Book reviews

How to Make them Say…You’ve Got the Job is fresh off the press, making available in clear and simple English the handbook which first appeared in Arabic in 2004. This slim but comprehensive volume deserves wide distribution to those seeking to enter the job market the first time…or even again.

Everything you need to know and just what you want to know is presented in straightforward, sympathetic English that is above all ESL user-friendly. It reads less like a technical manual than the record of a conversation with a supportive and motivating counselor who is not without a whimsical sense of humor.

The book gives clear advice on how to write a resume, complete a job application, how to prepare for and succeed in a job interview as well as get through the various tests one may have to pass through to get the job. The authors considerable experience offers clues on the tactics of interviewers as well as the “wrong answers” that could sideline the applicant very quickly whatever his or her level of competence in the essentials of the job being applied for.

How to Make them Say…You’ve Got the Job is suffused with the guiding personality of the author who begins by discussing not first practical steps, but the dreams, beliefs, goals and values driving the applicant to the workplace. The task of managing feelings and potential reactions to the unexpected are addressed as they are likely to occur. Getting a job is marketing oneself. We tend to see ourselves from our own inner perspective, especially when entering the job market for the first time. We are challenged to see ourselves as others see us, so our education for job hunting is to help us get a perspective from the point of view of others, in particular potential employers. Alromaithy gives us good advice about this as well as tools, guiding us through a personal SWOT analysis, for example.

While it would be impossible in a short work of this kind to indicate all of the culturally specific and legal framework of job-seeking practices world wide, the author constantly alerts the reader to areas in which cultural difference might require the job applicant to seek more information or be alert to preferences and practices that might differ from his or her expectations of the various steps of the job search.

This is certainly a handy tool for the international job seeker as well as a resource for HR professionals, teachers, trainers and counselors to make available to potential job seekers.