But I digress … I’m here to talk about one book in particular. While I would love to tell you (again) about CareerBuilder’s job search handbook “Career Building,” I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you about this particular gem I found called “101 Toughest Interview Questions … and Answers That Win the Job!” by Daniel Porot and Frances Bolles Haynes. It’s not your typical dry interview book. This book is compact and comes in a flashcard-like format and arms you with the answers that interviewers really want to hear.

The book is divided into four sections which address employers’ main concerns when hiring a new employee – 1) Can you do the job? 2) Who are you? 3) Will you fit in at the company? 4) What will you cost us? — and supply potential interview questions that will answer those matters.

Porot and Haynes cover questions from the most standard (”What are your greatest achievements?” and “Do you prefer to work alone or in a group?”) to the most challenging (”So?” and “Have you approached any other organizations?” and “Would you like to sit in my chair one day?”) and give suggestions and fill-in-the blank options of how you might answer each.

For example, the authors give five sample answers that you can adapt to your situation and personality to the question, “Why do you think you have the potential for this job?”

• I know my potential, and I can tell you that I plan to enrich the company in two areas. (Mention two areas in which you are 100 percent sure you can add value.)
• I can answer that positively for two reasons. (Mention two examples or facts as proof.)
• My three strongest qualifications for this job are ______, ______ and ______.
• Based on the information you have shared with me today, I can say that I have the potential as well as the enthusiasm and persistence that you would expect from someone working for your company.
• I have encountered situations and challenges in my previous jobs that are similar to those involved with this position and I have a successful track record. (Elaborate on one.)

But I don’t think you should read this book before your interview. I think you should read it before you even apply to jobs. “Why?” you ask? If you review all the questions as a job search exercise, the information you discover and the answers you craft can be used in your cover letters and help you discover holes in your resume. All that in a purse- or backpack-friendly size.

There is one question that I take issue with: “What is your favorite Web site and why?” This wordsmith and bibliophile whould have liked the question to read: “What is your favorite book and/or Web site and why?” (Hint to anyone who ever interviews for a job with me.) Otherwise, as Chelsea Handler would say, I give this book … my blessing.

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I was flipping through the pages of Pink Slipped: A post-layoff survival guide and figured one chapter in particular would be helpful to you. Edie Milligan Driskill, CFP, CLU, author of Pink Slipped, devoted an entire section to post-layoff identity.

The answers to the following two questions will tell us a lot:

1. Who were you the day before you lost your job?

2. Who are you today?

If the answers to those two questions are not exactly the same, then you’ve got some work to do.

Driskill goes on to explain that the title on your business card (real or imaginary) doesn’t mean that’s actually who you are. It can. As she says in the book, an accountant is an accountant as long as he or she has a CPA license. Whether or not the accountant is on someone’s payroll is irrelevant. Or another example she gives is that a physical therapist who gets a job as a waitress in order to make ends meet might not consider herself a waitress. She’s a physical therapist working as a waitress.

That might sound a bit hokey to some of you, but think about it this way:

One strategy that employers use to encourage people to be productive and stay around is to find titles that will feed their egos and give them status within the organization. If you were handed one of those titles and you bought into it, you forgot that it was a rental contract. Believing that you actually owned it will cause you to have an overall harder time dealing with the loss of your employment.

Losing a job is hard on all aspects of your life. It’s an unwelcome surprise. It affects your finances. You’re reminded of it daily when you’re at home instead of at work. If you connected yourself more to the idea of the job than the actual work you like doing, you’re going to have a hard time coping and a hard time finding work. Job titles differ from company to company, as do the responsibilities and expenses that come with them. Your job search needs to encompass a range of options that let you do what you like (and hopefully make what you’d like). That’s why we like to recommend job seekers:

• Search for jobs by skills, not just by titles
• Know what they’re good at and what they like doing so that they can find work that suits them–not just another job they hate like the last one they  had
• Know what they don’t want to do, because ruling out what doesn’t work makes it that much easier to find the job that will work.

Pink Slipped: A post-layoff survival guide is out now if you want to read more about handling unexpected unemployment.

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Last week we told you about our new book, CAREER BUILDING: Your Total Handbook for Finding a Job and Making It Work .

Expanding on CareerBuilder.com’s popular content, CAREER BUILDING takes readers from résumé and cover letter tips to office etiquette to career troubleshooting to job hunting while you’re working and leaving gracefully when you go.  It’s filled with the statistics you need to know and includes a plethora of good and bad examples of résumés, thank-you notes, networking letters, information on job-hunting in the digital age, such as social networking profiles, résumé “keywords,” and e-mail mistakes to avoid .

Right now, we’re offering a special offer when you purchase the book. Order Career Building today and get three free résumé SnapShots – a $49.99 value!

What are SnapShots? They are icons that help you stand out from the competition by highlighting your résumé when it appears in an employer’s search on CareerBuilder.com.

SnapShots draw attention to your online résumé by…

• highlighting your experience, education, skills and certifications, and other traits.
• letting you stand out from the more than 24 million résumés on CareerBuilder.com.
• giving your résumé visual cues to make it jump off the page and say, “Pick me!” to employers.

To take advantage of this offer, click here.

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These days, job seekers need all the tools they can get their hands on. CareerBuilder.com just released “CAREER BUILDING: Your Total Handbook for Finding a Job and Making It Work” (Collins Business) and it’s filled with advice you can use not only in your job search but also throughout your career.

Here’s an excerpt:

Are you employable?  

For some people, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a guiding principle. And if you’ve found one job, you can certainly find another. You know all you need to know about job hunting, right?

If you find your job hunt isn’t giving you anything but a stress headache, maybe it’s time for a refresher. Ask yourself these questions:

Is my résumé targeted?
Just because you’re applying for multiple jobs, don’t assume the same résumé works for every position. Each job posting will stress different qualities over others, so rework each résumé to highlight the experience and skills that correspond to that particular employer. Your résumé will prove not only that you’re qualified for the job but that you also pay attention to detail.

Am I networking?
We’ve said it once; we’ll say it again-networking is crucial. Think about this: There is only one of you and there are thousands of job openings. The more people know you’re looking for a job, the better your chances of finding one are. You can never be sure who will know of an available position. Networking can also connect you to a hiring manager, directly or indirectly, giving you the edge over other candidates.

Do I know something about the companies I’m applying to?
“Tell me what you know about the company” or “Why would you fit in well here?” have become staple interview questions, so don’t be caught off guard. Shrugging your shoulders and saying, “I don’t know” isn’t going to score you points. Look at the company’s Web site and read press releases and newspaper articles to see what’s going on with your prospective future boss. In addition to preparing for the interview, you’ll learn whether the company and its culture are a right fit for you.

Am I targeting my job search?
Sending out several résumés is key to finding a job, but you also need to be selective about the jobs to which you’re applying. While you don’t need to possess every single skill listed on a posting, you should at least be qualified for the position and prove that you have transferable skills. Your targeted résumé will help prove you’re a serious candidate and have the right qualifications for the position. If you’re spending time applying for jobs you’re not qualified for, you’re wasting valuable time you could be devoting to a position that’s a better fit. If you recognize where your strengths lie and what transferable skills you possess, you’ll see better results than if you apply to any posting you come across.

Has someone else evaluated my résumé and interview technique?
Feedback is critical to job hunting. Ask someone else to read your résumé and review it as if they were hiring for the job. Friends or colleagues can provide objective points of view to help you revise your résumé.

Your interview skills need the same attention. Are your answers succinct or too short? Thorough or rambling? What you think you’re saying isn’t necessarily what others hear, so find this out now rather than in the interview. If you don’t think that a colleague or friend can offer constructive feedback, make an appointment with an interview coach.

How am I presenting myself?
Employers are assessing your presentation before you even show up for an interview. Your e-mails and phone conversations with hiring managers or recruiters should also send a professional message. Don’t send emails written in all capital letters and/or using three exclamation points-it’s bad netiquette in personal correspondence, but it’s even worse in business. Put the same thought into your outgoing voice mail message. Don’t try to be funny by playing 30 seconds of your favorite song or talking with a mouthful of food. Hiring managers might hang up instead of ask you to call them back. Give a normal, casual greeting, or use one of the preprogrammed options that come with most accounts.

If a recruiter calls you, don’t try to hold a conversation with your TV blaring in the background or your child screaming on your lap. If you’re asked whether it’s a good time to talk, you can be honest and say you’re in the middle of something. Then ask if he or she can call you back in 15 minutes or find another day that’s convenient for both of you. You’ll be prepared to answer all the recruiter’s questions and won’t be distracted.

Your goal is to find a better job than you had, right? So you have to conduct a better search this time around. Put the effort in and you’ll see the results.

From the editors of CareerBuilder.com, CAREER BUILDING is filled with the statistics, tips and priceless information on job-hunting and working in the digital age, including good and bad résumé samples, using social networking, searching online, résumé “keywords” and e-mail mistakes to avoid. In today’s unstable economic climate, CAREER BUILDING is the guide you can’t afford to go without.

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Looking for a new job search tool? We’ve got just the thing.

From the editors at CareerBuilder – including TheWorkBuzz writers Anthony, Rachel and yours truly – comes CAREER BUILDING: Your Total Handbook for Finding a Job and Making it Work, a no-nonsense handbook that tells workers of all ages and all stages of their careers everything you need to know about landing a great job and navigating through the workplace. 

Expanding on CareerBuilder’s most popular articles, CAREER BUILDING is filled with insightful statistics and advice from top experts on making yourself indispensable as a candidate or employee.

Take a look inside the book here.

With U.S. employment in turmoil and millions of people looking for jobs, this new book couldn’t have come at a better time. CAREER BUILDING offers expert tips for job-searching in a bad economy, including:

• What to do after a layoff
• How to look confident (even if you have to fake it)
• How to make yourself relevant to a variety of employers
• How to make a bad job work for you (when need be)

CAREER BUILDING also offers tough love for all workers, including:

• Extensive job searching tips
• Questions you should ask the boss
• Meeting etiquette
• Using, not abusing, technology
• Things not to say at work
• Preparing for a performance review

Get your copy today. It is available from major retailers including Amazon.com, Borders.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

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“It’s an unsettling time for U.S. employees as the nation works toward creating a healthier economy and job market,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder.com. “The important thing is to be prepared and stay productive within your organization.”

Here are some tips for making yourself recession-proof at work:

• Seek out additional responsibility. Show you can wear many hats within the company by volunteering to take on different responsibilities. Try to get involved in long-term projects.
• Be a team player. Establish yourself as someone who proactively shares information and resources and tries to help benefit the work of others.
• Offer up ideas. Propose ideas for cost-savings, improved efficiencies or new revenue streams to help your company weather the storm.
• Toot your own horn. Keep a current record of your accomplishments and contributions to the company, quantifying results whenever possible. Share new highlights in a project update email to your boss and other supervisors who may benefit from your accomplishment and make sure to give kudos to others involved in the project.
• Stay positive. Keep focused on the task at hand and don’t let rumors impact your productivity.

If you’ve experienced a layoff already, don’t get discouraged, Haefner says.  It may take longer to find a job, but there are still companies out there hiring in a variety of areas such as healthcare, sales, government and education. Here are job hunting tips for workers who have been laid off:

• Finding a job is a job. Commit to looking for a job two to three hours per day.
• Transfer your skills. Look at how your skills can apply to other industries that may be hiring. There are universal skills that employers will search for such as strong communication skills, problem-solving, project management, etc.
• Leverage social media. Join various social networking sites and consider blogging to showcase skills, experience and creativity.
• Study job postings online. Job postings clearly spell out what employers are looking for and employers often use electronic scanners to search for keywords in their job postings. Update your resume using some of the same keywords as they apply to your experience.
• Make yourself more marketable. Consider taking this time to go back to school or obtain a certification in a classroom or online.
• Stay active. Consider volunteering.  Most employers views this as a relevant experience and it can help expand your network.

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It can make you wish things were as easy as they were in childhood, when communication was simple and where you were more open to new ideas and new people. Countless self-help books suggest the same thing: that personal and professional success can come to those who are willing to let themselves be more open.

“Open” might mean being more vulnerable, or even being the fool from time to time, but it also means that you embrace the humor of the situation and just let it be.

I’ve been reading a very intriguing and unique book by Peter Weddle, Recognizing Richard Rabbit. Weddle’s book tries to get a message to us via these two channels: on the left side pages, there’s text asking us questions about our lives (and careers) in language that we’re accustomed to.

On the right-hand pages, there’s an animal-filled fable that takes us back to childhood days and recasts these questions in simpler, more colorful terms. It’s a fascinating way to approach ideas – like giving up what you “should” do for what you really WANT to do – that can be tricky or uncomfortable to think about in traditional terms.

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Terkel wrote dozens of books, but perhaps one of his best-known works is a non-fiction book called Working.

Working was initially published in 1974, but it’s still a powerful and timely book. It’s a non-fiction book where Terkel essentially captures the narrative voices of workers from various walks of life: a book binder, a supermarket bag boy, even a gravedigger.

The stories Terkel captured were so compelling that it even became the basis for a Broadway musical.

Here’s an audio news piece that explores Working and its impact on American society.

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But even the best talkers have to stop and listen once in a while. And we do a lot of reading here, too. I thought it would be cool if we shared some of those books from time to time.

I just read the book “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. (The book was transcribed by Jeffrey Zaslow, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.) Pausch is a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Professor Pausch was in the national media spotlight earlier this year because of his “last lecture.”  Many colleges and universities have adapted a “Last Lecture Series” in which professors are invited to give hypothetical final lectures. For Randy Pausch, the finality of his lecture was unfortunately not a hypothetical matter. Pausch is terminally ill with has pancreatic cancer, and his cancer is resisting treatment.

Instead of retreating from the world, Professor Pausch shared his incredibly optimism and gratitude with his students. That “last lecture,” which Pausch says is ultimately for his children, was captured on video and shown around the world. (It can be seen at www.thelastlecture.com.)  And now, the lecture is in book form.

In addition to the incredible story of Professor Pausch and his life and career, I wanted to share some of his advice about how we view our careers, and about our work/life balance. He has some great comments on this, including these ideas on time management:

• No sweating the small stuff. Pausch talks about cautioning his students not to get hung up on irrelevant details. As Pausch says, “Time must be explicitly managed, like money.” 
• Have a plan. In order to have the flexibility and agility many careers require today, Pausch says you have to have a solid plan in place to begin with, so the change is organized change. He says that a plan “helps us break life into small steps.” 
• Evaluate. Pausch urges people to ask themselves, “Are you spending time on the right things?” He talks about a newspaper clipping he had kept where a woman was protesting jackhammers at a local construction site. Her protest was motivated by fear that the jackhammers would harm her unborn baby. The catch? Ironically, the photograph showed the pregnant mother – with a cigarette in hand. His message: Sometimes we spend time and energy on the wrong problem. 
• Be organized. Pausch, who was a highly organized person, shares several funny anecdotes about his wife, who was not nearly as organized. He believes being organized on the front end is better than saying, “I know it was blue and I know I was eating something when I had it.” 
• Free yourself from the phone. Pausch says collectively, we spend a lot of time on the phone and on hold. Rather than being a slave to the phone, use a speakerphone or hands-free phone when possible so your hands are free to do something else. He also recommends keeping calls short and concise, and has a brilliant idea regarding telemarketers: Hang up on them midsentence! 
• Delegate. Many of us are reluctant to delegate work to others, but Pausch encourages it and says it is never too early to groom people for responsibility. In most cases, your co-workers or employees will come through. 
• Disconnect. Our work culture has made it increasingly hard to completely disconnect during a vacation. One of our recent CareerBuilder.com surveys had responses from workers who called into the office or checked their e-mail while they were on vacation. But Pausch says it is vitally important to really, truly get away.

As Pausch reminds us, “Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.”

For more information on Randy Pausch, visit his web page. You may also want to check out the webpages for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org) and the Lustgarten Foundation (www.lustgarten.org), two organizations involved in research and fundraising for pancreatic cancer.

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