Customer Reviews

Fired to Hired: Bouncing Back from Job Loss to Get to Work Right Now

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4 star:		(1)
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Tory Johnson starts out this book with an example that is supposed to show us that she feels our pain. She tells us about the devastating experience of getting fired from NBC at age...22. No, I am not kidding. We hear the story of all her first job, how she liked it and how she got fired. Apparently she actually believes this example is meaningful. She was devastated but, she had $23,000 in the bank.(Presumably the result of a cash payout for being laid off.) She writes "With a cool $23,000 in the bank, going to the ATM, didn't seem so scary. That is until rent payments, retail therapy, and a few more cash withdrawls whittled away at those five figures."


As an executive recruiter I could not believe the egotistical indulgence of this story. I sit day after day hearing professional people, people with established careers, families and a lot to offer--tell me that they have been fired.

Being fired when you are expert at your profession, and ten years older than the junior player firing you is what is happening every day in this country. Its demoralizing. It makes you wonder who you are--and that is something that's a lot more painful at 50 than at 22. (At 22 you don't even know who you are.) So, in one fell swoop Johnson provedsshe doesn't have a clue--and tells a story guaranteed to demoralize most people who read this book.

Everyone has had a few stumbles at 22. Trust me Tory--ITS NOTHING. People who are twenty-two can actually survive on unemployment. People in their 50s with kids in college don't do "retail therapy." The only thing this silly story told me was that Tory Johnson made a lot of money when she was very young--and doesn't have any idea what being fired means when you are no longer a kid. Can you re-engineer your career? Unless you are a kid, this book isn't going to provide much help.

Ah but what about the solutions? Surely the solutions will be helpful regardless, right?

Wrong. The solutions in this book are for very junior or low level jobs. Some might work for women with young children who desperately need to be at home and are willing to take gigantic pay cuts. She makes the classic mistake of doing career counseling while talking about working from home. Note to all who want to work from home: Home is a location--not a career. First focus on what you have in your bag of experience--then ask yourself if you can do it from home.

Working from home actually can work very well for experienced people who have usable skills (tech writing for example) and can look for contract work, but Johnson doesn't go into ways that an experienced person can make it work. This book has another huge ommission in the form of tax advice. While Johnson explains that a 1099 contract worker needs to pay taxes quarterly, she fails to mention that the Social Security tax is DOUBLE for people who work from home. There are often other taxes as well, such as the New York City "Self-Employment" tax. Taxes in a place like NYC can easily eat up HALF of your paycheck before you pay your health insurance--so this is not a minor omission.

I would have been fine with this book if it had said it was for the recent college grad who just got the boot, but in this economy an awful lot of people with more experience than Tory Johnson have been fired and are going to spend their very precious dollars on this book--which will be a compete waste. You would be very hard pressed to support a family on the kinds of jobs Tory Johnson will find you. The condescention of this, coming from someone with Johnson's success, was irritating--to me anyway.

Getting a new job or changing careers when you are 22 or 25 is simply not that hard, even in this economy but if it happens to you, this book might help.

I was at the library and this book was on display. Its title attracted me. "Maybe finally some solid advice for the less-than-sterling applicant," I thought. Not really. Although there is some acknowledgment of the particular toughness of the job market at the time of the book's publication (late 2009) and inclusion of the changes the Internet has made in looking for a job, there's very little here that couldn't be found in any standard job-hunting manual of the past 20 years or so. I'm not job-hunting, so it was mere curiosity that drew me to the book on the library shelf. Had I been out of work and spent the minimum $4.00 for it (one cent plus 3.99 "shipping and handling"), I'd feel ripped off. There's a lot of the obvious here, and little that's fresh, despite Johnson's inclusion of her favorite song titles for revving up one's job-hunting juices. Network, pump up the resume with action verbs, be ready to pass out those business cards at the bus stop and gas station. Yes, we know. The book is plumped up with plenty of name-dropping and what the author supposes are inspiring stories from the likes of people (network anchor types, Maria Shriver, and so forth) that are likely to make the unemployed feel seriously inadequate. And she writes, as all such job coaches write, as if her reader were like herself: Type A, driven, people-oriented, highly-energized, so full of tangible accomplishments at her last job that she must whittle them down to a manageable list--and out of work? How? People like this don't get fired, even in a "down" economy, or, if they do, they're not out of work long enough to get using to sleeping late. Maybe there's a book out there called "Job-Hunting After Doing Time." Now, that one should have something fresh to say.

This book is very helpful to me especially during this time of being unemployed. The price was excellent and the book was in good condition. Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments.

I originally picked up "Fired to Hired" during what I expected to be a prolonged period of unemployment. I was going to use this time to potentially build a business or at the very least take my time in selecting a new company. Conditions changed (I found out I was going to be a father) and I ended up taking a position more quickly than I probably should have. Long story short, I am again faced with the potential of being tossed around by the whims of corporate America, so I thought that it would be a good time to start reading through some career books again. This book is somewhat better than most job hunting books in that it provides examples to help underscore its concepts (instead of just saying "trust us...it will work"). Unfortunately, you won't find anything new or revolutionary in this book. And its advice leans very heavily towards helping women find work...so men will not find it as useful. Solid job seeking advice, but not balanced enough to be helpful to everyone

I love this book. Tory Johnson is a dynamo and her energy and passion is infectious; it jumps off the pages! This book is easy to read and follow and you can begin applying her suggestions from the very first chapter. It not only contains practical advice on the job search, resumes, interviewing and social media networking, it is also encouraging and motivational. One thing that is consistent about Tory Johnson is her wealth of resources. She provides tons of websites and organizations to research and connect with and she covers all the basis. Yes, there are alot of job search books on the market but I picked this one up after seeing Tory on Good Morning America and visiting her website. I suggest getting the book, checking her out on GMA, her website and Facebook. Her posts on Facebook provide current information and if you post a question, she'll respond. She also seeks feedback from people in various stages of their job search and utilizes this information on GMA or at her Women For Hire job fairs. For anyone in the job search, this book is not only practical, you can tell that Tory really does feel our pain and root for our success.

When you're feeling like you can't keep going in your job search or you're still suffering from being fired or laid off from work, you really need to read this book. Tory Johnson didn't have any more advantages than others when she lost "the best job in the world." Read about her journey from the dark abyss of self-pity to the top of the world as a multi-million dollar business owner. It's inspiring and Tory offers practical and realistic advice on all the challenges a job seeker faces today. It's timely and relevant for the American worker.

It's packed with tips and good advice for those of us who are trying to find a job!

I had the pleasure of meeting Tory at her book signing in NYC and I just finished this book.

She's penned a comprehensive and upbeat book for job seekers. I particularly liked her ideas about working from home and networking -- not to mention her suggestions of music to get you going. Every job-seeker should read this book.

I'm personally working with some job-seekers from her book signing and I look forward to using the ideas from her book. Thanks, Tory.

I just finished reading Fired to Hired which I thought was excellent. When I read a career advice book, I want realistic, practical strategies illustrated with real life experiences, and that is exactly what we get from Tory Johnson in Fired to Hired. Covering everything from salary negotiations to how to set up a job club, Fired to Hired is a comprehensive guide to the job search process, written for today's especially challenging labor market. Highly recommended.

This advice-packed book is a must-read for anyone working, unemployed, or about to enter or re-enter the work world. I am an enterpreneur who has run her own successful service business for nearly 15 years after leaving the corporate marketing world and was surprised how many valuable tips I gained from Tory's new book. Tory speaks to each reader personally, revealing her own tough experiences, demonstrating how everyone can relate to her. And, we hear from dozens and dozens of well-known professionals and executives on their own humble and real experiences, that round out all the advice Tory shares with us. 'Fired To Hired' is a fun and easy - yet important - read, and should be considered a reference book for anyone's career library (men and women). Make it a gift to yourself and others who can benefit.