Recession Proof Graduate: How to Land the Job You Want by Doing Free Work

by Charlie Hoehn

"Recession Proof Graduate is just epic for younger people starting out..." - Noah Kagan, Founder of AppSumo "...Or anyone who's starting over, or trying to reinvent themselves." - Tim Ferriss, Bestselling Author of The 4-Hour Workweek "Top 10 Audiobooks on Audible.com" - New York Times, Associated Press (May 5, 2015) Recession-Proof Graduate is a popular career guide that's been downloaded over 200,000 times. This book is frequently shared among students, teachers, parents, counselors, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. It's been integrated in the coursework at a number of universities, given away as a graduation gift, and translated to Italian. Don't give out lame graduation gifts and $20 checks this year! Give your friends what they really a battle-tested manual to help them land a job they love. This book reveals the step-by-step formula that thousands of people have used to get great jobs, even in terrible economies. The author of this book, Charlie Hoehn, struggled to find meaningful work (or any work) after getting out of school. He graduated in 2008 - during the worst economy in 80 years - and spent months spamming his resume to hundreds of companies he didn't want to work for... and never heard back from them. When he changed his strategy, he landed several dream jobs, and got to work with amazing people like Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi. Charlie went from being broke in his parents' basement, to getting paid to work on projects that made him come alive. It was a far cry from the days of begging for soul-crushing work.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Education, Personal Development, Self Help, Productivity

83 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2009

Reviews

[Jayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, Hoehn comes off as such a world-class douche from the very beginning that I found it very hard to take this book seriously. His advice is hardly ground-breaking. Go peddle your schtick to someone else, Tonto. The line of generic dude-bros clutching their econ degrees might be buying, but this lady sure isn't.

[Shelby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like I was listening to a clickbait article aloud.

[Andrew Obrigewitsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas, that no doubt have helped people. But it makes me wonder what the Author got a degree in that was so worthless as to only giving the skill to use Microsoft word. I'm pretty sure that people getting degrees in computer science, nursing, law, accounting, and pretty much anything that teaches highly technical and specialized skill is still considered highly useful.

My advice to kids going to college is to research out which degrees are in demand before getting one, as there is nothing worse than knowing you wasted 4 years of your life. And an in demand degree will work much better at getting you work than doing free jobs for people.

[Sarah Villalobos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know many readers found this to be abrasive. Whether you completely agree or not, it still gets you thinking about what's important to you and how you want to achieve it. There were many interesting points that might be relevant to college grads without work experience. It is important to develop relevant experience and learn how to market yourself.

[Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book gives people an alternative way of thinking when it comes to jobs and can hopefully kickstart some ideas as to how to creatively find work (meaningful work).

It does lack detail and could have used some real-life examples as to how this process has worked previously (author mentions successes of friends and family but no details at all).

The general idea is work backwards, look at where you want to work, find an approachable target (via kickstarter or something) and try to work with successful entrepreneurs that are not yet unreachable.

edit: seems like I may have read the short version of the book. I assume the longer version goes into the minutiae of the idea proposed in the book

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm another COVID-cut employee. I stumbled across this book through a Ryan Holiday blog article and thought it could help me get an edge on other applicants once the economy starts up. I really like this book; it's a different spin on my application mindset, it's a quick read (for a self-admitted slow reader) and Hoehn's points are easily understood. If you want to read, you might be able to save a few bucks by subscribing to Hoehn's newsletter on his blog/website. He emails his book PDFs to subscribers for free.

This book won't change your life, but it's definitely worth a read if you're applying to jobs.

[Harry Harman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about how to work for any entrepreneur that is on the upswing, by offering free work on a project that will increase their revenue.

Email templates included.

Case studies include himself, Charlie Hoehn (working for Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin), Bas Ording (UI designer for Steve Jobs), (Eli Wilhide (top salesman for Tony Robbins), Jefe Greenheart (videographer for Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, National Geographic), Christine Lai (Chief of Staff for Tony Hsieh of Zappos), Kevin Rose (created a viral product demo then got on the A round of Square 8125% ROI).

[Rigved · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some very interesting ideas shared in this book which you can apply at large but those ideas also depend on the kind of jobs you are looking for and also on the industry you are working in. Regardless, you can prepare yourself with the help of some great tips provided in this book to make sure that you have a list of clients always ready to work with you.

[Eden Kruse · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some good techniques and ideas, but the premise is uncomfortably backward. The idea that one isn't "deserving of a paycheck" for their work is a harmful one in many scenarios. These opinions seem to be written out of some privilege. The ability to work for people for any amount of time for free merely to gain experience is one that not many have, especially right out of college.

[AttackGirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened on audible and the attitude is obnoxious and inexperienced. Perhaps a different reader would not sound so condescending. Blunt statements with no support. You would have thought that was learned in school.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this contained good advice if you want to be in a web, virtual or long distance job. If you don't want to be in one of those types of jobs, this was pretty useless.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for starters and existing work force in job hunting

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's more guidelines then a book
but it is based on real experience

[Rasty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good but not too good!

[Zachariah Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it's a short book, it's an awesome read and can easily be finished in a single sitting! Definitely provides a range of tactics and overall advice that I will try to employ.

[Tim Gillen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. A little snarky. Interesting concept. In the end, useful in being nimble in a tough market. Not sure the reception will be as sure-fire as indicated in the book.

[Mosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, insightful and gives a new perspective to career planning.

[Kue Tee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the information is a little outdated; employers are not really trusting as they use to be. Good advice overall.

[Jon Phang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book! I like his concept of showing value first and then trasition to a position, very good concept and worth a read!

[H.G. Gravy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Downloaded this as a free audio book on a whim and decided to give it a listen while sitting in traffic.

Recession Proof Graduate's central ideas are nothing new if you've been paying attention to the job market after 2009. At the time, it must have been ground-breaking information. Essentially, its a matter of learning a technical skill and working at continuously improving your overall skill set. Once you've got the skills, offer your services for free to potential employers. In offering yourself for free, you are providing all the upside to the employer and make it easier for them to take a chance on you. Once you've proven you've got the chops to make it, its a matter of then getting this employer to hire you because it would be more difficult to find someone, train them, and then have them catch up. Then there is a section about building your online presence with blogging on your website which allows you to control the narrative when it comes to your self branding.

If nothing else, this book offers another perspective on searching for jobs and gives a clear idea for someone looking to try something different.

[Kingshuk Mukherjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're in college (or out), this book is your secret weapon as far as getting ahead in your career. I read this in 2 hours max- extremely quick read, but filled with so much awesome ACTIONABLE information.

Charlie is 26 or 27, cant remember. He's worked for some of the smartest guys online- he lives what he preaches. Take advantage of this.

[Chiara Cokieng · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're hating your job and want to understand what it takes (mindset and skills) to build real skills that makes you add real value so you can get a real job... Read this. I recommend this all the time to people asking for advice on making friends with strong people and mentors and when it makes sense to do free work.

[Scott Pierce-Wrobel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had I read this in college I would have reconsidered the way I approached internships. Instead of approaching companies offering not to pay me from the start, I would have been offering my services for free to companies who I really valued. This book has given me a lot of confidence for offering my services for free.

[Constantin Minov · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best response which fits with the main idea of this book is the following Darwinian approach to evolution: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that
survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

[Wanda Hartzenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly simplistic but not simple I can see why this book is so popular.
The author did an amazing job in summing up his pov and to make his points clear.

I seriously think this is a book EVERYBODY should read.
WaAr

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Charlie comes off as a pompous self righteous elitist who goes so far as to tell all who don't follow his way of thinking as stupid and ridiculous. He has some good advise but overall his delivery sucks.

[Jonathan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A counter-intuitive strategy with frighting short term prospects, but this is the kind of plan that the modern world demands of those who want to stand out in a competitive market that doesn't look good for newbies.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I end up using the advice from this book and it works, I'll give it a higher reading. I am reluctant to believe it. It does sound appealing, though.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ideas in this short audio book are very helpful for any one who is building his/her job portfolio. One can take advantage of the generous opportunity of potential employers to accept free work.

[Caleb Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read for anyone.