Customer Reviews

Landing on the Right Side of Your Ass: A Survival Guide for the Recently Unemployed

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is basically about avoiding depression so you aren't dead meat on the job search highway. Personally, it was encouraging to find a loudmouth from Harvard MBA school was going through many of the same things I was going through after emerging from slightly lesser ranking Indiana MBA school before getting sucked up into the world of 'infinite future' telecom consulting, and sucked down by an equally weighty 'nothing available right now' telecom crash. I have landed on the wrong side of my ass. My salary went from $100K to $20K. And the ONLY material out there I can find is on how to do all the things I've already done: networking, resumes, interview prep, etc. No one gets it. No one wants to get it.

What this book did not help me come to terms with, which is really what I still want to come to terms with, is how to maintain optimism over a longer horizon. How to recover from depression once it hits, rathern than feigning optimism to yourself through a hardly affordable hedonism. Sometimes, particularly after a brutal series of experieces like several layoffs in a number of years while a market is crashing, depression wins. And if you get depressed. Are you dead forever irrespective of your abilities? Seems so. Once you lose your enthisiam, no matter how badly you feel treated, you lose your right to work.

I'm still looking for the book on what no one still wants to talk about. What if you didn't get work again in 6 months, than 12, than 24, than became underemployed because you needed the money? Where do you recover that sense of enthusiasm and hope again. That, to me, seems to be the real battle to stay on the right side of your ass.

I imagine I am not the only one out there that feels this way.

And you need to read it now. When I was a kid the only people who I knew who got fired were a couple of odd relatives by marriage who were generally thought of as the family nut cases. The very word "fired" was spoken the same way people used to say " cancer" or "prison." Obviously things have changed. You can be a great employee and still get the corporate shaft. The odds are a firing or whatever euphemism you want to use could be in your future so grab Mr. Laskoff's book and get ready.

The book is very funny, and is the only career book I've read so far that honestly describes how humiliating and frightning it is to be out of work but Laskoff doesn't just allow his readers to wallow in grief. As he states himself, this is not a pychobabble book. It's a pratical guide to getting back on the right side. Laskoff tells you the truth about resumes, how to really work an interview and how to negotiate when you get a job offer. It's a great book.

I read this book because I've been wanting to look for a new job and didn't know where to start. I found everything I was looking for, great tips, marketing strategies for myself, etc. And the book has such a friendly vibe, you feel that Mr. Laskoff is an actual friend who has all the answers for you.

Now I've been dispensing my own career wisdom to friends that find themselves, well... out on their ass. I've found that so many friends get so angry when let go from a job and they can't loose that. This book starts by saying, you might have been fired unfairly, or you might have totally done it to yourself... but you HAVE to get over it and move on. It's great advice that a surprising majority of people don't seem to quite get.

This book is a very entertaining read that you won't regret. His website is very very fun too. His man on the street interviews can be laugh out loud funny.

If you don't have a job, GET THIS BOOK!

I wish I had known about and bought this book 2 months ago when I was "fired" (for the first time in 30 years of working!!). It's essential in surviving unemployment. It's funny, sharp, urbane and touches on all the "untouchable" subjects - blaming your employer, blaming yourself, taking a vacation before beginning job hunting, how to talk to friends and family, and so forth. It discussed all the subjects I couldn't talk about to anyone, and helped me feel sane and centered in the midst of a very trying time.

I highly recommend this book, which I have worn out two highlighters while reading!

If you are currently unemployed, this is a great book. It is also good preparation if you think you might be laid off (or quit your job). The first part of the book is great and is right on target, showing that the author knows what he is talking about. Although the resume writing part is small and boring for those of us who keep our resumes updated, it is definitely good for people who have not updated theirs in years. Overall a very good book and an easy read.

This is a must read for anyone who has to work for a living. Chances are, especially in todays job market, you're livelihood is at risk because of reasons you may or may not have control over. This guy has lost more jobs than I've ever had in every imaginable way. He has experienced the full range of emotions (his wife is a saint) and despite some amusing self-destructive releases of grief and anger, has always landed on the right side of his ass. As someone who's been out on his ass for more than a year, I totally empathized with MLBs experiences. The advice contained herein is not only informative and very applicable but also very entertaining -- common sense served up with a side of humor. In addition, it was very comforting to see someone who has experienced the same emotions I have. I thought I was weak; it turns out I'm human. In addition to his book, check out his WWW site: http://www.askyourass.com. I learned about this guy's work through his column in Business Week and am eternally grateful for the advice and humor during a very stressful time. No affiliation whatsoever; just a very satisfied customer...

Refreshing. I've been dealing with employment related issues for the past two years, and I'd all but given up hope of ever finding something that was written by an adult and for an adult. But out of habit, I always check out the "Careers" section whenever I'm in the bookstore, and this time I found "Landing On The Right Side Of Your Ass." Then a strange thing happened, as I flipped through the introduction, I started to laugh because some of the author's vignettes reflect the same sort of screwy and tortuous mishaps that have beset my own career. And as I read more, I discovered that he'd actually written about subjects that I hadn't seen elsewhere, like how to deal with the anger of being unemployed and manage the impact that your joblessness has any on your family. But I found two chapters later in the book to be particularly helpful. In one, Laskoff compares resumes to the personal ads, which sounds crazy, until you read about why this actually makes sense. I learned enough from this to make some very good changes to my resume and people seem to be responding better to it. And finally, there's a great chapter that urges job seekers to approach interviews from the perspective of the person doing the interviewing. (Think about his problems and present yourself as a solution.) All in all, I found this book to be quite different from the usual career book; it's pragmatic, easy to read, and often funny. I strongly believe that it will be of great help to anyone struggling with unemployment.

Dear Mr. Laskoff,

The purpose of my letter is to regale you with laughter by letting you know that your suggestions, tactics, and advice when put to work- REALLY works! I cannot thank you enough for putting your experiences, and suggestions into print.

After being pushed out of a position - in a not so very nice way - I slumped into my local bookseller. On the verge of loosing my last threads of sanity, knowing that I had been dumped on my ASS - the very name of your book excitingly brought a smile to my face.

With- tongue-in-cheek, I gleefully left the store with your book hidden - like lost treasure in my folio. Needing to make the leap into the work a day world again - I swallowed the content, came to terms with the situation, and put to action the thought processes, lifestyle adjustment, and work that you suggested into high gear. Within 2 weeks, in a very small community - I had two "Fortune XXX noted" companies offer me positions.

Such a far, far cry from where I had recently been "dumped from.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. What a great time in our culture for this book to hit the shelves. Undoubtedly, the cost of the book, is the best money that I have spent in a long time. I am giving a copy to a local personnel agency, a friend who has recently experienced job loss, will be keeping a copy for myself to use as a reference, and recommending the book to anyone that is looking for advice in regaining or bettering their employment situation.

Thank You so Much!

Warmest Regards -

I came across this book in the library exactly one week after losing a job. The title alone was enough to make me pull the book off the shelf, but when I saw that the subtitle was -- "A Survival Guide for the Recently Unemployed" -- I thought, "Well, that sure is me! And I could use some advice on how to land on the right side of my you-know-what."

I read half of this engaging how-to book right there in the library. I couldn't put it down. Author Michael Laskoff uses irreverent humor (almost like that of the Motley Fool investment books, except slightly edgier) to deliver his very practical, sound, time-tested advice on how to survive -- and bounce back from -- "employment separation."

In this book, you'll find realistic, can-do methods of handling the news of your sacking, how to deal with the emotions it engenders, how to break the news to your loved ones, what to do in the first few days after being fired (hint: have fun!), how to organize a daily schedule for your unemployed self, and how to reenter the workforce -- from writing a resume and cover letter, to conducting inital research and networking, right on up through negotiating a job offer.

The chapter on networking was especially helpful to me. When I reached that point and saw the kind of information Laskoff was offering, I said to myself, "I'm checking this book out of the library so I can make notes at home!" Nothing else I've ever read or heard has spelled out networking so completely and made it sound like SOMETHING I CAN TRULY DO. Laskoff tells you exactly how to go about it. No mystery whatsoever.

The engaging voice and priceless information is marred only by the dreadful copyediting job somebody did (or, perhaps more correctly, didn't do) on this book. Misspellings, errors in usage and style inconsistencies plague the text. Surely Three Rivers Press, which is a division of Crown -- which is a division of Random House! -- can do better.

Thanks, Mr. Laskoff. I needed this book, and not a moment too soon.

I'm employed, wasn't even looking for something on getting another job, but was passing the Career section when this book jumped out at me. (How often do you see word "Ass" in bold in the career section of a book store?) Flipping through, I came across a section called "Self-Sabotage," which talks about how employed people sometimes unconsciously bring about their
own professional demise. This struck a nerve - I've given some though to changing jobs - so I bought the book and gave it a quick read. And I'm shocked to say that I learned some actually helpful things. I found the advice on networking to be particularly good, as everyone says you should do this but no one tells you how to go about it. I also liked the last chapter
on negotiating an offer, because it gives real guidelines to help someone who's received an offer figure out just how much leverage he's got and what he can realistically do with it.

For better or worse, I've read or skimmed a bunch of career books in the past. Some were good - most were not - but I can't ever recall finding something that's so readable, thought provoking and actionable. I'd recommend this strongly to anyone who's looking for work, whether they're employed or not.