by Fred Coon

Monster Careers: How to Land the Job of Your Life
Jeff Taylor with Doug Hardy
Penguin Books 2004

As you know from the last issue, Doug Hardy asked me if I would review their new book. In the last issue of The Gladiator, I covered the book from a strategic concept and layout perspective. This issue, I will close my review with a look at certain key content issues presented in the book. In my review, I have chosen to focus only on specific sections of the book and not the entire work. If I reviewed the entire book in detail, you would go blind reading the screen for a review of that length and I would have nubs for fingers typing.

There are thousands of books on careers and hundreds of specialty books covering specific aspects of any job search. Therefore, no matter who the author is, there are only so many ways to cut the pie. I think the real secret to an excellent book versus a good book is to apply the following rule: Are there content-rich tactics that can be easily applied by the reader, that day, that will facilitate their job search and lead directly to a successful conclusion? Jeff’s book meets my criteria and falls into the excellent versus good category of career books.

The book is divided into four parts and, by the nature of this structure, Jeff and Doug have defined the job search as follows: Part I: THE NEW JOB SEARCH BASICS, Part II: PREPARING YOUR SEARCH, Part III: INTO THE MARKETPLACE, Part IV: LANDING THE JOB.

In my last review, I briefly covered three issues discussed in Chapter 1. Those were F.A.M.E., the “Never Settle” approach and the Employer/ Employee Cycles.

I would like to discuss just a few of the many germane points Jeff and Doug make in the remaining chapters. The stories and examples they use to support these are relevant and meaningful.

On a personal note, I believe that any profitable company, regardless of size or industry, makes decisions about you (the employee) each and every day. It starts the day you interview and includes the group presentation you gave last week or the conversation you had today with a colleague or your boss. Here is the theory: They hire you or keep you because you can bring ADDED VALUE to the company.

To paraphrase Jeff, “You either move up or move on.” If you do not have both real AND perceived added value, you bring nothing to the table and someone else who does will be employed and/or promoted. Conversely, if you don’t, you will eventually be replaced or passed by and frozen into a dead-end situation. Your choice, isn’t it?

Paraphrasing of Jeff’s thoughts:

  • EVERY job arrangement is temporary
  • Your ongoing value grows with your relevant skills
  • Relationships count and are good for you and for business
  • Training makes you stronger
  • A resume is a sales tool
  • The job search is competition

My thoughts on this last statement are, how true, how true. As we say to our clients, the purpose of interviewing is not interviewing. It is to eliminate all competition. They only hire one person for the job. Will that be you? Why or Why Not? This forms the basis for any job search campaign.

One of the concepts Jeff espouses is to “Work Like an Entrepreneur.” If you look at successful entrepreneurs, they all exhibit the same tendencies.

They…

  • put themselves in the way of opportunity
  • take action
  • lead and get others to follow

Ok, enough theory already. The good thing about the book is this. Jeff’s theories and their supporting discussions are finely focused but, better than that, Jeff provides just enough of the why’s to set the stage for the how’s presented throughout the rest of the book.

As he moves through the job search process, he spends time on the important issues surrounding the myth and reality of working with a recruiter. I know that candidates we accept for placement are often times frustrated when trying to “work” with a recruiter. Let’s get something straight here and now. You, as a candidate, do not work with a recruiter. Let’s understand that theory and why it isn’t true.

Recruiters work for the companies that pay them large fees to find just the right, qualified candidate, hopefully you. If they recommend putting you into a given company and you do not work out, do you think the company will ask them to fill another job order worth $10-65,000? Of course they won’t.

The recruiter’s job is to determine a “fit” by carefully screening all candidates, including you. If they feel there isn’t one, you usually won’t hear from them or when you call them you hear that they found someone else more qualified. The truth is you just wasted two weeks waiting to hear from a recruiter while you labored under the misconception that she/he was working for you. This misguided thinking happens every day to thousands of people struggling with the job complexities of the search process. Jeff does a nice job of helping you understand how to work with recruiters and help them achieve your goals.

The other thing we tell our candidates is that the “Cost -of-Hire” formula has changed and that if you don’t know what this is or how to create the added value required to be seen as a viable candidate, you are in trouble before you start your campaign. The book does a nice job of exploring the recruiter, human resources department and the hiring manager issues and how to address these as you progress through your search.

The book has a simple Networking Grid that is useful to organize an overview of your potential network. The grid, when used properly, is a critical item to speeding up your search by understanding your personal and professional resources and deciding how to best utilize them to achieve your search goals.

Here is something I tell my clients. To get an interview, you must get a call. To get a call, you must compel the reader to call you with something that they read in your resume or cover letter. It must be so compelling that they will take the time to call you instead of the other 200-1000+ candidates applying for the same position.

Of course, this begs the question, why should they hire you? When you answer this question, you are on your way in the process. The book does a nice job of helping the reader frame the answers to this and related questions in preparation for putting it down on paper in such a way as to compel the reader to call you.

Another keystone of any job search is a well-constructed plan of action. This involves daily, weekly tasks that must be done, time-schedules for their completion. Jeff suggests a ten week plan of action divided in three phases: preparation (two weeks), getting up to speed (three weeks) then going after job opportunities (five weeks). The five weeks is spent “keeping the right job opportunities flowing through your job search pipeline.” Given the uncertainty of today’s economy, the mess overseas and its impact on our economy, and the upcoming elections, time frames are flexible, and should be adjusted and driven by these and a thousand other variables.

The next section of the book covers building your “portfolio” and developing “key messages” you wish to present to the world. There are excellent examples throughout this section to assist the reader in developing their own personalized statements.

One thing Jeff does that we insist on with our clients is emphasizing the “Achievement Stories” that are absolutely essential in eliminating your competition. Jeff uses the time-tested acronym PAR that stands for Problem-Action-Result. In our practice, we use SHARE stories in an attempt to also address behavioral interview questions. Our system is tagged, ‘Situation-Hindrance-Action-Results-Evaluation.’ Whatever system you choose to use, the theory is solid and is absolutely essential to successful interviews. Remember, the purpose of interviewing isn’t to interview. It is to eliminate your competition. Without these stories, you will lose and lose big.

In the resume, cover letter and personal “pitch” portions of the book, Jeff and Doug use excellent examples. Additionally, they also provide examples of poor usage, statements and overall presentation. Sometimes, this is as important to see as what is right. I really like the resume and cover letter examples and the way they have annotated their comments right on the resume or cover letter, both good and bad, so the reader can instantly see what they mean, instead of having to read a paragraph or have a page split and flip back and forth. Convenient and very user friendly.

Their chapters on research and job opening analysis are detailed and very helpful. They are laid out in a logical and simple to follow and use format. A great guide for anyone. I particularly like their Target Job Form which breaks out the usual job-related info to think about but also combines a few strategic issues about the “worth” of this job to your career strategy – something many job seekers ignore in their search process.

The remainder of the book focuses on interviewing, negotiating and post-acceptance strategies. All are covered simply, are easy to read and understand and all contain ideas and tactics that you can use to take action that day to further your search progress.

Personally, I like this book. In my opinion, it deserves purchase by any serious job seeker or career professional as an essential part of their career library. Once again, I was honored to be personally asked to review this book in The Gladiator and I would like to thank both Jeff and Doug for the opportunity to do so.