Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
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3 star:		(2)
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"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

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".

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.

Lot's of people wrestle with issues and questions at different points on the journey through personal and career life - "What are my options?" "How should I proceed?" "What will happen if I fail?" "How can I become a better parent, colleague, friend, partner, etc." I have spent years working with people who are exploring these kind of questions; they are different and uniquely personal for each individual. Many despair the effort because there are so many important variables to consider that the prospect of sorting through the maze is overwhelming.
The author of What's Next has detangled the maze by providing an enormously user friendly road map to life and career milestones and destinations. The concepts, tools and exercises build logically to enable the user to develop insights and conclusions that are right for them. Real examples and anecdotes provide validation that others have faced and overcome similar challenges and issues.
What's Next is about building personal knowledge and self awareness; the key elements to assuming activist responsibility for creating and achieving life and career goals. What's next is about what to do and how to do it. What's Next is about quality, content, presentation and an overall value proposition that is irresistible and unbeatable.

Much of this book is available for free on web sites such as Montser.com and Career Builder. If you can find it used great, but I do not recommend it new.

The sections about writing cover letters and resumes are pretty standard. Again, this info is just a click away if you use Google. For goal setting, read something by Zig Ziglar or the likes. For working on your self-esteeem read Jack Canfield or the classic book by Jason McClure, "How to find your dream job and make it a reality."

BTW, as I am writing my review I noticed that the four 5-stare reviews below appear to be written by the same person. Note that they are from the same state and the same day! Shame shame. Padding reviews is not cool.

I bought this book because I was in the process of changing jobs and I was not sure, at first, if I would actually complete all of the exercises shown here. My previous pattern had been to read through books like this and ignore half of the exercises.

I am so glad that I perservered. This book is full of self-assessments and questionnaires that can help you to discover what your current goals are and what environment is best for you. I've read career books before and I've tried to do complicated exercises to understand myself, but this is one of the first books that I've read where I really had an 'a-ha!' moment. I learned things about myself that I do not think I would have noticed had I not gone through this book.

Some of these things you can find in other places, but why not have it all in one place? While it is not exaustive in terms of helping you to find out specific jobs in your industry, it does help you to define your skills, motivations, the general size of the company you wish to work for, and the type of schedule that will suit you best.

It also has information on becoming Self-Employed and helps you to see if your personality and motivation are compatible with entrepreneurship.

If you are really ready to get to know yourself or if you are in a place where you need to change industries, this is a good book because it helps you to see how you got to where you are and why you want to leave. You can take a look at yourself and see how to improve any weak spots or underdeveloped skills. Because the approach is realistic, you can create a foundation for your future and understand how to build yourself and your skills towards the career you ultimately want, even if that career involves taking a great risk.

The day before I purchased this book, I was considering getting a career coach, and when I started doing the exercises, I realized that I now HAD a career coach and that I had just saved myself $330!

I highly recommend What Next?... Even if you do seek career counseling, this will give you a fantastic start. It will also prepare you so that you know what to say when you are in an interview. I found that doing the exercises brought all kinds of memories into my mind that I had not thought about in years which were relevant work/life experiences. This made the process much easier for me because the information was fresh in my mind.

Best of Luck!

Amazing book! Through a vast array of personal assessment tools and practical career development theory, Ms. Moses helps guide readers through a real evaluation of how they work, what motivates them, as well as what skills and strengths they bring to the workplace. What Next is easy to read, interesting, and not at all condescending - how sick are you of reading books like that? But it does require some work and effort, like anything of value would. I would have to say "What Next" is the ultimate "how to" for those "willing to."

Absolutely fabulous! This has been a phenomenal resource for my personal career growth and for coaching employees on understanding their career goals whilst overcoming obstacles.

Brilliant ! This book was comprehensive, chock full tips/suggestions and practical ideas for everyone that is committed to taking charge of their career & life challenges. It also serves as an excellent reference guide which I have used to "coach" others. Thank you barbara, for always being willing to share your insights in such a straight forward manner.

Barbara's third book is a wonderful blend of thought provoking trends for the future, practical assessments and tools for the reader and it is esthetically stunning in layout and design. What Next is more like a work of art than a book. In addition to providing insights for the individual, there are many practical benefits for human resource professionals, career counsellors and organizational development practitioners. A great buy and definitely a keepsake.