Regardless of your reasons, let’s agree upon one clear and indisputable point from the beginning of your search. The skills you possess and experience gained thus far in your career comprise a unique product. They can be marketed. Any prospective employer will “buy” this product (YOU), depending upon situational timing, his/her needs and your presentation.

Therefore, like any other product, your skills must be packaged and sold. Competition is stiff. So, like the hundreds of similar “products” out there, not only must you be seen to be better, but so much so that they want to pay more to get you. The main reason you purchased this book is to learn about more effective methods of marketing a unique product - YOU.

A job search is a difficult and grueling task. To be successful, you must make a commitment to yourself that, for the duration of this effort, most of your time will be spent to this end. You must act deliberately, steadily, ceaselessly and, at times, swiftly. Under no circumstances are you to sit still. You must be tough, disciplined and persistent. Nothing less is acceptable.

You will also experience a wide range of emotions, at times becoming frustrated and angry and, on other occasions, elated and joyful. At no time must you allow yourself to see a half-empty glass or become depressed. If you do the former, you will position yourself as a loser. If you do the latter, you are not doing enough in your campaign to accomplish your goals.

The purpose of this book isn’t a lengthy, strategic diatribe written to teach you how to build an automobile. It is written as a tactical action plan, the purpose of which is to provide sufficient information to teach you how to start the car, guide you where you want to go, negotiate traffic, avoid accidents and wind up where you dreamed you’d be in the first place.

Remember the following rules: Don’t lose the keys, get scared and slam on the brakes, ignore the other drivers, run out of gas or forget where you are going.

You bought this book hoping to learn how to quickly secure the job and money you want. In today’s marketplace, by the time you read all the career books and spend untold hours gleaning the best from them, someone else already has the job you were thinking about applying for anyway. This book is tactical and geared to getting you where you want to go as quickly as you and the market will allow.

This is also a highly directive book. I don’t spend much time explaining the “why” of each task. Instead, I try to spend our time together focusing on what to do, how to do it right and when to do it. But I promise you this. If you follow my instructions, complete all exercises, and campaign like there is no tomorrow, you may very likely cut your search time by as much as 40%, increase your package up to 35%, stand a good chance of achieving a more pleasant working situation, develop a more rewarding career path and construct a better financial future for yourself.

After you have secured the job you want and the money you deserve, you can afford the luxury of relaxing and reading why you blindly followed my instructions.