Review of How to Interview Like a Pro by Carolyn Howard-Johnson at MyShelf.com

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How to Interview Like A Pro
Forty-Three Rules for Getting Your Next Job
Mary Greenwood. JD. LLM

iUniverse
release/ ASIN: B004JHZ26C
Kindle Edition
Kindle / paperback

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

A book for its time…

The Feel-Good Guide for Getting a Job and
Learning Negotiating Skills

Who would have guessed.

I read this book because I thought I might be able to recommend it to my retail clients, but it turns out, getting a job is very much like selling a book! So it’s suitable in many ways for my author-clients, too.

Getting a job isn’t much different than it was back in the days when I interviewed at PR firms and magazines like Good Housekeeping. Though we have many tools at our disposal that weren’t available back then, the basics are similar. And industry-to-industry, we can learn so much from the general (yet detailed!) information Mary Greenwood gives us in How To Interview Like a Pro. Basic business skills like Greenwood imparts here, are useful at some level for almost anyone who must earn a living.

Mary’s number two rule is that a job hunter must “prepare a good elevator speech.” She also says, “Make a list of everyone you know.” Ajob hunter would then use that list to find influential people with contacts of their own who will lead them to other jobs, recommend them to others, and generally hold their hands through the process.

Going hand in hand with this process is Mary’s rule “Telling everyone you know you are looking for a job.” She, expands this rule by adding: “Tell everyone whom you would like to know you are looking for a job.” Here she covers making new contacts using social networking.

Mary’s rules are born of experience, both general and legal. Her book moves us along from rule to rule—lickety split—right down to the never-nevers like: “Never say you don’t have any more questions.” Interviews go both ways. If they don’t, the interviewer may form some opinions you’d just as well he or she didn’t.

One of the reason things move so quickly is Greenwood’s anecdotes. You’ll come away from this book feeling as if you aren’t alone in your search and knowing how to make sure you aren’t. You’ll know the basics and the details, like how to answer about any question an interviewer is likely to ask.

One of the best things about this book is Greenwood’s Introductory Rule: “Getting a job is like parking. You have to be at the right place at the right time.” If you keep that in mind—along with her little protractor story (yes, this is a tease—I think you should read this book!), you’ll hang in there and know one day you’ll be exactly in that place at that time.

Now, here’s the thing. I believe that almost anyone in the business world could benefit from this book, from interviewee to interviewer. from author to retailer to IT guy or gal. Sometimes the books we get the most from are the ones we don’t think we need in the moment. Have it ready. It’s way more than a get-a-job book.

Reviewer & Columnist Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the award-winning author of The Frugal Book Promoter
Reviewed 2011
© 2011 MyShelf.com



Mary Greenwood, Mediator, Attorney and Author of How To Negotiate LIke A Pro: 41 Rules for Resolving Disputes, Winner of six book awards; How To Mediate Like A Pro: 42 Rules for Mediating Disputes, Winner of twelve book awards and How to Interview Like a Pro; 43 Rules for Getting Your Next Job, winner of ten book awards. Email: howtointerview@aol.com website: www.marygreenwood.com