15 Career Books Every Job Seeker Shall Read
Traditionally, there is little insight in the process of job searching and recruitment. In job hunting, there are many steps to consider: from networking and finding open positions to applying and interviewing. The more you are prepared, the better it will go for you. These 15 highly-rated, career-related books can be a help in landing your dream job.
1. “The Leap: Launching Your Full-Time Career in Our Part-Time Economy” By Robert Dickie
The economy has made major leaps in the past decade. Have you made the leap along with it?
Work is different for this new generation than it was in the past. Long-term careers are on the way out, and “gigs”—part-time, contract, or freelance work—are becoming more common. Whether you’re in the midst of a career or just getting started, now is the time to prepare for changes headed your way.
President of Crown and former CEO of an international company, Robert Dickie has a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw from. With these he outlines seven proven strategies for operating in our ever-changing landscape and helps you make an action plan to achieve results.
What does it look like to avoid anchors, create multiple income streams, and brand yourself? The Leap will help you navigate these and other critical tasks for having lasting work in a changing economy. [BUY]*
2. “How to Stress Less: Simple Ways to Stop Worrying and Take Control of Your Future” By Benjamin Bonetti
How To Stress Less provides you with an easy to follow guide to help you effectively release and manage everyday stress that can seriously affect your health. Benjamin does not promise to wave a magic wand to make your troubles disappear. Rather, he addresses the impact of stress and helps you deal with deep-seated issues surrounding common reasons we find ourselves stressed out in the first place.
In this forward thinking stress manual, How To Stress Less offers:
- Guidance and advice which has helped many of Benjamin’s clients free their lives of stress
- Practical tips to address the issues that trigger everyday stress as well as tips on how to respond
Effective solutions to quit worrying for good and learn to relax. [BUY]*
3. “Moving the Needle: Get Clear, Get Free and Get Going in Your Career, Business and Life” By Joe Sweeney
A detailed system that will help you achieve your professional and personal goals
Moving the Needle provides both the “kick in the pants” and the game plan many of us need to break out of the rut and get moving to achieve our goals. CEOs, vice presidents, professionals, military personnel, and even college students frequently express frustration at the entrenched status quo, in which initiating progress feels like moving mountains. This book lights a path toward continual improvement, helping readers first find a direction, then make the key transitions that jumpstart forward progress. This highly practical guide outlines a change process that can be applied to professional or personal goals, giving readers a concrete plan for making big things happen. Rather than blindly shooting for the moon, readers will formulate a solid, systematic, actionable plan that can only result in progress. [BUY]
4. “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance — What Women Should Know” By Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
Working women today are better educated and more well qualified than ever before. Yet men still predominate in the corporate world. In The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay argue that the key reason is confidence.
Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to “lean in.”Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve. [BUY]*
5. “What Color Is Your Parachute? 2019: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers” By Richard N.Bolles
In today’s complex job-market, the time-tested advice of What Color Is Your Parachute? is needed more than ever. Recent grads facing a changing economic landscape, workers laid off mid-career, and people searching for an inspiring work-life change all look to career guru Richard N. Bolles for support, encouragement, and advice on which job-hunt strategies work—and which don’t. This revised edition combines classic elements like the famed Flower Exercise with updated tips on social media and search tactics. Bolles demystifies the entire job-search process, from writing resumes to interviewing to networking, expertly guiding job-hunters toward their dream job. [BUY]*
6. “Coach Yourself to a New Career: 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life” By Talane Miedaner
Bestselling author offers a step-by-step program to making the right choices about a new career move
Don’t fear taking the leap into a new career with this seven step program from bestselling author and life coach Talane Miedaner. Whatever the situation or economic environment, Coach Yourself to a New Career gives you the tools to take matters into your own hands by assessing your needs and strengths, finding the right work fit, weighing options and possible sacrifices, and preparing your family for transitions. [BUY]*
7. “Getting from College to Career: Your Essential Guide to Succeeding in the Real World” By Lindsey Pollak
Getting from College to Career by Career Expert and Global Spokesperson for LinkedIn, Lindsey Pollak, is an insightful, essential world guide for college students and recent graduates who are preparing to embark upon a career beyond the university walls. Now newly revised to reflect the most recent changes in the economy and job market, these “90 things to do before you join the real world” will give every young grad a head start, providing essential information for adapting to and succeeding in a marketplace that is now more competitive than ever. [BUY]*
8. “The Career Chronicles: An Insider’s Guide to What Jobs Are Really Like — the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Over 750 Professionals” By Michael Gregory
In this nuts-and-bolts guide, over 750 professionals speak candidly about “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of two dozen popular professions. Dispensing with romantic fantasies, real-world professionals — from nurses and pharmacists to architects and attorneys.
Chapters include overviews of each profession, followed by helpful information about education, testing, and registration and licensing requirements; the number of positions across the country; and the average starting or median annual salaries. [BUY]*
9. “The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success” By Nicholas Lore
Do 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. [BUY]*
10. “Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand” By William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson
This book details the concept of personal branding in a magnificent and easy-to-digest presentation that is a must-buy for every serious job seeker.
Arruda and Dixson are widely respected in the global career coaching community as gurus who not only teach but live the personal branding model, and their expertise and passion show through on every page of this practical, indispensable book. [BUY]*
11. “The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster” By Steve Dalton
A job-search manual that gives career seekers a systematic, tech-savvy formula to efficiently and effectively target potential employers and secure the essential first interview.
The 2-Hour Job Search shows job-seekers how to work smarter (and faster) to secure first interviews. Through a prescriptive approach, Dalton explains how to wade through the Internet’s sea of information and create a job-search system that relies on mainstream technology such as Excel, Google, LinkedIn, and alumni databases to create a list of target employers, contact them, and then secure an interview—with only two hours of effort. Avoiding vague tips like “leverage your contacts,” Dalton tells job-hunters exactly what to do and how to do it. This empowering book focuses on the critical middle phase of the job search and helps readers bring organization to what is all too often an ineffectual and frustrating process. [BUY]*
12. “Knock ’em Dead Job Interview: How to Turn Job Interviews Into Job Offers” By Martin Yate CPC
Using his twenty-five years of experience, New York Times bestselling author Martin Yate has established a set of rules for job interviews that is sure to get you noticed. Instead of memorizing canned answers, Yate provides you with an explanation of the thought behind more than 300 questions and answers, so that you’ll always know what the interviewer is really asking and how you should respond. Packed with information on handling stress questions and weird interview venues, this book also teaches you how to keep your cool–and confidence–from the moment you step inside the building. [BUY]*
13. “Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type” By Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron and Kelly Tieger
Finding a career path that you’re passionate about can be difficult but it doesn’t have to be! With this bestselling guide, learn how to find a fulfilling career that fits your personality.
Do What You Are, the bestselling classic that has helped more than a million people find truly satisfying work is now updated for the modern workforce. With the global economy’s ups and downs, the advent of astonishing new technology, the migration to online work and study, and the ascendancy of mobile communication, so much has changed in the American workplace since this book’s fifth edition was published in 2014. [BUY]*
14. “A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way Into the Hidden Job Market” By Katharine Hansen
This empowering and accessible guide shows career rookies how to get a foot in the door-and then kick it wide open. The revised second edition emphasizes the importance of contemporary social networking, such as discussion groups and forums, online portfolios, and blogging. Featuring a list of networking hot spots, confidence-building advice for the shy or intimidated, and a comprehensive guide to informational interviewing, A FOOT IN THE DOOR reveals proven strategies that will help those seeking their first real-world job land the position they’ve been looking for. [BUY]*
15. “The New Rules of Work: The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career” By Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew
The world of work has changed.
People in previous generations tended to pick one professional path and stick to it. Switching companies every few years wasn’t the norm, and changing careers was even rarer.
Today’s career trajectories aren’t so scripted and linear. Technology has given rise to new positions that never before existed, which means we are choosing from a much broader set of career options—and have even more opportunities to find work that lights us up. However, we don’t discover and apply for jobs the same way anymore, and employers don’t find applicants the way they used to. Isn’t it about time we had a playbook for navigating it all?.[BUY]*