Employment Books

This guide is the most informative and helpful book on interviewing Ive ever seen! As a new college graduate, I had no experience with interviewing in the real world. I looked at some books in the career center at school, but they were way too basic. My sister bought me this book, and reading through it helped me feel prepared to handle any interview situation. I put the "success stories strategy" to the test and got the job! Also, great sample resumes and cover letters are included, so I was able to overhaul my resume just in time...

I worked in boring, low-paying jobs for two years after graduating from college, and I wanted to jump-start my career. This interview guide definitely helped me during my job search. The book provided detailed information about all types of interviews (so I wasn't thrown for a loop when I had to endure a panel interview), as well as a lot of other useful job information, such as suggestions for improving your resume and advice from professionals in different fields. I found the chapter on creating and using a network of contacts particularly useful -- if not for my network, I might not have gotten my current job. I would highly recommend this book.

As a recent college graduate writing my first real resume, I found this book tremendously helpful. It takes you through the whole process step-by-step and covers everything from writing your resume and cover letter, to having a successful interview, to writing thank you notes. It even includes a chapter on the electronic/e-mail and scannable/keyword resumes (both of which are totally necessary in today's high-tech job market). There are also some great lists of "power words" and keywords that make employers really take notice of you. Plus, the resources section in the back of the book gave me some good ideas of where to begin my job search. Overall, this is the best and most complete resume writing tool a recent college grad could have.

I needed to create a key word and scannable resume--fast. Though I'm not a recent college grad, I found the easy-to-follow advice on creating scannable electronic resumes to be worth the price of the book, and then some!

A must have for those working in labor unions or companies with union contracts.

I became a union representative and had no prior labor relations experience. This book taught me everything I needed to know to process grievances. I don't know what I would have done without it! This is a must for all labor relations professionals, union and management.

Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (4/08)

Written by a labor and employment attorney, "Handling Employment for Bosses and Supervisors" presumes to be a guideline for avoiding employee lawsuits. In the author's section, titled "Thirty-One Steps on How to Keep Your Home," he lays out thirty-one ideas of practical information that employers should use to protect themselves from litigation that may cost them their home (employment litigation) or their lives (workplace violence). Hopper spends a good chunk of time explaining employment litigation and its repercussions likening it to going through a divorce. He includes twenty-three factors that cause employment problems and he provides practical, legal suggestions how managers and supervisors can avoid litigation. He points out that "the United States is viewed by many as the most litigious country in the world having more than 20,000 discrimination lawsuits filed in 2000." Staggering figures like that make this book a must have in any employers' library.

The evolution of employment law in the United States began about forty to fifty years ago, modeling itself from England's employment law in the beginning of the 1800s. An interesting fact the author points out is how the term "fired" came about. Back in 1871 "fired out" meant to throw out or eject someone from a place or location. Some years later "out" was dropped and the term "fired" came to be synonymous with "dismissal of an employee." When an employer has to fire someone, he has made two mistakes: hiring the person in the first place and failing to train the person to become productive. Investing in your employees pays off in the long run as is pointed out in one of the thirty-one steps he discusses. Employees, as Hopper points out, should always be treated with dignity and respect. If everyone remembered and acted that way, the workplace would be a better place.

This book contains practical, concise information and makes a great reference for managers and supervisors. Every factor of employment is covered in this book including interviewing techniques, policy writing, sexual harassment, unlawful employment practices, termination, and workplace violence. Hopper uses humor to keep the book from becoming too morose. The subtitle of the book "Guidelines to Avoid Employee Lawsuits, With a Touch of Humor" is aptly named. Quotes of famous people interspersed throughout the book make the information more personal and adaptable to the reader.

I would recommend "Handling Employment for Bosses and Supervisors" to owners of small business as well as managers and supervisors. Its content is informative, practical, and humorous. The book is laid out in short, easy to read sections. By adding humor to the content, Hopper's great writing style makes what could be laborious reading interesting and fun.

Successful attorney Geoffrey H. Hopper writes from a rich background gained from his business experience in steel fabrication and through litigation in the area of employment and business law. In his new book "Handling Employment for Bosses and Supervisors" Geoffrey offers guidelines to improve employee moral, for reducing absenteeism, and litigation fees, while increasing productivity.

The book follows a natural progression beginning with a listing of "23 Factors Causing Employment Problems" and a brief history of employment law in the introduction. He follows with a chapter explaining to the reader why they should be reading this book. The chapters that follow are packed with practical recommendations on subjects including: Employee training, evaluations, employee applications, screening, and interviews. In the final chapters Hopper offers important guidelines for handling sexual harassment issues, violence in the workplace, employment practices, and suggestions for selecting qualified legal counsel.

Geoffrey writes with a flare for humor as he clearly articulates the pitfalls of employer practices in handling human resources. Chapter titles include: "Remember the Blue Haired Lady Doctrine." I particularly enjoyed the pithy quotes and sage advice from such diverse persons as Malcolm Forbes, Dolly Parton, Winston Churchill, and Abigail Van Buren.

Employers, and supervisors, as well as indiviual employees will benefit from the important guidelines provided in "Handling Employment for Bosses and Supervisors." This is a "must read book" for every CEO, Human Resource Director, and Department Head.

The content was professionally written in a very pleasant and interesting way. It basically explores the human side of your career and of writing your resume; and, avoids the tedius clinical text that I've seen in the other resume books.

It's not really all about resumes either. It really helped me focus in on my own marketability.

This is definitely not your every day run-of-the-mill resume book. I truly believe it has changed my life and how I look at my profession.

I would highly recommend it to anyone in career transition!

I absolutely LOVED this book. It's perfect for anyone who wants a good resume and help in finding a great job. This book is NOT just a resume book, but rather a great resource book that will inspire and motivate you. It really helped me and I can't wait to read more Heart & Soul career books. I understand they're coming out with more including one on the Internet.

I found the author to be concise in the description of her 20+ years of fighting both her cancers and the attitudes of her peers. The prevalent attitude that people with cancer, coronary, and other chronic ailments are "Damaged Goods" is common even outside the corporate environment. It's a rare strength that can overcome cancer while hiding it from those attitudes.

Whether you are facing a life threatening illness or just facing everyday life, this book helps put things in perspective.

Well written, easy to read and hard to put down.

This work illustrates a particular culture of oppression at a high-tech company. The author shows action by action how management creates an environment where workers will not be likely to organize. Management actions include faulty and frequent time studies, line supervisors who punished everyone when one geller fell asleep, supervisors who started racial rumors to pit one employee against another, telling employees they were laid off due to a business slowdown but bringing in new recruits and not telling the "laid off" employees that they would never be called back, just to name a few things.

My favorite characters were the Assyrian gellers; I can still envision them diligently working, although their grit was never fully tested. I really liked them. The Latino gellers were as close to heroes as any characters in the book.

This book is instructive and revealing in unexpected ways. It is a compelling story and an easy to read book.

High-Tech Betrayal is a book that many different audiences will find attractive. While it is founded on academic premises, it does not read like an academic book. It is easy to read, describing the author's experiences when he attempted to form a union in a high-tech factory. The experiences are richly described, allowing readers to understand specifically the circumstances and issues faced by the author.

The book lays out the scenario up-front, so that the reader has a clear understanding of the situation at the time of the experience. Additionally, the individuals referred to throughout the book are clearly described, so that their comments and actions can be readily understood.

Finally, this book does an exceptional job of portraying the workplace that the average American does not think exists in this country, but in reality is more common that most would admit. Described are the struggles facing a group of individuals, attempting to better the lives of themselves and their families. This book reminds me of the classic The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The major difference is the era of the book. The similarity is that this book demonstrates that organizations in some cases today still attempt to keep workers down, while the organization itself might be thriving.

Jack L. Howard, Ph.D.

Just as much as the Acropolis was the religious center of ancient Athens, the Agora was its commercial, governmental, and cultural heart. Camp and Renfrew's book finally gives this crucial site the attention and analysis it deserves.

The authors draw on the results of over a half-century of archaeological investigation to relate 1500 years of the city's history. From Athens' rise from obscurity in the days of Homer to its flowering as a military/cultural powerhouse in the 5th century, to the Hellenistic Age and the days of the Roman Empire, to the city's slow decline to the status of Byzantine backwater, this book reveals the evolution of the Agora in hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations which truly breathe life into the ancient stones and the people who knew them.

The illustrations are sumptuous, and are the true centerpiece of the book. Scores of photographs illustrate the surviving walls and foundations of the Agora's buildings, and careful, clearly-rendered site plans and architectural elevations enable the reader to readily relate disparate elements of the structures and artifacts to their historical and cultural contexts. Accompanying the illustrations is a clear and lucid text which explains the history and the society that the Agora reflected and served.

I heartily recommend this book to those interested in archaeology, classical Greece, the Roman Empire, and urban planning. Echoing Peter Green's review, it's difficult to conceive that this book could have been done any better, and it is unlikely to be superseded for the foreseeable future.

I have had the pleasure of excavating in Greece (as volunteer slave labor). I spent a good deal of time in the Athenian Agora. I felt that I had come to understand a lot of the layout and history of the location. But this book greatly magnified my understanding of what I had seen. For me, it was WONDERFUL to finally get the full story on the site that I thought I knew. The history of the Agora is very rich. This book will bring it to life for you. I'd give it twenty stars if it were possible.

Higher Ground: New Hope for the Working Poor and their Children provides a detailed background of the many obstacles encountered by the working poor and how the New Hope program intended and its ability to eradicate these obstacles. The book articulates an important social phenomenon in a way that would intrigue and enlighten social policy makers and well versed academics as well as an interested reader without any previous sociological knowledge. One of the most captivating aspects of the book is the personal interviews that provide the reader an incredible insight into the hardships and the tenacity of low-income working mothers and women and how the New Hope program distinctly touched each of their lives.

Duncan, Huston, and Weisner's Higher Ground evaluates the experimental program New Hope, intended to help Milwaukee's poor lift themselves out of poverty. In 1994, a group of social activists implemented a work-based program they had begun dreaming up in 1979. Calling it a "social contract," rather than welfare, the organizers hoped Proejct New Hope could motivate people to work without forcing them to choose between a job and their family's wellbeing. As Duncan, Huston, and Weisner explain, 23 million American adults were living in families below the official poverty line in 1994. The state of employment and the economy made it incredibly difficult for men and women with little education to escape poverty. New Hope was innovative in that it provided an array of work supports, including healthcare, childcare, and housing subsidies, rather than enforcing a "one-size-fits-all" plan. And unlike traditional welfare programs, New Hope was available to both males and females working full-time. Though the experiment lasted only four years, its organizers hope it might become a model for national policy.

The authors provide a detailed description of the program, as well as a clear explanation of the experiment's outcomes - both positive and negative - in comparison with a control group, and they evaluate its costs and benefits. The book also gives attention to several fascinating indirect consequences of the program. For example, participants in the program saw increased marriage rates and greater marital stability compared with non-participants, as well as decreased levels of domestic violence. Perhaps the most interesting results of the program on participants' families were the surprising improvements in children's grades and behavior at school, even after the program's end. Duncan, Huston, and Weisner's book is informative, interesting, and very readable. They present a compelling analysis of an innovative, exciting, and truly hopeful anti-poverty program.

This book was a quick read and gave me an edge in the interview. I know this because now I am working after being laid off and out of work for 2½ weeks. I am a mechanical engineer and specialize in an area that has a lot of competition. This book gets you in the right frame of mind and answering questions properly while in front of a decision maker.

- Dan

This is a very simple step by step process showing you exactly how to write a resume, interview effectively and ask for the job. It is a MUST READ.