Notes About Job Hunting 101

Job Hunting 101 was an informative and introspective read. Geared towards graduating college students, it lays out in a simple format how to go about getting a first job. One of the things that appealed to me about this book was its encouragement to “Find your passion” and “If you want to be successful, you had better really enjoy at least most of what you do.”

The basic format was much like a workbook or textbook. The author explained a principle and then asked questions to help you brainstorm about your personal career choices. He walks you through everything from deciding what you want your career goals to be to your resume, interviews, handling offers and your first couple months on the job.

In the first chapter, the author begin by helping you think about what you want to do for your career, where you would like to live, etc. and had sections in the book where you could write down your thoughts. This in turn led to areas such as what you enjoy doing and what your best skills are. A five year goal’s sheet was also included to help you think not only about what job you want now, but where you eventually want to go with your career.

The second chapter dealt with resumes. The author’s two main points for the chapter were that a resume is a “necessary tool” to aid you in finding a job but that “nobody was ever offered a job from a resume alone.” He explained that a resume is basically a sales pitch with you as the product. I personally learned a lot from this section, especially when the author discussed how to “factually quantify” what goes on your resume rather than bragging about yourself in a “self-evaluative” way. His abundance of examples really helped me understand the difference between an okay resume and an excellent one.

Chapter three was devoted to gaining interviews by utilizing your school, the phone, book, cover letters, and even cold calling. I was impressed at the sheer volume of examples that really buttressed the arguments the author made. They really convinced me of the importance of attaining quality interviews in the search for a job. In chapter four the author discussing preparing for an interview. The practice interview questions were extremely helpful, especially if you have never had an interview before. Interviewing is basically selling yourself to the company and chapter five dealt with ways to be prepared and research the best way to tailor your answers to a particular company. Once you’ve received an offer from a company, or more than one, what should you do? That was the subject of chapter six. Chapter seven dealt with the best way to continue selling yourself after the interview by sending them thank-you notes, and keeping abreast of their latest accomplishments in case a position opens up in the company later.

Notes About Job Hunting 101