It's Book Review Time!

Career Smart

Non-Fiction - Business and Career
Written by Our Reviewer
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Career Smart: Clear Straightforward Career Advice By Stuart Nachbar I worked with career counselors for ten years before becoming a writer. I had the chance to observe their interactions with students and recent graduates. In large part, their advice on the job search was consistent on research, resume preparation, interview tactics and choosing the best fit based on the job seeker’s interests and personality. This is all part of the path towards a good entry level opportunity. Career Smart Career Smart: Five Steps to a Powerful Personal Brand, by Sherri Thomas, is a reader-friendly guide to younger workers on the next stage of their career journey whether it be an upward move, lateral move, or even a switch to a new industry. Career Smart embellishes two major points: provide something of value to your employer and clients; and, deliver it in such a way that or clients feel loyal to you. The emphasis on loyal is the author’s, not mine. Thomas believes that you provide value and earn loyalty in part by building a powerful personal brand in five steps: define the five core ingredients that make you unique; send the right messages; build relationships with the right career influencers, and strengthen your visibility and credibility with them; and, create a return-on-investment dashboard to measure and build your success. Thomas, who has managed several career transitions herself within marketing and communications positions in different industries, gives advice within each steps that at times seems basic and obvious, but necessary for a worker with limited experience. Career Smart is a perfect book for someone who has spent time in one function such as accounting, computer programming or sales, and wonders what his next position might be. Corporations cut back on providing such direction in difficult times, so Career Smart provides an inexpensive substitute to support a self-directed career plan. Career Smart has exercises that are very easy to do, but require thought. However, anyone who has earned an entry level position should do these exercises after they have worked in their company or industry for two years. Most corporate communities and industries expect you to advance out of your entry level position by then. Tag it: ?
Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 June 2008 )
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Pearls of Political Wisdom

Non-Fiction - politics
Written by Editor
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Reviewed By Stuart Nachbar Pearls Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead by Madeleine Kunin is a primer on women in politics. It is a very well-written work that tells why women have run for office, how they have succeeded, the obstacles they faced, as well as their leadership and legislative styles. It also provides ideas on how women can better help women get elected to office. Pearls, Politics and Power Kunin, a former three-term governor of Vermont, assistant secretary of education and U.S Ambassador to Switzerland has not only presented an insider’s perspective; she has used anecdotes from history and other elected officials to effectively present all of the arguments about why women run—and why they do not. While most of the points appear obvious, family responsibilities and fear of electoral defeat being two examples—and it would be a disservice to the reader to the ignore them—some also go back to history. For instance, we are reminded that women were not given the right to vote in the presidential elections until 1920, 65 years after that right was granted to African-American men. Most interesting was a chapter on the history of female heads of state outside the United States; so much of the world has a lead on us. Egypt had a female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, who ruled 3,480 years ago. Joan of Arc saved France from British dominance during the 15th century, at the age of 19. Five British queens wielded the same powers as a king, up to the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901. Since 1960, 44 women have been elected as the leaders of their country, some by parliamentary governments where the head of state is selected by the legislative branch--which was mostly men—or won the popular vote in a general election. The first country to elect a female prime minister was Sri Lanka, the Philippines are the first nation to elect two. Kunin served in the Clinton Administration, so she adds her two cents on Hillary Clinton’s prospects in the upcoming election. Clinton, she mentions, is not the first woman to run for president. Twenty one women have sought the office since 1872. Two ran on the Equal Right Rights party in 1872 and 1884, the rest sought the support of Democrats or Republicans, but none came close to winning the nomination. Tag it: ?
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )
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