Ask the Headhunter Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job
Ask the Headhunter Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job
Acknowledging that more and more people have been downsized or are dissatisfied with their current employment and are searching for guidance through resume and interview books, headhunter Corcodilos presents powerful reasons why the U.S. employment system fails to bring the right people together with the right jobs. That failure, he contends, leads companies to seek the services of headhunters. Based on the successful, highly compensated efforts of headhunters, Corcodilos’s book provides effective methodology and techniques to help people locate jobs that are right for them and win job offers. Current information-gathering tools and strategies define the job needs of prospective employers and enable the job seeker to break through personnel department barriers. The author helps the reader focus on what the job search is all about: doing a job profitably for the employer. A good choice for public and academic libraries.?Robert L. Balliot Jr., East Greenwich Free Lib., R.I.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Very sensible and to the point!
This book is a rarity- ideas that you can really use. It makes looking for a job that much more sensible and straightforward. An invaluable addition to your library.
5 Stars Excellent book on how to WIN the job, NOT nail the interview
This is a book that teaches you how to find the right job for you! Not just taking any job that comes along for the sake of “getting a job”. Details how to find more information on the company(ies) you are interested in working at, and how to use that information to your advantage. This is NOT the typical interview book – it’s about getting the job and setting yourself apart from everyone else. Nice section on negotiating the offer as well. Quick read, definitely worth the time!
5 Stars At last original content when it comes to job interviews
I must say I really found Nick Corcodilos’ take on job interviewing refreshing. He clearly states that we spend far too much time trying to answer specific questions. We should take control of the job interview and show the hiring person that we can do the job. I find much of his information very valid and very worthwhile. Is is always practical, maybe not.
I like that he emphasizes you must do more than post your resume online on a few job boards and hope for the best. This honestly is a frustrating and almost pointless way to search for a job considering less and 2% of people who post resumes find jobs via this search method. He really stresses that you shouldn’t be spending all of your time applying to these jobs, but find the hiring person at the company you want to work for and present yourself there.
Unlike most job interview books he really stresses you are on a marketing campaign, and you should do your best to market yourself to people who really do the hiring. While some people view the information as redundant, I think he has valid points. He is passionate about his message. He really feels your job search should not be a passive act, but you are out there for yourself.
I would highly recommend reading this book, and adapting some of his suggestions to your job search. While the material can be redundant, it is worthwhile, and really serves to emphasize a very solid message of you need to participate actively in your job search. You must also shine above the other canidates when your interview comes.
3 Stars Some compelling points, but not entirely useful
Overall, I appreciated Nick Corcodilos’s book. He analyzes with wit what exactly is wrong with America’s employment system and provides innovative advice about how to revolutionalize the typical interview process by “doing the job” instead of answering typecasted questions that have nothing to do with the actual work or the person’s ability to do the job.
However, this book is impractical for many reasons. One reason I did not like this book is that it is obviously addressed to a highly educated audience that want to work solely in the private sector. It gives no practical advice to those who want to work in government or non-profit, where the ultimate goal is not necessarily to “make the company more profitable”, as Corcodilos repeatedly posits. In the government sector, you are NOT going to be considered for employment unless you fill out the required pre-employment screening forms, no matter what. Corcodilos also tacitly implies throughout his book the assumption that all employers are benign by continually asserting that “the employer wants to hire you”. Most of us know that this is simply not true. Many employers size up potential employees based on factors irrelevant to the job, such as their race, ethnicity, age, sex, weight, height, personality, attractiveness, and whether they think this person would be a threat to their job or position in the future.
Another reason I do not like this book is that it does not give practical advice about how to sell one’s self when the position they are interviewing for or seeking is new, or when the person is trying to break into an industry that they don’t have much experience in. These people are not going to be able to convince a hiring manager to let them “do the job” if they don’t know what that “job” is going to be like in the first place because it is new and experimental, or if they don’t have much ground to stand on because of a lack of industry-specific experience. I would have liked to see a section on how people can convince employers to give them a chance based on their current skills and potential, but that is not addressed in this book.
I agree with another person’s review that there are definitely many managers out there who would not allow a candidate to “take control of the interview”. Many employers are not even competent enough at conducting the typical interview, much less for allowing the candidate to take control of it – this requires a certain level of imagination and open-mindedness on the part of the employer, something a lot of employers and/or their hiring processes unfortunately do not have. More practical advice could be given about how to maneuver during typical interviews and to demonstrate how much the job applicant really knows or is capable of.
In short, this book contains a lot of truths and creative ideas, but important ones were left out, and they are not altogether entirely practical.
3 Stars Good Advice, but is it practical?
I picked this book up thinking it might be about new approaches to hiring the right people. When I quickly saw that it was about job hunting, I started to put it down but something about it intrigued me. Nick Corcodilos, author of ASK THE HEADHUNTER: REINVENTING THE INTERVIEEW TO WIN THE JOB had been in the headhunting business for 18 years when he wrote this book. Its premise is rather simplistic, but there is some useful information here for job seekers.
The first thing you learn in this book is to forget everything you know about the traditional methods of securing a position. IN summary, the book tells you, rather than send out countless resumes hoping for a few interviews, focus more on a few companies you wish to work for and be more diligent in your approach. In other words, instead of hunting with a shotgun and hoping a few pellets land your prey, use a rifle with a few well placed shots.
I won’t say the book is without merit, but some of the advice does seem rather impractical. I can see how the techniques offered by Corcodilos could be very effective, I don’t see many hiring managers allowing a job candidate to “control the interview” and “do the job” in the manner prescribed in many instances. If you can find a hiring manager tolerant enough to allow doing these things, you should be a shoe-in, but that’s a big “if”.
My biggest complaint about this book is, it is very repetitive. Though smallish at just over 200 pages, what is said here could easily have been reduced to a 50 page booklet with the same effectiveness. Job seekers will learn from this book, but be prepared to read basically the same information, over and over.