Book Reviews

Career Fitness:
How to Find, Win and Keep the Job You Want in the 1990s

By Peter D. Weddle

Reviewed by Steve Buchwald, CIRM

Peter Weddle is Chairman and CEO of Job Bank USA, Inc., one of the country's largest recruiting operations. Mr. Weddle, who created Job Bank USA, and who has been widely published on work-force issues, including a novel, a book on computer based instruction and numerous articles, has applied his expertise to this helpful "how to" guide for plotting your career course.

Why? Because job security in the '90s is not the same as it was in the past. Companies are redesigning work processes and are moving toward leaner profiles and flatter organizations. In fact, Fortune 500 companies have eliminated some 4.3 million jobs since 1980! That's almost 1000 jobs a day. These reductions have touched every level of the corporation. The impact has been felt everywhere but perhaps most in the middle. One third of all management positions have been lost forever. Look around, how many people do you know that have had to change jobs recently. I will admit that things are better now than they were a few years ago. However, the fact remains that the employment scene is changing. To protect ourselves and our families, to find and keep the job we want, we're going to have to learn how to build Career Fitness.

Is your career fit? Or are you like the 88 percent of all workers a recent survey revealed, daydream about quitting their job "to become a success a something totally different." That is why this book was written. It is a "how to" guide for career fitness. Career fitness tells you how to get your career in shape by introducing you to a workout composed of exercises you can complete every day to build a healthy and satisfying work life. Career fitness will, as the title says, help you to find, win, and keep the job you want in the 1990s. The book begins with a career fitness evaluation consisting of 15 questions that will tell you what kind of shape your career is in and the contribution a career fitness program can make to your on-going career health.
This book is a great book and has compiled information from a host of well-known sources, as well as a long reference list of selected readings.

Good reading!