Book Review: Job Reconnaissance by Josh More

Having been on both sides of the interview table multiple times, I was interested in knowing what the book Job Reconnaissance; Using Hacking Skills to Win the Job Hunt Game by Josh More had to offer when it became available through the O'Reilly Blogger Review Program. It has useful tips and career advice but also suggestions that I found bizarre, dishonest and impractical.

One of the important themes of the book is how to put yourself in a favorable position for a job through the power of prior knowledge. While revealing some tricks to use to research potential companies and people, the author admits that some of the advice in this book can be interpreted as manipulative or mean. Different forms of the word "ethical" appear over 15 times and the author cautions: "The techniques comprising the remainder of the book focus on legal and ethical ways to use these tools. However, it is entirely possible for you to use these tools improperly. The burden is upon you to understand, before you start, what they do and how they could be misused."

Some tips aren't just unethical, they are also deceitful, like this one - "put a spin on any hobbies you have, so that they apply at least somewhat peripherally to your industry. The more you can look like an interesting and well-rounded person, the more you'll stand out from the crowd".

I found the suggestion to match the fonts and color used in a resume to be something in the same font family and a similar color scheme as the website of a potential employer, totally weird. He even goes onto to say - "find a light color used on the website and see if you can find paper of a similar hue for printing on"

This book mainly targets job seekers in the IT industry. The author encourages the reader to "exhaustively research people and organizations, discover their metaphors, and adjust your résumé, cover letter, and additional documents to meet their needs". He references several websites and online services that require at least a basic technical background to follow. According to him, the book is written primarily for introverts.

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