The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People [Paperback]

Carol Eikleberry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

You don't have to stifle your creative impulses to pay the bills. For anyone who's ever been told, "Don't quit your day job," career counselor Carol Eikleberry is here to say, "Pursue your dreams!" Now in its third edition, her inspiring guide provides knowledgeable career guidance, real-life success stories, and eye-opening self-evaluation tools to help artistic individuals figure out how to remain different, unconventional, and hard-to-categorize while finding work they love.

 The revised third edition of the popular guide for offbeat individuals seeking work that suits their unique skills, talents, and passions. Updated throughout, including new inspiration and tips for keeping a creative job notebook. Descriptions of more than 270 creative jobs, from the mainstream (architect, Web designer) to the unexpected (crossword-puzzle maker, police sketch artist). Previous editions have sold more than 60,000 copies.Reviews“What a great manual for young rebels and older freethinkers who are plotting their next career move.”—Boston Globe

 

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

* The revised third edition of the popular guide for offbeat individuals seeking work that suits their unique skills, talents, and passions.
* Updated throughout, including new inspiration and tips for keeping a creative job notebook.
* Descriptions of more than 270 creative jobs, from the mainstream (architect, Web designer) to the unexpected(crossword-puzzle maker, police sketch artist). --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

CAROL EIKLEBERRY, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who has worked as a career counselor for more than 20 years, both in private practice and at university counseling centers. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Revised edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580080758
• ISBN-13: 978-1580080750
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eikleberry has shown me I am not alone!, December 29, 2001

By 

C. M. Archibald - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People (Paperback)

I bought this book for a friend, but I had no idea I needed it this much myself. Eikleberry's book lays out a psychological profile of creative and unconventional people and shows us there are many more like ourselves out there. She maps out the skills and interests of creative people and shows you how they point to different career paths. There are even self-tests along the way to help you assess your skills-and the results may surprise you.

This book shows you that just because you're an "artistic" person doesn't mean you have to choose between being a starving artist or having a "normal" job. She explores the wide variety of jobs available for creative people, but is also realistic in stating that these jobs are not as plentiful as more conventional jobs.

If you're frustrated, and generally feel lost in your career choices, this book can give you hope and help point you in the right direction. She doesn't give you the answers, but she helps you know how to look for the answers within yourself.

I highly recommend this book to college students and twenty-somethings in particular. But this book is appropriate for any creative and unconventional person who needs a new direction.

75 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the right book for some of us, May 23, 2004

By 

Anne S. Headley (University Park, MD United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People (Paperback)

Before you buy this book, I think you should read all the reviews posted here. There is a wide range of opinion (Eikleberry would use the word divergent), and there is merit in all. If you are motivated to earn big money, you won't find this book helpful. It doesn't have nuts and bolts - could have used some hints on resumes and interview strategies for the creative folks who have changed jobs more frequently than others. It seems a little restrictive in its use of creativity - I believe we all are creative, only it looks different depending upon personalities and occupations.
This disclaimer notwithstanding, it's a great book. I'm a career counselor, with many clients who are or would be in the arts. I'm recommending this book to them. If you majored in music, theater, art, or even the liberal arts, you will be reassured by this book. If you wish you had majored in these things, it's not too late to get back to your first career aspirations in some employable form.
I particularly like the section on the interim job (which may be for a few months or for a lifetime). This can be reassuring to read, so the artistic soul can stop the self-flagellation because he/she "sold out" and took a job.
For the small cost of this book, you can become re-inspired and energized in your career quest.

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into and Understanding of the Creative Job World, December 11, 1999

By 

F. Jerry Bigelow (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book to any person who has even a sliver of creativity and feels that there must be something else out there besides the typical 9 to 5 drugery. Good news, there is! Carol Eikleberry's book is not a "Follow these 5 steps to obtain your perfect job" guidebook. What is does offer, however, is an overwhelming amount of promising insight, advice, and support for creative people uncertain of their career future. From an analysis of the creative personality in the workplace to real life examples of those who have made it, this book delivers hope to the weary and gives us the tools to begin on our career journey. It is The Career "Bible" for unconventional people!