Real Life Guide to Starting Your Career: How to Get the Right Job Right Now! [Paperback]

Margot Carmichael Lester (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The cap and gown have had their day in the sun and the honors-winning thesis is already yellowing at the edges. You're a college graduate now, and it's time to decide what you're going to do to earn your keep. If you are like most recent college grads, once you start down this path, the first thing you learn is how little you actually know about finding work, no matter how swimmingly you performed in anatomy, Eastern philosophy, and calculus. What you need is a good text.

Margot Carmichael Lester's guide to careers treats you like a novice (though not like an idiot) and teaches some essential job-hunt precepts that a lot of people could do with learning or reviewing. The chapters (including "Prep Work," "Landing a Job," and "The Realities of Working") each provide a quick summary of main points, and they are worth the price of the book (CD-ROM aside!). Starting with the fact that, in 1998, 1.2 million college graduates are seeking jobs, the book deals with basic but oft-ignored truths (for instance, you need to pay your dues, because glamorous yet highly compensated jobs are rare), and it offers the advice to figure out what you enjoy, what your personality is suited to, and what skills you need to update to improve your marketability.

With a CD-ROM that comes packed to the gills with software extras and online connection resources, as well as an easily navigable version of the book, the usefulness of the Real Life Guide is tripled. Even if all you ever do is integrate the lessons of chapter 1, you'll be far ahead of the pack of job-seekers who're vying for the positions you want. --Stephanie Gold

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Pipeline Press; 1 edition (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890586021
• ISBN-13: 978-1890586027
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,670,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for who wants to get a good job, November 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Life Guide to Starting Your Career: How to Get the Right Job Right Now! (Paperback)

Lester used humor and orgainzed writing metholodgy to teach you how to start your career. She acted as a mother to give you much advice on evaluating yourself and employer, writing resume, preparing interview and following up; but I sure your mother never told you these.

5.0 out of 5 stars searching for the right job? buy this book, problem solved!, June 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Life Guide to Starting Your Career: How to Get the Right Job Right Now! (Paperback)

I spent six weeks looking for a job before I bought this book, and one week looking after I read it. Great strategy, easy to read. Helped me get my current job.

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I DIDN'T learn in college, April 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Life Guide to Starting Your Career: How to Get the Right Job Right Now! (Paperback)

I recently bought Real Life Guide to Life After College to learn how to write my resume. This book includes software to build a paper resume and an online one also. I graduate next month and already have tons of interviews set up thanks to the tips in this book. Although I haven't yet read them, there are sections in here on managing your money and the Internet too.