THE 4 REALITIES OF SUCCESS DURING and AFTER COLLEGE: For College Students, Recent Grads and Young Adults

I have known Bob a number of years as a friend and colleague. Bob has gathered his wisdom in this book based on his professional and life experiences. I find his book to be unique in its topic, approach and straight-forward clarity. If you care about someone who falls into one of the categories of student, recent grad or young adult, it is a good gift. Or buy one for yourself if you can handle some reality-based advice. Michael Rectenwald, SPHR

"Wow, I can't believe college is almost over! What have I been doing these past four years?" Many students (even those who have already been in college for a few years) find themselves facing a rude awakening when forced to face "the real world." The key to success in college, the workplace, relationships, and life in general is to discover motivation and guidance from the right source. Bob Roth's new book, "The Four Realities of Success During and After College" intends to do just that. Roth's guide to success is divided into four sections: You Can Be More Successful in College, It Takes an Effective Job Search to Land the Job You Want, You Can Be More Effective in Your First Job, and Life on You Own Shouldn't Be a Rude Awakening. The book serves as a guide to students who try their best to do well, but are left at a disadvantage by receiving little guidance and real advice from successful people. Some of the important tips are based on common sense, such as taking care of your personal health, planning and preparing for academic success and joining activities or groups in order to develop your personal self. Roth also includes especially helpful information in categories (such as excellent, fair and poor GPA ranges) corresponding with employers' or grad schools' typical opinions of such achievements or involvements. With respect to an effective job search, the author presents information, especially on interviewing skills, negotiating and the importance of networking or directly contacting employers in order to land your first job. This section overlaps some of the college success section where good grades and practical experience help to get a desired first job. Success in the first job is also very important, as it is the starting point of one's career and experience in the adult world. Roth includes the importance of communication and one's personal behavior in achieving overall success (and possibly a promotion down the road). The fourth reality dealt with includes your personal life in the real world. Roth includes information on relocation, transportation, insurance, roommates and friends. The book also includes many appendices with useful websites including those concerning job searches, resumes, credit services, summer jobs, internships and a wide listing of web pages for many well-known companies. Roth's book is filled with an incredible amount of helpful information. While not necessary to be read cover to cover, the table of contents is specifically labeled so that you can find a sufficient amount of information and practical advice about a certain topic easily and quickly. The book is definitely worth a purchase as a reference guide to life.

Writing for college students, recent graduates and young adults the author, Bob Roth has crafted a detailed map for the individual reader (and their parents), as they go down the road toward success. While most young adults, and their parents, are concerned about how they are going to succeed they generally do not have a specific plan or they do not start planning early enough. One of the author's stated purposes is to enable the readers to develop their plan, their road map, before starting and while in college. You can be more successful in college is the first reality of the four detailed by the author. While in college, according to the author, it is important if not critical, that the individual have a have a plan. In addition to being able to follow this plan to achieve success in college, there is one specific benefit that will accrue and that is the individual will be able to answer queries as to why he/she should be selected over other qualified candidates. The answer would for the readers (and users) of this book is that they have had experience in goal setting and planning to achieve that goal, and that these techniques and experience are directly analogous to what would be and is needed in a corporate position. In other words, they have will specific related experiences directly applicable to the position for which they are being interviewed no matter what the position. There are several factors, parts, which have to be included in this plan. After determining the goals, actions needed have to be developed together with the steps to achieve the goal. Next to be considered after figuring out what and how this plan, its objective and the steps to carry it out, are the steps needed to impress future employers. It is all about how does one stand out from the crowd when being interviewed for a position in an organization, and having a plan and successfully implementing it will help the interviewee do this. In describing the thought patterns, tasks and methods the author gives a complete rundown of what would be needed to succeed in this reality, as he does in each of the remaining three realities. It takes an effective job search to land the job you want is the second reality and in this chapter the author gives various procedures and techniques to assist the reader in the process of searching for and landing a position. Emphasizing that the reader will have to find a job on his/her own, the author defines the reality as being that if nobody is chasing you to offer you and good job, you will have to chase them and that the biggest mistake anyone can make is to think that we work for anybody but ourselves. The most important point in this part is that one has to understand that life and job searching is a continual sales process and that every action has to seen from that point of view. Settling into your first job is the third reality and it is the pivotal one in that one can acquire and develop the habits that will

Strongly recommended for anyone entering a college or enrolling in a university for the first time, The 4 Realities Of Success: During And After College by Bob Roth is an invaluable guide written specifically for the collegiate newcomer, the prospective college student, and the recent college graduate faced with leaving the academic environment. The 4 Realities Of Success applies particular elements that enables readers to be more successful in college including effectively search for career placement, become a key employee, and make the transference to independent living easy. With an easy-to-use format and excellent overall perspective, The 4 Realities Of Success is a perfect read for all any entering, attending, or leaving higher education, whether it's a local community college or a state university.

This book is chock full of information about how things will go, should go, and can go better as students enter college, progress through college, tackle the job search and interview process, launch a career, and live out on their own. From tidbits of information about many aspects of everyday life (good ideas, building relationships,handling situations)that many take for granted, to very valuable good advice that often only the most successful, experienced people have to offer (career must-knows beginning with producing the best resume, using job banks and other resources, access to a gigantic list of websites of major companies, right through to being hired and successful beyond that). Written in an easy to understand, quick-read language often using lists of the most important things to remember and famous quotes that illustrate them. This is the advice that we all wish we had when we were just getting started in achieving our goals. It's a must read for anyone in the latter years of high school, currently in college and those stepping out into the workplace.