Book Reviews & Links
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi
There is information out there about self-development, changes in the workplace, transition management, and how-to techniques.Reading is such a powerful tool that Anne Headley is part of an online reading group for career counselors who learn from each other as well as the books they choose.
Anne's book reviews are posted here and on Amazon.com
The Internet puts a variety of career-oriented resources at your fingertips. Click here for some of Anne's favorite sites.
Book Reviews
Job Search 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
For the Career Professional
About Specific Careers1 2
Job Search
1. The Career Coward's Guide to Changing Careers
Katy Piotrowski, JIST, Indianapolis, IN (2008)
For a book with a somewhat cumbersome title, this book walks the reader through the basic steps of getting a job with humor, grace, light-heartedness, and understanding. From skills identification to adjusting to your new job, Piotrowski covers self-assessment, visualizing success, brainstorming your options, and prioritizing tasks; these steps will all take the job seeker further down the path. I particularly appreciate the way the author rates exercises by their risk level. This tells me she has not forgotten her target audience, people who feel stuck, even paralyzed in the face of action. There are many case studies and strategies which can be of use to people. Although the book appears a little simplistic from time to time, a glance at the names in the acknowledgements tells you that the author is well-versed in the field of career development. I have one concern about this book; you won't find an in-depth explanation of the origins of career fear. You won't find suggestions to seek help for fear if these step by-step strategies don't work. With this one exception, I find this a delightful, readable, and useful little book.
2. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job
Patrick Lencioni, Jossey-Bass (2007)
A miserable job is not necessarily being a ditch-digger in the rainy season. It doesn't mean the graveyard shift in the graveyard. According to Lencioni, a miserable job is a personal thing. No matter where one works or whatever one's title, certain conditions must be present to sustain us in our careers. If three negative factors are present, we are miserable. The author says we despair when we endure anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurement. If your name is not ever attached to your work or if you are unknown, you suffer from anonymity. If you don't know the purpose of the tasks you are performing, you may believe you are irrelevant. If you cannot gauge your success or failure on the job, you may find yourself in the condition known as immeasurement. Lencioni relates the importance of these traits in a catchy fable format. Easy to read (almost too easy - makes you wonder if the theory is as simplistic as the writing), he takes you through big business, a small diner, and a regional manufacturer. The reader gets to observe how these three traits can be identified and addressed in a variety of work settings.
Lencioni's book is somewhat endearing. I believe we hunger for the human touch in our daily work. We yearn for recognition, for meaning, and for standards against which to strive.
This book will be useful for managers and would-be managers as well as those who are suffering in poorly-run places of employment. It can explain what is missing in your job and how you might go about making changes. It seems to me that it would be useful in job interviews to raise questions of individual recognition, relevance, and goals in the workplace.
This book can easily be read in a few hours, but you will think about it for a long time after finishing it.
3. Refuse to Choose!
Barbara Sher. Rodale Press. (2006)
A new book by Barbara Sher is always worth noting and probably worth buying without additional information. This small volume, loaned to me by a friend, is a gem for the right person. In the prologue, the author presents a list of characteristics of what she calls Scanners: they never stick to anything, they go off on tangents, they get bored, they change their minds, they suspect one thing is never going to be right.
Finally, a book for the Scanners among us. Did you change your major (or do you wish you had)? Are you a job changer? Do your family and friends despair that you will ever settle down? This book is for you. Sher presents honorable options for the creative folks in our midst, the ones whose resume are long and somewhat unwieldy.
You never will be like everyone else, she says, and you probably wouldn't like it anyway. There are ways to accomplish great things, though, and Sher gently leads the scanners into a path of selective organization.
If you don't need this book, don't read it - you will find it boring. But if you are a person of broad tastes and interests, give it a try. I think it is a perfect companion to Carol Eikleberry's book (reviewed next).
4. The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People (revised edition, 1999)
Carol Eikleberry, Ten Speed Press
If you are motivated to earn big money, you won't find this book helpful. It doesn't have nuts and bolts - could have used some hints on resumes and interview strategies for the creative folks who have changed jobs more frequently than others. It seems a little restrictive in its use of creativity - I believe we all are creative, but it looks different depending upon personalities and occupations.
This disclaimer notwithstanding, it's a great book. Many of my clients are or would be in the arts. I'm recommending this book to them. If you majored in music, theater, art, or even the liberal arts, you will be reassured by this book. If you wish you had majored in these things, it's not too late to get back to your first career aspirations in some employable form.
I particularly like the section on the interim job (which may be for a few months or for a lifetime). This can be reassuring to read, so the artistic soul can stop the self-flagellation because he/she "sold out" and took a job.
For the small cost of this book, you can become re-inspired and energized in your career quest.
And now: an opinion from a client/reader of this book:
A Guiding Light
Pre-Eikleberry, I was beginning to believe that the possibility of having a stable yet creative career was a mere pipedream placed in my head by my idealistic liberal arts mentors. I was beginning to believe I had no other choice than to wither up inside the confines of a cubicle that would inevitably crush my dreams and my artistic potential. In this way, since my future was becoming hazy, reading Carol Eikleberry's book, “The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People,” was like putting on a pair of glasses. After the first chapter it was clear that not all hope was lost. Right off the bat, Eikleberry validated my feelings of frustration and isolation. She offered comfort and recourse by relaying her own job experiences and those of her artistic clients. In essence, she was able to show me that I am not alone; there are options for creative people in the job world. In the first chapter, by coaxing me to define my personality and my skills, conventional and otherwise, she encouraged me to hone my career goals. Feeling productive, I went on to the second chapter and matched up my skills and interests with a comprehensive list of career choices. Also I was able to envision creating a unique patchwork career that would fulfill all my artistic needs-this she suggested doing but the patches had to be pulled from my own imagination. Nevertheless, with Eikleberry's help I realized that it was okay to try several paths, that many people have done just that and, in the end, have found themselves filling creative niches no one thought existed. Because of this book my future now seems to be brimming with possibilities instead of dead ends. Ultimately, while Carol Eikleberry cannot usher you into an interview and land you the job of your dreams, she can certainly help to point the way by instilling you with the confidence to begin what she calls “the process of your adventure.” - LK
5. The World is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-First Century
Thomas L. Friedman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. (2005)
Upon reading this lengthy and fact-filled book, one does truly feel more understanding of the changes of this new century. What on earth is going on? The earth is the new workplace. Friedman begins this opus with a reference to Columbus and his intended goal of reaching India and her riches. Well, we're there. This account of outsourcing, global production, changing credentials and shifting economic balances could well be depressing, and at times it is. Yet, it's not all bad news for the U.S.As a career counselor, I try to keep up with employment possibilities and trends, but must confess to feeling overwhelmed for the past few years. Suddenly, I feel a bit better. In one of the more engaging chapters, Friedman identifies four ways of being more confident in one's job: you can be special (like a superstar - not too many openings there), you can be specialized (a particular form of medicine, a skilled translator, problem-solver or horse whisperer), anchored (the waitress, bartender or opera singer, tied to a particular place), or you can be adaptable.
The last category is one that Friedman feels is particularly reachable for Americans. We can be inventive, creative, and flexible when we need to be. The drudge work, the repetitive tasks are the things that can be done more economically in a low-wage location.What will I do with this information? I will have my clients consider their problem-solving abilities, their success stories on the job, their exemplary customer service, their leadership. These elements will find their ways onto resumes and into interview discussions. I recommend this book to ground yourself in the work world of today and tomorrow
6. Luck is No Accident: Making the most of Happenstance in your Life and Career
John D. Krumboltz and Al S. Levin. (2004)
Those of us familiar with the theory and stories of happenstance have been awaiting this book a long time. Thank you, authors, for making your theory available to anyone in need of inspiration. Thank you, also, for validation of those rare magic moments that have opened doors for us all at some time.
I encourage my clients to minimize their obsession about the perfect resume format or interview suit. Rather, they should maximize encounters and opportunities. When I'm coaching someone in the fine art of network and that person freezes in terror or boredom (and I can't always tell which), I'm going to recommend this book instead. It makes the point that failures, mistakes, and even random encounters can be the seeds of a meaningful new career direction. So go forth - speak to your neighbor, get in touch with a former teacher, talk to the librarian, the dentist, the person behind you in the grocery line. You never know - this might be the day you get lucky - or maybe I should say - the day you create your luck and good fortune.
7. What Color is Your Parachute?
Richard N. Bolles. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley
I love this book!
As a career counselor, I'm delighted when a client refers to Bolles or a specific component of Parachute. I then know I'm working with a focused, dedicated, and diligent person, willing to do what it takes.
It's important to know what Bolles does not do.
He doesn't cover career trends or updated Labor Dept. information. He doesn't compare resume formats extensively.
Bolles goes fearlessly into the spiritual aspect of career. Many of us fear being dogmatic on this topic, so tend to avoid it entirely. Yet clients (some of them) are eager to explore a sense of vocation for today's troubled planet. Bolles opens doors into exploration of one's mission which I am eager to pursue.
8. Since Strangling isn't an Option... Dealing with Difficult People -- Common Problems and Uncommon Solutions
Sandra A. Crowe. Perigree Books, 1999
We love to read about difficult people. Every author has funny categories of them, and Crowe is no exception. You can read about apes, owls, hyenas, snails, and bees, among others in this book. The writing is funny and easy to digest.
What sets this book apart from many others, however, is the inclusion of many checklists. Such things as "instead of this, say that" lists are worth the modest price of the book.
I am of the belief that we are all difficult people. We call ourselves resolute, others see us as stubborn. We call ourselves flexible, others call us uncertain. Crowe has an excellent inventory of a few questions that can help identify our moods and expectations.
If customer service is your business (and who doesn't have customers?), you will find this book not only clever but helpful. I like it.
And no, strangling is not an option.
Buy a career book
9. Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
Barbara Ehrenreich. Henry Holt, New York, 2005
This is a scary book for career counselors (I"m one of them). Could we possibly be so ineffective, so shallow, so quick to pigeonhole? Are we and our aims doomed?
Ehrenreich strongly suggests so. In this journey through the maze of job hunting services, she encounters people who sell her make-up, clothing advice, and religious salvation. No wonder she's discouraged.
However, what's the premise here? To embark on her job search, she has changed her name and invented a work history. Could it be that employers can somehow detect a certain, um, phoniness? Is this enough to prove that middle-aged women cannot get full-time jobs?
I asked a client if he thought it would be helpful for me to give feedback on the shape of his suit lapels which would compliment his face (not that I would know how to do this), and he looked shocked. "Of course not. We deal with more inside things than that." Yet Ehrenreich actually had this happen to her (for a hefty fee).
There is shallowness out there.
There is also phoniness. I don't know what to make of the world that comes into being when you combine the two.
Buy a career book
10.The Job Hunter's Word Finder
James Bluemond, Peterson's, Princeton, NY, 1996
This is a surprising helpful little book, easy to use, which can increase the effectiveness of your résumé, cover letter, or even professional conversation.
As the author points out in the introduction, many employers now use a scanning system to screen résumés. The scanning process involves the selection of certain key words. But which words?
This book can help you include the important words and terms.
Part 1 is a word finder. From ability to zealous, you will find key words, their definitions, and a variety of synonyms. Use this part as a thesaurus to add interest to your résumé. To make the point that you are enterprising, you can also say you show initiative, are active, aggressive, ambitious, etc., all the way to venturesome.
Part 2 is a career index. I would say it, too, moves from A to Z, but in this case it's accountant to program director, radio. Under each of these key occupations, you will find a list of words to describe skills, responsibilities, and attributes.
There is also an index of positions which relate to these key occupations
I'm enthusiastic/excited/exuberant/keen/willing to recommend this book to someone who is feeling stuck about preparing career materials.
Buy a career book
About Specific Careers
1. 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For (2nd edition)
Leslie Hamilton and Robert Tragert, Arco Thomson Learning, Stamford, CT 2000
Beginning with a definition of a nonprofit organization (it lies between government and business, it's typically about social change or improvement, it may be controversial, and it provides a service), this book ranks organizations which employ over 100 people, have an annual budget of over $1 million, has been in business at least three years, and whose culture is somehow linked to its mission.
From Nature Conservancy to Zoo Atlanta, here is a brief description of well-known or lesser-known organizations.
You'll have point of contact, a statement of philosophy, and some assistance in identifying your dream organizations. There are also some tips on job-hunting in the nonprofit world.
It's fascinating reading!
Buy a career book
Links
Part of successful career planning is information. Here are some excellent sites:
http://www.thecareerclinic.com
The companion site for The Career Clinic(R) radio program. Audio clips updated daily, with career development advice and inspiration. Anne Headley has been a contributor to the Career Clinic for five years.
Labor Market: At U.S. News and World Report's site http://www.usnews.com/usnes.com/usnews/edu/careers/cchome.htm, you will find recent articles about employment trends and a useful list of the hottest careers for today and tomorrow.
Another friendly site for career planners is The Riley Guide http://www.dbm.com/jobguide.
It has many job listings and job search hints.
Dick Bolle's Job Hunter Bible site http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/ has advice, information, caution, inspiration, and links to specific resources for people looking for jobs or new directions.
