I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work [Paperback]

Julie Jansen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0142002488 | ISBN-13: 978-0142002483 | Publication Date: January 28, 2003 | Edition: 1

A disturbingly large number of people today are unhappy with their work. In this helpful book, career coach Julie Jansen addresses this work-dissatisfaction epidemic. Using career assessment quizzes and personality exercises, Jansen helps readers understand their present work or career situation, discover the type of work for which they're best suited, and learn how to create the changes they need. Filled with real-life examples and including a useful resource section, this guide provides the inspiration and know-how to implement positive career change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Close your eyes and…imagine what it would feel like to be happy and excited and fulfilled in your work." Can’t do it? Career coach Jansen’s no-nonsense volume just might help. Herself a former disgruntled employee (she worked in broadcasting, recruiting, outplacement and other fields), Jansen is a big proponent of jobs that suit: work, after all, "is not ‘one size fits all.’" She identifies six reasons people find their employ unsatisfying, from boredom with an overly familiar routine, to insecurity in the face of discrimination or a toxic boss, to lack of focus on work due to an eye on upcoming retirement. Several quizzes and questionnaires ("When you think about the things you find meaningful, what comes to mind?"; "Do you prefer to be the leader rather than have others lead"?) help readers identify their job problems and the kinds of work they might find more meaningful, as well as build confidence in their choices. Jansen offers stories of those who made the career change successfully (or in some cases, found a way to renew their interest in their old positions) as well as guidelines for becoming more entrepreneurial. Her advice is seasoned and her tone encouraging, making this a solid resource for people who know they don’t like what they do; it might also be a wakeup call for others numbed into job complacency.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A must-read for anyone who is working and feeling dissatisfied, unfulfilled or unhappy with their current work situation. (Paul Tieger, author of Do What You Are)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1 edition (January 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142002488
• ISBN-13: 978-0142002483
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julie Jansen - motivational speaker, coach, trainer, business consultant and meeting facilitator - works with leaders, managers, senior contributors, lawyers, creative professionals and entrepreneurs in developing the competencies, skills and techniques needed to thrive in today's chaotic business world.

Prior to starting her own business in 1999, Julie worked in a variety of industries including broadcasting, outplacement, consulting, training and recruiting for Post News Week, Drake Beam Morin, Manchester Partners and Provant. Her high-profile client base includes GE, Sony Corporation, Merrill Lynch, New York Road Runners and DHL.

Julie has identified eleven qualities that she considers fundamental to business and career success. These "Eleven Keys" are the basis for her coaching and dynamic,
no-nonsense presentations on leadership and management, communication, executive presence and professionalism, influencing, networking, career management, sales and time management.

Julie has been quoted in numerous publications including Fortune, Forbes, American Way, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Essence, WSJ.com and Fitness. She has been interviewed on the Today Show, ABC World News Now, MSNBC, NPR, CNN Financial News and many other television and radio stations across the United States.

Her first book, I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work (Penguin Books; 2003) is in a 13th printing and published in the U.K., Germany, Austria and Romania. You Want Me to Work With Who? Eleven Keys to a Stress-Free, Satisfying and Successful Work Life...No Matter Who You Work With was released by Penguin Books in 2006. Julie is also the author of a Workplace Coach Booklet series on Networking, Enhancing Your Image, Delegation, Managing Your Career, Time Management and Getting Organized.

Julie earned a B.A. in Mass Communications from the University of Hartford. She is a member of the National Speakers Association and the Connecticut Press Club. She sits on the Advisory Board of Baruch College's Computer Center for the Visually Impaired and volunteers for the Connecticut Women's Business Development Center and a half-dozen unemployment support groups. Julie is also a regular contributor to Yahoo! Hot Jobs, Cancer and Careers.org and JobDig.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

217 of 221 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for the mid-life career crisis...., September 24, 2003

By 

B. Punkert "shadowsinger" (Winnipeg, MB) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work (Paperback)

Ever looked around at what you're doing at work and wondered how on earth you got to this awful place where you hate getting out of bed in the morning? Ever feel like there's something about your so-called 'successful career' that makes you feel vaguely rotten inside? Feel like what you really wanted to be when you grew up got lost somewhere along the way?

Through a series of exercises, Julie Jensen helps you rediscover your values and passions, and to see why where you are right now is so frustrating. This book isn't about finding a job, it's more about defining yourself and seeing where you shine and where you don't.

She categorizes people 'stuck' in their careers into six types (Where's the Meaning, Been there, Done that, Need the Money, Bored and Plateaued, Bruised and Gunshy, One Toe in the Retirement Pool), and then works through specific exercises to help those archetypes set goals that will move them towards more connection in their life.

The book is nice in that it isn't all about having to be an entrepreneur to be happy. Most find-yourself-through-your-career books push entrepreneurship really hard and completely devalidate the whole work concept. Jensen suggests that working for someone else is fine, but making sure your needs are met is important. Many books about career change are horribly vague about how to figure out what you want to do. Jensen provides concrete exercises and examples of how people applied what they learned.

The biggest problem I had was trying to fit myself into an archetype, since I honestly fit into three or four of them. But everything in the book is useful, even if you may not immediately think it applies to your situation.

265 of 284 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Do Know What I Want, And It Is For You To Read This Book, March 1, 2004

By 

Heros Dad - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work (Paperback)

This is THE book you MUST read if you are a victim of a layoff or pondering "What do I truly want to do with the rest of my work life?". As a maniacal researcher and reader, I bought and borrowed dozens of job search/career change books; none came close to the results I achieved from Julie Jansen's step-by-step, no-nonsense guide.

Within 3 weeks of completing this book, I am now employed in my dream job; a job that came true because of the many exercises that are used in "I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This."

Ms. Jansen's guide will have you writing notes to yourself, staying up late dreaming about the life you really want to have, and getting up early to implement the suggestions that are found througout this classic book.

Do yourself a huge favor: stop searching the web, stop browsing at the bookstore, and simply order this book NOW!

P.S. As part of my severance package, I worked with a world-famous outplacement firm. This book was so responsible for my successful career change, that I strongly advised the outplacement firm to make Julie's book mandatory reading for all new clients!

82 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Basic basic basic, March 1, 2006

By 

Theory Grrl - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work (Paperback)

Most of the material in this book is obvious, trivial, or both. Whatever is left has been better covered even in "starter" career books like What Color Is Your Parachute.

I bought this together with several other career change books, including Is Your Genius at Work (Dick Richards), Working Identity (Herminia Ibarra), Finding Your North Star (Martha Beck), and Do What You Are (Paul & Barbara Tieger). I Don't Know What I Want was the only disappointment. The assessment section is a joke, while the advice for individuals with different motivations to change careers appears to be written at an introductory level more suitable to somebody who's starting their first career (in which case see my comment above about What Color Is Your Parachute). All the other books I've mentioned provide either an in-depth method of self-assessment helpful in developing a plan of action, or information about the job search process that hasn't been published in popular magazines; some of them provide both.

It's not worth the bother to return it, but I don't see myself keeping it around or recommending it to friends.