The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster Paperback – March 6, 2012

Fantastic guide. Useful for all job-seekers, but a must read for incoming MBA students!!! Very practical and clear.Remember it's a whole system and follow it once exactly. Trust the system! Make sure you understand how all the parts work together before making changes. Also, do the whole process again if you have significant changes (or even if you want to pursue two industries at once!). It goes much faster the second time. For incoming MBA students that don't know where they want to go, I recommend doing it for every industry you think you might be interested in. Do the LAMP process early and you will have a good grasp of unfamiliar industries & companies.NEGATIVES: Two small down-sides.First, the book is already getting out-dated as technology changes. I was easily able to adapt it, but maybe in 5 years they need a new, updated release.Second, I found the process mostly led me to the big names in my industry. I'm not sure if that's true for everyone, it may be a result of me switching industries and just beginning to learn about a new industry. My recommendation below may help with that a little bit. Otherwise, if you don't just want a list of the biggest names, think about how you can keep a narrow focus.RECOMMENDATION: The rest of this review is a long description of how to tweak the system. This will make more sense AFTER you complete the whole LAMP process, including the sorting.In the first few chapters, he talks about the LAMP list. It works, but might need some tweaks. The "M" stand for motivation and is a 5-min process where you simply identify how motivated you feel about working for that company. I totally understand the theory behind it, but have found that some people need more of a break down for the "M", especially if you don't know much about the companies. It can help to make a few columns that break down your motivation into different categories. These should be VERY EASY to find (like glassdoor / wikipedia first page - you don't want to take more than 10 -15 minutes per extra category). Pick 2-3 categories that are important to you, then sort as you prefer (maybe name recognition (N) first, then location(L)) and then assign a single motivation score to each company. I recommend using the 2 categories to come up with ONE motivation score that you then put into the original LAMP list. If you add these two columns into the LAMP, for example making it LA(NL)P... you might get your sorting dominated by the two new motivation components.Here are some ideas:♦ Location of headquarters: 3=favorite cities, 2=could live there a few years, 1=don't want to live there♦ Size (decide what size you want): 3=best size (1,000+ employees or 10-50 person start up), 2= next nearest size, etc♦ Name recognition: 3=Top name in your industry, 2=big name, 1= hey, at least they're in the right industry♦ Glassdoor score (a proxy for corporate culture - don't read the reviews, keep focused! Don't include companies with less than a certain number of reviews (ie 3 reviews that give a 3 star average isn't helpful): 4=4-5 star reviews, 3=3-4 star review, 2=2-3 star review, 1= NOT ENOUGH REVIEWS (re-evaluate those separately)♦ Work-life balance: This one is hard to research quickly, but glassdoor reviews often focus on it. Maybe a simple Y/N based ont he first page of glassdoor reviews would be sufficient. If a company has terrible balance, that should show up. Good balance might also show up. But many companies might be unclear (some ppl say yes, some say no) - in that case, maybe try for a 3=good, 2=unclear, 1=bad system.♦ Culture: Similar to work-life balance, this is a simple check. See if company makes Best Place to Work lists. Just google "best *industry* companies to work for (best tech companies to work for, best consulting firms to work for, etc). Pick three lists from reputable sources (Forbes, Business Insider, etc) that will cover at least 100 companies. For example, don't pick three lists of 10 best, which is only 30 total, but try a 100 best, 30 best, and 25 best for 155 total. Obviously many companies will overlap. Then make a column and simply write Y/N if the company appears on any of your lists.♦ Bad example: Benefits package - Don't choose something like this that would take too much research per company.The point of all of this is to see which companies you are more motivated to pursue. Think about what you really want in a company and a very quick way to check if companies have it. For me, location was a big factor in motivation, and taking 15-mins to look up location really changed my priorities. For example, a company with a pretty solid reputation that I thought I was interested in was in Milwaukee. They suddenly dropped from a 5 to a 3 in motivation, essentially falling off my list because I have NO interest in moving to Milwuakee (nothing against it, just not for me!).Hopefully all of this helps. If it's not clear, do the full LAMP first and then use this to make nuanced adjustments. I'm happy to clarify / explain if needed. Good luck to all the job searchers!

Whether you are a current student - undergrad or grad - or a working professional looking to make a job change, the 2 hours of reading and the 2 hours devoted to completing the work in the prescribed methodology for the job search will be the best 4 hours you will invest in the work to generate leads to the job you want.As a senior career consultant and associate director at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Dalton has coached hundreds of job seekers, so his methods are paint-by-numbers specific and thoroughly tested in the market. He knows that current students and alumni need to use the limited time they have to devote to their job search to maximize the return on the investment. Accordingly, he applies the 80/20 rule to all input recommendations by telling you to do only the work that takes 20% of time to produce 80% of the results and don't do the other 80% of work that will generate only 20% of the results. In addition, he tells you exactly how to use email and Web technology to make your communications and research efficient and effective.The 2-Hour Job Search does not include work to clarify your direction, although Dalton quickly suggests you consider what you enjoy reading and doing in your spare time for insights. And strategies to ace a job interview are also not covered, although he makes recommendations on how to best answer the three most widely asked questions - tell me about yourself; why do you want to work in this organization?; why do you want to work in this industry? The book is focused on giving you a system and very specific instructions to conduct the search for job openings in three steps:1. Develop a Prioritized List of Target Employers;2. Build a List of Approachable Contacts at Each Company;3. Secure and Conduct Information Interviews to Produce Advocates.Steps 1 and 2 are research intensive, and, as such, employ an extensive use of Web technology. Throughout, Dalton tells you which online sources to use and which to avoid, and his instructions are clear and precise. While official job postings are used as indicators of economic conditions at a company, Dalton recommends avoiding the temptation to waste time on this low-odds activity.Step 3 involves written email, telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings. In all three, Dalton provides examples of what to write and say, leaving very little open to mistakes. He has learned that conducting "information interviews" by phone is the most effective way to build advocates inside companies and being introduced to hiring managers.With The 2-Hour Job Search, those who are in the game finally have the winning playbook that leaves nothing to chance or inexperience.