By M Creagan
Harper Collins Publishers Australia, 2005
$29.85
This popular book has sold over 15,000 copies since its publication in 1996 and has been updated and reprinted three times. It is a practical guide to job hunting and career planning in the Australian job market. Creagan has packed the four sections with tips on how to identify your strengths, aspirations and goals and ways to find and secure a perfect job. Surfing your horizons starts with establishing your horizons (goals, skills and career path) and includes helpful worksheets, exercises and checklists.
In addition the author explains how to improve your telephone technique, sell yourself and maintain your enthusiasm while job hunting. There are also chapters dedicated to getting it right in an interview, dressing to impress, using body language to say what you want and understanding the characteristics employers are looking for. In fact there is a good definition section on these commonly used words in job advertisements.
Unfortunately Surfing your horizons is busy and badly set out in sections but there’s a lot of great, albeit common, information to be found. The appendices, which include looking for a job in the government sector, rehabilitating programs for people with disabilities, comment on Australia’s labour market and careers information are particularly valuable.