60 Seconds and Youre Hired
A vocational counselor for 20 years and the author of five career-related books, Robin Ryan says job interviews are like everything else these days: With time shrinking and distractions growing, you must sell yourself in short sound bites or you probably won’t sell yourself at all. And as she believes that–even in job interviews–this means many of us can no longer truly focus our attention for more than a minute at a time, that’s how she oriented this snappy career guide. The updated edition of 60 Seconds & You’re Hired! (originally published in 1994) incorporates recent hiring trends and some strategies to meet them, but essentially reiterates Ryan’s original method for effectively consolidating top attributes into five key themes and then repeatedly communicating them in precise, under-a-minute exchanges. She clearly explains how to distill strengths into verbal bullet points, refine them for specific interviews, and succinctly deliver them in appropriate responses. (For example, “What do you know about our company?” is a chance crisply to combine what the firm needs with one or more of your key themes.) The advice can be absorbed and utilized even the night before an interview, but more preparation would undoubtedly increase results. –Howard Rothman
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars referred by many headhunters
If I’m hired after my next interview, I’ll give it 5 stars. Easy to read reference.
5 Stars Maybe it was timing, maybe it was a book
I had many interviews before reading this book, but no offers. After reading this book and learning how to answer interview questions in a concise, yet detailed manner, I got my first job offer which I accepted. I was also offered another position. So maybe it was just the right timing and the right job for me to have when it was offered, but I believe this book did help me to interview better.
5 Stars A great interview preparation book
I purchased this book after being laid off and it was a tremendous help! I felt prepared for any question when faced with an interview. I was hoping a new revision would come out, since technology has changed, and noticed a new book is due out in Jan ’08. You rock Robin!
5 Stars Didn’t work out, try again
The book contains excellent advice for a person who is serious about obtaining his dream job. I received the book the night before the big interview and read as much as I could. The interviews went extremely well. However, they gave the job to the other candidate.
I have since finished reading the book and am looking for the next opportunity.
5 Stars It works. Pure and simple.
It’s hard to review this type of book, so I’d like to tell what happened when I used this book.
I applied online for my dream job. Thanks to my resume I was selected to be interviewed by phone. But thanks to this book I was then selected to be flown me over for an series of in-person interviews.
It was because of this book that I nailed the interviews and was offered the job on the spot after my last interview, something extremely uncommon in my industry.
This book is such a quick an easy read. In fact, she gives away the technique at the beginning of the book. The rest of the book explains how to tweak the technique. Sure, like someone else said, some of the prepared answers to typical interview questions are too cheesy or not realistic, but at least they give you something to use as the foundation for YOUR answers for those questions.
I then used some of her salary negotiation techniques to sucesfully increase the salary amount that they originally offered.
I am now living where I’ve wanted to live for years, doing a job I enjoy and making over $12k more than at my previous job. This book should cost at least 10 times as much.