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The Right Job, Right Now: The Complete Toolkit for Finding Your Perfect Career

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If you're thinking of starting out the new year looking for a new job, get Susan Strayer's new book, The Right Job, Right Now: The Complete Toolkit for Finding Your Perfect Career, before you do anything else. Being in the midst of my own job search I've had the opportunity to survey the market of job search advice books. The Right Job, Right Now offers sound, practical advice I haven't found anywhere else.

If you're like most of us the first thing you do when starting a job search is to write up your resumé, right? -- Wrong! Using her trademarked Career Kaleidoscope Model, Susan starts out walking you through a determination of what you have to offer in terms of skills and competencies and what you want in return in terms of environment, culture, benefits and financial rewards.

As an indication of the importance of determining where you want to go, Susan doesn't even begin to talk about how you should prepare your resumé until about page 100, a third of the way through the book. And when she does talk about your resumé she wisely tailors it around the outcomes of what you determined through the Career Kaleidoscope. In this way your resumé goes beyond being a mere listing of job descriptions to highlight your skills, competencies and what you have to offer and focuses it on the types of companies/industries where you want to work.

The second unique feature of the book is that it takes you through the entire process from determining what you have to offer and what you want, searching for a job, through the interviewing and negotiating process, starting and subsequently growing and succeeding in your job and revisiting the entire process as necessary. It is the Complete Toolkit, just as the title promises.

The Right Job, Right Now is well written, easy to read and loaded with practical advice and tools. The Career Kaleidoscope Model and the span of advice from goal determination to career success is truly unique. It is an essential for anyone thinking of searching for a new job or looking for a more fulfilling career.

I had the opportunity to purchase several of Susan Strayer's books, "The Right Job,Right Now " for myself and to give away to friends and relatives seeking a fist time job or career change.
The book is an easy to read and follow tool book in self evaluating your strenths and weaknesses and then utilizing this informaiton to help you on the path to finding the right job.
This book is a must for everyone in any stage of their career looking to ehance their career goals and ambitions.

In summary Susan's book is a creative refeshing approach to finding the right job and I thank her in making her knowledge and experience available to the general public.

While I was in business school a close friend of mine gave me this book. From the beginning, the book gave me the one thing that I needed (and didn't know I needed)... direction! The author's model takes you step by step through the questions you need to be asking yourself, and the result is an easy to use methodology for filtering any job you may be looking at. What this did for me was place me in a job that was a perfect fit, at the right salary, and even prepared me for the interviews because I know what questions I needed to be asking.

I know that as I look at my career going forward, I can not only use the model for new career changes, but also jobs that I may be applying for within my company.

In short, this book should be part of every career decision you make.

I met Susan Strayer shortly after JibberJobber was created, in 2006. Susan was working on a book called The Right Job, Right Now and felt that JibberJobber might be a perfect complement to her book. In fact, she started to talk about JibberJobber as she marketed her book, in fliers and presentations. It was pretty flattering that someone of her stature was talking about JibberJobber, and I was gratified that she felt it complemented her stuff (which was one of my original goals - to complement career offerings).

I got a copy of The Right Job, Right Now and have been thumbing through it for quite some time. I really like what she's put together, but it has taken me longer than I expected to make progress with the book. I initially approached it as I have most other books, with the intention of reading it quickly, from beginning to start.

That was the problem... this can be a "beginning to start" book, but I find it's more like a career management user's manual than anything else. While it's subtitled "The complete tool-kit for finding your perfect career," it is more than that. Let me break it down to show why it's more than just "finding your perfect career."

Part I has five chapters, and is named "What Do You Really Want To Do? A Career Plan for the Rest of Your Life." This is where she walks you through various exercises to help you come up with your "sweet spot," helping you figure out exactly what you want to be when you grow up. I like her approach more than tests that I've seen where they say "you'd be a good mortician. Or software sales rep... either one would suit you fine!"

In these first few chapters Susan Strayer walks us through the "Kaleidoscope Career Model" where we actually figure out what our perfect job would be. What is my risk level? What kind of hours will make me happiest (and most productive)? How do I value benefits, salary, security, etc? During these chapters, and with the concept of the kaleidoscope, we can find that sweet spot, which she argues is where we really need to end up.

I can't argue with that.

Part II is named "Career Action: Getting It In Gear." This is where she breaks down the job search process, including networking, resumes, personal branding, etc. The last two chapters of Part II (which has seven chapters) are Closing the Deal (chapter 11) and Taking and Making the Job (chapter 12).

I think this is where most job search books end, right? After you find the job?

Susan Strayer put in a Part III, which is what you do after you land the job... very cool. There are six chapters in Part III: Managing Your Career: Staying Challenged, Sane, and Motivated. Here are three very cool chapters:

* Chapter 16: Making the Grade is about employee reviews/evaluations. Susan has significant HR experience, and learning about how to make the most of a review is pretty cool (most of my reviews where a joke).
* Chapter 17: Playing the Political Game is self explanatory... again, her HR (and recruiting) experience provides a great perspective on how to deal with office politics.
* Chapter 18: The Fond Farewell. Maybe I don't read enough, but I can't remember another book that talks about how to get out. Brilliant. In business, a purpose of contracts is to figure out how all parties can walk away from a deal. How come we don't read more about how to walk away from an employer the right way, with regard to our career? What a cool ending to this career management manual.

This book is not a lite read... but it is a great insight into career management from someone who has experience as an HR professional, a recruiter, and of course a job seeker. Do yourself a favor and spend the $10 to $16 on Amazon... I bet you'll find yourself referring back to this book over the years!

I can't believe that Susan captured everything of importance in ONE book....and to think that people have written thousands of books on this subject over the years (including me.. I have authored 3 books on interviewing ).. Job search and career exploration can be a very emotional and anxiety producing experience...I have been in the recruitment/placement field over 40 years and this is the most useful,and easy to navigate book I have seen..this book can sure make your life easier if you are looking for a job and /or the right career...

I borrowed this book from a colleague of mine and found it very useful. Its easy to read and follow. Its very practical and makes you think about those talents you never thought you had. I really recommend it.

As a newly minted MBA I can tell you, with confidence, that the most important, time consuming and stressful part of my two years at B-school was my job search. Like at any b-school, I had unlimited resources at my disposal to make my search "easier" and more focused. Getting my hands on The Right Job, Right Now has allowed me to take all of those career management resources from b-school with me. This is the first career book I have found that clearly and concisely covers not only the details of a successful job search, but also long term career management techniques.

Since I will be starting a new job soon, I was looking for a book that focused as much on career management as it did the job search. To that point, I found the section titled "Managing Your Career: Staying Challenged, Sane, and Motivated" extremely useful. It opened my eyes to how much I need to be aware of prior to starting my new job. From salary negotiation to office politics, every point on how to effectively manage every part of your career is covered in detail.

This is definitely a book worth reading and holding on to regardless of where you are in your professional career. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a structured approach to managing his or her career from every angle.

This book is a must read for anyone who is embarking or thinking about embarking on the job search process! It follows a practical, hands-on approach to finding your "right" job...which is not just a job, but a career leading to a long term career path. The reader starts with a compressive self-assessment and is taken methodically through a very effective job search process. In addition, you are taken one step further and provided with a solid approach to not only starting a new role, but also managing your transition from one role to the next. As a career development professional who works with individuals every day, I would highly recommend this read to anyone.

Keith Stemple
Associate Director, Career Services
The George Washington University - School of Business

I am in the midst of a career change from law to business and found the tips and advice in this book to be extremely practical and insightful. This book also contains great on-the job advice and I will continue to utilize it throughout my career.

If you want one book to guide you throughout your career, you need this book. The Right Job, Right Now is the only start-to-finish career guide I've come across and it's packed with great ideas.

Susan Strayer helps people and organizations with their career management issues. With this book, she brings her approach together in a readable, usable, action-oriented manual.

The book is in three parts. The first part guides you through Susan's copyrighted Career Kaleidoscope, which will help you determine where your career sweet-spot is. Susan told me this model is the one thing she is most proud of about the book, and you'll see why when you use it. She knows how to step you through the tough process of sorting out what you want to do and where, and the model is a key part of that.

Part II shows you how to find the field and organizations that fit your sweet-spot, how to get the right job with one of those organizations, and how to get a fast and successful start. The final section covers issues with delivering results on the job, handling performance reviews, growing and developing your skills, and moving on when the time is right.

I see successful career management as a six step process (find your sweet-spot, find the right job, get a great start, deliver results, grow and develop, and revisit as needed). The Right Job, Right Now covers all six steps. Other books on my shelves cover only one or two steps in the process, albeit in more detail. You will want and need some of these books in addition to Susan's book. But Susan's book is the one you will turn to first and most often.

I love this book. It's an easy read, with several helpful navigational devices. "Stop" boxes point out areas of caution on your journey. "Action" boxes require you to do something before reading further. And "Good to Know" boxes provide relevant tips. Susan's tone is straightforward and action-oriented.

The working title for the book was "Get off Your B**t!", but the publisher advised Susan to choose something a bit more marketable. Nevertheless, as you work through the book you will hear surely Susan's whispers in your ear:

"Just do it!"

"Come on, give it a try"

and - occasionally - "Get off your b**t!"

If you want to give yourself a great New Year's present this year, you couldn't do much better than The Right Job, Right Now. It's a book you will want to pull off the shelf and use throughout the year.