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Rating: 
Summary: I'm happy I did not buy it!
Review: After seeing an interview of Ms. Reynolds on CNN's "The Neil Cavuto Show" I was interested in learning more about her. I searched the web and found her book on the Amazon.com site, with your reviews & excerpts. After reading the excerpts, and almost falling out of my chair laughing about "The Week of a Recruiter", I pondered about the last twenty years I have spent as a HEADHUNTER. Ms. Reynolds and I must have worked on two different planets - in the same profession.
I have and still read many books about career searching, the recruiting industry, etc. There are some damn good how to do it books on the market - not this one. Who needs someone to give us a minute-by-minute account of her personal and professional life - who cares! Can you help me find a good recruiter, can you help me find a good job, can you help me find an industry that won't fall apart this or next year? If you need help, buy a book by the name of "What Color Is My Parachute", I believe that is the correct title. This book gives you clear and concise information, not some obtuse opinions.
The main, and only, objective for executive search firms is to find the best candidate for their clients, not to find people jobs who want more money, bigger titles, or easyier commutes. In our twenty year history, and the many placements that we have to our credit - the best candidates that we have found for our clients are people who are happily employed at their present positions and not even thinking about looking at other opportunities. The best way to find a job is to be the very best you can at your present position, be active in your industry associations and organizations, write articles for your industry websites, magazines, etc. Be visible. Be the best you can be and the executive search industry will find you. There I just wrote my first book!
If you do happen to find yourself out of work, call a few friends and ask for any recommendations they would share with you about executive search firms that are industry related and that they have had experience with. Best of all check industry, and specific company websites, there are a chuck full of companies looking for people. Ms. Reynolds is correct in pointing out that there are differences in the types of executive search firms. It boils down to two main differences; retained & contingency. Try to work with retained search firms that have a retainer from a specific company for a specific position, as opposed to contingency firms. This will at least assure you that they are not just collecting resumes. That is what most contingency search firms send most of their time doing.
Ms. Reynolds is correct again about being open and honest with a recruiter that you trust. But you have to be very careful with whom you trust personal information. When I ask a potential candidate about their martial status, their remuneration package, whom do they report to, etc. and the answer is "I will not divulge that information", I simply thank them and hung-up. Be firm not stupid. You could be passing up that knock on the door that only comes around once, and you will never know what you missed out on.
Ms. Reynolds' book is nice but I don't think it will get you a job. When an executive search consultant does call you, be polite, be honest, and remember it is a very small world.
Rating:
Summary: As bad as her name
Review: I read this book a while ago (I was a self employed exec recruiter for fifteen years) and it still stands out as one of the silliest. The amount of information either a Manager or another headhunter will glean from this material is negligible. The pages discussing her "schedule" in which she shows us all how hard she works are so laughably self-important that you should skim them in the bookstore for humor's sake.
Rating: 
Summary: Good advice while getting your feet wet
Review: In many ways this is kind of an off kilter book - Reynolds seems to want to be aiming at the executive, but in reality I think her book is applicable to just below that level, who are just starting out in higher managerial searches. Taken from that starting point, the book is a very good overview and advice book. Much of what she says is common sense, but sometimes it's nice to have it reiterated so that we don't forget it. As someone who is going to eventually be looking for new employment and to move on up, I found it in some ways reassuring to be led step by step through things. I don't believe I learned much new, there was certainly no "ah ha!" moments. But it did assure me that the path I've been looking at is correct, and what I know is valuable. She is not afraid to touch upon those areas a lot of people are uncomfortable with - such as compensation negotiation. Reading this book is like a comfortable session with a career counselor who's there to calm you down and help you through the next step. While currently job hunting has slowed a bit, it will rebound. And anything that helps us get a leg up on the competition is appreciated.
Rating:
Summary: Yuk
Review: Quite frankly, this book is more about negating the idea of the executive recruiters' three martini lunches rather than providing good job search tips.
Rating: 
Summary: Executive Search Expert Gives Insightful Advice
Review: Smooch Reynolds digs deep and delivers a thoughful and realistic view of the search world and executive recruiters. As a mid-level exec (looking to move my career forward), I will use her advice to leverage my relationships with recruiters to my advantage, especially in this recent economic downturn. Recruiters have their ears to the ground and know, more than anyone else in corporate America, where the best career opportunities are to be found. I'll be sure to place a call to her firm after reading this book, and so will you!
Rating:
Summary: I'm happy I did not buy it!
Review: This is a "self help" book for managers and other senior level people that are job hunting. The author is a recruiter of the "headhunter" variety - she gets quality people for companies for a fee. This book (subtitled "12 secrets to getting on the headhunter's radar screen") contains advice on how to act and what to write about yourself to better your chances of getting picked up by a headhunter. The title is great! It sold me the book, but then the book did not meet my expectations. There is an excellent chapter on the interview, and a fair amount of very scattered miscellaneous advice that you must dissect from filler, padding, and repetition. The disappointing things about the book were the remarkable lack of advice on getting selected by a recruiter, and the frequently repeated notion that only through a retained recruiter can you succeed. The author, of course, has her bias. The "12 secrets" are not really secret. Most of the book is pretty mundane "resume/cover letter/interview" advice of the type that can be found in most "job hunting" books.
Rating:
Summary: Be Hunted!
Review: You have become an expert in your field, but face it, you still know zip about recruiters, interviewing, negotiating compensation, and why they ask all those tedious questions. Whether you are entering your profession, the recruiter just called, or you have decided to change employers, Be Hunted! is the book you need to read now.Based on attending her presentations for more than a decade, I know that during her career, Ms. Reynolds has championed the highest standards of ethics, integrity, and candor in the search process - for the candidate, the company, and the headhunter. Her outstanding book reflects her philosophy of openness. Ms. Reynolds cuts through the mystique with hard facts, process realities, and extremely valuable advice to advance your career and development - what to do, not do, why, and why not. Her book gives vital counsel and wisdom that no one else will tell you. For example, you probably know that as you become technically competent, how well you "fit" with a company becomes the most decisive selection factor - for you and for the company. But Ms. Reynolds goes far beyond that insight with definitions and measures of intangible attributes and intuitive wisdom, which you and employers can use to judge how well you fit with each other. Great stuff! Here are my paraphrases of her book's 12 secrets (and chapters): 1. Defogging executive recruiting. 2. Recruiters: in-house, retained, contingency, internet. 3. Finding search firms that are aligned with your career goals. 4. Timing the first contact with a recruiter. *5. Mechanics of working with recruiters. *6. Etiquette in your relationships. *7. Intangible qualities versus career track record. 8. You are a brand, manage it. *9. Interviewing taboos, techniques, practice questions, and how to answer them honestly and positively. *10. Secrets of negotiating compensation. 11. References - who, what, when, where, how. 12. Secrets to getting great mentors. The asterisks indicate the chapters I believe make the book worth vastly more than its price. If you follow her book's extensive advice, you will be a better candidate, a better compensation negotiator, a better employee, and a better person.
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