Review by The Reading Dutchman -- Finding A Job in Tough Times
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The Reading Dutchman
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Review by The Reading Dutchman -- Finding A Job in Tough Times
[Following is a volunteer review of "Finding A Job in Tough Times" by Dr. Tim Johnson.]
2 out of 4 stars
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Finding a Job in Tough Times is a book written by Dr. Tim Johnson. Johnson has a long track record of jobs, including work in a pawn shop, restaurants, sales, and the airline industry. When working at a phone company, Johnson started getting degrees. In the end, he obtained degrees in technology, liberal arts, engineering, and computer science. When reading Finding a Job in Tough Times, you can easily see the influence Johnson’s life experiences had on creating a workbook for others to start a career and prosper.
Make no mistake about it, a workbook is what this book is. Described by Johnson as a ‘journal of change and focus’, it includes exercises and requires work from the reader. Actual words from the writer are scarce and concise. No more words are used than necessary. The book starts off light, asking you to describe yourself, your current position in life and any things you have been through in your past so far.
It tries to help you pinpoint your general qualities, by describing them as abilities and the associated skill levels you have in them. It also asks you to look back at possible failures or rejections in your life and to describe how you felt afterwards. At some point, the real work starts. You will have to work on a resume, seek out people and search for job vacancies.
Being in a position of just starting my career, I was interested to review this book that is hard to quantify compared to genres like ‘historical fiction’. One of the positives of this book is that its workbook layout pushes you to be proactive. Do not just think about your limits, failures or rejections, write them down and face them. Start discovering what interests you and get a focus on those things.
The book’s progression has a natural curve where you start with looking at your past, becoming conscious of your present and carefully starting to plot out your future. It lets you know you will have to step out of your comfort zone occasionally but takes its time to lead you to these moments. Its progression and proactive workbook layout are easily the best components of the book, making it most useful for people not knowing where to start finding a job.
There are some issues as well, however. Some exercises get more attention than others. For example, there is a lot of focus on identifying your general traits and extracting your abilities from them. This is important. However, there is only a little focus on the emotional part of looking back at your past. I did not have any issue with this, but I could imagine that this part would be helpful if it was longer for people that have been out of the job market for a long time.
Another minor gripe is that the book mainly focuses on someone with workforce experience or someone freshly graduated. This is a very general focus. What if you have been unemployed for a very long time? What if you experienced discrimination, something traumatic or gained a handicap? Understandably, the book cannot possibly cover every individual situation, but a few more specific sections might have helped cover more ground.
In the end, Finding a Job in Tough Times is a helpful book to become more proactive in starting your career. As someone just starting my career, I can safely say it has helped me discover a few new things while reading. However, its overly general nature and several editing errors do mean I cannot give it more than 2 out of 4 stars.
******
Finding A Job in Tough Times
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
2 out of 4 stars
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Finding a Job in Tough Times is a book written by Dr. Tim Johnson. Johnson has a long track record of jobs, including work in a pawn shop, restaurants, sales, and the airline industry. When working at a phone company, Johnson started getting degrees. In the end, he obtained degrees in technology, liberal arts, engineering, and computer science. When reading Finding a Job in Tough Times, you can easily see the influence Johnson’s life experiences had on creating a workbook for others to start a career and prosper.
Make no mistake about it, a workbook is what this book is. Described by Johnson as a ‘journal of change and focus’, it includes exercises and requires work from the reader. Actual words from the writer are scarce and concise. No more words are used than necessary. The book starts off light, asking you to describe yourself, your current position in life and any things you have been through in your past so far.
It tries to help you pinpoint your general qualities, by describing them as abilities and the associated skill levels you have in them. It also asks you to look back at possible failures or rejections in your life and to describe how you felt afterwards. At some point, the real work starts. You will have to work on a resume, seek out people and search for job vacancies.
Being in a position of just starting my career, I was interested to review this book that is hard to quantify compared to genres like ‘historical fiction’. One of the positives of this book is that its workbook layout pushes you to be proactive. Do not just think about your limits, failures or rejections, write them down and face them. Start discovering what interests you and get a focus on those things.
The book’s progression has a natural curve where you start with looking at your past, becoming conscious of your present and carefully starting to plot out your future. It lets you know you will have to step out of your comfort zone occasionally but takes its time to lead you to these moments. Its progression and proactive workbook layout are easily the best components of the book, making it most useful for people not knowing where to start finding a job.
There are some issues as well, however. Some exercises get more attention than others. For example, there is a lot of focus on identifying your general traits and extracting your abilities from them. This is important. However, there is only a little focus on the emotional part of looking back at your past. I did not have any issue with this, but I could imagine that this part would be helpful if it was longer for people that have been out of the job market for a long time.
Another minor gripe is that the book mainly focuses on someone with workforce experience or someone freshly graduated. This is a very general focus. What if you have been unemployed for a very long time? What if you experienced discrimination, something traumatic or gained a handicap? Understandably, the book cannot possibly cover every individual situation, but a few more specific sections might have helped cover more ground.
In the end, Finding a Job in Tough Times is a helpful book to become more proactive in starting your career. As someone just starting my career, I can safely say it has helped me discover a few new things while reading. However, its overly general nature and several editing errors do mean I cannot give it more than 2 out of 4 stars.
******
Finding A Job in Tough Times
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
