An innocent question from his daughter—“Is this okay to send?”—was all
it took to convince Ben Carpenter that today’s young people are woefully
unprepared for a harsh work world. Those five fateful words were the
subject line of an email Avery sent him after getting her first “real”
post-college job offer with a network daytime TV talk show (a stepping
stone to her dream career). Until her horrified dad stopped her, Avery
was about to ask her new boss for a later start date so she’d have more
time to “tie up loose ends” (i.e., move out of her parents’ home and
into her own apartment).
Yikes, right?
“This was when I realized that while Avery had received a top-notch
academic education, she had no clue how the working world actually,
well, worked,” says Carpenter, author of the new book The
Bigs: The Secrets Nobody Tells Students and Young
Professionals About How to Find a Great Job, Do a Great Job, Start a
Business, and Live a Happy Life (Wiley, April 2014, ISBN:
978-1-118-91702-2, $25.00). “And it occurred to me that Avery probably
wasn’t the only one. Through no fault of their own, most recent college
graduates and young professionals are naïve about the realities of the
real world.”
Maybe this has always been true of inexperienced workers. The difference
is that Carpenter’s daughter and her peers must navigate the “big
leagues” in an economy as unforgiving as any in history. Still
struggling to emerge from the long shadow of the Great Recession,
today’s job market is incredibly tough and exhausting. (Around 40
percent of recent college graduates are underemployed.) And once
they have secured a position, most are caught unawares by
the demanding and often cutthroat environment in which they find
themselves.
In The Bigs, Carpenter seeks to fill that void. Using a
combination of detailed, colorful anecdotes and tactical advice, he lays
out a blueprint that employees of any age and level of
experience (not justrecent grads) can use to get—and do—a great job.
Having done it all, from opening his own bar to working his way through
the Wall Street ranks to becoming the CEO of a major international
financial services company, Carpenter is the perfect coach.
“I learned a lot of lessons because I made a lot of mistakes, and
watched others make even more,” he comments. “Conventional advice is
easy to come by, but it’s the same advice everyone else is getting. You
may not like hearing everything I have to say—in fact, some of it may
fly in the face of what you wish were true—but it will
help you get ahead in the real world.”
Here,
Carpenter shares 22 bite-sized pieces of advice that will help any employee,
regardless of age, experience level, or industry, survive (and even have
fun) in the big leagues.
“Make no mistake: When you become responsible for yourself and you are
being paid to do a job, you are in the big leagues,” concludes
Carpenter. “Sure, many of the rules are unofficial, and you’ll find that
many of your peers don’t pay much attention to them, but that doesn’t
mean they aren’t important.
“In fact, I can guarantee that the rules I’ve shared will work for you
precisely because most people don’tthink they’re important!”
he adds. “When you live and work by a code that’s shaped by values,
integrity, dedication, and a true team spirit, you will set yourself
apart from the rookies in a way that gets you hired, recognized, and
promoted.”
Melissa Connors
Publicity Manager
mconnors@wiley.com
201-748-6834