The Brazen Careerist: New Rules for Success

I finally found the right thing to give as a graduation present.

Penelope Trunk has a really powerful book about advancing in your career. She understands the marketplace in a way that few do and has shared her ideas in her new book called: The Brazen Careerist: New Rules for Success

It's only been out for less than a month is already #1629 on Amazon with 5 stars and 21 reviews.

An example of some of the best career advice that I've found is posted on Guy Kawasaki's "How to Change the World" blog in some Q&As where he asked her 12 questions. Here's my favorite:

Question: What’s the right strategy for the search for a first job out of college?

Answer: Don’t place too much importance on your first job. You’ll have a lot more. Most people have eight jobs before they turn thirty, and that’s fine. It is nearly impossible to know what career will be a good fit for you until you start trying things. So give yourself the latitude to try a lot. And don’t get hung up on a big soul search. To land a great job, you don’t need to know the meaning of life, just the meaning of hard work.

I love the chapter titles: "An Interview is a Test You can Study For" " A Resume is a Sales Tool Not a Work Summary"

An excerpt from her bio explains:

Penelope Trunk writes career advice for a new generation of workers. She explains why old advice - like pay your dues, climb the ladder, and don't have gaps in your resume - is outdated and irrelevant in today's workplace. She has a reputation for giving advice that is counterintuitive but effective, like take long lunches, ignore people who steal your ideas, and stop vying for a promotion.

She is a career columnist at the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance. Her syndicated column has run in more than 200 publications. Earlier, she was a software executive, and then she founded two companies. She has been through an IPO, an acquisition and a bankruptcy.

It's clear to me that "she gets it!"

Interview Questions, Suggestions and Tips from Women Who Have Been There

Just graduating from college and looking for that first "real job"? Or perhaps you want to find something in your field that will give you the flavor of your new career, but you're not quite finished with your training or college yet. Or maybe your looking into the next position.

Regardless of your situation, here are some great tips that can help you prepare for the next round of interviews:

Alison Doyle at Career Savvy suggests you go online and download the application if it's available because that will give you an idea of things they will ask you during the interview. Alison is the author of an About.com ebook: Guide to Job Searching: Tools and Tactics to Help You Get the Job You Want. Although I have not downloaded or read the book, I think that if it's half as good as the free information she gives away on her blog, it would be extremely helpful in any job search.

Susan Heathfield, also at Career Savvy suggests that volunteering and interning is a wonderful way to take a look at future careers. She offers lots of great links as well: "Ten Top Tips for Interns and exploring career options.

Together Susan and Alison provide quite a bit of great job hunting information including a wonderful link to Career Hub: Free Advice from Career Experts where thereare lots of great ebooks on interviewing, letter writing and various aspects of job hunting.

How to Figure out What Salary Your New Job Might Pay

Trying to figure out what jobs pay?

(** College students: I don't recommend picking your major that way! Instead, select your major in what you LOVE. Follow your passion!)

Back to Pay Scales:
Passion is important, but after you've selected your major and graduated, now it's time to get a job that has a salary to pay back all those student loans, right?! I'm sure you're interested to know what your skills and talent might be worth to an employer.

One way to find out is to look at the wage survey that is published online and easily accessible by anyone. This wage survey lists May 2006 as the version, but shows April 2007 as the last update. It is compiled and maintained by the US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics. They not only have numbers for each job, but numbers for each job in each state and each city area in the country.

Although it doesn't separate out what you'd make in the first year... or in the last year before you retire... it can show you ranges that will give direction.

Make sure you adjust it for your state and region. I have it set to Ohio since that's where I live.

Happy hunting!!