The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory: Finding and Surviving Your First Job [Paperback]

Elycia Arendt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2003

The dot.coms have all gone bust. Corporations are laying off workers by the thousands. The economy is in its worst state in nearly thirty years. Congratulations, you've just graduated from college, what are you going to do next?Finding a job after college has never been easy, but the 21st century has brought with it many new challenges. Thankfully, author Elycia Arendt has penned the first shockingly realistic guide to finding and surviving your first job. Written by a recent college graduate, The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory is filled with every dirty little secret college career centers never wanted students to hear.Arendt dispels the myths fed to college students, such as the importance of their major. The book details where to find a job, how to apply, interviewing tactics, accepting or declining an offer, and finally, how to survive your first job. Candid, irreverent, and timely, The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory is the ultimate guide to post-collegiate life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Arendt is stellar in exhorting her recent college grad compatriots to stick through it, and find that job! -- Independent Publishing Review, November 2003

Arendt's guide is not subtle, but it may be just the sort of wake-up call you need. -- University of Missouri's

About the Author

Elycia Kathryn Arendt graduated magna cum laude from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2000, with a B.A. in English. She currently works as a Senior Editor for a legal text publisher in Minnesota.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595289088
• ISBN-13: 978-0595289080
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,443,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insight into Lessons Outside of College, July 20, 2006

By 

John (Southfield, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory: Finding and Surviving Your First Job (Paperback)

I'm a little older now. I've been out of college for over 10 years. As you get older, you tend to look back on your life. I thought about my time in college. I didn't do so well. I thought about my attempts to get work after college. It was horrible.

In terms of finding work, every approach that I tried, and it didn't work, the author said not to do when in college or after having left college. My approach led to frustration, anger, and bitterness.

I wish that this book was available for me when I left college. Even though I'm working now, I learned what "real life" was, and it's different from the "college life".

This book should be given to high school, college, technical school kids, whatever. Taking heed of the advice in this book will save them the bitterness that I experienced 10 years earlier.

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read!, May 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory: Finding and Surviving Your First Job (Paperback)

I just read this review elsewhere and thought it summed up the book well...

The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory is the complete guide to finding and surviving a job. This book describes the process of finding a job from the decision about your major through the truth about internships and summer jobs to the best jobs finding resources. Then the book goes even further explaining resumes, interview strategies, and how to survive office politics.

Though the title of the book suggests this guide is written specifically for college and university graduates, practically anyone looking for a job will benefit from the author's suggestions. The tips in this book are straightforward, honest, extremely realistic, true to life, and often quite hilarious. I think this book should be required reading for every student leaving high school, technical school, college, and university.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sarcastice but true, September 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The College Grad's Guide to Purgatory: Finding and Surviving Your First Job (Paperback)

What you really need to know if you don't have a 4.0 GPA, a trust fund and a daddy who owns Microsoft or any other major coporation. Buy a copy for any recent grad or about to graduate into a world of debt and unemployment!