Soaring on Your Strengths: Discover, Use, and Brand Your Best Self for Career Success

I purchased a book for $.01. I was surprised when I saw how it was in incredible condition. Great Buy Thanks

The title of this job finder's guide aptly conveys the book's content. Robin Ryan proposes that hunters for new jobs identify their strengths, weaknesses and skills and package them in a personal brand to present in resumes and interviews. Ryan's book somewhat follows a step-by-step format, asking questions about skills, strengths and favorite activities that should elevate any doubter's self-image and gently cuts down overestimators' assessment of their skills to the appropriate level. I would add to other reviews on this page that the guide indeed asks readers to solicit information about their professional and personal skills from friends, co-workers and teachers--it does not assume that any outside information is generally invalid. Most of the content applies to anyone looking for a new job, but the book makes several side notes for persons new to the job market, seeking to advance positions or change careers. From personal experience, Ryan's book was immensely useful to me during my job search. As a computer engineer fresh out of college and generally uninterested in becoming a full-time programmer, I looked for anything and everything distantly related to information technology--I sent resumes for advertised jobs in system administration, public relations, Computer Science teaching jobs and many more fields. Needless to say, my resume was unfocused and crammed all my superficially perceived skills and education into two pages. For six months, my sole job was to write resumes and cover letters, send them out and hope for responses. After I found Ryan's book, I followed her proposal and took a look at my goals, skill set and patterns of success in my student jobs and projects. I solicited candid reports about what strengths and weaknesses my former co-workers saw in me and finally found that I was most interested in IT administration, working on a job that allowed me to branch out into other task areas occasionally to keep things fresh. Keeping this in mind, I scrapped my resume and built a completely new version (one page), identified interesting jobs at companies that fit my "want" profile and contacted them about open positions. Within half a month of sending out my resume, I was in Chicago working for a small software company, earned a higher salary than I had hoped, and received compliments on my strong resume. Obviously, job seekers need to possess skills and strengths that will allow them to work in their industry of choice, and Ryan points this out quite early in the book. But, to fresh faces in the job market as well as career changers, I would recommend this book as an absolute must.

Authors who write career-advice books have a problem, because every person's situation is different. Many such books stick to general, tried-and-true pointers, but Robin Ryan takes a different angle: advising job seekers to turn themselves into brands. Her idea is that since people excel at doing the things they like best, you should identify your preferences and promote your strengths. In addition to discussions of everything from personal grooming to finding a mentor, Ryan includes checklists and self-assessment questionnaires that some readers may find helpful. She omits some issues, such as the problems of older job seekers, or those confronted with nepotism and other career blockades, so we recommend her manual most strongly to young people looking for their first jobs. However, don't ignore it if you're a midcareer manager who is stagnating in your current position.

So much time and worry is wasted by those who want to make us into what we are not. Mothers, Fathers, friends, bosses, coaches keep telling us what we ought to be and/or what we ought to do. We seem to develop a sense of self that is rooted in the opinions of others. Robin Ryan breaks through all that and explains how to find yourself, within yourself. The strengths we all have are so valuable that we need to develop them, and not worry so much on what we don't like or don't excel in doing. Once you have learned these authenic strengths (and we all have them), then it feels so rewarding to develop our passions. Robin does not stop there but explains how to brand yourself so you stand for what you do and what you enjoy. That is her key, to stand for what you really do well. Then she teaches how to creat the brand that represents you and shows you how to use it. In the end you get what you reall, really want. This is a very worthwhile, and rewarding book. Follow Robin's lead and learn from her. This is authenic, genuine and real knowledge. You will be happier and wealthier for the experience.