Book excerpt: You might know how to properly bill patients, draw blood, or code in a professional work environment, but are you prepared to find and keep your next job? Using an easy-to-read, easy-to-follow format, Job Readiness for Health Professionals: Soft Skills Strategies for Success gives you an advantage in the job market by guiding you through what you need to know to master the essential soft skills — such as professional habits, attitudes, and personality traits — needed for every entry-level healthcare job. If you want long-term success as a working professional, then this book is for you! Critical thinking exercises woven throughout skills include multidisciplinary scenarios from the field. What If? boxes feature short scenarios for the you to think about how you would handle a situation in the workplace. Case studies use fictional vignettes to illustrate the issues involved with the specific skills. Down a Dark Road vignettes illustrate what can go terribly wrong when a skill is ignored or not mastered. Behavioral objectives provided for mastering each skill. Worktext format with journaling activities give you opportunities for self reflection on your skills progress. Experiential Exercises are actions or experiments that you can perform on your own to gain a deeper appreciation for the skill. Cross Currents with Other Skills cross references related skills, pointing out the synergies and connections between them.