Book Review: The 2-Hour Job Search
Dalton, Steve. The 2-hour job search : using technology to get the right job faster. Ten Speed Press, 2012.
The last time I applied for a job was in 1982 when the sought after technology for creating a resume was the IBM Selectric typewriter with an auto-correct feature. Typists could get away with a typo or two, since the Selectric could lift the ink off the page. While creating the perfect resume and cover letter was tedious in those days, the job search was a simple 3 step process of finding a job opening, mailing a resume with cover letter and waiting to be contacted for an interview.
Today all is changed and technology makes creating the resume and cover letter easy. However, the job search process is far more difficult, thanks to that same technology, according to Fuqua’s own Steve Dalton in his new book, The 2-Hour Job Search. Using the internet, it is simple to find job postings and to submit resumes, but each applicant finds herself competing with thousands of others. Author Dalton explains that hiring managers are swamped with resumes and avoid reading them, relying instead on internal referrals. The challenge of the modern job search is efficiently obtaining internal referrals, or finding people to advocate on one’s behalf.
Dalton describes a new way of conducting the job search that is highly efficient and effective, using technology to identify the most appropriate hiring companies for any given person and to build relationships with people inside those companies. His method involves three steps that he calls Prioritize, Contact and Recruit. He describes how to create a long list of preliminary companies, collecting information on each one and focusing on the strongest. Then he shows how to form contacts at the A-list companies, using alumni databases, LinkedIn and Facebook, and to request informational interviews.
This practical book provides the job searcher with precise instructions and helpful examples on how to execute an effective job search in two hours. Author Steve Dalton draws on his extensive experience as a senior career consultant and associate director at the Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, where he is also an alumnus. Recommended to anyone conducting the independent job search.
© Reviewer: Meg Trauner & Ford Library – Fuqua School of Business.
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Tags: Job Search