The 7 Keys to a Dream Job : A Career Nirvana Playbook!

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Summary: Midlife crisis
Review: A couple of years back I turned 50 and with each wave of layoffs at our manufacturing company, I was getting increasingly worried. I have worked at one other company in the past thirty years, but all my experience has been in operations and manufacturing. With all jobs going overseas and no new manufacturing going on in southern California, I was scared to death of what might happen if I got laid off. I had two things going against me: being over 50 and coming out of manufacturing, just when the whole industry was dying. I heard about The 7 Keys, through our Yahoo group. I ordered a copy. This book is written by someone who thinks like I feel. The book has an example of a supply chain manager whose job was off shored and it shows how he got a job that did not even exist and stayed in his field. That example gave me new hope. Then I had to overcome my midlife fear. The book has a well-written section on the Age Advantage with another example of how to make your resume when you cross 50. By reading it I learned how to keep my focus on my value creation and not on my age. I had to practice by doing my resume many times and making it "ageless" and showing it to friends. As I was mentally preparing myself to brave this change, I recently learned through a fellow churchgoer that his company was expanding in a new area of helping local companies consolidate production resources. I felt that I could use what I learned from this book and send a letter to a senior manager. Well, I got a call for an interview after the first round of a long telephone discussion. My age never even came up once! I am now excited about the next steps and hoping to land this job or something like this. It was a painful lesson but now I know that age is only in your head. With so many middle-aged professionals like me, struggling through their employment issues, I thought that this was a great learning, which they too can follow. You have to remember that all you need is one right job! Thanks for this great book.

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Summary: The ultimate guide to finding your ideal career
Review: Excellent! Dilip is insightful and knowledgeable of the current shift in the global economy and its effect on everyone's career and job.

Parachute was the definitive book for the job-hunter and 7 Keys should be the definitive book for the career-hunter who wants more than a job.

For someone looking to fight with all the other thousands applying for a posted job description, use one of the thousands of job-search books out there. If you want to find and create the career you and only you can fill, 7 Keys is the best and only guide available.



Rating:
Summary: Awesome - The author should charge more !
Review: Five Stars

Joseph Thomas
Product Marketing

For over the past 15 years, working as a product and systems engineer in networking, I was ready for a change. Then in 2001, downturn hit the Silicon Valley very hard and everything came to a screeching halt. I had been seriously thinking about switching to product marketing and work closely with customers and sales. But, without direct experience this became a pipe dream because of what happened to the Valley's economy. But I kept my faith. I just did not know how to leverage all the technical depth I had and get into a new area because my resume was limiting me. Then I came across the approach suggested in the new book The 7 Keys to a Dream Job: A Career Nirvana Playbook!, which suggests developing your Unique Skills based on your genius. It also tells you how to frame your resume about tomorrow and not looking back. Well, that was the breakthrough I was looking for. Pretty soon I had a resume that I was proud of and started selectively targeting companies that could use someone like me. I ignored the caution everyone gives you not to change jobs in this economy. Within a few months, I got an interview for the position of product marketing engineer and after a few rounds, I was offered my dream job. I was so impressed by the success that I bought my wife, who is also looking for a change, another copy of this inspiring book. I keep my own copy for tips on career management. I highly recommend this book to those who want to get out of what they are doing and what is limiting them or causing them stress and to follow their dream, but need the inspiration to do it. Good luck!


Rating:
Summary: Making My Dream A Reality!
Review: For the past few years, I have been really stressed out with relentless work, uncertain company future and a tough economy. Because the job market is so tough, I do not dare quit my job, although I think about it every day. As an assistant to the editor of a major publication, meeting deadlines and doing research was getting to be too much with declining circulation. I took this job, fresh out of college, to help support my family. My real dream was to work in the biotech industry. A friend of mine suggested that I read "The 7 Keys", to get some ideas on how to reinvent myself. I first researched the book, its author and the publisher. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it received the "Editor's Choice Ribbon". Once I received it, I was delighted to see the rich source of information it contained. I loved the part about tapping into your Genius". I followed the steps for making a resume and was very pleased with the outcome. In a short time, I was able to apply to the biotech companies in my area. I just received a call from one of them. I am excited now and hoping to land a new job soon. I am finally on the way to making my dream job come true. Thanks for such a great book!!! BJ - Editorial Assistant

Rating:
Summary: Keep your dream!
Review: I was feeling totally stuck and hopeless, and this book showed me a way out of that whole place of being. This book teaches you how to prepare yourself from the inside out, literarily. I learned how to create my own reality from my own vision of what I wanted, and I got exactly that, and nothing less. I can't even believe such info is actually available. anyone who reads this book, and knows how to put the info contained within it to good use, will no doubt have the luck I've had. Try it, and see for yourself. This book is not at all just for those out of work and looking, it's for anyone wanting to carve out their own niche in this world, and make their personal dream a true reality.


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Summary: "A MUST HAVE" KUDOS!
Review: M Choy - Recruiter Career Counselor I am a recruiter who places professionals at my clients' companies. I have been in this field for over 12 years. Having come from an HR background, I know the needs of those looking for a placement. There is much preparation work prior to reaching the final goal. I am always on the lookout for good material, to help me achieve this process. I recently heard about "The 7 Keys" from several of my clients. They were very excited about it, so I decided to buy a copy for myself. Needless to say, I was very impressed with the depth of details it provides to make a candidate presentable to the client companies. The section on Resume Writing was a Breakthrough! Finally, someone has described - step by step - how to capture your genius and present it on a resume, in a non-offensive way. I was also happy to see a section on proper business etiquette, which I feel is important for anyone seeking job placement. All in all, this book is a must for recruiters. It can provide insights to their clients to "increase their landing rate." I feel this book is a "Must Have." KUDOS!

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Summary: The Bible for Career Transition
Review: The 7 Keys to a Dream Job by Dilip Saraf is the bible for career transition whether you are a new graduate, been laid off from a job or are currently employed and looking to make a career change.

The 7 keys approach takes you step by step through the career transition process helping you to develop your own unique selling proposition based upon who you are (not just what you did in the past) and what you want to achieve by leveraging your genius.

Packed with information, exercises, practical how-tos, including developing a marketing plan, networking, interviewing and salary negotiation as well creating a powerful resume, with sample resumes and letters, this book has it all and will guide you through the realities and process of career transition, from self understanding to landing your dream job.


Rating:
Summary: On Repositioning
Review: The 7 Keys To a Dream Job provides sound, hard-hitting insight and advice to anyone, unemployed or employed, that is seeking a career transition. While the substance for this book is drawn primarily from the post dot.com era, its basic tenets are applicable regardless of a bust or boom economy. Dilip Saraf gives you the tools to make a realistic assessment of your career situation, build a personal marketing campaign, and drive your job quest. Should you breeze through these 450 pages, be sure to take time to fully absorb Key-3: Presenting Yourself. It is filled with true-to-life examples of creative and impactful resumes and cover letters, and anecdotes of success and failure. Even after months of job searching (and undergoing many similar experiences as described in this book), I found The 7 Keys valuable in rethinking how I position myself, both tactically and strategically, in this highly competitive job market. A key learning - stating a salary range vs. a specific salary (Key-6: Negotiating the Offer) - was highly instrumental in positioning myself for a successful negotiation in a recent job offer.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended for anyone interested in pursuing a new career
Review: The 7 Keys To A Dream Job: A Career Nirvana Playbook! by Dilip Saraf draws upon the author's past three years working with employment seeking clients who were laid off during the Silicon Valley high tech retrenchments and dotcom failures. Chapters address how to adapt to sudden change including the loss of one's job, learning how to differentiate oneself and customize one's resume for maximum self-promotion when job-hunting, tips, tricks, and techniques for acing an interview, from being readily accessible to staying aware of body language, negotiation advice and suggestions for following a wide array of job leads through email, networking, and much more. Highly recommended for anyone interested in pursuing a new career. Of especial note are the in-depth delineations of e-mail hunting and other technological etiquette appropriate for online job hunting - the new social decorum of the twenty-first century.