The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love [Paperback]

Maureen Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2008

For those who long for their "dream job," a dose of wisdom from those who've found theirs. As the longtime host of a radio show devoted to helping people find work they love, Maureen Anderson has often invited listeners in to hear firsthand accounts of people who not only relish their work, but live without regret. "The Career Clinic" is filled with intimate, revealing, inspiring stories of career transitions that led to fulfillment, meaning, and peace... and offers suggestions for how others can make them too. Readers will learn how to find their place in the world, have fun, and say, "Yes!" to what truly makes them happy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anderson has compiled interviews from her radio talk show into a self-help guide that gets off to a wobbly start with a maudlin introduction that argues in favor of using impending death as the starting point for making career decisions. The author suggests determining which activities—if never pursued—would fill the reader with the most regret if they suddenly discovered they were going to die tomorrow. Subsequent sections offer glimpses into how other people made their lives work for them after finding their job was keeping them from enjoying their lives. Unfortunately, aside from sharing manifold examples, Anderson provides no concrete steps; rather, she defers to the classic career book, What Color Is Your Parachute? These short conversational stories attempt, merely by presenting a series of success stories, to inspire those who want to make life-altering changes, and after the first 20 or so testaments to the joy of finding a true calling, the results start to wear thin. Spending time reading about other people's happiness seems like yet another delay in getting off the couch to find one's own. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“…plenty of practical advice and guidance on how to make the leap from the usual 9-to-5 routine to having a love affair with their career…useful advice and encouragement to those hoping to achieve happiness and prosperity in both their professional and personal lives.”

Today’s Black Woman

“Maureen Anderson skillfully weaves together the stories and her ‘eight rules,’ making for an enjoyable, informative and motivating book about finding your dream job.”

Long Island Woman

“If you are ready to take control and look at your life and job in a different light, then The Career Clinic is just what you need to get you started…an inspiring must-read for job seekers. The book is entertaining and humorous.”

Suite101.com

“If you like reading briefs about careers – some unusual – this well-written book is for you.” -- Career Opportunities News

“…the stories…will inspire you, reassure you, comfort you to continue on the often-hard work of the journey. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” -Communicatrix blog

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (October 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814410510
• ISBN-13: 978-0814410516
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #748,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 8 proven paths to career success, October 2, 2008

By 

Anne S. Headley (University Park, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love (Paperback)

If you learn by stories, this career book is for you. From failure to success, from boredom and burnout to passion, Maureen Anderson has captured stories of people who took the road less traveled, and oh what a journey they are on!
This book reads like armchair adventure, because it is. You can learn how to get the courage to walk away from a job which is getting you down and onto an uncertain career path which will put a smile on your face.
From her years doing radio interviews on The Career Clinic, Anderson has gleaned eight guidelines that her successful people have followed, and these eight rules of career success are the divisions in the book.
If there is anything I would change, it is that the eight rules referred to in the title are sometimes overshadowed by the dynamic tales told by the interviewees. Several times, I had to flip back in the book to find out which rule a story illustrated. But I'm not sure it is a flaw to have such exciting people unfolding in the pages of this book.
As a career counselor, I'm aware that my clients have too few models before them in how to walk away from the security of a good-paying job and into a life of uncertainty and joy. We don't see enough of it. But here they are - folks who have done it and are so glad they did.
Need a dose of enthusiasm, energy, inspiration? Here it is.
Buy this for that gifted someone in your life who needs to be reminded to go for it - that now is the time.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Never Too Late to Have a Happy Life, March 1, 2009

By 

Sharon Lee (Wilmington, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love (Paperback)

This book was a wake up call. We all keep making excuses for not doing what we love, what defines us best, what makes us happy. It is always something that other people can do, something that we can do next year, or the year after, or if things were different, of if our child was older, or more settled, or. . . the list has a thousand fill-ins. The point is---it is not too late, at 30 or 50 or 50 or 60 to tackle what it is that we fear and require and long for and are here to do in the few years that we have to do them within.

Maureen Anderson's book was a short, impactful and motivating read. Both my husband and I laughed and cried while reading it and are actually making real life changes because of what we read in her book. So many diverse stories of so many different ways to create meaning in our all too short time on the planet. Thanks, Maureen for putting your life force and passion and spirit into your mission to give people a reason to believe that they can choose joyfulness and real purpose instead of dread or fear as an everyday reality.

This Spring I am planning to give this book to both new graduates and old graduates and to sit back and see what unfolds. Wish that I had had this book 30 years ago but I am glad to have it now instead of a year from now. A good read.

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing reading, March 17, 2011

By 

ALVARO CISNEROS BAGAZGOITIA (Madrid, SPAIN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love (Paperback)

Behind a very evocative tittle is a light content full of personal stories. I was surprised to see that there is hardly no imput from the author. The 8 simple rules, are 8 simple titles, but there is no reasoning behind. I was expecting much more. I was expecting a more professional and detailed work by Maureen Anderson. I did not find it usefull at all.