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Entrepreneur Michael Kraftman reviews James Caan's latest book on finding success in the job market.

Having been involved in the recruitment of staff at my own company, I thought reading Get The Job You Really Want would give me a useful perspective from the other side of the job market. While the book was moderately beneficial to me, I did find it hard work. James Caan’s writing style mimics his wordiness on Dragons’ Den and I had the distinct feeling that the book had been dictated (but at least it was his own words).

One of the main problems I had with the book was some of the more unconventional techniques Caan suggests to get yourself noticed by prospective employers. A couple of these made me cringe. For instance, Caan suggests that it’s good practice to address an interviewer by his or her first name, but there was a great scene in the ‘interview’ episode of the latest series of The Apprentice where Margaret Mountford strongly objected to one of the candidates doing just that.

The other fundamental flaw is that if you share “secrets” in a mass market publication they are, by definition, no longer secret. Delivering your CV by hand at a certain time of day might have been a good tip if kept private, but is completely devalued if everyone starts doing it.

The book nevertheless contains plenty of useful, if mainly obvious, advice about how to optimise your chances at the various stages of the job search, from finding opportunities in the first place to negotiating your job package at the end. For those looking to make a career move, it might be worth a read – but take some of the advice with a pinch of salt.

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