Now that the job market is loosening up, their advice may pay off. Here are tips from our top picks:
Monster Careers: How to Land the Job of Your Life by Jeff Taylor. Granted, it’s hardly surprising that a book by the founder of Monster.com suggests looking for work online. Some cyberhints: create a computer file with resume info, details of your accomplishments and an explanation of why you left your last job (put a positive spin on it). Use the Internet to see what’s out there and to research potential employers. Write grabby headlines on e-mailed resumes (“Am I a Great Nurse? Here’s What My Patients Say,” for example), and begin your cover letter by explaining why they’re likely to want you for the job, not simply why you want the job.
Landing on the Right Side of Your Ass: A Survival Guide for the Recently Unemployed by Michael B. Laskoff. The Harvard M.B.A., who’s been unemployed himself, says you should get out of the house to “work” on job hunting–even if your office is a Starbucks. Think of your CV as a personal ad: know what you want, pitch what you have to offer and hook your reader. Present yourself as the solution to your future boss’s problem and don’t digress. If you get an offer, don’t respond immediately–get it in writing, think it over and negotiate nicely–you want to work with these people, after all.
The Unemployment Survival Guide: Nourishing Yourself Through the Lean Times by Jim Stringham and David Workman. The authors’ focus is on keeping your spirits up while you search for work. Among their advice: to avoid isolation create a support group; consider other ways to make money (turn hobbies–from cooking to carpentry–into paying gigs); seek out free but fulfilling activities like community fairs or coffeehouse readings, and keep the faith. “If you’re persistent and don’t get discouraged, you will find work again,” Workman says. It did the trick for him. He used the 20 months he was unemployed to co-write the book, launch a grant-writing business–and meet his wife. Nice work.
