Author: Ron Fry
Publisher: Career Press – 208 pages
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram
You’ve often read that to be good at anything these days, you need practice. I say that that is an understatement. To be good at something, you need practice, practice, and even more practice.
The other thing that is important if you want to be good at something – in this instance be a good interviewee and get hired – is to have someone test you whether you can pass the interview and get hired. That someone interviewing you should be a professional interviewer. How you find such an interviewer, I leave that up to you. Use your creativity – you need that in almost any job these days, within exceptions.
While I do not know and have not read anything about Ron Fry, the author of this bestselling book, I can give you two solid reasons why he is successful in what he essentially does – write and publish books. He has written 40+ books.
First, this book – 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions – is not only a bestseller, it is a very high-ranking bestseller, ranking 80,285 today, May 23rd, 2017.
Considering that I have personally seen books rank as low as 20 million (and perhaps there are books on Amazon that are even lower than that, but I have not seen one yet), a rank of one million is like being in the top five percent of all book sold on Amazon.
So, a book with a rank of 100,000 or higher is one that is in the top one-half of one percent, with 99.5 percent others – 19.9 million books – being in lower rank than this book I am reviewing. It is truly an amazing feat to write a book that reaches such a loft ranking.
Second, starting and running a successful business for 30 years is no easy task. Ron Fry is founder and president of Career Press. But let’s get to the book – why is this one of the best on preparing for a job interview? Here are my reasons:
- This book is about the toughest questions you will be asked, not just easy ones, such as ‘what was your greatest accomplishment, for which you received a medal?’
- I have not come across any job-interview book that begins with a confidence-boosting yet realistic Introduction entitled “You Are in Charge.”
- Most jobseekers are not prepared to sell themselves to the interviewer, such as discuss how they are uniquely qualified for the position offered. This book gives them, in chapter 2 – Who Are You? – an opportunity to prepare to differentiate themselves from other interviewees.
- Many interviewers, after going through a dozen or so prospects, cannot easily recall which of the candidates stood out from the others. Chapter 6 – Questions about Core Competencies, which lists various projects and tasks in which you succeeded or failed – enables the interviewee to jot down and speak about his noteworthy accomplishments and capabilities.
This is a uniquely excellent guide for jobseekers in today’s competitive work environment. It will enable candidates seeking employment to prepare themselves for the tough questions that they will be asked in interviews, write out great answers, rehearse, and become confident that they will get the position they are seeking.
Ron Fry is a nationally-known proponent for the improvement of public education and an advocate for parents and students, playing an active role in strengthening personal education programs. He has written more than 40 books, including 101 Questions to Ask On Your Interview and the bestselling How To Study program.
The founder and president of the now 30-year-old Career Press, he has been an acknowledged authority, frequent speaker, and popular seminar leader on a variety of job-search topics at schools and associations nationwide, including Harvard University and the Center for Communication.
