Monday, May 25, 2009

Kennedy, Susan and Baker, Karen. The Job Coach for Young Professionals: the Workbook for Landing the Right Job.


Intern Bridge, Inc.. 2009. 144p. ISBN 978-0-9799373-5-4. $19.95

Here experienced cofounders of Kennedy Baker Associates (now known as Career Treking, LLC)-- a career coaching organization designed to assist entry level job candidates though the job hiring process—Kennedy (B.A./B.S. Psychology/Elementary Education) and Baker (Bachelor’s degree) partner with Intern Bridge, a leading college recruiting research and consulting firm, to provide recent college graduates and young professionals who have been working for a few years with an empowering, interactive handbook filled with useful resources that will assist them in finding the right jobs in any job market. While college graduates usually are able to find employment after they graduate, the high turnover rate of 64% within the first three years of employment indicates that many young professionals graduate without the life skills that they need to begin and develop their professional careers. Here Kennedy and Baker walk young job hunters through the job search process and help them master skills they will need throughout their professional lives. Organized into 4 parts presenting the proven strategies that the authors have used to coach entry level job candidates as part of their job coaching business, this guide sets forth four steps to being successful: Assess Oneself, Prepare Oneself, Sell Oneself, and Succeed. While this workbook is not divided into chapters, its arrangement follows the aforementioned steps. The authors cover most relevant topics, not limited to envisioning one’s future, completing skills and values inventories, researching jobs, industries, and companies, setting goals, developing one’s story, writing resumes, cover letters, and thank you notes, interviewing, networking, creating a job search action plan, securing the right job, and managing one’s career. Filled with examples, diagrams, worksheets, reproducible forms, and more, this publication unfortunately lacks an index and a select bibliography of helpful, proven, printed and online resources for job seekers. Concise, clear, well- organized, and easy-to-read, it will benefit many college graduates, young professionals, and even experienced workers. Highly recommended for general readers and many public library collections (even though it primarily is intended for personal use and consumption)—C. A. Lajos