Career Focus Canada by: Lamarre & McClughan

Career Focus Canada:
A Personal Job Search Guide
4th Edition
Helene Martucci Lamarre & Karen McClughan
Pearson Prentice Hall
ISBN 9780132279918

This is a book that can be a great tool if you are approaching graduation, looking for summer jobs or looking to improve your skills and chances for that co-op job you really want. This new fourth edition that has just been released is geared specifically with the Canadian job market in mind. With a Canadian price tag of nearly $50 you might be asking why you would shell out the big bucks. This book has a number of tools that will make it worth the money and if you get that job you want, the investment will be more than worth your time and money.

This edition has a number of key tools to help you learn and apply what you learn. 'My Focus' is a key section at the end of each chapter on learning to Market Yourself. It also has a companion website at www.pearsoned.ca/lamarre that has a lot of supplemental resources. There are quizzes to test your knowledge, and a collection of web-links and a PowerPoint presentation to help you learn the material from each chapter. It also has a number of supplemental exercises in pdf format to complement the book. There are also plenty of samples and examples in the book for each lesson, resumes, cover letters, networking letters and more.

Written to cover a lot of topics in a brief space, the book is designed to be a tool used quickly and easily. It is not overloaded with too many examples, or too much theory. It presents information in each section and builds upon the knowledge from the previous chapters in a natural way. The book starts with sections on self-assessment and promotion, then moves on to the marking strategies and techniques. Then the major focus is on resumés, references and business communications. Finally, the book has a chapters dedicated to prepping for interviews, what to do and how to interview and what to do after the interview. It has tips and hints on all aspects of interviewing from what to wear to how to answer key questions.

Lamarre and McClughan write in a very fluid and accessible way. They present the information in a clear and concise manner. That, combined with the multitude of examples and brevity of the book, makes it a tool that packs a lot of punch into about a hundred and fifty pages. All in all it is a book that will help you no matter where you are in your career search - now as a student or even later when you are established and looking to transition jobs.

(First Published in Imprint as 'Imprint's Reading 2007-11-16.)