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A review by laurcoh
#ENTRYLEVELBOSS: How to Get Any Job You Want by Alexa Shoen
2.0
Shortly after starting #ENTRYLEVELBOSS: How to Get Any Job You Want, it became semi-apparent that this author started her company (#ENTRYLEVELBOSS) after only a couple of years in the working world and.... not having been at a single job for more than a year? Even a superstar wouldn't be ready to claim expertise that quickly. It gets worse when we find out she had never officially been a boss when she started the company. Is the title supposed to be theoretical? Also, the hashtag trend is not aging well.
Being a female millennial myself, I tried to think past this. Maybe she's got a cult following and totally stomps on the "old boys club" ways and is starting some kind of internet revolution! After all, she is advertised as "the internet’s leading confidant for panicking 20-something job seekers." LEADING! I checked out the company's social media. and. um. 2K followers on both Instagram and Twitter? I'm not a social media expert but isn't that... not a lot? Even in world of book sales, where we can expect some inflated brags, this is over the top.
Enough about the puzzling background. Let's talk about the book. She's a good writer and nicely-balanced humor to keep the topic interesting. I hire for my company and have obviously been hired, and everything here seemed reasonable. I nodded along. But, there wasn't anything within the pages that can't be found in a hundred other books or articles. Is there any harm in packaging these tips into a new volume every so often to keep things fresh and keep something on the shelves to gift to new grads or a friend who's been struggling to look for work? Definitely not. The issue goes back to her background. It sounds like this author is an outgoing, people-savvy person who has a natural skill for working a resume and scoring an interview. Her friends are surely lucky to have her. However, the focus is pretty narrow on certain professions and professional atmospheres. If she were qualified to advise job-seekers, then this book would be far more comprehensive. But bouncing between a few impressive jobs over a few years does not an expert make. Passion is not credibility.
Side note: I listened to the audiobook and I must say that the author has the best narration voice I've ever heard on an audiobook, and according to GR I've listened to over 200. She mentioned she's a professional (or former professional) jazz singer and it shows. She's a talented vocalist. So, if you want to read this I recommend the audio.
In the end, the issue is less the contents of this book, but rather how it is advertised. I don't think it's far-fetched that consumers should be able to assume certain qualifications behind books like these, and it feels dishonest. She touches upon impostor syndrome and how she more-or-less subscribes to the "fake it 'til you make it" philosophy. Which can be worthy advice, if it didn't feel SO phony. If this were marketed as coming from a non-expert, sharing what she learned as an everyday motivated employee, that could have been something. Instead the shadiness overtakes the message.
Being a female millennial myself, I tried to think past this. Maybe she's got a cult following and totally stomps on the "old boys club" ways and is starting some kind of internet revolution! After all, she is advertised as "the internet’s leading confidant for panicking 20-something job seekers." LEADING! I checked out the company's social media. and. um. 2K followers on both Instagram and Twitter? I'm not a social media expert but isn't that... not a lot? Even in world of book sales, where we can expect some inflated brags, this is over the top.
Enough about the puzzling background. Let's talk about the book. She's a good writer and nicely-balanced humor to keep the topic interesting. I hire for my company and have obviously been hired, and everything here seemed reasonable. I nodded along. But, there wasn't anything within the pages that can't be found in a hundred other books or articles. Is there any harm in packaging these tips into a new volume every so often to keep things fresh and keep something on the shelves to gift to new grads or a friend who's been struggling to look for work? Definitely not. The issue goes back to her background. It sounds like this author is an outgoing, people-savvy person who has a natural skill for working a resume and scoring an interview. Her friends are surely lucky to have her. However, the focus is pretty narrow on certain professions and professional atmospheres. If she were qualified to advise job-seekers, then this book would be far more comprehensive. But bouncing between a few impressive jobs over a few years does not an expert make. Passion is not credibility.
Side note: I listened to the audiobook and I must say that the author has the best narration voice I've ever heard on an audiobook, and according to GR I've listened to over 200. She mentioned she's a professional (or former professional) jazz singer and it shows. She's a talented vocalist. So, if you want to read this I recommend the audio.
In the end, the issue is less the contents of this book, but rather how it is advertised. I don't think it's far-fetched that consumers should be able to assume certain qualifications behind books like these, and it feels dishonest. She touches upon impostor syndrome and how she more-or-less subscribes to the "fake it 'til you make it" philosophy. Which can be worthy advice, if it didn't feel SO phony. If this were marketed as coming from a non-expert, sharing what she learned as an everyday motivated employee, that could have been something. Instead the shadiness overtakes the message.