From Library Journal
Fisher (Wall Street Women) is a career advice columnist for Fortune magazine who also maintains a popular web site, www.askannie.com. Like Fisher's columns, this book is written for college graduates who are on the corporate executive track. Within this context, Fisher's book covers a wide variety of topics, as the titles of the various chapters indicate (e.g., "So You've Graduated from College. Now All You Need Is...More Advice?"; "Now That You're the Boss"). Fisher frequently cites the readers of her column by reproducing, as sidebars, the questions that they have posed and her responses. Her advice is honest, balanced, and diplomatic throughout, particularly in the section on online job hunting and in the chapter on how to cope with difficult bosses and co-workers. Many readers will appreciate her advice on cubicle etiquette ("Pretend you overhear nothing, ever, in a cubicle or anywhere else"). Fisher's references to dotcoms and the ongoing labor shortage make the book current but may also date it rather quickly; however, the extensive appendix, which lists the print resources to which she refers and annotates the electronic ones, is valuable in and of itself. Suitable for career collections in public and academic libraries but also for career counseling centers. Cheryl Van Til, Kent Dist. Lib., Grand Rapids, MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Fisher writes a regular career advice column called "Ask Annie" for
Fortune, and her own Web site attracts seven million page views each month. She admits to not being a "career expert"; instead, she claims to be a "pretty good reporter" who knows how to listen. The guidance she dispenses comes from conversations with hundreds of consultants, coaches, lawyers, executives, recruiters, managers, and other experts she has interviewed for her columns. Her advice is sensible, savvy, and hip. Fisher covers job-hunting for the new graduate; how to get ahead once a job is landed; how to deal with office politics ("difficult bosses, toxic coworkers, and other irritants"); how to handle the complications of success and failure (stress, lay offs, etc.); and how to make the transition to being boss. She includes many of the questions she has received along with the answers she provided. An appendix has a bibliography and a list of Web sites that will be invaluable to any librarian responsible for building collections or maintaining Web pages.
David RouseCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved