Customer Reviews

Career Confidential: An Insiders Guide to Business

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What might seem to be both a dry topic and targeted toward the young person entering the work force is quite the opposite. Kolakowski pumps life into the subject with anecdotes from his own career and then trips at a blazing pace from topic to topic to keep this guide reading more like a mystery than the encyclopedia of advice that it is. As a result, what can be a very informative guide for the high school or college student looking to prepare for a future career in business also is a fun, easy read for those who can nod there heads and say an 'amen' to the many keen observations he makes on the way the world of business really works.

This book does two things. It provides an overview of the types or categories of jobs available for business grads. More importantly, it brings that information to life with the author's personal and useful examples of what he experienced in the business world. It is appealing and accessible, and would make an exceptional gift for any young person with a business career in mind.

Career Confidential is a clear and concise guide to business careers. It is a common sense guide and goes from thought provoking stories to factual broad accounts of what careers in business are. There is no substitute for real world experience and Mr. Kolakowski infuses the book with helpful insights from his career. I think this would be a good guide for both newcomers who are trying to understand what business careers are and for those changing careers. I teach college level students and I find they often do not really know what the business world holds for them. I highly recommend this book to them and to anyone who wants to learn about the business world.

Do you know someone who is trying decide what career to choose? Alternately, do you want to know more about the business world, and what it is like to (a) work as a skilled professional (investment banker; broker) in a large firm or (b) run your own business? Should you choose a career path based upon the amount of money you can make - or would it be better to make less money but have more control over one's work life?

If so, Mark Kolakowski's book is for you. The book is best for someone wanting to know about a certain type of business such as the difference between a banking career vs. an investment career. This Mark examines in depth. Better still, Mark includes a number of personal stories about what exactly it is like to work in a business environment, including how to survive in the social atmosphere of the corporate world.I found Mark's anecdotes particularly enlightening and interesting - I have never worked in the corporate world and have always assumed it was a reasonable, logical world where if one worked hard and provided accurate, honest information, one would get ahead. Not so - Mark recounts a number of instances where being able to think on one's feet (and mastering the social environment of the office) trumps any amount of honest work one can do.

Mark lays out the choices as he has lived them in the corporate world including stints at jobs that seniority (and time spent on the job) were more important to promotions than any amount of good work he produced at that job. He covers intangibles: What does a long commute to the work place do to one's psyche over time? How much is a person expected to work at a high powered job where the work produced is the bottom line (and not seniority)? What is like to work as a consultant, and how to go about getting such work? How much can you negotiate in a contract when interviewed by a major firm?

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about business from a variety of angles. It is a superb introduction to anyone considering a career in business, or someone who wants to know what the term "business" encompasses. Overall, Mark has lived this life for more than 25 years -starting as a honors graduate from an Ivy league school and then on to the Wharton Business School (honors again) to work for and as a consultant to some of the best known companies in North America. Is it necessary to go to Wharton to run a business? Is it necessary to go to an Ivy League School (and then Wharton) to get a great job right out of college? Again, Mark has been down these roads and his real life examples are not only illuminating but downright fun to read.

Highly recommended.