How to Choose Your Next Employer

Rating:
Summary: Some good points but...
Review: The book is often very general. It gives you a series of questions ie: do you want to work at a small/large organization? and then maybe a couple paragraphs that might help you understand which is best for you. I picked up this book already having a general idea of what kind of organization I want and what kind of work I want to do, so there was not much that was helpful. It did give me a few more things to consider

The book really seems most suited to people who have already identified a few potential workplaces and want to see if they really are a good match. It doesn't give much information on how to find companies or surprisingly, how to research workplaces beyond talking to current employees. For example, there's no mention of the various websites for researching workplaces, although it does list the general jobseeker websites (monster, careerbuilder, etc.)

It also does little to explore governmental or nonprofit work other than asking you to consider whether or not it is important for you to work at a place where your work helps others/changes the world. It didn't discuss any of the other real pros/cons to working in these sectors.

The book also is clearly geared towards good economic times with low unemployment. It states that the "competitive advantage has shifted to you, the worker" and "as we move, through this new century, those conditions [booming economy and a technological explosion] will only improve." Since this is obviously not true today due to very high Unemployment, this information left a bitter taste in my mouth. Anyway, a minor detail but it did annoy me.

I would only recommend this book for people just entering the workforce or those who really are uncertain about what direction they want to head in. Furthermore, I suggest you check this out from the library and save your money. I was able to scan the entire book and pick out the relevant bits in about two hours and it won't be a book I'll return to.

P.S. The book includes short blurbs about what the best companies are doing to make employees happy. They weren't very helpful but were interesting. It also gives you several worksheets to fill out, encouraging you to rate the factors that are important to you and to consider what you liked or didn't like at previous workplaces.