Looking Ahead: Preparing To Meet the Future

If I were a prospective job seeker, listening to business-guru Dr. Denis Waitley's words of comfort and hope on this video, would inspire me to run double-time to the nearest tenement building, pirouette up the fire escape, and practice my swan dive onto the cement below. It wouldn't be unemployment that drove me to such a desperate act, but Waitley's opening and closing sermons: the only thing worse than losing my job would be to have Waitley telling me--like God addressing Job--that I'm undergoing a "time of testing." Fortunately, there are also things to like about this video. Namely authors' Richard N. Bolles (What Color Is Your Parachute?), William J. Morin (Parting Company), and the delightfully direct Anne Boe (Is Your `Net' Working?). Bolles' overview of the current business environment, Morin's insights into self-assessment, and Boe's straight-from-the-hip guide to good networking are bookended by cue-card read boilerplate business-speak segments by Dr. Michael Holmes on doing your homework and other clichés, Eileen Hahn on interviewing, and writer Fred Dickey on resumes and cover letters. Roughly half of the video then is watered down Business 101, while the other half is really insightful and useful. The fact that at $29.95 this is very low-priced for a business video is enough to tip the scales to a recommendation. (R. Pitman)