New Books at PEOSTA

Description: This is your playbook for learning if a career as a carpenter is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master mason, and launching your own small business. Learn: What does a career as a carpenter look like? Why should you consider becoming a carpenter? How do you become a successful craftsman as a carpenter? How much can you make as a carpenter? What are your career options once you become a carpenter? How long does it take to be successful at each stage in a carpenter’s career? How and where do you find work as a carpenter? What does it take to strike out on your own? What does it take to launch and build a successful small business? (publ.)
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Description: This is your playbook for learning if a career as a mason is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master mason, and launching your own small business. Learn: What does a career as a mason look like? Why should you consider becoming a mason? How do you be-come a successful craftsman as a mason? How much can you make as a mason? What are your career options once you become a mason? How long does it take to be successful at each stage in a mason’s career? How and where do you find work as a mason? What does it take to strike out on your own? What does it take to launch and build a successful small business? (publ.)
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Description: A step-by-step guide to succeeding in the skilled trades and achieving the American dream. This is your playbook for learning if a career as an electrician is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master electrician, and launching your own small business. Learn: What does a career as an electrician look like? Why should you consider becoming an electrician? How do you become a successful craftsman as an electrician? How much can you make as an electrician? What are your career options once you become an electrician? How long does it take to be successful at each stage in an electrician’s career? How and where do you find work as an electrician? What does it take to strike out on your own? What does it take to launch and build a successful small business? (publ.)
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Description: A step-by-step handbook to finding if a career in the trades is right for you, educating yourself and earning the proper certifications, establishing your-self as an excellent apprentice and journeyman in the industry, and moving on to start your own small business in the trades. At each step of the way, provide the information, recommendations, outside resources, and concrete actions needed for taking the next successful step in You, Inc. Whether you are beginning your first career, changing careers, or ready to move up and start your own business as a carpenter, plumber, HVAC/R tech, or other tradesman, this is the book that will tell you how. There currently over 6.5 million unfilled jobs in the skilled trades in the US. Despite being well-paying and secure, these jobs remain open because enough qualified candidates with the
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Description: This is your playbook for learning if a career as a painter is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master painter, and launching your own small business. Learn: What does a career as a paint-er look like? Why should you consider becoming a painter? How do you become a successful craftsman as a painter? How much can you make as a painter? What are your career options once you become a painter? How long does it take to be successful at each stage in a painter’s career? How and where do you find work as a painter? What does it take to strike out on your own? What does it take to launch and build a successful small business? (publ.)
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Reviewed: A step-by-step guide to succeeding in the skilled trades and achieving the American dream. This is your playbook for learning if a career as a plumber is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master plumber, and launching your own small business. Learn: What does a career as a plumber look like? Why should you consider becoming a plumber? How do you become a successful craftsman as a plumber? How much can you make as a plumber? What are your career options once you become a plumber? How long does it take to be successful at each stage in a plumber’s career? How and where do you find work as a plumber? What does it take to strike out on your own? What does it take to launch and build a successful small business? (publ.)
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Description: This is your playbook for learning if a career as a welder is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master welder, and launching your own small business. Learn: What does a career as a weld-er look like? Why should you consider becoming a welder? How do you become a successful craftsman as a welder? How much can you make as a welder? What are your career options once you become a welder? How long does it take to be successful at each stage in a welder’s career? How and where do you find work as a welder? What does it take to strike out on your own? What does it take to launch and build a successful small business? (publ.)
Note: Publisher companion series website at https://www.atyourbest.com/

Description: Gwenn LeMoine sees the world through the lens of hair. The daughter of two hairstylists, she has taken her natural talent to an entrepreneurial level and is now the owner of Parlor, a wildly popular, two-location hair salon in the East Village and Brooklyn. A pioneer with four decades of expertise in styling eccentric celebrity personalities, LeMoine works with clients such as such as Piper Kerman, Rue McClanahan, Molly Ringwald, Twyla Tharp, and William Wegman, to name only a few. Her work has also been featured on television (SNL, VH1, ETV), in magazines (Real Simple, Nylon, The New York Times, and Paste), and at awards shows, such as the Tonys and Emmys. Columnist and New York Times notable author Kate Bolick provides a compelling profile of a career in hair styling through the life of LeMoine, and offers us a glance at a day in the life at Parlor. (publ.)

Description: What makes a great real estate agent? Is it just numbers? Sales volume? How do you get to the top of the market in boom times? How do you survive a soft market? What tools must you bring to the job? Is it at all like those reality shows on TV? Starting in his own backyard, Esquire writer Tom Chiarella explores the requisite skills needed to thrive in various real estate scenarios: a static buyer’s market in rural Indiana, a booming sell-er’s market in Seattle, and the incredibly high-end market of Chicago’s luxury high-rises. Forming a personal connection with each of his subjects, he watches them work in the front seat of their cars, at lunches, on street corners, and in the doorways of homes. What Chiarella discovers is that great real estate agents devote themselves to the job with a sense of craftsmanship. Showcasing the individual tools used to develop a successful real estate career, this book profiles individuals who live a life of thrilling improvisation, action, and instinct–a life in which excellence is some-times gauged by the ability to walk away from a commission when circumstance demands it. (publ.)

Description: According to a LinkedIn survey that polled 8,000 professionals, the second most popular childhood dream job for respondents was a veterinarian. It’s a career that appeals to many, due to its involvement with animals and association with helping and doing good. … Is there such a thing as a typical veterinarian? Journalist and author Boris Kachka sets out on a journey, determined to discover how to turn a childhood dream into a real career. Becoming a Veterinarian is a behind-the-scenes, honest, and inspiring look at the day-to-day life of a veterinarian through the eyes of four people who have made this career their life’s work. There’s Michael, who thought he would be an architect, but instead works with urban pets at the ASPCA in New York; Elisha, who studied dance before she began treating cows, cats, and horses; Idina, who was injured in a car accident and was forced to find a second career; and Chick, who was earning a Masters in economics but turned to veterinarian science after he began working nights at an animal hospital. With each, Kachka dives into every element of the job: science, surgery, financials, finding a program, and everything in between. (publ.)

Reviewed: NYT 12 Aug. 2018 (op/ed ref.)
Description: Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. This book explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He ex-plains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed truckings labor markets–once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history–into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public. (publ.)

Reviewed: NYT/BR 1 July 2018 p. 13; LR June 2018 p. 50; TLS 27 July 2018 p. 3.
Description: Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative online essay titled On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs. He defined a bullshit job as “a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence, even though as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case.” After a million views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer. ... Graeber, in his singularly searing and illuminating style, identifies the five types of bullshit jobs and argues that when 1 percent of the population controls most of a society’s wealth, they control what jobs are “useful” and “important.” ... Graeber illustrates how nurses, bus drivers, musicians, and landscape gardeners provide true value, and what it says about us as a society when we look down upon them. Using arguments from some of the most revered political thinkers, philosophers, and scientists of our time, Graeber articulates the societal and political consequences of these bullshit jobs. Depression, anxiety, and a warped sense of our values are all dire concerns. He provides a blueprint to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture, providing the meaning and satisfaction we all crave. (publ.)

Description: Where were you tonight? How did that meeting go? Are you seeing someone else? What qualifies you for this job? These are just a few of the usual questions we might answer in a day. A typical answer to the last question would include a series of “whats”: what experience you have, what you studied in school, and what you do well. Authors Pyle & Karinch guide you in crafting a response to a question, not just an answer. A response should be multi-dimensional and include relevant and compelling information that goes beyond a mere answer. The authors help you build and apply this skill set. You will learn how to manage the four areas of disclosure–people, places, things, and events in time. You will also develop competence in techniques that will help you take control and get your mes-sage across in any kind of interview. You will discover how to: master answer enhancers, such as keywords and body language; analyze a question and understand the motivation behind it; & use questions artfully as part of your response. With these skills as part of your repertoire, you’ll also learn apply them in specific applications such as: job interviews, sales common exchanges, meetings and media, dating, and family situations. (publ.)

Reviewed: Choice (Aug. 2019 vol. 56 no. 12) Recommended for community college libraries.
Description: If you are interested in a career in the dental assistants and hygienists (the allied health field, as it is often called), you’ve come to the right book. So what exactly do these people do on the job, day in and day out? What kind of skills and educational background do you need to succeed in these fields? How much can you expect to make, and what are the pros and cons of these various fields? Do these career paths have a bright future? Is this even the right career path for you? How do you avoid burnout and deal with stress? This book can help you answer these questions and more. The author includes interviews with professionals in the field, and covers three main areas of this field that have proven to be stable, lucrative, and growing professions: (1) Dental Assistants; (2) Dental Hygienists; & (3) Dental Technicians. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 21 May 2018 p. 34.
Description: One in three American workers is now a freelancer. This “gig economy”–one that provides neither the guarantee of steady hours nor benefits–emerged out of the digital era and has revolutionized the way we do business. High-profile tech start-ups such as Uber and Airbnb are constantly making headlines for the disruption they cause to the industries they over-turn. But what are the effects of this disruption, from Wall Street to Main Street? What challenges do employees and job-seekers face at every level of professional experience? In the tradition of the great business narratives of our time, this book offers deeply-sourced, up-close-and-personal ac-counts of our new economy. From the New York computer programmer who chooses exactly which hours he works each week, to the Kansas City Uber driver who starts a union, to the Arkansas charity worker who believes freelance gigs might just transform a declining rural town, journalist Sarah Kessler follows a wide range of individuals from across the country to provide a nuanced look at how the gig economy is playing out in real-time. Kessler wades through the hype and hyperbole to tackle the big questions: What does the future of work look like? Will the millennial generation do as well as their parents? How can we all find meaningful, well-paid work? (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 4 Mar. 2019 p. 52.
Description: Reveals the real-life drama behind cavernous event spaces and soaring white tents, where cooking conditions have more in common with a mobile army hospital than a restaurant. Known for their modern take on Southern cooking, the Lee brothers steeped themselves in the catering business for four years, learning the culture from the inside-out. It’s a realm where you find eccentric characters, working in extreme conditions, who must produce magical events and instantly adapt when, for instance, the host’s toast runs a half-hour too long, a hail storm erupts, or a rolling rack of hundreds of ice cream desserts goes wheels-up. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 11 Jne 2018 p. 58
Description: A practical guide to managing your attention–the most powerful resource you have to get stuff done, become more creative, and live a meaningful life. Our attention has never been as overwhelmed as it is today. Many of us recognize that our brains struggle to multitask. Despite this, we feel compelled to do so anyway while we fill each moment of our lives to the brim with mindless distraction. This book provides profound insights into how you can best take charge of your attention to achieve a greater sense of purpose and productivity throughout the day. … Bailey examines such topics such as: identifying and dealing with the four key types of distraction and interruption; establishing a clear physical and mental environment in which to work; controlling motivation and working fewer hours to become more productive; taking time-outs with intention; multitasking strategically ; and learning when to pay attention and when to let your mind wander wherever it wants to. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 25 June 2018 p. 84; NYT/BR 10 Feb. 2019 p. 11; NYT/BR 8 Dec. 2019 p. 28 ("100 Notable Books of 2019").
Description: : While she worked hard to scratch her way out of poverty as a single parent, scrubbing the toilets of the wealthy, navigating domestic labor jobs, higher education, assisted housing, and a tangled web of government assistance, Stephanie wrote. She wrote the true stories that weren’t being told. The stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. Written in honest, heart-rending prose and with great insight, Maid explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it’s like to be in service to them. “I’d become a nameless ghost,” Stephanie writes. With this book, she gives voice to the “servant” worker, those who fight daily to scramble and scrape by for their own lives and the lives of their children. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 11 June 2018 p. 58
Description: Do you ever wonder where your day went? Or daydream about activities you’ll get to “someday”? Knapp and Zeratsky share their tactics for a four-step daily framework that you can use to systematically re-design your days. Highlight, Laser, Energize, Reflect. You may not be able to add more hours to your day–but you can learn to make your life your own, day by day. (publ.)

Description: Welcome to medical office professional careers! If you are interested in a career in the medical office professional field, you’ve come to the right book. So what exactly do these people do on the job, day in and day out? What kind of skills and educational background do you need to succeed in these fields? How much money can you expect to make, and what are the pros and cons of these various fields? Do these career paths have a bright future? Is this even the right career path for you? How do you avoid burnout and deal with stress? This book can help you answer these questions and more. This book, which includes interviews with professionals in the field, covers eight main areas of the medical office professionals field that have proven to be stable, lucrative, and growing professions : (1) Nurse Practitioner; (2) Physician Assistant; (3) Medical Records and Health Information Technologist; (4) Optometrist; (5) Pharmacy Technician; (6) Phlebotomist; (7) Sonographer; & (8) Surgical Technologist.

Reviewed: PW 25 June 2018 p. 33; 14 May 20128 p. 47; PW 21 May 2018 p. 34.
Description: For a generation, roughly from 1945 to 1970, business and government leaders embraced a vision of an American workforce rooted in stability. But over the last fifty years, job security has cratered as the postwar institutions that insulated us from volatility–big unions, big corporations, powerful regulators–have been swept aside by a fervent belief in “the market.” Temp tracks the surprising transformation of an ethos which favored long-term investment in work (and workers) to one promoting short-term re-turns. A series of deliberate decisions preceded the digital revolution and upended the longstanding understanding of what a corporation, or a factory, or a shop, was meant to do. Temp tells the story of the unmaking of American work through the experiences of those on the inside: consultants and executives, temps and office workers, line workers and migrant laborers. It begins in the sixties, with economists, consultants, business and pol-icy leaders who began to shift the corporation from a provider of goods and services to one whose sole purpose was to maximize profit--an ideology that brought with it the risk-taking entrepreneur and the shareholder revolution and changed the very definition of a corporation. With Temp, Hyman explains one of the nation's most immediate crises.

Reviewed: PW 10 Dec. 2018 p. 27; PW 11 Mar. 2019.
Description: In today’s workplace, managers, leaders, and HR professionals often believe they don’t have the time to help employees navigate conflict. More often than not, however, it takes more time not to address conflict than to constructively intervene. But before you can successfully guide others in managing disagreements, you must be able to manage yourself–your mind-set, presence, and behaviors. … Auther Judy Ringer offers a way of working with clashing employees that is deliberate and systematic–one that draws on her expertise in conflict and communication skill-building and a decades-long practice in mind-body principles from the martial art aikido. (publ.)

Description: Mary Gatta takes the case of restaurant workers to examine the experiences of low-wage workers who are middle-aged, aging, and past retirement age. She deftly explores the many factors shaping what it means to grow old in economic insecurity as her subjects face race- and gender-based in-equities, health hazards associated with their work, and the bitter reality that the older they get the fewer professional opportunities are available to them. More importantly, Gatta demonstrates that these problems are pervasive, as more industries adopt the worst workplace practices of service work. In light of these trends, we must consider the devastating effects on already vulnerable Americans because, as Gatta contends, this crisis does not need to be inevitable. Taking as a model the small percentage of “good” restaurant jobs that exist, she ultimately offers incisive commentary on what can be done to stave off this bleak future. (publ.)

Description: In 2012, journalist Hugo Meunier went undercover as a Walmart employee for three months in St. Leonard, Quebec, just north of Montreal. In great detail, Meunier charts the daily life of an impoverished Walmart worker, referring to his shifts at the box store giant as “somewhere between the army and Walt Disney.” Each shift began with a daily chant before bowing to customer demands and the constant pressure to sell. Meanwhile Meunier and his fellow workers could not afford to shop anywhere else but Walmart, further indenturing them to the multi-billion-dollar corporation. Beyond his time on the shop floor, Meunier documents the extraordinary efforts that Walmart exerts to block unionization campaigns, including their 2005 decision to close their outlet in Jonquiere, QC, where the United Food and Commercial Workers union had successfully gained certification rights. A decade later he charts the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that exposed the dubious legal ground on which Walmart stood in invoking closure and throwing workers out on the street. (publ.)
Note: Originally published as: Walmart: Journal d’un Associé (Montreal: Lux Éditeur, 2015).

Description: Adam Reich and Peter Bearman examine how workers make sense of their jobs at places like Walmart in order to consider the nature of contemporary low-wage work, as well as the obstacles and opportunities such workplaces present as sites of struggle for social and economic justice. They describe the life experiences that lead workers to Walmart and analyze the dynamics of the shop floor. As a part of the project, Reich and Bearman matched student activists with a nascent association of current and former Walmart associates: the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). They follow the efforts of this new partnership, considering the formation of collective identity and the relationship between social ties and social change. They show why traditional unions have been unable to organize service-sector workers in places like Walmart and offer provocative suggestions for new strategies and directions. Drawing on a wide array of methods, including participant-observation, oral history, big data, and the analysis of social networks, this book is a sophisticated reconsideration of the modern workplace that makes important contributions to debates on labor and inequality and the centrality of the experience of work in a fair economy. (publ.)

Description: Nardon offers a comprehensive framework for understanding intercultural interactions and developing skills for successful intercultural situations. Numerous examples and exercises, including how to reconcile personal beliefs of equality with a hierarchical workplace and how to respond to perceived aggressiveness in business negotiations, enable employees and managers to embark on reflective processes that will springboard their intercultural competence. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 21 May 2018 p. 34.
Description: There are new flexible and independent working opportunities available in the gig economy for those brave enough to seize them. It is estimated that the number people involved with the gig economy will double in the next four years. New generation workers are realising that they can break the chains of corporate work and go at it alone. With flexible working hours, fluid work arrangements and technology that they can leverage to their advantage, people are creating purposeful careers that fit in with their lives, not the other way around. This is a book that will allow you to really examine the possibilities of freelance and flexible working. (publ)