Picture this. It’s your first day at a new internship or a new job. You walk in with smile on your face, a head full of possibilities and a heart full of opportunity. However, your first day didn’t exactly go as planned. This adorable guy flirts/distracts you the entire day (we’ll call him Cute Office Boy), your boss’s personality reminds of you a mixture between Meryl’s Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada and Donald Trump.
You end up having one too many LITs at happy hour and ended up spending the night at Cute Office Boy’s apartment …. and now, your perfect first day of work outfit has turned into a wrinkled second day of work outfit.
Luckily, your life or job isn’t over. At least not yet. And although I may not have the answers to your not-so-great start to your new career (sorry), the authors of Don’t Hook Up with the Dude in the Next Cube do. Thank God someone can you give you advice because let’s face it, you’re screwed.
This book has all the answers. Someone finally wrote a book with career advice for 20-somethings that worries less about becoming the next CEO and more about how to handle your first job right now. Don’t Hook Up with the Dude in the Next Cube details everything about how to do personal branding, have great interviews, how to handle the first few weeks on a new job, and how to stay in touch after you’ve quit…and so much more. The book also has more than 205 specific pieces of advice about everything career-related.
As a slight career-networking freak myself, I would 150 percent recommend this book. There are so many tricky work situations that I didn’t even realize could happen. Thanks to Don’t Hook Up with the Dude in the Next Cube I’m officially prepared. Mean girls? The book considers this problem more of an epidemic, but does an amazing job of explaining why it may happen and how you can handle these situations. The best piece of advice? “Don’t get caught up in any gossiping or backstabbing,” piece of advice #137 states. On a budget? The book gives advice on how to make a budget and how to decide what to purchase if you are feeling the need to splurge. This book has everything! After reading it you won’t have any questions about how to handle those tricky first-job and 20-something situations.
Here are some of my personal favorite pieces of advice straight from the book itself:
16. Once you’ve found that mentor, hold onto her for dear life and nurture the relationship. Set up monthly calls or meeting and reach out to her for advice and help in making the right decisions along the way.
26. Don’t incorporate “text speak” into your online communication … unless you’re in middle school, or you’re using Twitter (which has a character limit). Avoid slang or unnecessary abbreviations.
63. Strike “squishy” words from your communications (e.g., use “I believe” or “I think,” not “I feel”).
132. Do not allow yourself to get caught up in any gossiping or backstabbing …
167. Skip that morning latte. Make coffee at home and bring it to work in a reusable coffee mug. There’s four dollars or more right back in your pocket!
Sources:
Don’t Hook Up With the Dude in the Next Cube (photo): barnesandnoble.com; http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/137110000/137113369.JPG
Gossiping co-workers (photo): http://chatter-fest.com/effects-workplace-gossip-your-business/
Authors of the book (photo): http://www.2booms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/booktheboomers.jpg