Por fin al cabo!, finally!, at last!-there is book published that describes and details the process of getting a new job for exactly what it is. It is a sales and marketing job, with the only difference being that you have only one potential customer, and that customer is your employer to be.
This Guide to Your New Job covers all aspects of getting a job. The author, Niels Nielsen, starts out by describing the process of taking on a whole new career, as that of going into business for oneself with the single goal of getting one customer-your next employer. Nielsen goes on to describe this process as the same as if one were setting up a new business. This includes writing a business plan, just as if one were starting a new business-which is exactly what is being done.
Nielsen outlines and then details ten steps in finding the job, the position, you want, the one you are best qualified to fill.
Starting off with setting up shop, preparing a financial plan, getting started and staying motivated, the author continues with guidelines for defining one's business strategy; developing a product plan, a marketing plan, pricing and then a sales plan.
The author gives several caveats including that there is no one right way. He takes issue with most of the job-hunting articles and books which tell you that the only way is the way the author advocates. Simply stated there are too many variables for any one formula to work. Such variables range from the job hunters experience, the culture, to the mood of the interviewer. Each job seeker's work experience is different and cannot be made to fit a mold. Thus the central theme of the book as I see it is that each and every reader, job seeker, is different and this difference can be utilized to determine, set and then achieve the goal that of getting the job wanted.
Will it take work? Yes. Will it be "easy?" No. But, in the final analysis the individual can and will succeed.
While all of the chapters are directly applicable to the end result of getting the job, the one describing the writing of a Business Plan is particularly important. It starts off with developing a business strategy. The author describes two major purposes of the strategy. The first is to crystallize the thinking of the entrepreneur (the job-seeker) and communicate a consistent strategy that can be understood by everyone involved in the job-hunting venture. Who else is involved? The spouse, the family, friends and acquaintances are integral to process. In other words, in order to get the assistance, the support needed the job seeker has to communicate his/her objectives and strategy in clear and simple terms.
This is integral to one of this reviewer's beliefs, and that is the work place paradigm has shifted dramatically over the last 20 or so years, and that is that each and every one of us are entrepreneurs, responsible for our own destinies, and that we are in control of our careers. The central belief is that companies are looking for what you to describe what you can do for them and this is the most important thing to convey to your prospective employer. What you have done is not nearly as important. This is the single most important thing that the Guide to Your New Job conveys and what causes it to stand out head and shoulders over competing books, one of which has been reissued annually for some 20 years. The employment and business world has changed and Guide to Your New Job is the beacon for this new era of the business world.
There is one additional chapter in this book which is titled Customer Relations Management, which is focuses on succeeding in the new job. The focus here is on building good relationships with peers and subordinates; a Fortune magazine survey is cited which says that the failure to build good relationships with peers and subordinates is a basic reason for failure in a job in an overwhelming 82% of the time. Two other points are made the first of which is to watch politics without making politics ones agenda at the expense of ones achievements. The second point is to listen carefully to what the boss wants and to ask questions.
Lastly, there are sample cover letters and resumes covering almost every field or job description that can serve the purpose of being models to help the reader craft his/her resume.
Bottom line, this is a must get and follow book, a guide, to getting your new job. In fact, the book is also a must read and use for those currently working, because it will help in increasing performance in the job by helping in guiding to identify, set and achieve goals. and keep the reader focused on what he/she is contributing to his/her employer/.
