From B.A. to Payday

As college graduates soon find out, the real world is tough. Sure, it was hard getting into the right school. But landing a good job is a lot harder. The number of new college grads now outnumbers available entry-level jobs by at least 25 percent. But that figure—sobering as it is—is deceptive, given that only a fraction of those jobs are career-worthy.

So how do you succeed in a marketplace that's stacked against you? According to professional career counselors D. A. Hayden and Michael Wilder, you've got to approach the hunt for employment as if it were a marketing campaign. In other words, you've got to make yourself a brand—by creating a clear "story" for yourself, understanding your target audience, and developing an effective communications plan to deliver your message.

You've also got to avoid the pitfalls. Hayden and Wilder identify four personality traits that can doom first-time job seekers to failure. Then, through a trademark method they call Candidate Illumination, the authors prescribe cures for those "pathologies" and present savvy strategies for every step of the job-search process—from finding your focus, to composing a winning resume, to acing the interview. (Note to parents: This book may be the best gift you could give your graduating son or daughter.)