The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster Paperback – March 6, 2012

Fantastic guide. Useful for all job-seekers, but a must read for incoming MBA students!!! Very practical and clear.Remember it's a whole system and follow it once exactly. Trust the system! Make sure you understand how all the parts work together before making changes. Also, do the whole process again if you have significant changes (or even if you want to pursue two industries at once!). It goes much faster the second time. For incoming MBA students that don't know where they want to go, I recommend doing it for every industry you think you might be interested in. Do the LAMP process early and you will have a good grasp of unfamiliar industries & companies.NEGATIVES: Two small down-sides.First, the book is already getting out-dated as technology changes. I was easily able to adapt it, but maybe in 5 years they need a new, updated release.Second, I found the process mostly led me to the big names in my industry. I'm not sure if that's true for everyone, it may be a result of me switching industries and just beginning to learn about a new industry. My recommendation below may help with that a little bit. Otherwise, if you don't just want a list of the biggest names, think about how you can keep a narrow focus.RECOMMENDATION: The rest of this review is a long description of how to tweak the system. This will make more sense AFTER you complete the whole LAMP process, including the sorting.In the first few chapters, he talks about the LAMP list. It works, but might need some tweaks. The "M" stand for motivation and is a 5-min process where you simply identify how motivated you feel about working for that company. I totally understand the theory behind it, but have found that some people need more of a break down for the "M", especially if you don't know much about the companies. It can help to make a few columns that break down your motivation into different categories. These should be VERY EASY to find (like glassdoor / wikipedia first page - you don't want to take more than 10 -15 minutes per extra category). Pick 2-3 categories that are important to you, then sort as you prefer (maybe name recognition (N) first, then location(L)) and then assign a single motivation score to each company. I recommend using the 2 categories to come up with ONE motivation score that you then put into the original LAMP list. If you add these two columns into the LAMP, for example making it LA(NL)P... you might get your sorting dominated by the two new motivation components.Here are some ideas:♦ Location of headquarters: 3=favorite cities, 2=could live there a few years, 1=don't want to live there♦ Size (decide what size you want): 3=best size (1,000+ employees or 10-50 person start up), 2= next nearest size, etc♦ Name recognition: 3=Top name in your industry, 2=big name, 1= hey, at least they're in the right industry♦ Glassdoor score (a proxy for corporate culture - don't read the reviews, keep focused! Don't include companies with less than a certain number of reviews (ie 3 reviews that give a 3 star average isn't helpful): 4=4-5 star reviews, 3=3-4 star review, 2=2-3 star review, 1= NOT ENOUGH REVIEWS (re-evaluate those separately)♦ Work-life balance: This one is hard to research quickly, but glassdoor reviews often focus on it. Maybe a simple Y/N based ont he first page of glassdoor reviews would be sufficient. If a company has terrible balance, that should show up. Good balance might also show up. But many companies might be unclear (some ppl say yes, some say no) - in that case, maybe try for a 3=good, 2=unclear, 1=bad system.♦ Culture: Similar to work-life balance, this is a simple check. See if company makes Best Place to Work lists. Just google "best *industry* companies to work for (best tech companies to work for, best consulting firms to work for, etc). Pick three lists from reputable sources (Forbes, Business Insider, etc) that will cover at least 100 companies. For example, don't pick three lists of 10 best, which is only 30 total, but try a 100 best, 30 best, and 25 best for 155 total. Obviously many companies will overlap. Then make a column and simply write Y/N if the company appears on any of your lists.♦ Bad example: Benefits package - Don't choose something like this that would take too much research per company.The point of all of this is to see which companies you are more motivated to pursue. Think about what you really want in a company and a very quick way to check if companies have it. For me, location was a big factor in motivation, and taking 15-mins to look up location really changed my priorities. For example, a company with a pretty solid reputation that I thought I was interested in was in Milwaukee. They suddenly dropped from a 5 to a 3 in motivation, essentially falling off my list because I have NO interest in moving to Milwuakee (nothing against it, just not for me!).Hopefully all of this helps. If it's not clear, do the full LAMP first and then use this to make nuanced adjustments. I'm happy to clarify / explain if needed. Good luck to all the job searchers!

Like most people who have conducted a modern job search, I am VERY skeptical of job search books and career advice books of all kinds. Sadly, it seems like most of these books are conventional wisdom from decades ago recycled over and over again just with different covers. I say sadly because people who are eager to work and who are often desperately seeking to make ends meet lose valuable time and money following worthless strategies.Having read a lot of these books, I can tell you that Steve Dalton's book is a beautiful exception. I graduate from a top ten business school so I have had exposure to all the career advice you could ever want and then some. As I said, very little of it is knew or of value. I can guarantee you that regardless of age or experience, you are going to learn a lot by reading this book and you are going to save time in the process. You will not only learn new, modern techniques, you will do a better job search faster.The 2 hour claim is a bit of a stretch. But let's face it, even if it were 24 hours it would still be a bargain.The biggest benefit I have found in the book, beyond learning new techniques and developing new resources, is that it really provides you with an eay and efficient process for structuring a job search. In this age of mass information at the few clicks of a mouse, it is too easy to get distracted by job advetisements etc that are nothing more than giant time suckers.Mr. Dalton is a smart man and a deep thinker. He has clearly put his skills to work in breaking down the modern job search and exposing the weak points through which a job researcher can get in and get the job. Contrary to what you might think, information technology does not make job searching easier. It makes it much harder - unless you know how to turn IT to your advantage. This book will teach you how.

Very good book in that instead of vague advice about how to approach the job search, it provides specific methods with logic to back it up. I have been using it successfully in my job search. That being said, it is designed more so for college and MBA graduates than for someone (like me) that has been out of school for many years. Much of the logic and methodology still applies, though. Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone on the hunt.On top of that, it was surprisingly NOT dull. Very easy read and pretty funny in spots, too.

UPDATE: I wanted to update my review, since using Steve's method helped me not only land a fantastic new job but also in a different industry (which is a really tough transition)!! I'm proof that the book's strategy works, and will continue to apply his methods in the future when I need to! See below for my more detailed thoughts on the book previous to landing a job:I was really scattered in my job search, and while I thought I was making some headway by doing things that felt productive, I wasn't gaining any traction. Frustrated, a friend suggested I check out this book and it was a complete game changer!Steve breaks down the job search in a strategic but easy to digest manner, so that you can not only cut down on the time it takes to do your job search, but overall craft a more targeted job search. His anticipation of how one acts during the job search is uncanny, which is very helpful when navigating through this process. In this way he points out things he knows you'll be inclined to do, and then is able to argue why you should not do them. Most importantly the books still holds up from its publication, I read it this year (2015) and found the knowledge in todays ever changing tech space still extremely helpful. I think that's because he teaches you techniques to be applied in your overall approach to the job search, so that as the job search market changes these tools still work effectively. I can't recommend this read enough for people struggling with their job search!!

This book was recommended by my business school career placement service to teach us how to network. It made a difference for me and most importantly, my wife. As we immigrated to Canada, we learned that the job search culture is different in North America. After I read it, I asked her give it a try and read it. Her field a regulated profession, architecture, is very difficult to enter. It's 99% hidden market and good luck if you stick to applying online.Steve Dalton's book is straight to the point, no clutter, no blabla, no BS. It's a structured plan to understand & execute right away. With practice, one overcomes the fear of rejection and is a step closer to getting that dream job!We highly recommend it, as it helped both of us. I learnt there's a 2nd edition just released, we'll probably get it too.

C'est un must-have pour tout chercheur d'emploi! Les techniques sont très bien expliquées et l'approche didactique et presque pédagogique est juste extraordinaire. Les idées peuvent même être déclinées à d'autres domaines de la vie courante.

Easy to read, real experiences and summary at the end. I just need to try it and see if it works.

I can't think of a stronger endorsement than to say this book worked for me. In less than three months, I landed a job that met my goals and suits my talents.After taking more than a year off, from an industry that has shrunk dramatically in the last several years, my search wasn't going to be easy. Plus, like many people, I don't really enjoy job hunting - I'd find just about any excuse to avoid it. As he admits, the "2-Hour" hook is the set-up time to lay the groundwork - following the process through to finding a job will take significantly more time than that. Still, Dalton's framework cut a lot of the fat, hesitation, and excuses out of the process. He guides us to focus on the avenues that are most likely to yield results with minimum frustration. Yes, some people get jobs sending online applications to Fortune 500 companies. Some people win the lottery every week as well. But practically speaking, it's a demoralizing waste of time.The framework takes a lot of the thinking out of the job-searching process as well, by trying to automate as much as possible. But not all of the thinking: I still needed to adapt certain things to my specific situation and industry. For example - requesting a generic "informational interview" is well and good for a recent graduate, but not for someone with experience who is supposed to be an expert in their field.Finally, I discovered two important things once I really got with the "2-Hour" approach: first, like most things, interviewing is a skill that improves with practice. Second, there are lots of friendly, helpful people out there who are happy to share valuable advice in an informal conversation.

The best hook is the title of the book itself but the processes that the author says takes much longer and are a rehash of other better written books. The books seems a bit dated as technology has moved on from the time it was written. Most importantly, this book is suitable for business school students. A person looking for an unskilled or semi skilled job with average pay will find most of the advice to be rather tedious and ill founded.