Well folks, 10 cities, 2 coasts, thousands of handshakes, and dozens of press interviews later, and we’re finally back in the Big Apple. Before suitcases could be unpacked, Lou Casale and Dara Cothran were already hard at work again planning the next book tour! Yes, we had so much fun the first time around that we’re going to hold another book tour in January. We’ve sifted through your emails (thanks to all who emailed booktour@theladders.com and suggested we visit your town) and we’re plotting a route for our next tour.
As we firm up the stops on the January tour we’ll announce them here first!
Good night, Chicago! Thanks to the crowd who braved the traffic President Obama’s visit inspired to join us for yet another SRO appearance at the Borders on North Clark St.
A.J. and company were wonderful hosts, and it was great to meet professionals in one of my favorite parts of the country.
Indeed, the hospitality and graciousness we’ve encountered on every stop of this tour — and the intelligence, determination and wit of our audiences — have confirmed our high opinion of the professionals across this country. You are the stars of the show, and it’s been a pleasure to meet so many of you on this tour.
Here’s hoping to hear your stories soon!
Photos by Cori Rosoff
A personal aside: Among the most gratifying parts of touring to support “You’re Better Than Your Job Search” has been the opportunity to revisit places and people I know and love. Wednesday’s visit to the San Francisco Bay area brought me back to the place where my wife and I met and started our family — and it also marked perhaps our biggest turnout to date.
Books Inc. in Mountain View was packed almost to the ceiling, as visitors filled the aisles and lined up along the balcony of the store’s cafe. (Thanks again to Matthew H. for serving us cappuccino during the event!) Not surprisingly in Silicon Valley, we got some great questions about shifting functions within the tech industry as well as tactical inquiries about structuring resumes to account for them. We appreciate the hospitality of Alex and the Books Inc. team (thank you for the gift bags!), and it was our pleasure to help them sell out their stock of our book.
Thursday, we’ll bring this leg of the tour to a close in Chicago!
Photos by Cori Rosoff
“You’re Better Than Your Job Search” keeps picking up momentum as we round out our first tour to support the book.
It takes a lot to get Los Angelenos out on a rainy night, so we were overwhelmed by our biggest audience to date at Canoga Park’s Borders store. Borders events manager Lita and master TheLadders logistician Cori Rosoff made sure every chair in the place was hauled in, but we were still SRO.
So many great questions, from entrepreneurs considering making the switch to corporate life to a fellow contemplating a functional resume to cover a seven-year-old gap in his work history. (Our advice: Don’t do it, Cam! You’ve got a great chronology to be proud of.)
Onward to the Bay area!
Photos by Cori Rosoff
It was a special treat to reach San Diego on our road tour for “You’re Better Than Your Job Search.” After all, this is the town where I grew up from junior high school through college and a starting point for Marc’s early career.
And it was extra-meaningful to pack the house out Warwick’s in La Jolla, just down the hill from my alma mater, UCSD. Thanks to the more than 100 people who skipped Monday Night Football and braved the rain to come listen to us; ask great questions; and buy every copy in the store’s stock, including all the books that had been earmarked for staff!
Next stop: Canoga Park!
Photos by Cori Rosoff
We sold out! Thanks to the good people of Houston for a fantastic turnout Saturday afternoon (despite the Texas-Oklahoma game!) at the Barnes & Noble on Holcombe Blvd.
And an extra-big “thank you” for buying out the store’s entire stock of “You’re Better Than Your Job Search,” leaving us to sign notebook paper and other improvised surfaces for folks who ordered their books for later. Next time, they’ve got to order a bigger crate!
Onward to California …
Photos by Cori Rosoff
It takes a lot to get Dallas residents to switch gears from a matchup between UT and college-football archrivals OU. The town was teeming for Saturday’s big game, and so were the roads — so we’re extra-appreciative that we were able to pack the Borders on McKinney Ave. (Many thanks to Carlo, Terry and the rest of the bookstore team!)
Questions in Dallas ranged from a tough one about coming back from retirement (thank you, Russell!) to an inquiry about how to market a freshly minted PhD in electrical engineering. On to Houston!
Photos by Cori Rosoff
Insert your preferred reference to Southern hospitality here: Our visit to the Borders on Peachtree Road in Atlanta was a delight, pure and simple. Another SRO audience who arrived early with plenty of great questions, including inquiries about how soon to follow up after an interview, how to switch functions from clerical work to administrative assistant and how to conduct a phone interview. (Rule One: Use a mirror so you can see how you sound!)
Marc and I were blown away by the warmth and encouragement we encountered; it was a blast posing for attendees’ photos with us, and I’m curious to see the results on Facebook! In the meantime, our own Cori Rosoff contributed this suite of photos from a lovely evening in the Peach State.
Photos by Cori Rosoff
If you think summer passed too quickly, you should have been with us Wednesday night at the Barnes & Noble in Philadelphia’s lovely Rittenhouse Square!
The AC was out during our visit there to talk about “You’re Better Than Your Job Search.” Thankfully, our resourceful hosts kindly came up with portable backups that carved out a cool, dry oasis for our full house on the third floor. We took some terrific questions, from the cancer researcher wondering if her immigration status will affect her prospects to an ambitious young man looking to build his retail experience into an outside sales job to the C-level veteran hoping for another opportunity to take a company public.
Meeting all of you is the core of this tour. I’m grateful to all the folks in our extended network who braved the heat and stuck around to talk about their experiences in the Philadelphia job market. (And props to Tokyo Sushi on Walnut for providing me some brain food for this leg of the tour!)
Photos by Cori Rosoff
We got our act together and took it on the road! After the New York debut of our book-signing tour for “You’re Better Than Your Job Search,” our first stop came Tuesday night at the Borders on Rockville Pike near Washington, D.C. Many thanks to our hosts at the White Flint Mall … and to the crowd that filled the seats and packed the aisles. We took questions, signed books — and then stuck around to take more questions about how to craft a job search that’s worthy of your skills and passions.
TheLadders’ numbers show the Washington area is relatively robust for six-figure jobs, many of them connected to government contracts. When Marc suggested that job seekers take a page from politicians, it garnered a huge laugh in this company town!
The questions were insightful, the crowd rallied to support each other as well as talk to us, and we ended the night very grateful for the warm reception we received here. High hopes for Philadelphia Wednesday night!
P.S.: Rénee, that extra education and a good narrative will take you a long way. And Sami, I’m looking forward to hearing how all the paperwork goes!
Photos by Cori Rosoff
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