Customer Reviews

Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job

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After reading this book, I have to thank Shawn Graham for his practical and novel approach to finding the perfect career. I have found that building great relationships is a major key to creating fulfillment and success. Mr. Graham builds upon this idea by relating the job search/career preparation process to the world of "courtship."

I believe current students, recent graduates, and those already many years into their careers will benefit from reading this book. The networking section (ice breakers, introduction seduction) alone is worth the price of the book.

If you or someone you know could use help finding a soul-mate (read "career-mate" in this case), do them a favor and send them this book.

Courting Your Career addresses the job search in a way that is fresh and fun with a topic that most young men and women can relate to. The information is easy to read and fits so many stages of the job search campaign that this is a book that will be able to be referenced again and again throughout the reader's life.

Shawn Graham knows his territory: his 'regular job' is with a Career Management Center in North Carolina. Having had extensive experience counseling college students on the successful ways to career life after college has resulted in this very entertaining and useful guide COURTING YOUR CAREER: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job.

Graham uses the helpful analogy of thinking about career options, making decisions by elimination procedures as to what job market is most compatible with the candidate, and then goes about the steps in approaching the desired career by using the same kind of information and etiquette and presentation that maximizes effects in successful dating and partnering! It may sound simplistic when condensed in a review, but Graham is a shrewd and perceptive guide, giving solid examples of how to manage every step of the job search (and research!), the interview, and the final negotiations that result in making the right choices for the perfect job. And if this 'personal dating' analogy seems a bit like 'Job Hunting for Dummies', then this smart book is probably meant for you. Graham carefully draws attention to the many steps and pitfalls, sound advice and encouragement, and even check lists for accomplishing goals. It is a tightly written, very useful manual that may be aimed at the young graduate, but it is also a fine tool for people of any age who have decided to re-enter the job force or make a career change. Don't be put off by the Magritte-like cover: this is a learned, accessible manual! Grady Harp, November 07

Really great book! Makes some excellent points, and does a good and somewhat funny job of connecting the job search to one's dating life - makes sense, and is really helpful. really helps to rationalize the job search and relate it to something easy that people do in everyday life.

highly recommend it!

As an MBA student, I've had to quickly figure out how to find and land that perfect gig. Courting Your Career helped me get up to speed on how to best position myself to prospective companies while also covering everything I needed to know about interviewing. The dating metaphor helped drive the advice home and made a tedious process a lot more fun. I would definitely recommend this book.

I thought this book was great. The anecdotes are funny, relevant, and artfully used to drive home helpful career-related insights. I'm an MBA student and found the book to be a great supplement to my personal career search. Any 20-something seeking "the" job will love this book.

I began reading Shawn Graham's book, "Courting Your Career" on a flight from Harrisburg to Chicago. Even though I'm not looking to change my career, it was good company.

It might surprise you that I'm saying a book subtitled, "Match Yourself with the Perfect Job," was good company. However, Shawn's innovative use of courtship as a metaphor and framework for finding your perfect career resulted in an entertaining and enlightening read. Chapter titles include; Playing the Field, The Meet Market, and Dinner and a Movie.

In addition, Shawn seasons his book with wit and humor that draws readers along and lightens the mood. While reading about the importance of networking, you'll come across this gem. You should be networking everywhere except, "police stations and prisons."

"Courting Your Career" may be funny but it's not frivolous. The night before my flight, I returned a call from a college student who asked if he should follow-up a job interview with a phone call. I told the student that I appreciate a follow up call after I interview potential instructors and suggested he do the same. The next day, somewhere over Ohio, Shawn confirmed that 82% of executives think you should follow up within two weeks.

Furthermore, I loved the sample scripts. For example, you'll learn how to keep the door open at the end of a short conversation that didn't go as well as you hoped. Finally, Shawn adds value by identifying a wealth of career-search-resources found outside his book. Locating external resources completes this tool chest for career hunters.

I'm recommending "Courting Your Career" to at least two groups of readers, those searching for careers and those helping others find their "Perfect job."

Job hunting is like dating: flirting with potential employers, making the best first impression you can, hoping to find a great match. This is the premise of Shawn Graham's book, "Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job."

Shawn is associate director with the MBA career management center at UNC-Chapel Hill. He knows that job searching isn't always fun for students and young professionals, so he decided to use the dating metaphor to make the process more palatable. It works. Shawn's tone is friendly, knowledgeable and detailed, and the dating metaphor is clever (e.g., cover letters as pick-up lines).

My favorite part of the book is the sample scripts, where Shawn outlines exactly what to say in various situations, such as calling a networking contact or approaching a recruiter at a career fair. He also provides some tips I haven't seen elsewhere, such as a guide to the best places for men and women to buy interview suits (helpfully ranked by price).

Recommended for Gen Y job seekers looking for expert advice combined with a fun twist on the career search process.

My only regret with this book is that I got my hands on it merely weeks after I had already accepted a job. While I'm thrilled with my career choice, this guide could have saved me a lot of heart ache (no pun intended) during my job search. Shawn presents such an obvious and sensible idea that it's a wonder we all hadn't thought of it before. The text itself is an enjoyable read on top of being incredibly insightful- perfect for college students who are quite unwilling to read anything not absolutely necessary. Career changers could also benefit from the blatant honesty that Shawn's comparisons expose. Early in the book, Shawn relates "accepting any job that will pay the bills" to "settling for any date who has teeth." Yes, that made me laugh but also made me realize it's quite silly to settle for just any job if its going to require at least 40 to 50 hours of your week. Looking back, I also fell into the trap of "dating someone just because they lived down the street from me"...in other words, restricting my job search to one major city. In short, this is the first piece of career advice literature that I've enjoyed reading. Succinct and realistic, it is a must-have for anyone looking for their first job, a promotion or a career change.

As a recent MBA grad and an even more recent single guy, I found this book informative and entertaining on multiple fronts. I especially liked the author's philosophy on where to meet both networking contacts and potential mates - "everywhere but police stations and prisons." Funny, yes, but there's a sincere truth to that advice as well.

The word "networking" used to make me cringe, because I associated it with something artificial and forced. This book helped change the way I thought about networking - it made me realize that networking can be done anytime, anywhere. It doesn't have to be so different from what you do in other parts of your life. Who you know, and perhaps more importantly who knows you, is just as if not more important that what you know when it comes to opening doors.

In addition to its advice on networking, "Courting Your Career" provides a wealth of guidance regarding self-awareness, which is the foundation upon which any successful job search must be built. After all, if you don't know what you want it's very difficult to figure out how to pursue it.

I would recommend this book to those who are considering or are currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs of any kind, as well as anyone who is contemplating a career change. Mr. Graham's personable, approachable writing style makes this an easy and enjoyable read.