Customer Reviews

The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy

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So far I've found two career books to recommend: Working Identity (Herminia Ibarra) and Finding Your Own North Star (Martha Beck). Now I'm adding this one to the list. Beck focuses mostly on choosing what you want; Ibarra talks about the search process. This book is somewhere in between. Beck has more exercises for choosing a career and Ibarra goes into the process differently. I'd work with all three.

The title is unwieldy and the book takes a serious, no-nonsense approach. Mitchell focuses on exploring options. Much of her advice seems based on taking a sales approach; she even refers to "career reinvention materials."

Mitchell doesn't have a lot of soul-searching exercises, like "What should be on my tombstone." She invites readers to heed their intuition. Like Martha Beck, she believes the body knows more than the mind: if you find yourself feeling ill when you contemplate a type of work, it's time for a move.

Nor does she spend a lot of time on the trappings of a career search, such as resumes. In fact, if you need to write a resume, she invites you to download samples from her company's website.

Some useful points:

Career reinvention takes chronological time. She points out that many career-changers think "six weeks" when they should be thinking "six months." I would agree more with Ibarra in Working Identity, who says three years is not unusual.

Besides chronological time, you need time during your week. One of my own clients said she could talk to me on Sunday evenings at 6 PM Eastern. Her weekdays were completely taken. She was too busy to change careers; she needed to take an interim job that would free up her hours.

Functional fear versus dysfunctional fear. Functional fear is based on realistic situations that you have to deal with.

Real qualifications versus negotiable qualifications. To be a doctor, you need an MD. For other careers, you may be able to substitute experience for academics.

My only quibble is that Mitchell can be a little too strong on some points. The term "laws" in the title sets the tone. For instance, on page 27, Mitchell suggests that "Patty" who dislikes a marketing job will not find happiness by moving to Google, which is after all an online advertising company. Yet in fact the culture of a high-tech company will be so different that a job with the same title might be transformed. I've seen people change their whole attitude to a career when they switched companies or even moved to a new geographic location. It's not always easy to pinpoint the source of discomfort.

Similarly, researchers find that serendipity plays a key role in both career change and career success. By staying active and following the steps Mitchell lays out, you are more likely to experience the kind of serendipity that propels you forward. But I've met few people who logically chose a career and then took a linear path to get a job in that field. Mitchell undoubtedly understands the zig-zag pattern of career change, but she doesn't highlight it the way Herminia Ibarra does in Working Identity.

Still, this book is one of the best career books I've seen in a long time. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more publicity. The long, awkward name and bland cover might have something to do with it. The blurbs on the back cover don't really convey excitement and the subtitle is a yawn that doesn't even describe the book.

I picked up this book expecting to scan it for a few helpful ideas, but I found the writing to be quite compelling and ended up reading the book carefully in full. The writer has a wide variety of experiences which have given her fresh perspectives on what it takes to be satisfied with, and therefore successful in, a career. She asks us to look at who we are, what we want, and why we want it, and challenges us to question certain assumptions about ourselves. She also gives the reader very useful tools to help assess abilities and develop strategies. Throughout it all, she makes the book real by sharing her own ups and downs in her careers and reinventions. This is a well-written, carefully organized book. I think that it would be helpful not only to those thinking of career reinvention, but also to young people who are choosing majors, selecting graduate schools, or in other ways making early career decisions.

I started reading this book and could not put it down. Pamela Mitchell has an amazing sense of what people are really going through in their search for true fulfillment in their work and in their lives. She offers so many practical strategies and in a do-able order. Her "extras" at the back of the book and available on her website offer huge value to the reader. I would recommend this book to anyone who is "searching" and is ready to work with a powerful plan.

These days changing jobs often means changing careers; a prospect that can seem daunting for mid-career professionals unwilling (and who could blame them) to chuck their years of experience and begin a new career at the apprentice-level. Pamela Mitchell's new book offers a welcome alternative. In clear, concise, and compelling writing she outlines the 10 Laws of Renivention necessary to successfully re-route your life, meet your goals, and get the career you've always wanted. Each "Law" is paired with a real-life case-study drawn from her years of work as the founder and CEO of The Reinvention Institute. You're likely to recognize yourself in more than a few of these stories. Best of all, her no-nonsense strategy is smart, sensible, and attainable; a welcome change from the usual pseudo-, psycho-, new-age, "think-yourself-into-a-new-job" approach that round out so many other career development books. Don't expect sample cover letters or tips and tricks for the perfect interview but, if you're serious about getting an upper hand in this very challenging economy, check out this straight-talking career specialist and her thoroughly enjoyable and eminently helpful guide.

I usually don't do reviews often, mainly because I'm not a writer, or maybe it's because I have nothing to write. However, this book is the one of the best books I read in a while. I give it 2 thumbs up for the Arther, she is great. I would recommend this book to everyone, especially if you trying to re-invent your thought process and changing careers.

I found Pamela's book to be an excellent read and highly recommend it to anyone who is in the process of career reinvention. It has the ability to allow one self to look to reconnect with that part of one's self that has been lost, forgotten, or put on a back shelf due to the daily grind of life and use these new found gifts to design and create a strategy to reinvent oneself in a way that honors one's values, aspirations, and life purpose. The companion workbook included a series of exercises which put each Chapter's content into practice by allowing one to discover an awareness of their inner-most values, innate gifts and life purpose and integrating this new awareness into current career goals.

I love this book! A `must read' for anyone changing careers or getting back into the world of work after an absence for whatever reason. I couldn't have asked for a more timely road map to help me on my career reinvention journey. The rules and values of work have changed and Pamela explains very clearly how to adapt to the new economic reality. She starts with the premise that your career should support and deliver the life you want and not the other way around; this really hit home for me. You begin your reinvention by creating a vision of the life you want and only then focus on the kinds of careers/work that can deliver that vision. It quickly puts things into perspective regarding priorities and trade-offs that we often don't consider in our rush to get our dream job.

The author clearly knows what she's talking about. The book helps you craft a step-by- step plan for reinventing your career with lots of helpful exercises and examples. Myths and assumptions are explored and exposed for what they are. The book also deals with the emotional aspects of career change, which, if not dealt with, can derail your efforts before you even begin. It's nice to know that it's normal to have certain fears and to have the tools to overcome or work around them.

I thoroughly enjoy Pamela's down to earth, honest portrayal of the road to a new career. The book is extremely well written and well laid out, making the process easy to follow. In addition to the author's professional knowledge and advice, there is a warmth and sense of humor that permeates the book and makes it such a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book.

This is one of the best books I have read about job-seeking. Pamela Mitchell writes very well and her suggestions are very timely in today's job market. I highly recommend this book.

If you're unhappy with your career or you feel like you're not being challenged, then read this book. The stories are powerful, the lessons are timeless and the workbook exercises will help you realize the possibilities. Pamela, someone who has gone through career reinvention herself, will help guide you to a fulfilling life.

Great book--I even purchased extra copies as gifts for friends who are also at a crossroads and yearning to do something more meaningful. The author, Pamela Mitchell provides real life examples which makes it an engaging read and even more importantly, she is direct and honest about the pitfalls people will encounter on the path of career reinvention--all the while very inspirational.