Here is the second part of my annual review of books for summer reading. Last week’s titles focused on workplace and management ideas; today, the topic is job search.
"Put Your Mindset to Work," by James Reed and Paul Stoltz, Portfolio, 2011, $17.
This book poses a conundrum for me. One of my odd little secrets is that I love brain science and all the things we’re learning about the power our minds have over us -- and vice versa. But I also dislike engineered systems and tests designed to lay bare the true nature of a potential worker. Sadly, or happily, this book contains a full portion of both the thing I hate and the thing I love. Sigh.
Overlooking my personal issues, I found a lot to like about this book. The essential message is that one’s mindset -- approach and attitude, essentially -- is fundamental to success in the job search. Obvious? Perhaps, but the authors support the theory by surveying employers and creating a method to quantify a winning mindset.
We all know intuitively that employers would prefer a person with the right mindset over a person with the latest degree, but how can you convey that you are that person? The authors claim to have the answer, and they provide it in a pretty readable and interesting volume, complete with sample interview answers and resume concepts to communicate your mindset to employers.
"Fast Track Your Job Search (and Career)," by Richard Kirby, Executive Impact, 2011 (third edition), $19.95.
If you’ve got your mindset in the right place, you’ll be needing some strategies to get your job search moving. This author, who spent 20-plus years in the corporate world before founding a career coaching practice, believes he has the right mix of common sense, updated ideas and action steps to get you started. He may be right.
While I don’t agree with all of Kirby’s recommendations, I do like his fundamental approach, which is to re-examine everything in the job search process against the backdrop of our current world. If it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, toss it out and try something different. Using this method of evaluating strategies, Kirby has provided a pretty comprehensive road map to current job search processes in a book that is relatively quick to read.
As a bonus, he supplies more than 100 Web addresses leading to career assessments, industry insights, job boards and other resources of use to job seekers.
"How to Start Conversations and Make Friends," by Don Gabor, Touchstone, 2011, $14.
If you follow Kirby’s advice in the above-noted book, you will find yourself in lots of networking conversations. And if that happens, you’ll want to have read this book by Don Gabor about how to talk with anyone, anytime and any place.
Gabor, who is on his third revision of the book since 1983, has kept up with the times wonderfully. His chapters on using social media, creating an online profile and rekindling old relationships weave seamlessly with tips on networking, breaking the ice and talking with people from diverse cultures.
"The Essential Phone Interview Handbook," by Paul Bailo, Career Press, 2011, $13.99.
What is the natural next step for a person who has developed a good mindset, put together a job search strategy and learned to speak to anyone? Getting on the phone, of course.
The tips in this book are meant to help people facing a telephone job interview, but they’ll work equally well for those who conduct their networking by phone. Some of the tips confuse me (Don’t use a headset? Why ever not?) and others seem overly detailed (two whole pages on using a cough drop before speaking!), but in all, this is a very comprehensive and helpful book about one of the most troubling aspects of modern job search.
"101 Weird Ways to Make Money," by Steve Gillman, John Wiley & Sons, 2011, $19.95.
When you want to know how to do something, it helps to ask an expert. Gillman, whose background includes more offbeat ways of making money than you could imagine, is undoubtedly an expert on making a living without a 9-5 job.
Samples of the 101 offerings include the tried-and-true, such as voiceover work and bartending, but also niche ideas such as pet taxis, day care for disabled kids and foreclosure home cleaning. The offerings favor self-employment, but many are possible as an employee. Gillman also provides at least three Web resources leading to more information for each selection.
Net lesson? If your job search isn’t producing, Gillman’s ideas might keep the cash flowing until things pick up. At the very least, the schemes in this book provide entertaining beach reading.
Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 626 Armstrong Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.
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