FINDING THE RIGHT JOB AT MIDLIFE

A facile step-by-step formula for transforming burned-out, unemployed or about-to-be, in-a-rut over forty-fivers into inspired entrepreneurs, renovated execs or sprightly consultants. Loaded with stroking and rah-rah, this ""How To"" is saved from utter banality by some solid suggestions for its older clientele. Allen is a top placement and personnel expert (How to Turn an Interview into a Job), co-author Gorkin a former editor. Much of this has been done before. However, for the middle-aged dipping into this genre for the first time and successfully innocent of the world of r‚sums‚, self-promotion, and pop personnel, it may open eyes. For those who've been around the track a few times, the pep talks may come in time to prevent the onset of full-fledged despair, but the stuff on self-evaluation and preparing the perfect r‚sum‚ are best skipped. The authors do succeed in striking fear in the middle-aged bureaucratic heart in Chapter Four where they discuss the strategy of holding on to one's job by playing the corporate game: an exhausting analysis of glances, eye movements, attitudes, key words. If you fail, Chapter Five, ""The Layoff Survival Kit,"" shows how to use the law to stave off the inevitable and get the best termination deal possible. There have been subtler treatments of the dark side of the survival ritual in management--that is not the aim here, although the authors have some telling insights into the debits and credits of growing old. Their unique bibliography is a step-by-step course of study for one wishing to learn more about playing the personnel/placement game.