Landing your first job and entering the workforce can be overwhelming.
Chances are, your college didn’t offer classes on how to negotiate your salary, deal with a micromanaging boss, or confront annoying coworkers.
But there’s still something you can do to prepare yourself for the tricky world of work: read.
Here are 12 books we think every young professional should read before starting their first job:
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‘What Color is Your Parachute?’ by Richard N. Bolles
If you’re only going to read one book on the list, you may want to choose this one. Why? It covers a little about everything.
Bolles writes in the first chapter, “In today’s world, he or she who gets hired is not necessarily the one who can do that job best; but, the one who knows the most about how to get hired.”
The first half of the book talks about how to create an eye-catching résumé and cover letter, as well as how to improve your networking, interviewing, and negotiating skills — while the second half focuses on how to find your ideal career.
‘Never Eat Alone’ by Keith Ferrazzi
“Never Eat Alone” is about using relationships to reach success. In other words, it’s about who you know, not what you know.
Ferrazzi, a master networker, talks about how he used connections to get into Yale for his undergraduate degree, Harvard for his MBA, and later, to land a number of top executive positions.
Based on his experiences and additional research, Ferrazzi claims that networking is the difference between average and super successful people. To help others achieve their dream life, he lays out his exact steps for reaching out to people in his network, as well as networking tips from the most well-connected individuals in the modern business and political world.
These tips have helped him connect with Washington power players and Hollywood A-listers, so they should definitely be able to help you.
‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’ by Robert B. Cialdini
This book will teach you how to make people say “yes.”
No matter what field you’re in, you need to know how to get others to agree with you and help you out.
Cialdini explains the science behind doing just that based on his 35 years of research, as well as his three-year study on what makes people change their behavior.
Not only does this book teach you how to become a powerful negotiator, it also teaches you how to resist one.
