by Phyl Terry (Preface to Never Search Alone)
I’d like to share with you how I built this book — and I use the verb “build” because I treated this like a software development project with English as my programming language.
As such, I did not write this alone. Instead, I did a lot of iterative testing.
In fact, the methodology in this book — Social Search — is based on coaching more than 2,000 job and promotion seekers over the last 20 years. Then, five years ago, before I started to write this book, I conducted 200 in-depth interviews with college students, entry-level employees, mid-career leaders, CEOs, and Board members.
After that, as I began writing, I asked more than 250 job seekers to read and put into practice early versions of this book. Along the way, those readers provided more than 2,500 pieces of feedback, which I then used to iterate through more than 400 major and minor drafts.
As a result, this 401st draft represents lessons and input from thousands of job seekers, facing the same challenges and fears — and with the same hopes — as you.
It worked for them.
That’s why I know Never Search Alone will work for you.
— Phyl