Job-Hunting Tools:

  Search for Jobs
  Corporate Job Sites
  Order a New Resume

  Career Tools:

  Content Index
  Career Resources
  Career Tutorials
  Job-Search Samples
  College Planning
  Job/Career Bookstore
  Search this Site

  Career Categories:

  Career Networking
  Personal Branding
  Resumes and CVs
  Job Interviewing
  Salary Negotiation

 

Quintessential Reading:
Career and Job Book Reviews

 

Book Review: Acing the Interview Tip Cards

 

From time-to-time, as we receive career-related and job-hunting books and other resources from publishers, the staff of Quintessential Careers will review them to help you make better decisions about the best books to use in your career and job search.

 

Acing the Interview Tip Cards -- Answers to the Top 20 'Killer' Interview Questions PLUS Strategies For Handling Illegal And Trick Questions, by Mary Jeanne Vincent, 24 cards, 2004, $23.99.

 

Reviewed by Katharine Hansen

 

It's hard to imagine a resource much handier for cramming right before a job interview than a set of easy-to-hold, easy-to-carry cards that fit into a pocket or purse. Acing the Interview Tip Cards are such a resource.

 

The cards come in a jewel case the size of a Zip-disk case, and as illustrated on the Workwise Web site of card author Mary Jeanne Vincent, you can even fashion the jewel case into a little easel on which you can stand the cards up and study them.

 

Twenty of the cards offer frequently-asked job-interview questions. Instead of providing canned answers, however, Vincent wisely offers tips describing the hidden opportunity in each question, ideas for preparing a response, content hints for the response itself, and variations on how the question might be asked. On the back of each card are guidelines for scripting a response, along with space for writing your planned answer.

 

Bonus cards offer tips for responding to illegal and trick questions, preparing for interviews, and avoiding 10 deadly interview mistakes.

 

I think my only qualm about the cards would be actually committing my responses to writing on the back of the cards. What if I later thought of a better way to respond? It may be better to use the guidelines for writing responses but doing the actual writing elsewhere. That way, the job-seeker can also avoid the temptation of memorizing his or her answers written on the cards.

 

This nifty set of cards is, of course, not the be-all and end-all of interview prep; there's a lot more to readying oneself for an interview. But if I were on a bus or in a taxi on the way to the interview, or in the parking lot or lobby of the interviewer's building, being able to flip through these cards as last-minute interview prep would be invaluable.

 

 

Check out all our book reviews in Quintessential Reading: Career and Job Book Reviews.

 

 

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

 

 

 

Find a New Job

What:

Where:

jobs by