Are you a job seeker or a skill holder? New ebook will help everyone expand their job seeking skills

Brian Massey, a friend and a client, called me yesterday to get my first impression on his ebook "Crowd Career Management" that he is publishing soon. Next week, I'll meet with him and a software development on helping them publicize this effort.

Massey is a gifted writer, and his 86-page tome should resonate not only with those who lose their job but also with those who feel secure in their job. Most of us fit in his category of a job seeker. Here, people in this group expected to take a full salary and are expected to be grateful for their job and to their employers.

And, there's a second group he terms as "skill holders" who are always in the market, searching for new opportunities. Skill holders also expect to increase their skills and their value.

Having read the first 30 pages of the book, I clearly see myself as a skill holder. Yet, having served in the Air Force for 20 years, I also relate very well to the first group. Even 11 years after retiring from the Air Force, I still feel a little loyalty to this branch of service.

Yet, Massey's book is required reading for those in the military who will soon retire. It provides a detailed look at the skill sets that military people need to adjust from the first mindset to one that will reward them when they leave the military.

Clearly, most military noncoms and officers don't know how to value themselves or understand the scope of the skill sets given to them. Throughout my Air Force career, I always wanted to advance myself, yet I overlooked the opportunity to pursue off-duty education. Looking back, I wish I had gotten my business degree while in the Air Force, instead of waiting until retirement.

Having a degree in hand would have made me more of a "skill holder" after retirement from the Air Force.

 Had I read Brian's book, I may have had an easier transition

Postscript:   Just as I was finishing this blog while drinking an expresso at a Starbucks,
 I ran into a person named Caryl who is job hunting.  After telling her about this book,
 she wanted to get it to help her career transition.