Recession Proof Graduate

How to Land the Job You Want by Doing Free Work

By: Charlie Hoehn

Narrated by: Ray Chase

Length: 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Recession-Proof Graduate is a wildly popular career guide that's been downloaded over 150,000 times. This audiobook 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.

I struggled to find meaningful work - or any work - after getting out of school. I graduated in 2008 - during the worst economy in 80 years - and spent my days spamming my resume to hundreds of companies I didn’t want to work for…and never heard back. It was exhausting. When I changed my strategy, I landed a handful of dream gigs, got to work with amazing people like Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi, and found myself turning down multiple paid job offers. Best of all, I was getting paid to work on projects that made me come alive. It was a far cry from the days of begging for soul-crushing work. People kept asking how I did it, so I wrote this free guide on how to use free work to land your dream job.

©2014 Charlie Hoehn (P)2014 Podium Publishing

Critic reviews

“What do Seth Godin, Tucker Max, Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferriss have in common? All of them are NY Times Best Selling authors, have ginormous followings, and are media magnets. Most of us already knew this about them. The one thing they have in common that most do not know is at some point in their careers they all had a level of support from Charlie Hoehn.” - Lewis Howes, author of the #1 LinkedIn Book, Founder of Sports Executives Association“Charlie is one of the most talented marketers and entrepreneurs I’ve ever worked with. A true gem. I highly recommend him.” (Ramit Sethi, New York Times best-selling author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich)

Interesting Premise

Charlie Hoehn's "Recession Proof Graduate: How to Land the Job You Want by Doing Free Work" (2011) has some fantastic ideas for finding work in a tough economy, and those ideas worked for him. Hoehn talks about approaching businesses and volunteering work, and he's set forth the specifics on how to figure out who to approach; what approaches to use; and how to turn that into paying work. It appears to have worked for Hoehn very well, but it looks like he's consulting to relatively young and technologically nimble companies.

I'm having a hard time imagining his approach working in companies that are so large that adapting new technology is expensive because of the sheer number of people involved; so entrenched that older management wouldn't be comfortable thinking outside of long established practices; and highly regulated, which makes those businesses, of necessity, extremely cautious. I'd add a caveat to Hoehn's plan: if you are going to do this, chose an industry that's structurally capable of accepting what he's suggesting, rather than an industry like big banking or insurance.

Hoehn's ideas are intriguing, and it's worth the time to listen.

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Interesting lecture

With all of the current stories about 23, 24 or 25 year old college graduates living in their parents' basements while working at Burger King for minimum wage while looking for a real job, this lecture sounded interesting. Having received my undergrad degree 51 years ago and having a nice selection of job offers to consider before I receive my degree, I'm not an expert on this dilemma. My three age 40+ adult children did not have the problem. I cannot relate to doing free work like this lecture suggests. It seems to me to be best if parents of 18 year olds insist that their college bound offspring major in areas that will lead to marketable skills, like STEM (science, technology, engineering, math).

Hit and Miss

What did you like best about FREE Recession Proof Graduate? What did you like least?

Solid advice on SEO tactics and the vital importance of owning your name and brand.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

There are hits and misses as far as advice goes. It's an interesting concept that would work well for some people in highly specialized situations, but the biggest miss is the overall tone of know-it-all world weary superiority. I never felt like the author was sharing advice to help others along, but more like he was bragging and that coupled with the frequent put-downs of young people just left me feeling pretty chilly toward the book, even when the ideas were interesting.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator sounds like such a d o u. . . not nice guy. I didn't like his smug superior tone. The narration had me grimacing and making faces at my speaker. LOL!

Snake oil with grains of truth

Trying as best as I can to be fair, the so called "recession-proof" graduate, seemed somewhat light on the details of the circumstances that led him to become "successful" which is the basis of his argument. Apparently a degree matters when you're in a highly technical field like computer engineering or chemistry where your expensive piece of paper actually matters.
Also there are millions of people who already do Photoshop, HTML, & PHP.
Seriously! that's the solution to being recession-proof like WTF!? I could program in Java, Python, SQL, and Work Adobe Premiere, and Photoshop before the end of my freshman year. And even then those were still mediocre skills compared to most of my peers.
Of course probability stats have nothing to do with the so called recession-proof formula there are apparently no other variables others than the authors own whit, really!?
This is practically advocating serfdom, because paying the god damn Chinese a few cents an hour is just too much for employers no, you got to undercut even them! Absolutely insane, this "one weird trick" click-batey Kool-Aid might go down well with the desperate and unfortunate cognitive-illiterate students of some sad for-profit college in some of the more backwards & regressive parts of this country but anyone with basic critical thinking skills, eyeballs and a pulse could see the BS that this is.
I'm sorry but this was certainly not worth my time nor yours.

Absolute Game Changer

Would you listen to FREE Recession Proof Graduate again? Why?

When I read this as an ebook two years ago, it was transformational for me.

Not only was it the most useful ebook I ever read. It also meshed perfectly with my values: getting ahead in the world by helping others.

Two years later, a month doesn't go by where I don't think about these lessons in one way or another.

What was one of the most memorable moments of FREE Recession Proof Graduate?

The greatest takeaway for me was helping me clarify and find the work I want to spend my life doing. By doing free work, I found the projects I am interested in when there isn't even a cent involved.

What about Ray Chase’s performance did you like?

I love the narration. I was so happy to see this as an audiobook.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy this book, be sure to check out Charlie's other great book: Play It Away.

Every college students guideline.

I'm grateful I came upon this gem. It completely changes the frame of the job seeking experience and emphasizes a proactive approach. The guidelines Charlie offer demonstrates value for the potential employer. The process includes work and that filters the doers from the "kinda-want it." Good stuff.

Nice tips.

Good book. I am starting my blog right know. Thank very much for sharing this

live when your alive , enjoy your work

In this competitive world , it's not easy to stick to your passion. But to make a difference , you have to be different. I have seen a very few number of people with a satisfactory lifestyle , I think it is worth the wait in the initial stages of free service , as described in this book.Thank you for this wonderful book.

Well worth the price.....

The price is right for this little book companion and a good read between large volumes of books.

Be Wary

I always take these sorts of books with a grain of salt. What works for one person isn't guaranteed to work for another. His process seems a bit too simplified, but if someone is desperate/willing to try anything, I suppose it's decent advice.

A very bad copy of GaryVEE

Spouting more and more babble as if it's useful to you when it's really just to sell their real product - the full book.

Another pretend entrepreneur telling everyone else hoe to do it when he hasn't. He is just a bad version of Gary Vee.

So so.

The book outlines one possible method for getting into a good job or opportunity. Which is completely web based, I'm not sure how this works if your skills don't translate to virtual/remote work either. Or if you are working class and have to work most of the week to keep a roof over your head leaving you little time to work for free and write a blog about it.

Short enough to read and decide for yourself though.

Very Inspirational

I really wish all school, college and university levers could have the opportunity to lister to this. A very logical, but sideways look at how to achieve your goals in job hunting.

In fact, I was lucky enough that my dad holds the belief that if you deliver exceptional work for free to start with and prove yourself, a paid job can come as a result. And my first job started as full-time hours, for free, that lead to my first paid, and more importantly, enjoyable job after 3 months.

I will try this tomorrow morning!!! 🙌

As a recent graduate I have been looking for this kind of advice and am currently going to try to find a job using this method!!!

Hope this helps and will update my review if it works out.

I think this is outdated already and common sense.

I think this is outdated already and common sense. For a free book, I still would not recommend it.

talks about web-based opportunities.

Free guide and an interesting listen for those who seek opportunities. Mostly talks about web-based opportunities.

pointless

obvious and pointless with nothing to offer by way of useful information. waste of time.

Thought out loud

I am very grateful to the author for sharing this story and his new ways of beating the unemployment and unsatisfactory employment. It made me wonder if there was something I could do too and there could be more to my life than an ordinary 9-5PM job.
Would definitely recommend to others and listen to it again!

Brilliantly Presented Expert Knowledge

I loved the book right from the beginning. Just by looking at the title, you could almost feel the transformation the book brings. I listened to it while driving and it’s one of the best audio book experiences I have ever had.
The information is concrete and the advice laid out makes sense and you can almost feel the reward even before you try it. It is direct and simple but has all the ingredients to make you a real recession proof person.
Charlie Hoehn is the real deal. Thank you Charlie.

Easy to follow

Short, to the point, great audio voice, useful tips. Impressed! A must for any graduate needing work.