Books

There are an amazing number of informative and helpful career and college guidance books on the market. Here are some of my favorites.

This is a especially insightful book, full of real-life stories of individuals from many walks of life who have changed careers mid-life. Written by someone (Bronson) who himself desired a fresh career start, the stories present career and life re-invention in an authentic way, full of realistic stops and starts, reflections, epiphanies, hardships and great satisfactions.

Packed with useful tips on how to successfully transition from college to career, prolific author Lindsey Pollak writes in a personable, self-effacing tone while nevertheless providing a most authoritative guide on the topic. A self-styled expert on Millennials in the workplace, Ms. Pollak is perhaps one of our industry's most sought-after speakers and presenters in the media.

Written by a pair of veteran Silicon Valley innovators and co-founders of The Life Design Lab, this book tackles the challenge of successfully uncovering and launching a new career from more of an engineering approach. Surprisingly though, the book is very readable and easy to follow. Full of exercises, it frames career exploration as a step-by-step problem to be solved.

In this book, noted education expert Jeffrey Selingo provides a good deal of practical step-by-step advice for young people planning to enter the workforce. In particular, he discusses how to make yourself more marketable to employers in terms of acquiring or improving the kinds of skills they are looking for.

Here is the latest edition of the best-selling classic. It has managed to continue offering practical and engaging career exploration and transition advice from generation to generation by constantly adapting to changes in the workplace.

In this personal memoir, Life Coach Steph Gold relates her own personal challenge in developing the kind of career and life she wanted. Written for primarily a female audience but also applicable to just about any young person trying to launch, the book also provides useful hands-on exercises.

Here is the seminal work by Joseph Campbell that introduces and discusses his theory of a trans-cultural 'Hero's Journey' that ultimately all of us must make in order to live fulfilled and actualized lives. It is rather dense but if you can work your way through the material, you may find yourself seeing your own lifepath in a new way.

One of the best-known authors in the field in terms of guiding individuals over the age of 50 into different career paths is John Tarnoff. Here is a link to his popular book Boomer Reinvention. Tarnoff has a solid understanding of the contemporary challenges facing older individuals in terms of re-entering the job market. He writes in an engaging style as someone who has personally gone through the career 'reinvention' process himself.