Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy
“. . . worth the price of admission. For a list price of $17.95, Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy may end up being the only book you need in your job search—and if it’s not, it comes tantalizingly close.”
One may question whether the world really needs yet another book on job hunting and careers, but R. William Holland does an admirable job of updating the genre for today’s job seeker in his new book titled Cracking the New Job Market.
Cracking covers the basics from resume writing to interview preparation— including a section on proper attire—to more cutting edge advice such as using social media to hone your search and preparation. One very sage aspect of the book is that it is very “value” oriented; in fact, the title of the first chapter is Always Demonstrate Your Value.
What author Holland is saying is that, in “a job market in which more people with college degrees are competing for fewer good jobs, the advantage goes to those who most closely approximate the skills and contributions employers are looking to acquire.” This is the manner in which one can create value for him/herself and the employer as well.
It is with this simple but profound standpoint that the author builds his book. As with most career and job-hunting books, Cracking was not meant to be read through in a single sitting, but rather used as a reference as needed. Still, Mr. Holland is an engaging enough author that, if the book must be read from cover-to-cover (as done by this reviewer) it manages to hold the reader’s attention with very current advice and observations.
Consider the use of highlighting keywords in a job posting and then developing a resume and cover letter that directly addresses these keywords. Or the author’s suggestion of using LinkedIn not only as a source of contact development, but also as an always-on resume utilizing those aforementioned keywords. Both are very modern but practical tools for today’s job seeker.
And with almost one in ten of us unemployed as of this writing, any additional tool is helpful. This is not to say the book is perfect—four pages is probably overkill on proper interview attire—but it is worth the price of admission. For a list price of $17.95, Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy may end up being the only book you need in your job search and if it’s not, it comes tantalizingly close.