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Title:

Your Essential Guide to Career Success

Review:

I wish that I had had this book at the start of my career. However, having said that, the book contains many valuable tips, even for someone at an advanced stage in their career. This is a very readable book and each chapter follows the same clear and concise format, ending with a bullet pointed summary. I have not seen the first edition but this second edition has been well researched and brought up to date with recent developments and name changes.

The book opens with an overview of the 21st century employment market for library and information professionals, which includes some information on working overseas. This brief introduction leads quickly on to the nub of career success, which is career planning. Readers are introduced to risk assessment for jobs and applying ratings to their current jobs. Action is advocated.

There is useful background for people at the start of their careers with an overview of the differing types of work and range of organisations that employ information professionals, there are also brief descriptions of related fields such as competitor intelligence and knowledge management. Professional bodies, employment agencies and accredited courses are described, and a full list of names, addresses and contacts has been included at the back of the book. Extensive sources of further information are also given.

There are some useful pointers on how to look at job advertisements, both internal and external, and how to decide whether to apply and if they fit in with your career plan; alongside this are some tips on how to do your CV and how to plan for promotion and how to compare your current post with a potential new post. There is also a useful section on the value of mentoring.

I particularly liked the chapter on 'Your Successful Interview', which contains much good advice on how to prepare for interview. The interview is the most difficult stage of getting a job, as there is only a very short time to create a good impression. The different kinds of interview are described, along with the types of psychometric or intelligence tests that are increasingly included at interview. The book is written in a very reassuring, confidence-giving style, which would be very helpful to anyone preparing for an interview. Personally I found the first time I had to give a presentation at an interview very scary and I actually sought verbal reassurance.

The book ends with career case studies based on asking a number of questions relating to personal career planning and use of skills. Participants were also asked who or what influenced their career moves. It is evident from the responses that the authors of the book are both experienced mentors, who have given others substantial guidance in their careers.

FreePint Reviewer: