The Job Interview And You; The Job Search Series

Professional recruiter Jim Barton is the host for The Job Interview and You, a guide to "successful interviewing" which, while offering nothing new, does provide a solid overview of the subject. After the usual sports talk intro about competitiveness and winning, Barton unveils his 7-step "game plan." The seven areas include: enthusiasm, using business reasons as opposed to personal reasons when answering questions, asking "company" questions, promoting your strengths, dressing for success and observing proper body language, salary, and closing. A recurrent skit involving an interviewer and interviewee is used to illustrate the principles discussed. While most of the sections are good, the segment on "closing" is particularly strong. The Job Search Series is a three-part series aimed at college students who are preparing to enter the job market. The opener, Job Search Preparation, spends a couple of pointless minutes setting the scene; the eventual upshot: student Tom Miller is going to look for a job. Tom heads for the campus placement center, where he talks to Larry, his mentor for the series. Larry tells Tom to take an inventory of his skills; check out alumni, instructors, and industry publications for leads; and use "The Job Search Companion Guide" (the fill-in-the-blank workbook included with the tapes). During this and ensuing conversations, Larry appears to be reading cue cards placed somewhere above Tom's head, resulting in rather awkward looking scenes. In the second tape, Successful Interviewing, Tom returns to Larry for a few basic tips on interviewing, and the program offers a series of sample interviews with "recruiters" who are quite obviously reading their text and "delivering" their lines. The final tape, Negotiating the Job Offer, takes Tom back to Larry for tips on negotiating for salary and fringe benefits. For a college-oriented series, The Job Search Series is fairly rinky dink, and not a necessary purchase. The Job Interview and You, which covers two-thirds of the material in The Job Search Series in greater detail at one-third the price, is recommended. (The Job Interview and You is available from: Career Path Productions, P.O. Box 291, Montvale, NJ 07645.) (For availability of The Job Search Series see ESTONIA: A TALE OF TWO NATIONS.)