What Next? The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life [Paperback]

Babrara Moses (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2003

What does work mean to you?

WHAT NEXT? is your personal coach to self discovery. Reveal your authentic self and gain a deeper understanding of what motivates you in your quest for fulfilling and meaningful work.

WHAT NEXT? is the ultimate career resource for every stage of your working life: starting out, searching for your unique path, moving ahead, re-evaluating priorities, considering flexible work arrangements, shifting careers, or evaluating later career options.

WHAT NEXT? resonates with the tough realities of what you face at work today- both the challenges and opportunities. Dr. Barbara Moses has worked with thousands of people of all ages and from every type of work. She has learned what people struggle with, what causes them to derail, and what they need to rise above the frenetic busyness and make successful career and life choices.

Your journey to work that matters.

A comprehensive career bible, WHAT NEXT? features self-assessment tools, diagnostic instruments, quizzes, guided exercises, easy-to-follow samples, models, and savvy career advice. Its age and career stage targeted advice will enable you to: discover your unique talents, values, and motivational type

- find your fit in ten industry sectors and roles within those sectors

- identify your best work and work configuration from self-employment to part-time and all points in between

- find, pitch yourself for, and create great work

- overcome career challenges such as burn-out, boredom, and lack of passion

- restore balance in your life

- become a career activist and express your authentic self in your work

- apply twelve new strategies for career success

More than one million people have completed Barbara Moses' internationally acclaimed Career Planning Workbook, a corporate bestseller. Now, Moses reveals the secrets behind that success in WHAT NEXT?, an inspiring, insightful, and intelligent work that provides caring advice that works. Beautifully designed, the book motivates and guides you through the process of revealing your unique talents and translating those features into work that matters to you.

Managers, career coaches, and human resource professionals will find fresh ideas and information on attracting, retaining and developing new workers, including:

- developing and rewarding people based on their motivational type

- designing work environments and cultures that meet the needs of today's worker

- coaching bored, stressed or burned-out individuals

- understanding the skill and attitude requirements for success in different roles and functions

- making work/life balance work for individuals, types of work, and in the culture

- inspiring individuals to become career activists

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Career seeker: know thyself' is the message of this useful guide to making the most of your time in work. The point being that to prosper in a career you have to find the sort of work that suits your personality type. If you find yourself in work that does not suit you, personally, then your career will stall and you will soon grow frustrated. At which point Barbara Moses steps in to offer guidance. The author runs her own human resources consultancy and has already published widely on this subject, albeit for a more specialised corporate market. What Next? is clearly intended for a more general audience; indeed, for anyone feeling that a change is due but unsure about how to take that next step. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Highly acclaimed, best-selling author, professional speaker, and television personality, Dr. Barbara Moses, has helped millions of people define their career goals and achieve career success. Moses is president of BBM Human Resource Consultants, whose client list includes Lucent Technologies and Price Waterhouse Coopers. She has written articles for, and been profiled by many publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and HR Professional.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1st edition (April 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789493551
• ISBN-13: 978-0789493552
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heading in a New Direction, August 30, 2003

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Next? The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life (Paperback)

"Work is one of the most intimate expressions of our identity. Bad work crushes us. It destroys our sense of competence and spills over into all areas of our life. Great work, in contrast, inspires us. It makes our souls sing. It allows us to be the best we can be." ~Barbara Moses

Whether you are just starting out and are looking for that first job to start you on your career path or you are considering changing careers in order to find a more fulfilling work environment, I can highly recommend "What Next?"

When you start reading the introduction, you will be amazed by the depth to which this book will take you. This is not a dry how-to-find-a-job book, this is about finding a soul-satisfying vocation. It is about finding work that not only provides a sense of purpose, but allows us to express our values, talents and strengths.

The two main ideas of "What Next?" include developing an independent attitude of being who you are by expressing your authentic self and acknowledging that a good job is a right, not a privilege.

Dr. Barbara Moses is a career expert who shows people how to uncover the core themes of their present jobs and find a career to help them become an expert in their field. She is known as a career guru, and her widely-read career column in the national Globe and Mail shows her deep love for career activism.

In this excellent source, you will:

Find out why career decisions can be distorted by unhealthy attitudes about money.

Discover your core interests.
Know how to express your authentic self in any work situation.
Find the information on how to avoid being a victim of age discrimination.
Overcome fear and learn to find work in tough times.

The 5 chapters include information on how to:

1. Know Yourself - The author starts with you, not with a list of jobs you might be interested in. First, you find out who you are. It was enlightening to discover my core needs in relation to the work environment. Do you want to change the world? Help people become more successful? Become famous? This is a book you will want to save. Throughout each chapter, you can record your thoughts about career issues. If you don't know who you are by page 85, I can tell you, you never will. This is simply brilliant information.

Dr. Barbara Moses will show you how to identify your motivational type. Are you a sociability seeker, career builder, authenticity seeker, personal developer, autonomy seeker, novelty seeker, stability seeker or lifestyler. This was all very intriguing. Once you have identified yourself, you can research work environments that are the best possible match for your motivational type.

2. Find Your Perfect Path - Once you have discovered your motivational type you can proceed with confidence to the rest of the book. You can then start to figure out which organizational sector fits with your personality. You will easily find one of the industry sectors that really appeals to your ideas of a great job. This is the chapter that discusses changing your career.

3. Find Great Work - Finally you know who you are and you have your areas of interest all mapped out. Now you create a powerful resume and cover letter and start interviewing. There is also information about what to do or not do when you lose a job. You will find out what employers are looking for and discover how to "net" a job. There are samples of a chronological and functional resume. The interview section is quite interesting. I?ve been asked some pretty tricky questions that I would have understood more fully had I discovered this wonderful resource near the time of the interview.

4. Overcome Career Challenges - If you have started to feel that your work is meaningless, you might be going through a career crisis. This chapter discusses everything from being fired to overcoming boredom and burnout. Are you feeling unfulfilled or do you have to deal with a difficult manager?

5. Boost Your Career Intelligence ? Learn how to market yourself, overcome networking angst and be kind to yourself. Throughout this book you will also find diagnostic instruments, guided exercises, quizzes and easy-to-follow samples, models and worked examples.

"What Next?" is an insightful look at how we can select a fulfilling career. Barbara Moses gives you the power to find your dream job in a contemporary employment landscape. This has to be the most exciting book on employment I've ever encountered.

~The Rebecca Review

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Above average, April 16, 2004

By 

Anton (Summit, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Next? The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life (Paperback)

The formula for the current career management books is: (1) start with self assessment (accomplishments, skills, values, strengths); (2) analysis of where you fit best -- what tyep of profession, organization, etc.; and (3) how to manage career challenges.

As this formula goes, "What Next" does a decent job. It is populated with a variety of assessment tools, it covers the basics, such as resume writing, cover letter writing, interviewing, negotions.

What holds the book back, in my opinion, is that it does not provide anything more than the basics -- surely, it's nicely illustrated and well written, but so are many other books in the field. If you are looking for a concise, to the point and practical guide, I recommend WetFeet "Job Hunting A to Z".

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practioner review, May 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: What Next? The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life (Paperback)

One of the few books (of many) on the topic that is very practical - both for individuals managing their careers and for practicioners in HR, like myself, trying to help employees do the same in the Corporate world. I have a bookcase full of such books (because I am in the field I am compelled to buy each new one) and few can match the content of this book. Covers all areas to help you take charge of your career. Besides the content and messages, what separates it from the rest of the crowd is the presentation. The color, the pictures, the Career Counsel notes, the "sidebar sections/boxes", and most importantly all the tools - the assessment tools, worksheets, quizzes all make this a book very "user-friendly". The tools are so important - brings the theory to life. The tools are models of what HR Managers look to develop and provide to employees to support them in the process to manage their careers.