In it, Rosen offers intimate profiles of and insider advice about jobs like fashion designer (do an internship, and remember that you will put in many, many hours before becoming the next Karl Lagerfeld) and private investigator (whether a job is done well or poorly, you’ll rarely make your clients happy). Rosen spoke with U.S. News about cool jobs and his own career.

Were you trying to dispel common misconceptions about dream jobs with this book?
I was working in advertising at the time, and I was getting a lot of calls from parents’ friends’ kids who were like, “I really want to do what you do. What exactly is it you do?” I had a lot of what I call over-a-beer conversations where I started to realize that what people wanted to know [about jobs] was more than just how much money you make or things you can Google. They wanted to know the lifestyle. Because I think people see how happy or unhappy their parents are, putting on a tie every day, and they start to have those broader questions—not just, is this my dream job, but, what is my life going to be like?

I wasn’t as much trying to dispel [misconceptions] about the jobs and find counterintuitive things but more really just trying to get the details that people don’t ever really talk about.

What were some things you learned that surprised you?
When I interviewed private investigators, they were like: Oh, man, the week of Valentine’s Day [is busy]. Valentine’s Day itself is not a busy day, but the weeks of, before, and after are. Then I thought, with the whole Eliot Spitzer thing, they nailed it. Because apparently, you’re with your spouse the whole Valentine’s Day, but the day before and the day after is date night.

If you’re going to interview for a publicist’s job and your interview is in the afternoon, watch Good Morning America . See who’s on. Then Google them and find out who their publicists are. Maybe it’s where you’re interviewing. When you get there, drop the “Hey, great job getting [the guest] on the show.” It makes perfect sense, but I wouldn’t have thought of it.

Are some jobs unexpectedly difficult?
Well, there were definitely jobs that I was like: I could never do that. Like a doula [someone who helps a woman through labor and childbirth]. The job of band manager was really interesting because you think of it being this rock-and-roll lifestyle, and, to an extent, it is. You’re on the private planes and all that stuff. But at the same time, you’re the chaperon of the rock-and-roll lifestyle. You want to have fun with everyone, but the next day, you’re the guy or gal who’s like: We have a show tonight; let’s get it together.

The job profiles are obviously useful for college students and recent grads, but which jobs would make good second careers?
Real estate is definitely a second career that people go into. As well as chef—that’s a dream job that people are like: I always wanted to do it, but I worked for a couple of years and now I’m going to culinary school. Also, a lot of the artsy careers, like jewelry designer. There are only so many jewelry design majors in the world.

Can some of these jobs be started as side jobs before a person transitions into them full time?
Yeah. Real estate broker is definitely one. You can’t really start as a chiropractor on the side, but event planning is something that people can do. They’ll work events on the weekend in whatever capacity they can—whether they’re assisting the event planner or working as a waiter to learn more and more before they make the leap. And definitely in the film world—so many people will PA [work as production assistants] while they’re still bartending.

Your book is full of day-in-the-life snapshots. So what does your typical day look like?
I wake up at 8. I complain until 8:30 about waking up at 8. My wife and I argue over who’s going to walk the dog. I win. I go to the gym (let’s say it’s a good day). I come back and answer E-mails. Then I’ll try to write from 10:30 until 12:30. I’ll work on, say, a screenplay. Then I’ll go get lunch. I’ll read all the Hollywood gossip. It’s very important to me. I need to know what’s happening with Brad and Angelina. Then in the afternoon, I’ll go back online and return E-mails. Then from 1:30 to 6:30, I will write—let’s say now I’m working on a novel—with a break in there to make a bunch of phone calls, because now L.A. is open. Then I come home, and it’s my turn to walk the dog. Then I work pretty hard from 8 o’clock to 10 o’clock. I do whatever writing strikes me while simultaneously watching something on TV. Somewhere in there is dinner.

Learn first hand how to use Insider Information for searching for public records at thousands of government public record agencies and web pages. This resource provides the tips and practical knowledge to guide you to the right source and help you become an ultra-efficient searcher.

– Field Guide to Court Record Databases
– How to Evaluate Public Record Vendor
– How to Evaluate Record Search Sites
– Why and When All Criminal Records are Not Created Equal
– Expanded Coverage of Government Watch Lists, Sanction Lists, and Enforcement Actions
– Know the Location Anomalies that Affect Searching Liens and Assets

The Public Record Research Tips Book also includes:

– Hundreds of Little-Known Websites Not on the Radar
– A Comprehensive Glossary of Terms

Also includes sidebars from these industry leaders:

• William C. Asher, Owner Investigator, Information Please
• Michael Dores, Founder and President, Merlin Information Services
• Carl R. Ernst, Founder and CEO, Ernst Publishing
• Cynthia Hetherington, Managing Director, AON Consulting and Author, Business Background Investigations
• Lawrence Lopez,Chief Investigator, Strategic Research
• Lynn Peterson, President, PFC Information Services, Inc.
• Lester R. Rosen, ESQ,Founder, Employment Screening Resources and Author, The Safe Hiring Manual
• Michele Stuart, President, JAG Investigations, Inc.

If so, John Krause’s recently re-released, “The Private Investigator’s Guide”, may be just what the doctor ordered. “The Private Investigator’s Guide” is the most comprehensive guide on the market. It provides the practical foundation for everyday applications in the area of training private investigators and teaches the novice P.I. how to get started in the business.

Why not learn from a pro? Krause is available for television, radio talk shows and script consulting for television programming, movies and novels. He frequently gives lectures, seminars, conducts book-signing appearances, and consults with anyone who is interested in learning how to set up and run their own private investigative agency.

“Most agencies can only provide minimal hands-on training to interns due to case deadlines,” Krause explains. “This practical, how-to guide will help with training and even seasoned investigators who may need a refresher course can benefit.”

“The Private Investigator’s Guide” is a how-to-guide from A-Z. It focuses on everything from basic administrative tasks and report writing to ruses and how to stay out of trouble.

An essential tool for any agency or intern, “The Private Investigator’s Guide” has been discussed on television and radio throughout the U.S. and on the Internet.

A private investigator for 20 years, Krause has a celebrated career. This knowledge and experience has allowed him to become a number two bestseller in the southeast in the legal, self-help category with major book retailer, Books-A-Million.

Krause has investigated a broad variety of cases ranging from child custody to criminal defense and has been involved in some very high-profile cases.

Available in paperback and on CD-ROM, “The Private Investigator’s Guide” includes a free demo version of ScenePD — software used by professionals on how to recreate accident and crime scenes.

The book was originally published in 1997 and currently it can be purchased on Amazon.com, spycorner.net, sharpstuffusa.com, joenterprises.com, scdlink.com, and Bay.com.

More information: http://www.pibook.info or call 1-850-291-8540.

Q: What attracted you to the private-eye novel?

A: I started out writing plays and had a couple put on at university but they were pretty awful . . . you know, cartoon working-class people talking to the audience, saying “Eh, it’s grim oop north. All we do is [expletive] and drink.” I wrote some screenplays, thinking I would be the next [Martin] Scorsese, that I was going to be an auteur. [Laughs] So I always wanted to write down and dirty stuff, and that suits this genre.

Q: What distinguishes Cal from other fictional gumshoes?

A: He’s younger and he’s had his early adult years taken away from him in prison. So his moral compass is skewed and he hasn’t matured properly. He’s damaged goods, and that’s more interesting than a pristine character. A hero like Robert Parker’s Spenser, he’s going to make the right decision, whereas Cal might make understandable decisions, but he will make mistakes and be punished for them. Unlike other heroes, Cal always faces consequences.

Q: Does prison also make him look critically at a changing Britain?

A: Yes, with real cynicism too. He’s suspicious by nature. . . . But I got bored with that pretty quickly.

Q: With the social commentary?

A: Yeah, because who cares about my politics? I want readers to care about the character. Other writers do the political thing much better. The social commentary is still there, of course, but it’s mostly having a go at [boy band] fans or [tanning parlor devotees].

Q: Might the series go more in that direction?

A: No, I just finished the first draft of the fourth novel in this series, and I can see a very definite ending. I always said it was going to be just four or five books.

Q: Why did you divide the narration between Cal and Mo?

A: I didn’t want Mo to be the token psycho. OK, his speech is idiosyncratic, but once you get into the rhythm, I think it’s easy enough to read. I read [Anthony Burgess’s] “A Clockwork Orange” when I was 12, and that’s hardly easy. But it’s still English.

Q: Bill James’s novels are wonderfully inventive that way, don’t you think?

A: Yes, they’re so arch, almost Jacobean. And the shock of having police officers act in these awful ways, sort of like [Reginald Hill’s Yorkshire detectives] Dalziel and Pascoe if they had severe mental and moral damage. They’re wonderfully unpleasant.

Q: Like your police officers?

A: I knew I had to have a copper in the series and I wanted him properly involved. The police procedural has a tendency to keep a distance between the crime and the reader, and I didn’t want that. I want you rolling about in the muck. So Detective Sergeant Donkin is that kind of copper. Mucky.

Q: You expose us to some pretty harsh violence too.

A: When Allan Guthrie’s “Hard Man” came out last year, one reviewer called it “torture porn.” I despise that phrase, because it’s entirely inaccurate. With his books, the violence is squarely from the victim’s point of view - it’s never sadistic. It’s painful, as is the violence in my books: painful and shown to have lasting effects. When Cal is hit by a car in this first novel, the injuries last for the entire series. Of course there’s a limit to how much punishment Cal can take and maintain a sense of realism, which raises interesting problems later on. He’s barely functional by book four.

Q: Some slang words I didn’t know: “scally”?

A: It’s “scally” in Manchester, “charva” in Newcastle, “ned” in Glasgow, “schemie” in Edinburgh, “chav” elsewhere. A ragamuffin, a petty criminal.

Q: “Scratchings”?

A: Pork scratchings. A pub snack. Pig skin and fat. If you’re lucky, you might get a hair.

Q: I thought it was yet another drug.

A: Well, it kind of is.

The guide for becoming a private investigator. This book is intended for the novice who wants to become a private investigator as well as for former law enforcement, former military intelligence, security personnel, paralegals, legal professionals, or other individuals.

Learn how to obtain a license, how to set up a private investigation agency, how to market your services, how to find information, types of investigative cases, contracts and report writing, and much more.

The overall theme of this edition is for investigators to obey the law. With the concerns over privacy and identity theft continuing to impact the investigations industry, investigators must obey new laws and adhere to new standards of conduct. In response, this edition covers the issue of identity theft and offers investigative techniques that will be sensitive to current and future legislation.

The key to asset investigations in a privacy-conscious era is to become an excellent database and web-based information researcher with emphasis on using open sources (many of them available through the Internet). Compliance with the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 is encouraged, with explanations on how its financial privacy provisions impact investigators. The text explains data gathering from computer databases, CD-ROM, human sources, surveillance, public records, including intelligence gathering techniques and their role in financial assets investigations. The topics cover both individuals and businesses. They range from obtaining subjects’ basic identifiers, such as a social security number, to using key business ratios to calculate figures for a company’s balance sheet.

Financial investigation for security officers, piercing the corporate veil, news groups, public record searching shortcuts, and learning how to exploit information trails and cutting through smoke screens are examined. Throughout the book, useful forms are provided for gathering, organizing, and analyzing data which allows for easy integration of information. This book serves as a practical primer for emphasizing the use of data collection forms, the latest computer technology, and tools for identifying, locating, and assessing assets and liabilities.

Professionals frustrated with searching for public records can now get accurate and current information on how to obtain records directly from the source. The 7th edition of The Sourcebook to Public Record Information profiles in detail over 20,000 government agencies that house public records. More than a directory, the agency profiles found in The Sourcebook include access procedures, access restrictions, fees, online capabilities, turnaround times, along with addresses, phone/fax numbers, and additional information.

Instant Access To Local County Records
At your fingertips is how to access criminal and civil records for all 3,000 plus counties in the USA. Essential contact information is given to each and every county criminal and civil records office and what you have to do to access the record (by phone-mail-fax-or online). There is even a cross-reference section so you can quickly determine which county to go to for records procurement for any address in the USA.

Instant Access To State Public Record
Just like your major secret weapon to accessing civil and criminal records on a county level, this sourcebook gives you the same data for quickly accessing state criminal records repositories, state corporate records, State occupational licensing, DMV information, sexual predator record sources, state incarceration records, worker’s compensation records and much more. Just look up the state and you gain instant access to the state public records.

Instant Access To Federal Records
Aside from county and state records access, this sourcebook gives you instant access to federal public records of all types. In fact, this sourcebook gives you access to over 20,000 sources of public information.

Comprehensive Coverage!
The Sourcebook contains the industry’s most comprehensive and current and profiles of:

• Now nearly 2,000 pages! Detailed profiles of 20,000+ government agencies & institutions including:
• County Courts (7,900+)
• County Recorders Offices (4,200+)
• State Agencies (1,200+)
• State Licensing Boards (7,321+)
• Federal Courts (498)
• County Locator (30,000+ place names)