Excuse Me, Your Job Is Waiting: Attract the Work You Want
Laura George
(7/10)

A few days ago, I finished reading Excuse Me, Your Job Is Waiting, by Laura George. This book follows in the footsteps of another, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting. The premise of both books is the “law of attraction,” which is generally interpreted in popular culture as the idea that events are influenced by the attitude of those involved. Positive thinking helps encourage positive outcomes.

Of course, none of this is scientifically proven, at least not within this book. However, there are enough anecdotal testimonies to convince people the concept is “true.” In this convincing, positive outcomes can be attributed to positive thinking and negative outcomes can be negative thinking.

I’m convinced, for the most part. Whether positive thinking actually influences outcomes in a cause-effect relationship, I’m not entirely sure. Positive thinking certainly makes one feel better, and this attitude can be picked up by others involved in active communication, and can be perceived as a connection, making everyone feel better about the relationship. If you’re on a job interview, this is a good thing.

The book goes much farther with this idea.

Laura George focuses on the act of finding a job and the way positive thinking can increase your chances of being successful. Even the act of sending out résumés can deliver different results depending on the mindset the job searcher has.

Despite the airiness of the concept of the “law of attraction,” Laura’s writing is down to earth and connects to the casual reader, who is perhaps becoming increasingly frustrated in her or his job hunt. While this individual is the primary target audience, this book is good for anyone who is not happy and searching for a possible reason happiness continues to be elusive.

The author sees the problem money and the feelings money evokes have on your success.

If you only work for money—and you don’t have a healthy relationship with money—you are working for a negative feeling. Many people who only work for money don’t work long. They get easily bored with a job and move on to some other job. Sometimes they get fired. Sometimes they simply walk away from their jobs. People who work for money attract flawed jobs—jobs that they want to leave as soon as their coffers are filled. So if your energy about money is all over the place, it’s no wonder that a job hasn’t fallen into your world.

I take this to mean that if your attitude about money involves jealousy (of those who have or display more) or financial insatiability, you will always attract jobs that satisfy the wrong part of the mind. Later on, Laura admits that people work for money, and even the most positive thinker would be looking for another job if their paycheck disappeared. The author provides some important tips for dealing with financial issues of a job at the right time—when you’re searching for work, not after you’ve been on the job.

Excuse Me, Your Job is Waiting, in addition to the touchy-feely concepts, is stuffed with great, practical ideas for landing the job you really want. Laura George has extensive experience as a human resources manager and consultant, as well as just as much practice being on the other side of the HR desk as a job seeker.

As frequent readers of Consumerism Commentary might expect, I have three copies of this book to give away to lucky readers, one of which is the copy I read for this review. (The cover is slightly creased and some pages have corners bent as bookmarks.) I’ll announce the “contest” to win a copy some time in the next few days, so check back soon.