Appropriate as a guide book for college or professional career development courses, including Career Development. In this Third Edition of Career Focus: A Personal Job Search Guide, students will be introduced to the world of personal assessment, personal marketing, and job search know-how. A new focus for the third edition is self-marketing. By using this comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide, students will gain a clearer focus on their own abilities, their career desires, and goals for the future. Readers of this book will learn how to launch their own personal marketing campaign, and how to develop the all-important tools necessary for a successful job search in this competitive and often complex world. In addition, students will understand what it takes to be successful after they get the job.

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This empowers job seekers to step outside their comfort zone by breaking down the job search process into small, attainable goals. Each chapter reads like a one-on-one counseling session with career coach Katy Piotrowski. In her friendly comforting style, she shares proactive techniques that help job seekers quickly and easily find a fulfilling job.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Useful step-by-step help in improving your career opportunities
In the current economic environment, I think everyone is somewhat of a “Career Coward.”

I have worked with Katy Piotrowski one-on-one for a decade, and her coaching has led me to grow my professional skills far more than I could have on my own. I now run my own business, and it has grown and become quite successful. These books cover the information and career strategies that I have followed, and found to be quite useful.

There are few “quick, get rich” solutions to managing your career. Not many people get lucky and have the perfect job just turn up. Most of us, like me, have to slog through figuring out what they want to do, and how to go about it, and how to keep the enthusiasm going when you get stuck and things aren’t moving forward. These books are for the person who wants to make the stressful “slogging” part more fun and productive. (And for those optimistic people who like to jump off the career high dive, they probably wouldn’t buy a book with “Career Coward” in the title, anyway!)

For me, changing careers and building my business wasn’t easy and didn’t happen overnight, but has been a rewarding challenge. I am a step-by-step person, and while that may be “cowardly” at times, I think it is also practical for most people to do career changes in manageable steps and not to take huge career risks that could backfire.

Katy Piotrowski’s ways of encouraging me to look realistically for manageable steps to take along the way, and to seek and find real opportunities, have been invaluable to me! I recommend this book, and all the books in the series.

5 Stars A must read!
Easy to read format allows you to develop your own plan and implement it to help manage your career. Katy gives some very effective advise for making the most of your time and effort. I highly recommend it along with the rest of the Career Coward’s series.

5 Stars Job Search Gem
Piotrowski has a knack for making the daunting seem do-able and she also gives readers solid advice. As an HR professional, I often find the advice that career gurus offer can run counter to what works in the real world. Fear not, job seekers will not drive the HR pro nuts by taking the advice offered in this book. Piotrowski is up to date with current market trends and her emphasis on networking and tapping into positions that are not even posted is invaluable to job searchers.

5 Stars The Career Coward’s Guide to Job Searching
Katie’s book offers sensible, doable strategies for finding just the right job. The format is fun and definitely not boring like so many how to books. Finding a job is selling yourself to a potential employer once we determine that we would really like to work there. I highly recommend this book to anyone facing the dreaded job search.

5 Stars Encouraging and insightful
Security, the one thing hat will keep someone in a job that they despise with all of their being. “The Career Coward’s Guide to Job Searching: Sensible Strategies for Overcoming Job Search Fears” is a guide designed for those in such a situation who want to move on with their careers without the insane risk usually associated with such methods. Encouraging and insightful, it’s an ideal manual for the timid to get the courage they need, making “The Career Coward’s Guide to Job Searching” an essential addition.

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The purpose of this book is to present strategies used by successful people – including numerous celebrities – in managing their introversion or shyness while becoming successful in professional endeavors. If you’ve ever felt that your personality was getting in the way of achieving your goals, if you’ve ever felt there was a gap separating you from most other people, this book will open up new possibilities. You don’t have to undergo a personality makeover to be successful in your job search and career. Learn to understand, appreciate, and celebrate your unique strengths.

This book will both enlighten and empower readers with specific strategies to use in everyday personal and professional activities so that they can achieve greater success in their lives. At the same time, it is intended to enable introverts to understand, appreciate, and celebrate their unique strengths.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The inside track on helping shy and introverted people excel during the job hunt and in the workplace; a must-read. BCM
The Successful Introvert is a fantastic resource for those of us who are introverted. Shy people can also benefit from this amazingly accurate and insightful book. The Author writes with a very knowledgeable hand and speaks from her own, firsthand knowledge of being an introvert. With wonderful quotes from many successful business people who are introverted and shy, the Author makes her book come alive and gives it even greater authenticity. As an introverted person myself, I was really looking forward to reading this book! I am happy to tell you that I am really pleased with the common sense tips and information that the Author provides. With useful examples and proven methods, I am almost ashamed to admit that I have not figured out many of these things on my own. Much of the book’s content made me feel more comfortable in my own skin; I realize that being introverted isn’t odd or erroneous…it just makes me different from extroverted people. Like two sides of the same coin.

I very highly recommend this book!

(10 out of 10 Diamonds) – Absolutely LOVED it!!

The Proven Program Used by 600,000 Job Hunters!

You put hours and hours of hard work into your job search and the companies you’ve contacted never call. It’s a story all too common in the fast-paced, highly competitive world of job hunting. Nothing is more discouraging than sending one resumé after another into the job-hunting void. Eventually, you expect silence from the other end.

The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search was written so this never happens to you again. These techniques, developed by author Orville Pierson, have been used successfully for ten years by Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), the world’s premier career services company. Here, Pierson provides you with the job-search techniques that up to now have been limited to the LHH consultants he trains.

Orville Pierson has helped thousands of job hunters during his career, taking note of the characteristics that have led to success as well as failure. In The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search, he supplies key information on how professional job search consultants structure the job search project so you can apply the same winning strategies to your own search. You’ll also be privy to inside information on how decision makers operate, enabling you to get the inside track on job openings before they are announced.

This insider’s guide covers every phase of the job search, leading you step by step through the process of creating a clear-cut plan-essential to every job search. Using the Pierson Method, you’ll learn how to

• Develop a Target List (the key ingredient to every job search)
• Measure your progress
• Create a “core message” about yourself that decision makers won’t forget
• Present yourself in the best possible light to prospective employers

Using these strategies, Orville Pierson and LHH have helped 600,000 people land great new jobs. Employ the Pierson Method in your hunt for employment and you’ll soon be doing what you love in the company that’s right for you.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Job Search Book Review
This book is very helpful in organizing your job search and tracking your progress each week.

5 Stars A must read for all job hunters
With so many job hunting books focused on things that don’t matter like Resume writing and Cover letting writing. It was nice to read a book that was focused on what really matters, getting to the hiring manager before he needs to hire somebody. If you follow the process in this book you will find a job.

Chris Pires – Author of “Shred Your Resume and Find a job”

Shred Your Resume and Find a Job

5 Stars Everything you think you know explained the right way
PROS: A sober, thoughtful, organized book that presents a definite plan for a job search, organizing many common elements of a good job search into one process.

CONS: Extremely dry writing style may put some off. Despite organization, some of the book’s organization is odd.

SUMMARY: A must-buy book for the job search, presenting an organized plan you can use “out of the box” as long as you’re willing to do some research.

There are a lot of books out there on doing a job search, and it seems most of them repeat about 80% of the same material, with different levels of enthusiasm and different audiences in mind. We all know about networking, resumes, cover letters, etc. It seems there’s nothing new under the sun job-search wise, and even the technical innovations we see, such as social media, only seem to build on common behaviors – networking and sending out resumes.

Orville Pierson’s book contains all the advice you’ve ever heard before – there’s no magic in a good job search, but a lot of research, networking, and common sense. What Pierson does that makes the book stand out is give you an organized plan for using good job search techniques. This isn’t a pile of advice – it’s a plan to get you a job and improve your job searching.

The core of Pierson’s work is fourfold:

1) Research one does on oneself, one’s potential positions, and one’s market.

2) Using that research to create a good resume and “sales tools.”

3) Networking with an eye toward the long term, while using resources you have now.

4) Treating this as a project with measurable numbers, information, etc.

These four elements work together, feeding into each other and providing feedback. A list of companies you want to work for (a vital part of the Pierson method) feeds into your sales pitch, your networking tells you about the companies further, your plans modify, and you track your results. In the end you navigate closer and closer to your ideal job, probably faster than you may realize.

Besides the plan, the book does provide a lot of useful advice, and fortunately these tidbits are usually couched in the larger picture. How many hours to put in on a job search ideally, what kinds of job hunting work, for whom and why, etc. You’ll pick up a lot reading this even if you’re an experienced professional, and there’s an entire subsection on forming a support group that’s good for all professionals.

The book is not without it’s flaws. It’s extremely dry writing, reminiscent more of a textbook or a manual, and the few attempts to add some humor don’t really work. Despite its organization, there are a few curious asides or re-visiting of past ideas that seem a bit distracting. These are minor flaws, but it’s important to realize them tackling the book, especially if you’re used to some of the rah-rah go-go job advice books. This is an encouraging book, but it’s mostly about getting to work on your job search.

This book is ideal for everyone in the job market except maybe high-level executives. It’s smart, intelligent, well-written (if dry), and presents a useful, rational plan that anyone can use in their job search, and that builds good job search habits. It’s not the LAST job search book you’ll read (especially if you’re in a specialized market), but it should be on the shelf of anyone with a job.

In short, I’m giving it my rare “must buy, must read” rating – when you’re done with this review, go buy the book.

Also if you’re using this book, don’t lend it out untill you’ve got that job you want.- you’ll want to refer back to it in the future. If you want, buy extra copies for your friends and family – it’s worth the money.

5 Stars A “Must Add” to Your Library!
Learn great tips from an expert in the field! If you are in career transition, you need to read this book by Orville Pierson! You will pick up so many new tips for your career transition – Implement and you will see the results! This works! Gayle Bridgeman, Career Consultant and Trainer

5 Stars How to withstand the rejection and not waist time finding your next job!
I have done lots of career coaching in my life but when I heard Orville speak and outline the process he has used to help hundreds find a job, I was inspired and impressed. What he does is make the job hunting process, that no one likes to go through, manageable and systematic. The hardest part is being rejected he says, so he explains how to withstand that! He has fine tuned the job hunt so that if you aren’t getting an interview, you need to do “x” and if you aren’t getting past the interview stage you need to “y”. What I was particularly impressed by is the method used to determine what position you will try to obtain. Using career codes (at the library) and zip codes, you can actually measure your chances of finding a particular career in said location. This allows you to broaden your search or refine it as needed based on that type of job’s turn over rate. Now this process is available to us normal folks not just corp people who do not use the want ads to find work. I also have his Networking book which I HIGHLY recommend for job searches or any kind of sales work. It too is excellent. Orville also has a sense of humor so neither book is dry, how refreshing.

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When firms need to fill management positions, when experienced managers want a new challenge, or when MBA graduates are looking for their first senior management role, they often turn to headhunters, or, more formally, executive search consultants.

This guide provides a clear overview of the executive search market, with specific guidelines on using headhunters effectively, both for individuals looking for a job and organizations looking for to fill a role. Headhunters offers advice on what

Explains to the reader how to find out whom they should be talking to, and how to get those people to agree to meet with them. The reader no longer needs to wait for the phone to ring after sending out those resumes, but learns how to get informational meetings and networking interviews with decision makers. Also includes complete information and advice on using the internet to find out about industries, research companies, and identify key decision makers to contact.

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Praised by the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today as one of the best career books on the market, this book is better than ever in this timely 2009 edition. It includes updated information on Internet resources for job searching, networking, and company research. The 2009 edition contains a lot of new information: fresh examples of interview types; up-to-the-minute strategies to make applicants stand out from the crowd; new examples of what questions interviewers ask and the best answers to give, and more! This book gives readers all the tools they need to make a dynamic, lasting impression. In today

The Career ElevatorTM is the most affordable, up-to-date, comprehensive, step-by-step program designed to help job seekers identify, pursue and obtain their desired career faster.

The program comes complete with:
1) Four DVDs with over 4 hours of expert instruction and advice,
2) Sixty-days of telephonic access to The CareerLineTM, our exclusive team of professional career counselors,
3) A validated online self-assessment provided by The Fort

“Simply the best thing in print on the subject of using the Internet in your job search . . . amazing and breathtakingly thorough . . . covers all resources available today.”
–Richard N. Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute?

Point and click your way to a profitable, satisfying job future

While the Web is loaded with priceless information and resources for job hunters, finding exactly what you need for an efficient job search can be tough. The bestselling Guide to Internet Job Searching arms you with the tools and knowledge to find the job of your dreams and avoid surfing the Internet aimlessly.

Career search experts Margaret Riley Dikel and Frances Roehm will guide you through an efficient and successful job hunt-no matter how much experience you have using the Internet. With their proven advice, you’ll be able to:

• Find dream jobs in every industry, at every level, locally and around the world
• Research potential employers
• Identify the biggest employment growth areas and regions
• Avoid time-consuming false starts and dead ends
• Get to know the best job-listing and recruiting websites
• Compose sure-fire online resumes and cover letters

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In many ways, success at networking is the uncommon application of common knowledge. Most people understand that networking is important to their success–they just lack a step-by-step process to get the results they want. Almost no one really implements a comprehensive methodology that will build a business through networking. Thus, the need to network is ‘common knowledge,’ and the development of the methodology required to be successful at it is the ‘uncommon application.’

By reading this book, you will experience the true essence and meaning of networking. The 29% Solution gives you the answers to two conflicting questions that a business owner or salesperson faces every day: How can I tend to my existing clients while at the same time network for new business? and, Should I place higher value on my current clients or on new clients?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Great Primer for Networking Beginners
Years ago when I first started to realize how important it was to be connected I just went at it willy nilly – trying to meet everyone. Now I see that there is much more to it than that. You should set out to do networking with a plan. You should know not just the why, but the how to go about it and realize how to focus on getting people into your circle who can help you to move forward.

Ivan Misner and Michelle Donovan should almost call this book Networking 101, but I would imagine that this title has been taken already. Instead they named it The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies after the successful participant of the famous Six Degrees of Separation experiment many years ago. Ivan Misner is world famous for being the founder if the global business networking group Business Networking International, or BNI as it is commonly known. He also has a doctorate and has been a professor of Business Administration in southern California for a number of years, so he writes from authority. And although this is her first book, Michelle Donovan is known in business circles as “The Referability Expert” and has been in the networking business for some time in the western Pennsylvania area so she is no stranger to the networking game herself.

My first comment of the review has to do with the fact that Misner and Donovan start from the premise that the reader knows absolutely zilch about business networking so they set out to give the reader the advice and tools that will be needed to get off the ground and get within the 29% networking group. For instance they made sure that you know there is a very big distinction between a contact and a connection and why this distinction should be meaningful to you. In this sense of taking the beginner by the hand I believe the book really does a great job. For some of us who have been at the networking game for some time lots of the material could be second nature, but there was still some advantage to going through this. The authors offer more than advice but they also offer their vast experience. All of the information I saw that they put out is very practical and would be the same kind of information that I would offer myself to wall flowers who need help.

On top of this there were tips in there that many of us more experienced networkers could use and incorporate into our own business practices – so that alone would be worth the price of the book for the non-beginners. The book had a very holistic view of the nature of constantly working at expanding one’s circles and I can’t see anything wrong with that.

Before I finish with this I will say that I did appreciate that the authors did not take this subject as a one way street. In order to properly network, they assert, you need to put in to the network as well, otherwise it is like trying to drive a car with no gas. There was a great example in the book about periodically just letting people know that you can help them with other contacts even when this had no relation to you. They showed in one case how this really turned the flow on for one networker with inquiries starting to flood inbound as well. Now that’s what I like to see! Why, because the authors were very correct in this assessment: This is how networking really works!

5 Stars I was surprised!
Having been self-employed for nearly 20 years, I thought I knew how to network. Oh how wrong I was. The checklist in the first chapter clearly showed me the many ways I could vastly improve my networking efforts.

I found this book to be comprehensive, chock full of great ideas, and easy to read a chapter or two, then pick it up later and read a few more chapters. This allows the reader to try out a few recommendations at a time, rather than being overwhelmed with an impossible “to do” list. It’s very clear, too, laying out for the reader exactly what to do and how to do it. Couldn’t be much simpler!

While anyone who needs to do a better job at networking will benefit from applying the knowledge gained from this book, I believe people who are self-employed, who own a small business, or are in business development roles will benefit the most of all. Most of all, I think the reader will be totally persuaded of the benefits of networking the way the authors recommend. I know it has changed my thinking and behavior with regard to networking.

Christine Posti

Marriage On and Off the Rocks: Intimate Stories of Marriages that Made It and Others that Didn’t

5 Stars The Business of Networking
“It’s not ‘net-SIT or ‘net-EAT’, it’s ‘net-WORK” states Misner in his great book, “The 29% Solution.” If you are wanting to take your business to the next level or are starting out in the crazy and challenging world of social networking for business, Misner and co-author Donovan provide 52 weekly networking strategies that are a combination of easy to challenging.

The self-analysis easily points out areas to focus on as you begin to network. From there you can choose the weekly strategics that will assist you in meeting your goals. Therefore each week you are working toward a new network goal or strengthening one that you are already doing.

The fact is that many books often tell you what to do but don’t provide tangible action steps to help you actually do it. This is a book that you will refer to again and again as your “solution” to building your business through your network. The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies

5 Stars Easy transaction
Good experience purchasing this item. In great condition and

arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

5 Stars A savvy guide on how to network
How can you develop new clients and new business? The four most time-tested techniques are “cold calls, advertising, public relations and networking.” Cold calls are more enjoyable than sticking yourself with red-hot needles – but not much. Advertising costs big bucks. Public relations can backfire if you don’t know exactly what you are doing. That leaves networking. Networking is not demeaning like cold calls. In fact, it can be fun. It doesn’t cost an arm and leg like advertising. And you won’t inadvertently end up in some crusading reporter’s crosshairs. Ivan R. Misner and Michelle R. Donovan’s book teaches you the best networking techniques. They explain, “It’s not net-sit or net-eat. It’s net-work.” You must “work the networking process.” getAbstract thinks this savvy book does a good job of showing you how.

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