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Career Resources
Description: Looking to start your career? Pivot to a new one? Get out of a work funk? Check out these books to jump start your next move in your career. #general
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Here's the Plan
by Allyson DowneyFor many women in their 20's and 30's, the greatest professional hurdle they'll need to overcome has little to do with their work life. The most focused, confident, and ambitious women can find themselves derailed by a tiny little thing: a new baby. While more workplaces are espousing family-friendly cultures, women are still subject to a "parenting penalty" and high-profile conflicts between parenting and the workplace are all over the news: from the controversy over companies covering the costs of egg-freezing to the debate over parental leave and childcare inspired by Mark Zuckerberg's two-month paternity leave.
Here's the Plan offers an inventive and inspiring roadmap for working mothers steering their careers through the parenting years. Author Allyson Downey—founder of weeSpring, the “Yelp for baby products,” and mother of two young children—advises readers on all practical aspects of ladder-climbing while parenting, such as negotiating leave, flex time, and promotions. In the style of #GIRLBOSS or Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office, Here's the Plan is the definitive guide for ambitious mothers, written by one working mother to another.
Shift
by Peter Arnell and Steve KettmannWhen some of the world’s biggest corporations need to revive their brands, innovate products, and rethink their images, they call Peter Arnell.
Now in his fourth decade of branding and marketing for such companies as Samsung, Reebok, DKNY, GNC, and Pepsi, Arnell explains how you can use some of the same strategies that famous brands do, in order to improve your own image, life, and career. Arnell knows this firsthand because he applied many of these same strategies to transform his own life by losing 256 pounds.
How did he do it? Arnell created an idea he calls Shift.
With Shift, you’ll discover the steps you need to take in order to become the best you. Creating and revitalizing brands happens every day in business. Shift shows how you can make it happen for yourself and your personal brand.
Innovative insights such as “go helium” are used by Arnell to explain how he reached his ultimate goal of 150 pounds—you can apply his techniques to reach for your own goals. You will see—through Arnell’s description of how he “went tiger”—how to exercise your own discipline and commitment, without apology, even if that means bucking the norm. And by learning to reach out to your brand audience, you will come to understand the importance of your network of friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and family—your fan club— in keeping you motivated and providing the feedback you need for success.
Weaving together personal stories of his own transformation with stories about how he created transformative change for brands such as Reebok and Pepsi, Arnell shares his unique vision on how each of us can rebrand and transform ourselves, both personally and professionally, to achieve the success we desire.
Reinvent Me
by Camilla Sacre-DallerupIn 2008, at the top of her game as a professional dancer, Camilla left Strictly Come Dancing. Today, although she still dances, she has undergone her own career reinvention. Having trained as a life coach, Camilla is now a motivational speaker, hypnotherapist and meditation teacher. Reinvent Me is a complete 8-part programme created by Camilla to help anyone who is considering reinventing any part of their life. In each part you will find exercises and tools, examples from Camilla’s own life, success stories from other people and a section on overcoming barriers. Each chapter ends with an affirmation for you to use as you complete each part of the programme. Work through the programme at your own pace and see your transformation unfold.
The Reinvent Me Programme in a Nutshell:
Reinvention Roadmap
by Liz RyanBreak the rules and take charge of your career!
The traditional job-search approaches just don’t work anymore, and the days of trusting your career to your employer are long over. The new-millennium workplace requires all of us to rewrite the rules and start treating our careers like we’re running a business—which means understanding the markets for our talents, knowing our value, and looking out over the horizon to plot our paths going forward.
Liz Ryan is a former Fortune 500 HR SVP and the world’s most widely read workplace thought leader. She understands the recruiting system as only an insider can, and she shows you how to stay focused on your goals and distinguish yourself from masses of job seekers. In Reinvention Roadmap, you’ll discover new tools, such as a “Pain Letter” and your “Human-Voiced Resume” to land not just any job, but a job that celebrates your unique talents and takes you to the level where you want to be.
Whether you’re entering the workplace or looking to switch careers, you can get the perfect job if you step off the beaten path and follow the approaches insiders use to gain access to the best positions. Reinvention Roadmap is the colorful, fun, irreverent, and deeply practical guide to getting the job you want and building the career of your dreams.
The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention
by Pamela MitchellReinvention is the key to success in these volatile times—and Pamela Mitchell holds the key to reinvention!
In The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention, America's Reinvention Coach Pamela Mitchell offers every tool readers need to navigate the full arc of career change. Part I introduces the Reinvention Mindset, with what you need to know to be prepared mentally to get started. In Part II, you read the real-life stories of ten individuals who successfully made the leap to new and unexpected careers, using the 10 laws:
Each story is followed by an in-depth lesson that explains how to adapt these laws to your own career goals, and what actions and precautions to take. The lessons answer all your tactical concerns about navigating the roadblocks, getting traction and managing your fears. The final section provides workbook exercises for fine-tuning your reinvention strategies for maximum results.
Clear-headed, calming, practical, and thorough, this is the ideal action plan for getting through any career crisis and ending up securely in the lifestyle you've always dreamed of having.
Comebacks
by Andrea Redmond and Patricia CrisafulliGold Medal Winner, Success and Motivation, 2011 Axiom Business Book Awards. Insight from leaders who experienced major setbacks and redefined success.
In tough economic times, when careers are derailed and leaders are forced to rewrite their professional plans, this book enlightens and uplifts. Comebacks features an all-star cast of ten leaders who endured setbacks-for some a public fall in the midst of media scrutiny-then reassessed and moved ahead with new purpose. Based on revealing interviews, the book presents a behind-the–headlines glimpse into the lives of leaders; how they drew upon resources, both internal and external, to move on; and the lessons that helped them redefine success. Leaders profiled include:
Redmond, a top executive recruiter, and Crisafulli, author of The House of Dimon, show how all leaders face adversity, but true leaders turn adversity into success.
The Comeback
by Cheryl CasoneKaryn never intended to work full time again after leaving to raise her two children. But seven years later, when a divorce seemed imminent, she went job-hunting -- only to find that getting back was as daunting as climbing Mt. Everest. With no resume, no current contacts, and no transferable skills for the jobs she was applying to, Karyn didn’t even know where to start.
Countless women face situations like this every day, with little or no guidance. They’re told to “lean in” and lobby for more sympathetic workplaces, but none of that solves the immediate practical problem: “I need a job. Now.”
Fortunately, career expert and Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone has written a comprehensive guide to making the comeback. After interviewing hundreds of women who are willing to share both their successes and their mistakes, Casone offers a one-stop shop for moms at every stage of the process. This is the perfect book if you’re….
The many real-life stories in this book (including Karyn’s) prove that with a smart strategy and some determination, almost any mom can make a successful comeback. In the process she can improve her standard of living, her self-esteem, and probably also the well-being of her kids.
As Casone writes, “No matter who you are, no matter why change comes into your life, I hope this book will help you to do what my mom did: to stare that change in the face and say with confidence, ‘Bring it!’”
Career Comeback
by Lisa Johnson MandellUnfortunately, getting older can be a career killer. That's what entertainment journalist Lisa Johnson Mandell discovered when she sent out a resume that made her sound like an aged veteran. Her new career makeover guide-expanded from theWall Street Journalarticle about revamping her "older" image to land her dream job-acknowledges that experience matters, but looking and acting up-to-date matter just as much. Mandell provides ten strategies for putting a youthful spin on resumes, Web pages, and personal presentation. Looking young and staying technologically current is crucial to competing in an increasingly tough job market. THE COMPLETE CAREER MAKEOVER offers the ultimate makeover to-do list: From "botoxing" your resume by deleting dates and early jobs, tech-savvy tricks for starting and improving your website or blog and online networking, to updating your wardrobe, Mandell shares the secrets that will get mid-career job seekers noticed and on the payroll.
Pivot
by Jenny BlakeJenny Blake, author of Life After College and former career development program manager at Google, reveals how to methodically make your next career move by doubling down on what is already working.
Careers are not linear, predictable ladders any longer; they are fluid trajectories. No matter our age, life stage, bank account balance, or seniority, we are all being asked to navigate career changes much more frequently than in years past. The average employee tenure in America is just four to five years, and even those roles change dramatically within that time. Our economy now demands that we create businesses and careers based on creativity, growth, and impact. In this dynamic world of work, the only move that matters is your next one.
Drawing from her own experience and those of other successful pivoters, Jenny Blake has created a four-stage process that teaches anyone how to seamlessly and continually:
This book is for anyone searching for an answer to the question, "What's next?"
Whether you have hit a plateau in your perfect-on-paper job, are considering taking on a new role in your current job, are thinking about starting your own business, or you want to move into a new industry altogether, one thing remains clear: your career success depends on your ability to determine your next best move.
If change is the only constant, let's get better at it.
The Pathfinder
by Nicholas LoreDO YOU JUMP OUT OF BED EVERY MORNING AND RUSH TO A JOB YOU LOVE?
Or is the work you once enjoyed now just a way to pay the bills? Perhaps you're even doubting your career choice altogether. Let The Pathfinder guide you to a more engaging, fulfilling work life. Based on breakthrough techniques developed by Rockport Institute, an innovative and award-winning career-counseling network that has changed the lives of over 10,000 people, The Pathfinder offers invaluable advice and more than 100 self-tests and diagnostic tools that will help you choose an entirely new career -- or view a current job from a new, more positive perspective. You'll learn:
Whether you're a seasoned professional in search of a career change or a beginner just entering the working world, you want to make the right choices from the beginning. No matter where you are in your journey, if you want work to be more of a dance than a drag, The Pathfinder will expertly coach you through the process of designing a career you will love.
Strategies for Successful Career Change
by Martha E. MangelsdorfAre you ready for a change?
Whether you’re seeking a more fulfilling job or rethinking your career goals after a layoff, the questions you face are crucial. In Strategies for Successful Career Change, seasoned business and career journalist Martha E. Mangelsdorf distills lessons from a diverse group of people who have made the leap and landed on their feet. To help you navigate the challenges, pitfalls, and rewards of career transition, this book will show you how to:
You’ll assess your current work life and aspirations, while taking into account logistical realities such as finances, health insurance, and family obligations. Through exercises, resources, and inspiring stories from successful career-changers, this supportive and empowering guide will help you find your very best next work life.
Now is the Time to Do What You Love
by Nancy Whitney-ReiterMillions of people hate their jobs. Nancy Whitney Reiter used to be one of them. After finding herself in the lobby of the World Trade Center on 9/11—and getting out safely—she quit. She spent a year traveling the world, figuring out who she really was and what she really wanted to do.
In this book, Reiter distills all she learned rebuilding her life in a practical, proactive approach you can use to make the same changes in your own life. After transforming the lives of hundreds of unhappy clients (and her own), she has truly perfected the art of personalizing her three-part system to meet the needs of every individual. You don’t have to travel the world or have a lot of resources; with Reiter’s unique comprehensive system—which recognizes you as an individual with unique circumstances—you can customize your career path to accommodate virtually any dream, regardless of budget.
Complete with checklists, quizzes, worksheets, and contributors’ success stories, you will find the advice and answers you need to embark on a new career tailored to your personal and professional goals. Whether a recent graduate, antsy thirty-something, or unfulfilled Baby Boomer, you have the guidebook necessary to make one of the biggest—and best!—decisions of your life.
Career Choices and Changes
by Mindy Bingham and Sandy StrykerFrom best-selling authors with over 2 million books in print, this new edition of Career Choices and Changes updates and enhances the earlier expert-applauded versions to address the realities of the 21st-century workplace. Career Choices and Changes is unique because:
Operation Job Search
by John WeissOperation Job Search is the ultimate guide for US military veterans seeking employment after discharge.
It provides information about the civilian workforce, rubrics for navigating one's career, and a list of essential resources to consult during the job search. Also included are sections dedicated specifically to suggestions and resources available to female veterans. Weiss explains that hiring managers and human resources directors hire veterans who make the effort to build a professional relationship.
He discusses the importance of leaving the house and meeting employers at venues such as job fairs, trade shows, office parks, and even Starbucks. Weiss offers practical instructions and crucial tips, such as: Establish an operations center (home office) for job hunting Don't be afraid to make cold calls Dress appropriately for job interviews and practice communicating in civilian-speak, not military jargon Target military-friendly companies that value the skills of returning military personnel If you are a US military veteran searching for a job, Operation Job Search will guide you every step of the way--from translating your skills into civilian-speak to negotiating your contract.
Career Comeback
by Bradley G. RichardsonCareer Comeback helps you create a powerful plan to get back on top
The author of the national bestseller JobSmarts for TwentySomethings, Bradley Richardson is one of America’s top career experts. But he also knows what it is like to experience a career setback. When an entrepreneurial effort failed and he was forced to become a job seeker himself, Richardson discovered firsthand the emotional, social, and financial stress that comes with losing a job. In Career Comeback, Richardson shares his years of expertise along with the hard lessons he learned in the trenches to give readers a realistic action plan for taking control of their careers—and their lives.
With empathy and humor, Richardson takes readers step by step through the challenging process of breathing life back into a languishing livelihood. Inside, readers will get indispensable, nuts-and-bolts advice on how to:
Job security is a thing of the past, but with Career Comeback readers learn how to rediscover their personal best.
Change Your Career
by Laura Gassner OttingHow can you be certain that a new career is right for you? Change Your Career: Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector contains all the vital information that professionals will need to figure out if a career in the non-profit sector is right for them, and if it is, how to make a seamless transition into this sector. Topics include:
Working Identity
by Herminia IbarraWhether as a daydream or a spoken desire, nearly all of us have entertained the notion of reinventing ourselves. Feeling unfulfilled, burned out, or just plain unhappy with what we're doing, we long to make that leap into the unknown. But we also hold on, white-knuckled, to the years of time and effort we've invested in our current profession.
In this powerful book, Herminia Ibarra presents a new model for career reinvention that flies in the face of everything we've learned from "career experts." While common wisdom holds that we must first know what we want to do before we can act, Ibarra argues that this advice is backward. Knowing, she says, is the result of doing and experimenting. Career transition is not a straight path toward some predetermined identity, but a crooked journey along which we try on a host of "possible selves" we might become.
Based on her in-depth research on professionals and managers in transition, Ibarra outlines an active process of career reinvention that leverages three ways of "working identity": experimenting with new professional activities, interacting in new networks of people, and making sense of what is happening to us in light of emerging possibilities.
Through engrossing stories from a literature professor turned stockbroker to an investment banker turned novelist Ibarra reveals a set of guidelines that all successful reinventions share. She explores specific ways that hopeful career changers of any background can:
A call to the dreamer in each of us, Working Identity explores the process for crafting a more fulfilling future. Where we end up may surprise us.
Snap, Crackle, or Stop
by Barbara QuinnWhether you've snapped or are crackling with discontent, this book will help you evaluate your current career state and guide you to make the necessary career change. Filled with examples of real people who have transformed their lives, Snap, Crackle, or Stop will inspire you to do the same. Momentum books are for people who want to make things happen in their career and their life, who want to work at something they enjoy and that's worthy of their talent and their time. Momentum people have values and principles. They question who they are and what they do. Wherever they work, they want to feel that what they do has meaning.
Customize Your Career
by Roz UsheroffTechniques and strategies for professionals to bolster their job security by becoming a more valuable employee
Today's smartest employees know that, to keep themselves from the "firing" line, they must constantly increase their value to their employers, customers, and clients. Customize Your Career presents readers with a twostep process for becoming an indispensable employee, by first defining one's personal mission and then using that mission as a blueprint to develop a professional success strategy.
High-profile career builder Roz Usheroff has made her name by showing business professionals how to discover and develop their own intellectual property, even in uncertain and insecure economic climates. Here, she provides solid, workplace-proven strategies designed to help anyone:
Is This Working?
by Courtney C. GuerraFrom the creator of the Dear Businesslady column comes a fresh, proactive book with advice for women entering the work force as well as those looking to move up the ladder.Everyone deals with some nonsense early in their career—whether it&’s accepting a less-than-ideal position just to get a foot in the door, or having a manager who sleeps with his smart phone under his pillow and expects his staff to do the same. But how do young professionals know if the choices they&’re making are moving them closer to their ultimate career goals? How do they know the answer when they ask themselves, &“is it working?&”Courtney Guerra, a.k.a. The Business Lady, knows how to set you on the path you belong. In a fun-to-read Q&A format, this book focuses on situations young people are likely to encounter in the workplace, along with a set of strategies you can use to get through them.In her signature tone that has gained her hundreds of thousands of readers, Guerra discusses topics relevant to young professionals, like how to make the jump from &“just a job&” to a career in line with what you went to school for, and how to stay productive when working from home at an apartment filled with roommates.No matter what the scenario, The Business Lady has the answer to get you on the path to long-term career success.
The Career Fitness Program
by Diane Sukiennik and Lisa Raufman and William BendatFirmly focused on today's career realities and economy - with sufficient breadth to help students choose, change, or confirm career choices and encourage growth for all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances.
The Career Fitness Program is a top to bottom renovation, reaffirming, recasting, refocusing, and reframing this best-seller to revitalize content, graphics, photos, and layout to address the changing needs of students. It is user-friendly, easy to read, and suitable for both two- and four-year college students. It goes beyond facts and figures by offering critical questions that help students focus on, 'What's in it for them', to discover their best career fit. The organization follows the standard sequence of the decision-making process and career search process - Personal Assessment, The World of Work, and The Job Search - which enables use in short term courses or workshops while still giving students a comprehensive text for reference, and is easily customizable.
Graduate to a Great Career
by Catherine KaputaThis is the most important moment in your career. Branding guru Catherine Kaputa will show you how to get it right.
In today's job market, competition is fierce. After college many graduates fall back to earth with a bump and struggle to launch a career in their chosen field. But what if you changed the way you thought about applications? What if, instead of getting bogged down in the search process, you approached your resume like a marketer launching an exciting new brand?
Marketing guru and brand strategist Catherine Kaputa is an expert in personal branding and knows exactly how to make an application sizzle. Drawing on her years of experience, insightful case-studies of recent graduates, and fascinating insider details from companies like Nike, Volvo, and Google, Kaputa will help you to navigate the career landscape as she shares her strategy for standing out from other applicants, in even the most competitive industries.
Graduate to a Great Career will give you the tools you need to survive and show you how to thrive by creating "Brand You." Catherine Kaputa, award-winning author and founder of Self Brand, a personal branding and development company, is a Harvard graduate who learned brand strategy under Ali Ries and Jack Trout at Trout & Ries Advertising. A successful branding strategist and speaker, Catherine later led the "I Love NY" campaign at Wells, Rich, Greene. She lives in New York City.
The Young Professional's Survival Guide
by C. K. GunsalusImagine yourself in your new job, doing your best to make a good impression-and your boss asks you to do something that doesn’t feel right, like fudge a sales report, or lie to a customer. You have no idea how to handle the situation, and your boss is hovering. When you’re caught off guard, under pressure from someone more powerful, it’s easy to make a mistake. And having made one, it’s easier to rationalize the next one.
The Young Professional’s Survival Guide shows how to avoid these traps in the first place, and how to work through them if you can’t avoid them. Many of the problems that arise in the workplace are predictable. C. K. Gunsalus, a nationally recognized expert on professional ethics, uses short, pungent real-world examples to help people new to the work world recognize the situations that can lead to career-damaging missteps-and prevent them. Gunsalus offers questions to ask yourself (and others) to help you recognize trouble and temptation, sample scripts to use to avoid being pressured into doing something you’ll regret, and guidance in handling disputes fairly and diplomatically. Most of all, she emphasizes, choose your mentors for their characters as well as their titles and talents.
You can’t control the people around you, but you can control what you do. Reliance on a few key habits and a professional persona, Gunsalus shows, can help you advance with class, even in what looks like a “casual” workplace.
All Work, No Pay
by Lauren BergerLand Killer Internships—and Make the Most of Them!
These days, a college resume without internship experience is considered “naked.” Indeed, statistics show that internship experience leads to more job offers with highersalaries—and in this tough economy, college grads need all the help they can get.
Enter Lauren Berger, internships expert and CEO of Intern Queen, Inc., whose comprehensive guide reveals insider secrets to scoring the perfect internship, building invaluable connections, boosting transferable skills, and ultimately moving toward your dream career. She’ll show you how to:
With exercises, examples, and a go-getter attitude, this next-generation internship manual provides all the cutting-edge information students and recent grads will need to get a competitive edge in the job market. So what are you waiting for?
Getting from College to Career
by Lindsey PollakGet Ready for the Real World
How do you get a job without experience and get experience without a job? It's the question virtually every college student or recent graduate faces. Now newly revised and updated, Lindsey Pollak's Getting from College to Career is the definitive guide to building the experience, skills, and confidence you need to succeed in the job search, offering action-oriented tips and strategies ranging from the simple to the expert. Learn how to:
Getting from College to Career gives you the essential information and guidance you need to get your foot in the door of the real world. Don't start your first job search without it!