Job Search Secrets — Master the Art of getting a job

Imagine an experienced parent discussing with the child — who has just completed a professional course — how to go about preparing for a future in the corporate world. This book is that parent. Imagine an experienced executive advising a youngster about the companies to work for or ways to prepare for an interview. This book is that experienced executive.

In short, just imagine the wise old man who has the answers to everything, this book is that wise old man. For a change, he is not sitting high up under a tree on a mountain peak, but whispering sound advice from within the pages of this book.

Replete with suggestions, tips and strategies — and yes, all of it practical and oft repeated by elders to youngsters who are starting out on their professional careers — this book is the must-have guide for job aspirants.

For instance, the first chapter reminds one of Three Idiots, the movie. It drives home the point that an individual’s own desires and wants matter. A career has to be chosen on the basis of individual strengths, interests, likes, dislikes, qualifications and behavioural characteristics among other things.

This is such a significant factor, which most youngsters tend to forget in the chaos of results, placement drives and offer letters. And for those readers who are still unsure of themselves, the chapter also suggests self-assessment tests that can help one get to know oneself better.

One of the factors often ignored by job seekers is that just as companies have their own recruitment strategies to hire candidates, job aspirants too should have job-search plans that are unique to their specific needs. Job Search Secrets points out ways to identify the key external and internal references and seek their help to bag a much sought-after job.

And for the millennials in this digitally-charged world, there is the most important chapter on how to use social media to one’s advantage to search for a job.

In fact, there is nothing that has been left out by Subir Verma and Sagarika Verma in their book.

Right from CVs, to job portals, personal branding, networking, and ways to establish connect and build profitable relationships via online forums, communities and Twitter, the book has it all.

Small but significant things, such as using a customised LinkedIn url instead of an automatically assigned one are things that people rarely point out to anyone, but are significant all the same.

Are you a fresher biting your nails in anticipation of the placement drives in your campus? The authors will tell you all that you need to know in order to crack each and every stage of the campus interviews. They even throw in sample scripts to help prepare video resumes that can grab eyeballs!

If you are already in a job and have a better offer in hand, the authors guide you through the process of exiting gracefully and professionally, without burning any bridges.

There is even an entire section on how to get the most out of LinkedIn, to demonstrate credibility and highlight achievements! It throws in advice to readers to be more creative and personal on Twitter.

Just when you think ‘how to prepare for interviews’ and ‘think like an interviewer and not as a candidate’ are topics that have been done to death, there emerges a piece on new-age interviews. From basic telephonic interviews to recorded or robotic interviews of the AI age, nothing has been spared mention by the Vermas.

Right from the first word, to the last, each chapter is loaded with useful and relevant information to ready you for that corporate journey.