This Is How to Get Your Next Job: An Inside Look at What Employers Really Want

In this surprisingly insightful job-hunting book, career consultant and syndicated columnist Kay (Life's a Bitch and then You Change Careers) advises prospective employees from the perspective of the hiring agent, and provides no-nonsense advice, especially regarding what you should never do or say. There is little in positive reinforcement; rather, much of the text focuses on the negative. Kay believes that employers are "looking for %E2%80%98something wrong with you' so that they can eliminate you, make their job easier, and be as efficient as possible in the process." But there is no need for concern; she follows up her don'ts with a list of corresponding do's. Most of the book covers topics dealing with the interview process, including a chapter on how to (or how not to) dress. Kay focuses on dynamics between employers and job candidates: what employers want, what they look at/for, what will cause them to not consider you, and, perhaps most important of all, how you appear to them. Kay even includes a lengthy questionnaire to help determine how employers see you and how you want to appear to them. This book should help give job seekers an edge over the competition. Agent: Linda Konner, Linda Konner Literary Agency. (Apr.)