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My Most Common Recommendations

1. Psycho-cybernetics

2. The Magic of Thinking Big

3. The 7 Habits...

4. Simple*ology

5. Healing the Shame that Binds

6. To be or Not to be Intimidated

7. The Secrets to Getting a Job





















































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The Secrets to Getting a Job

by Philip Garside

book cover

As I've told dozens and dozens of people, this is the best 15 bucks I have ever spent. No word of a lie. This book is brilliant!

I heard this guy on the radio one day when I was job-hunting. I had just returned from a trip around Western Europe and needed to find a new job. While I was away I had decided a few things that I wanted in a job and things that I definitely wouldn't settle for any more. Which, was a bit of a deadly mixture, really, because I didn't have much in my bank account, but I didn't want to take the first half-decent job that came along.

Then, purely by chance, I heard the author doing a promo-interview on the radio. I still remember it very clearly. I was sitting at my kitchen table in my tiny little studio flat, going through the job adverts when he came on.

I stopped everything.

What he was saying was genius of the highest order. The sort of stuff I'd never heard before. Okay, I was only in my early twenties so i didn't have a wealth of experience with job-hunting, but I'd been in the full-timeworkforce for long enough.

I went out and bought the book that day, I think. I can't remember exactly when I got it, but it was very soon after. And I landed a job that ticked quite a few of the boxes on the list I had made in Europe:
            * close to home (minimal commute)
            * small, personal company
            * room for advancement
            * little or no overtime
            * no work to take home
            * company car

Hardly the hugest wishlist in the world, but hey I was young!

It turned out to be a pretty decent job and I stayed there a few years and learnt some really good stuff.

And I was to confidently go through the application process and negotiate a better salary package than they were offering primarily because of this book.

The Secrets to Getting a Job takes you through the whole process, from deciphering the wording of want ads, to writing a cover letter, to doing your own resumes (and the dangerous but big-biz myth of having "a resume"—don't spend a penny on a resume writing service until you read this book!), to preparing for the interview (this is an extremely useful section!), and what to do afterwards.

My copy is dog-eared and creased because I have taken it with me everywhere around the world I have been for work ever since I bought it 10 years ago!

I have used it to help friends write resumes and get better jobs. Don't be fooled by the picture of Australia and New Zealand on the cover, this is just plain and simple great job-hunting advice. Period.

There a billion books out there on this subject, but this is the only one I have ever needed. Is it the best? I don't know. Because as I just said, this is the only one I have ever needed.

It's a bit old now and some places may not stock the edition I have. A second (fully revised and updated) edition was released in 2005, but it seems that either this has gone out of print too or maybe some bookstores just didn't update their product line. I guess you could always order it. Here is a picture of the new edition:

book cover


If you're currently looking for a job, or you think you might change job at some point (uh, duh!), then go get this book! I hope it turns out to be the best 15 bucks you've ever spent too!