Customer Reviews

Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sure, this is written for the corporate crowd (more specifically, from a lawyer's perspective), but it is full of useful information.

Using the guidance in this book, I navigated my way through a two-part, three-person interview that got me the job I needed to get my feet on the ground and start running!

I refer to this book any time I have an interview. It covers face-to-face interviews, phone interviews, and eating-lunch interviews. It covers negotiations, how and when to bring up salary, when and why to send Thank You notes, etc.

How much do I love this book? Well, I love my job, and I love to sell used books through amazon.com, but I will NEVER get rid of this book.

I don't care if you're interviewing for a job assembling door handles for Toyota at $7/hour ... if you want the upper hand, read this book.

The list of questions to expect from your interviewers ... and, more importantly, the list of questions to ask your interviewers is invaluable. (One question in particular has always been met with: "Wow. That's a good question. Let me think about that." Hey, anytime your interviewer says that, you have the upper hand. (If you want to know which question I'm talking about ... feel free to email me.

I found this book interesting and very useful in my job search. I read several books about job hunting including interviewing. I looked at dozens of other books that I didn't even bother to buy or take out of the library. This book is exceptional-outstanding in its readability, usefullness, and realistic view of the interviewing process.

Generally good advice but some odd strays from mainstream advice that I don't agree with. For example, it argues against thank you letters after an interview - says that they are an irritant to interviewer. Personally, I have been involved with hiring plenty of people and a well written thank you never hurts and can make a difference in a close call.

This book was apparently the first book ever written on the job interview. It's been updated, but it's full of unchanging principles that can help everyone.

One of the best things about the book is that it abounds in common sense advice. It tells you how things really are. It advises you how to prepare youself for an interview and how to control the interview once you're in it.

As good, it tells you things that bolster your confidence in yourself and in your ability to engage in the interview. It explains how the interview is a two way street, how you should be interviewing them as well as them interviewing you.

I could go on and on, but better you buy the book yourself. You won't regret it!

This book is terrific! I've read most of the books on interviewing and none compares with Sweaty Palms.

I especially liked the many stories of famous people, like Jackie Robinson and Captain of Industry Tex Thornton, and how they handled their interviews when they were young and unknown, interviews that changed their lives. The book abounds with these stories, which are fascinating.

Each chapter deals with a separate aspect of the interview. The appendices contain several hundred questions which might be thrown at you in an interview. If you're prepared for these, it's unlikely you'll be stumped by something different. The book prepares you for the interview process and bolsters your confidence so you feel like you're ready for anything. It allows you to go into an interview ready to control it, rather than as a meek victim.

Perhaps the best aspect of the book is that it's chock-full of common sense advice about things like thank you letters, eye contact, and the like. Other books I've read give easy answers that sound right, but aren't really true in practice. Sweaty Palms was written by a real life interviewer who tells what really happens and how real interviewers react to these things. This is advice you can take to the bank, not some idea that sounds good, but isn't really true in practice. The advice on eye contact and thank you letters, which is completely different from what is found in other books on the subject, is worth the price of the book alone.

This is a book I can recommend to anyone to read, whether they're job-hunting or not.

This book has lots of good advice from a professional interviewer. Helps you greatly to relax (thus the title and greatest nemisis for most of us). But that's just the beginning, has a tremendous amount of helpfull information in a very readable format. Also lots of sample questions and how to handle them. Can help in interviewing from either side of the table.

This book really helped me to understand the interview process a lot more. I especially like the way it emphasized that not getting a particlar job offer is not always your fault and not to worry about the outcome.

I have read this book on several occasions and it paid off every time! I will be sure to read it again before my next interview.

If you've been interviewing with no success, you must buy this book! Especially in this very poor economy, where you'll need all the help you can get to in order to land a job. I've read many different job interview books, but Sweaty Palms sets itself apart from just about every other one on the market. It's full of sensible advice, and it teaches you how to act natural during a job interview. Many other job interview books I read gave advice such as constantly maintaining eye contact or leaning forward when the interviewer is talking in order to make yourself appear to be interested. Other books advise you to be boastful about your skills. One book I read even advised the reader to view himself as an actor, and the interview as a stage, i.e. the interviewee should try to pretend to be someone else! Other interview books tell you how to answer specific questions. However, many of the answers could come off as ambiguous, or even outright deceptive to the interviewer. I tried much of the advice I read out of these books during the job interviews I went on and, looking back, I really wish I didn't. It just made me come off as artificial and unnatural. I wish I found the book Sweaty Palms right away!

I had the great misfortune of graduating during the current down economy. Finding a job is tough enough, and I went on many interviews without success. I remained unemployed for months after my graduation. I majored in accounting, which is a very useful subject to major in during normal times, but we are not in normal times right now. After going to the library and borrowing this book, I knew exactly what I did wrong during previous interviews. I ignored all the advice I read out of other job interview books, and began to closely follow the advice in this book. And what a difference it made! I finally had an extremely sucessful job interview, and got a perfect entry-level auditing job, with great hours and in a great location. And mind you, I had no internship experience, and very little work experience during college. I know that my interviewers were interviewing a lot of people for the position, and I'm sure many of them had an internship, or had years of relevent work experience. But I'm sure none of them read Sweaty Palms!

Sweaty Palms gives a lot of advice that may sound odd on paper, but makes sense in practice. For example, the author points out that you shouldn't concentrate on making eye contact during an interview, because it goes against normal behavior. He advises just to do what makes you feel comfortable. The author points out that when we speak, we look down, and not directly into the eyes of the speaker. It could come off as creepy when the interviewee stares right into the interviewer's eyes. Also fascinating are the pages about why you should not write thank you letters. The author says that they generally make no impact on the final decision, and I found that he's right on. For all the thank you letters I wrote, I never got the job. The letters clearly did not help me one bit. All I did was waste my time and many postage stamps. But for the one interview after which I decided not to write a letter after reading this book, I got the job. Go figure!

Ultimately, whether you land the job or not depends on the interviewer. You could read this book a hundred times, but you might not get the job because the chemistry between yourself and the employer may just not be there. Shortly after reading Sweaty Palms, I had an interview, but I didn't get the job, likely because I just couldn't connect with the interviewers on a personal level. As a result, I wasn't able to set myself apart from the competition. However, the author tells you that even if you keep striking out interview after interview, you shouldn't worry about it. You shouldn't allow yourself to get discouraged, or take it personally. For my next interview, I felt that the personalities of myself and the interviewers were a really great match. Sweaty Palms taught me how to take advantage of those positive feelings, and I got the job!

In future editions of this book, I think it'd be great if the author included information for new graduates. Even though the author shares anectdotes of his interviews of new graduates, Sweaty Palms is geared entirely towards readers who are well into their careers. I had to adapt some of the advice to fit my situation. However, no matter who you are, the advice in Sweaty Palms is relevent for everyone.

If you're job hunting right now, make sure you read Sweaty Palms. It will really be one of the best things you can do to raise your prospects of beating the competition and landing a great job.

I've read this book twice, and it is very motivational. Really gets you in a positive, upbeat, even fun mood for interviewing. Great info, valuable advice, and super writing. Definitely worth the read