Job Search Starter Kit

Looking to change jobs? We’ve got you covered with materials, resources and programming from Plano Public Library.

Plano Public Library offers everything you need to learn a new skill, develop a new hobby, and pursue a new career. This month’s Starter Kit highlights some of the many tools we offer to help you conduct a job search and prepare for interviews.

Upcoming Events

Join us for upcoming events that may aid you in you job search.

Reference Solutions (Adult)

Learn to use Reference Solutions to start a business, conduct market research and find marketing prospects

This program will be held at Haggard Library on Tuesday, December 13 at 7pm.

SNAP Organizing Your Thoughts to Express Yourself (Teens and Adults)

SNAP programs are sensory-friendly and targeted toward the needs of neurodivergent children, teens, adults and their families/caregivers. Neurodivergent includes autism spectrum disorder, ADD/ADHD, Tourette’s and other developmental and learning disabilities.

Join us in a sensory-friendly environment to practice organizing your thoughts in order to best express yourself. Learn the basics of public speaking, and then practice writing and presenting a short speech.

Parr Library on Thursdays at 6:30pm: Dec 1 | Dec 8 | Dec 15 | Dec 22

Books

Adult

Amplify Your Job Search: Strategies for Finding Your Dream Job by Jeffrey S. Ton: Whether you’re currently in transition and seeking employment or you are currently working and have decided it is time for a new challenge, this book delves into the strategies of success for landing your most sought-after role. | Print |

Get Hired Now! How to Accelerate Your Job Search, Stand Out, and Land Your Next Great Opportunity by Ian Siegel: Accelerate your job search, stand out, and land your next great opportunity. In Get Hired Now!, ZipRecruiter founder and CEO Ian Siegel tells you exactly how to find a new job fast. With an insider’s view of how over a million employers really make hires, Ian pulls insights from the data to give you step-by-step instructions for writing a resume that works, finding the right jobs to apply to, acing a job interview, and negotiating a job offer. Debunk the conventional wisdom. Break the unconscious habits that are sabotaging your success. Get hired in record time. | Print |

What Color is Your Parachute? Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success by Richard Nelson Bolles: In today’s challenging job-market, as recent grads face a shifting economic landscape and seek work that pays and inspires, as workers are laid off mid-career, and as people search for an inspiring work-life change, the time-tested advice of What Color Is Your Parachute? is needed more than ever. This completely updated edition features the latest resources, strategies, and perspectives on today’s job market, revealing surprising advice on what works–and what doesn’t–so you can focus your efforts on tactics that yield results. | eBook | Print |

The Big Book of Job-Hunting Hacks: How to Build a Resume, Conquer the Interview, and Land Your Dream Job by Brenda Bernstein: In The Big Book of Job-Hunting Hacks, experienced job-hunting professionals offer detailed advice on every step of the job-hunting process. From how to navigate the interview process, to how to create the perfect resume, this book will help you stand out from your competitors. With a new introduction by John Henry Weiss, president of a recruitment firm, that contextualizes the current economic state as a result of COVID-19, this book offers hundreds of practical tips for those laid-off, fired, or new to enter the workplace. | Print |

Junior and Young Adult

Careers: The Graphic Guide to Finding the Perfect Job for You by Sarah Pawlewski: A compendium of career profiles provides information on more than four hundred job options, featuring tables, charts, and quotations that reveal typical salaries, working hours, and training requirements. | Print |

What Do Grown-Ups Do All Day? by Virginie Morgand: Explore fourteen diverse workplaces, then turn the page to find out what each grown-up does there. Features more than 100 jobs. | Print |

When I Grow Up: A Young Person’s Guide to Interesting & Unusual Occupations by Jessica Loy: Fourteen unusual careers are highlighted, with inspiring and intriguing facts behind the people and their vocations. | Print |

I Like Helping People… What Jobs are There? by Amanda Learmonth: Turn the pages to follow a day-in-the-life of 25 people whose jobs involve helping others. You’ll discover what a firefighter does all day, how to become a medical research scientist, what it takes to be a social worker, and much, much more. From delivering mail to driving ambulances, and from fighting crime to making new laws, this fun, fact-packed book reveals a world of opportunities. | Print |

Online Materials

Plano Public Library Program Recordings

Job Seekers’ Toolkit – From finding the right opportunity to crafting your resume, job searching can be complicated. Learn how to break down the steps of your job search and find tools to get started with these four virtual sessions.

Exploring Careers series – Explore a variety of opportunities in various career paths with information from professionals in those fields.

LinkedIn Learning

Become a Successful Job Hunter [LinkedIn Learning Path] – Maximize your job search efforts with expert advice from career coaches and business professionals. Whether you’re a college graduate or student looking ahead, learn how to craft a career plan, write a resume, search for a job, and nail the interview. You’ll also get a primer for professional life with courses on business acumen and how to start your job off right.

Mastering Common Interview Questions – Preparing for an interview can be daunting. Learn how to master the top 10 most common interview questions you’ll encounter when looking for a new job. The tips provided in this course will help you craft authentic answers that showcase your experience and your enthusiasm for an organization. For each question, career coach Valerie Sutton explains why the interviewer is asking it and then provides you with the best response. She also provides advice for tailoring your answer to entry-level or midcareer roles. In each chapter, we provide role-playing scenarios to illustrate the questions—and answers—in action.

How to Confidently Negotiate Your Salary – Learn how to confidently negotiate your salary and ask for what you are worth. In this course, adapted from the American Negotiation Institute podcast Negotiate Anything, Kwame Christian joins Meggie Palmer to discuss the topic of salary negotiation. Learn how to gain confidence through preparation, recognize your value, negotiate in the job you have now, and take the time you need when you’re considering an offer from a new company. These tips will help you get the salary and benefits package you deserve—no matter your position.

Other Online Resources

Vocations & Careers [Gale One File] – Research a vocation, find an appropriate institution of learning, and get assistance on job searches and maintaining a career

Tutor.com – Live online tutoring from real tutors, every day from 2pm to 11pm. Adult tutoring includes career coaching, ESL and citizenship test help

Learning Express Library – Online practice tests, plus other occupations/subjects, college prep, software tutorials, and more excellent learning tools; see Career Center Plus

We hope this resource list is beneficial to your personal and professional goals. View other Starter Kit blog posts to explore more ways to enrich your life. You can find all of this and more at your local Plano Public Library