CAREER BASICS

A manual presents the basics of career advancement.

Career specialist Westmoreland here presents a second edition of his book on all aspects of job seeking and advancement. He arranges his advice under alphabetical headings—A is for “Apprehensive About Starting?”; G is for “Gathering Information and the Internet”; T is for “To Keep a Job, Make Time for Yourself.” The arrangement is loose and flexible, designed in an intentionally modular way so that readers can jump around to whichever sections most directly address their specific needs. This approach is enhanced by Westmoreland’s decision to fill his relatively short manual with many interactive features, boxes, charts, and checklists that readers are encouraged to fill in themselves. Each of the book’s sections concludes with insights in bold type—summaries and distillations of everything that’s been outlined. The maxims include “A truly educated person may be the one who can carry on a conversation with anyone about anything,” and “If you criticize a lot of things, then first take time to be critical of yourself.” As these maxims show, Westmoreland tends to present high school platitudes as though they were profundities. But this author is so insightful when it comes to work situations, particularly management, that readers will overlook being told things like “No one likes to work where their work is never quite good enough.” Westmoreland is direct in assessing the nuances of management and communication, although even here he can’t always resist the urge to deliver obvious bromides like “Just because you have knowledge of something, do not expect everyone to know or understand it.” The result is an accessible and conversational motivation manual that deftly clarifies a process that even experienced job seekers can find overwhelming.

A straightforward, useful, and richly interactive guide to all aspects of job seeking.