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Quintessential Reading:
Career and Job Book Reviews

 

Book Review: Power Etiquette

 

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.

 

Power Etiquette: What You Don't Know Can Kill Your Career, by Dana May Casperson. Paperback -- 160 pages, AMACOM; ISBN: 0814479987, $15.95

 

Reviewed by Katharine Hansen

 

Power Etiquette falls into the category of "books you didn't have any idea you needed, but once you read it, you know it's an important addition to your business and career bookshelf." If you have any doubts, just read the business etiquette quiz that kicks off Casperson's book. Sample question: "After an interview how long should I wait before I call and ask if I am hired?" We didn't know the answers to many of the quiz's questions, and we're betting most people don't either.

 

The wisdom in this volume applies equally to job-hunting etiquette and how to behave when you're on the job. Casperson's subtitle, "What You Don't Know Can Kill Your Career," may be a bit of an overstatement, but certainly unmannerly behavior can wound your career.

 

Appropriately, the first chapter deals with making that all-important first impression, covering everything from personal grooming to shaking hands. One especially valuable piece of advice is to keep an emergency kit -- with such essentials as a sewing kit, breath mints, and a lint brush -- handy for those times when something goes wrong with your attire or grooming.

 

Casperson's chapter on clothing addresses not just business attire but building a simple yet versatile business wardrobe for men and women, complete with sketches of what the complete wardrobe should look like. She also provides some helpful insight on the dilemma of how to dress for "casual day." Disappointingly, however, she offers no specifics for job-interview attire, and her later chapter on interviewing glosses over this topic as well.

 

Some chapters focus on topics that, while useful, are better and more comprehensively covered in other books. Chapters on business writing and preparing for the job are cases in point.

 

Other chapters, such as those on e-mail "netiquette" and speaking are timely and right on target. The chapter on speaking covers everything from telephone etiquette and voicemail to videoconferencing and cell-phone use.

 

The chapter that probably most qualifies this book as a "must-have" contains Casperson's lowdown on meal manners. Especially helpful are line drawings, such as those that show the functions of all those mysterious pieces of silverware and glassware found in formal dining situations. A guide to tipping is also invaluable.

 

Rounding out this essential volume are chapters on office finesse, business travel, and after-hours activities. Casperson also provides a bibliography with guides to proper behavior all over the globe.

 

An etiquette guide might not be the first book you think about adding to your career library, but once you've seen Power Etiquette, you'll wonder how you ever survived in business all these years without people thinking you were a complete slob. And if you're just starting your career, Casperson's book gives you the opportunity to be genteel and elegant from the get-go.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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