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Reviews: Books
Graduate to Your Perfect Job
By Jason R. Dorsey. Austin: LITL, 1997, 133 pp., $14.95.
Graduate to Your Perfect Job is primarily aimed at older adolescents and young adults (between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four, as the author suggests) who are in search of a career. The book takes a practical and lay-friendly approach to helping the intended audience to develop strategies to reach their career goals through samples (business cards, cover letters, resumes) and illustrations (diagram demonstrating how to tie a Windsor knot), which is reflective of the author’s own experiences as a young person seeking opportunities in today’s job market. Maslow’s hierarchy of basic needs are also an influence, where the author uses a pyramid to illustrate the process of career development that starts with the formulation of goals and to the attainment of “the perfect job”.
According to the author, the ultimate goal of Graduate to Your Perfect Job is to provide the groundwork for a successful professional life. The organization of the book, through its chapters, details the process in which readers can develop the skills for finding a successful career. In the first couple of sections, there is an emphasis on helping the reader become mentally prepared for establishing and pursuing goals. For example, the first chapter (chapters are referred to as steps in the book), Finding Your Fuel, Dorsey emphasizes the importance of motivation and provides guidance on how to harness that motivation into a potential job search. This theme of mental preparedness resonates in Step Two, Recognizing Your Resources. These sections of the book may be useful for clients in career counseling, who are not sure what their interests are career-wise and are in the initial stages of job searching.
The remainder of the book focuses on educating the reader about specific activities involved in job searching, such as seeking a mentor, networking, and making use of internships. Dorsey also provides useful suggestions for these activities, often drawing from his own experiences and those of his friends. By doing so, he makes the process of developing skills needed for job searching more accessible to the intended audience.
Graduate to Your Perfect Job could be used in conjunction with career counseling, either in individual sessions or in a group setting, such as a workshop or a class led by a career counselor, using the book as a guide for clients/participants. Concurring with Dorsey, the best audience would be comprised of older adolescents and young adults, who are in the beginning or in the midst of a job search given that the book is free of any technical jargon associated with the field of career counseling. In addition, the book provides useful examples and illustrations of how to develop skills needed to successfully find a job. When taking these factors into consideration, a career counselor could assign the book in its entirety to read, or in specific sections when appropriate. For example, Dorsey includes journal worksheets for the reader to record experiences from professional encounters with prospective employers in order for the reader to reflect upon during a job search.
The only limitation to Graduate to Your Perfect Job concerns the book’s strong emphasis on providing very practical, how-to guidance for a job search. Little attention is paid to the more psychological and emotional aspects of career development. (Dorsey only focuses on these factors in two sections of the book). This could be overwhelming for the client who happens to be in the beginning stages of career development and who is slow to establish goals to pursue a profession. During sessions with such a client, the career counselor should communicate that individuals progress in the stages of career development differently and that the client should not measure him or herself against other people.
There are a number of strengths to the book, however. First, the book is concise, to the point, and is free of technical jargon, which makes it possible for the career counselor to assign in certain sections or in its entirety. In addition, the book can be utilized with clients who are at different stages of career development. Besides using lay-friendly language, Dorsey makes use of specific examples and sample documents to make searching for job simple and accessible to anyone. For example, the author includes worksheets to help the client in the beginning stages of career counseling find out what his or her interests are in order to establish career goals.
Graduate to Your Perfect Job would be a recommended choice to use in conjunction with career counseling, either during individual sessions or in a group setting, for individuals who are fairly new to searching for a job. For clients, the book is an easy read, whether in its entirety or in certain sections. By and large, Dorsey provides the audience with specific and useful information for individuals to seek and attain their ideal career.