty years ago. What was once a simple “five-step plan” of looking in the newspaper classifieds, followed by a resume and interview, has morphed into the “twenty-four-step plan” that many job seekers use today, including launching an e-mail campaign or searching online job boards.
Enelow is a certified job and career transition coach and author of nearly twenty business books including the best-selling Expert Resume series and Cover Letter Magic. Goldman is a certified employment interview professional and certified professional career coach. Here, they offer a comprehensive approach to planning a job search with an appropriate strategy, emphasizing professional employment and active management of ones career.
Based on interviews with workers from companies of various sizes, the book features practical advice from sixty-six established corporate executives. Some offer specific alternatives to job seekers over age fifty, a growing segment of the unemployed work force. Suggestions on resume writing focus less on rules and more on tailoring the format to meet a candidates particular situation. “There is no one-page resume writing rule!” exclaim the authors, taking a fresh approach to an age-old topic. “Do not let the number of pages drive your resume writing process.” Each chapter includes an “Authors Best Advice” section summarizing personal experience with those of others interviewed.
A chapter devoted to “how to negotiate your best salary” recommends considering the entire compensation package, following the advice of a controller at a New York company: consider asking for stock options, a signing bonus, and a commuting allowance. Jack Chapman shares advice on negotiating salary from his book Negotiating $1000 a Minute*. Such negotiation assures job seekers that the employer is not the only one in control of a hiring situation.
Networking is another way to take charge of career management. The authors encourage developing reciprocal long-term relationships with other business professionals for help, support, and guidance for potential job opportunities and other business needs. They quote from Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, authors of the online job search book CareerXroads: “Networking is a lifelong process, not something you do just when you need a job!”
Enelow and Goldman advise the need for a career plan that is flexible to changing work and life goals. They ask readers, “Who do you work for?” and go on to say, “No matter who writes your paycheck, ultimately you are working for yourself and your family … it should guide your entire career.”
Reviewed by
Cindy Kryszak
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
