Lindsey Pollak, author of Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World
“Jenny Blake is a rock star of her generation and her book, Life After College, shares her energy, enthusiasm and wisdom. The book is chock-full of tips, tricks, tweets and the genuine empathy of someone who has been in the shoes of her readers. Recent grads will love her writing style and the book's exercises, which encourage readers to personalize their own journeys.”
Christine Hassler, Author of 20 Something, 20 Everything and The 20 Something Manifesto, Life Coach, Speaker
“Jenny really understands what it is like to be a twenty-something in today’s society. This book serves as roadmap for navigating the various aspects of your life during your twenties. Jenny shares wonderful tips, practical advice and stories to help inspire individuals to live their truest dreams.”
Chris Guillebeau, Author of The Art of Non-Conformity
“College is easy: you get a schedule of classes and a four-year plan. Life is hard: you have to make the plan yourself. Thankfully, Jenny's book helps you make the plan, with plenty of time for both career and life itself. Jenny's great book lives up to its hefty promise—read it to get what you really want. Don't wait! ”
Alexandra Levit, Author of New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career
“Jenny Blake is an overwhelmingly positive voice for the Millennial generation. Here is someone who is working her way up the ladder at one of the most prestigious companies in the world while pursuing her dream. Read this book, become Jenny's friend, and be privy to all the life skills and knowledge she has learned along the way...in Twitter-sized bites!”
Dr. Susan Biali, M.D. Wellness expert, coach, international speaker and author of Live A Life You Love: 7 Steps to a Healthier, Happier, More Passionate You
“I wish someone had given me this book twenty years ago! The wisdom and maturity behind the tips and insights in Life After College are simply mind-boggling coming from a twenty-something author. Jenny Blake has written a guide to life that would enlighten and equip anyone, not just college students. What a gift this book will be to anyone who is lucky enough to read it.”
Ruth Ann Harnisch, President of The Harnisch Foundation and Founder of Thrillionaires.org
“Jenny was once my coaching client, and now her book is coaching ME. Yes, even experienced coaches can benefit from the back-to-basics self-examination that Life After College requires of its readers. The book is chockablock with tips, exercises, anecdotes and ideas that can help anyone create an independent, happy, fulfilling life.”
Adrian Klaphaak, Career Coach and Founder of A Path That Fits, Inc.
“Pithy not preachy, and way more than just good advice, Life After College distills the essential knowledge that you need to navigate your twenties, and coaches you through the process of implementing it to create meaningful results in your life, work, and relationships.”
Phil Villarreal, Author of Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel
“Life After College is less a book than a compass. It's also an interactive pep talk, a plan of attack and a treasure trove of razor-sharp advice.”
Barbara Fittipaldi, CEO of Center for New Futures
“This is your real life – not a practice life. It’s important to stop for a moment to think about what really matters to you, what lights you up, what you truly want in life – and then to design a roadmap to that future. Jenny’s book is that roadmap. She helps you explore your unique genius, gives you fast-acting strategies and innovative exercises and shows you how to make your personal and professional dreams a reality. Most people spend more time planning their vacations than planning their lives. Miracles will happen when you follow the inspiring and practical advice Jenny offers. Give it as a gift to everyone you know who wants to get the most out of life.”
Kevin Smokler, co-founder of BookTour.com
“Jenny Blake's Life After College should be called The Rest of Your Life After College. It's the smart, useful get-up-and-go guide we all need to not only live big, but to live better.”
Neil Pasricha, Author of The Book of Awesome
“A book that solves all your life's problems and gives you a big wet kiss afterwards? AWESOME!”
Pamela Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
"Life After College is the perfect guide for the smart, motivated college graduate who does not want to spend the next twenty years blindly tripping through life to find happiness. Her advice will not only save you time and money, it will get your career off to a roaring start so you can enjoy what you are doing, while you are doing it. This book should be required reading for every college senior."
Forbes.com, March 29, 2011
“…it will resonate with anyone who is trying to figure out what they want – not just folks in their early 20’s who are navigating life without dining halls and class schedules. …In Life After College, Blake’s debut title, Twitter meets What Color Is Your Parachute. Using the short and concise format that has made Twitter and other social networking sites so popular with young professionals, the book reads like a portable life coach with tips from Blake herself, crowd-sourced information and exercises pertaining to 9 separate major life areas”
BookPage, May 2011
READY, SET, GO! Jenny Blake knows about post-college life because she’s experienced it twice: first, when she took a leave of absence from UCLA in her junior year, and again when she returned to UCLA two years later to finish her degree and graduate with the class of 2005. She’s been a career development program manager and internal coach at Google since 2006, and she launched LifeAfterCollege.org in 2007. Now, she offers the lessons she has learned in Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want. Blake confides that, while she’s always been a go-getter (she finished college in three years with a double major and honors, while working full-time beginning at age 20), she found herself exhausted at age 25 and unsure what she wanted to do next. She writes, “I finally . . . took steps to figure out what I wanted, and who I really was under the shiny veneer of achievement.” The author urges readers to view the book not as a narrative meant to be read beginning to end, but as a sourcebook that can be used to find specific information (on, say, taxes or etiquette or health) or thought-provoking exercises to help establish long-term goals. Advice from college graduates, tidbits from Twitter and quotes from famous figures make for interesting, quick reads, and “Jenny’s Tips” address seemingly every question that might cross a graduate’s mind, regarding work, money, home, family, dating, health and plenty more. This guide will prove at once useful, inspiring and reassuring for graduates who are ready to embark on an exciting new phase of life but aren’t quite sure where or how to begin.
Atlanta Journal Constitution, 5/23/11
This is another book providing more than job-search advice for new graduates. In fact, the actual hunt for work is covered rather briefly. Instead, Blake concentrates her attention on lifestyle issues ranging from work-life balance to managing friendships as a young adult.
Two features of this book stand out for me and qualify it for recommendation as a gift to graduates.
First, Blake has included one of the better discussions on goal-setting and big-picture thinking that I have seen. To my mind, this concept is not covered very well in most careers books, which I can’t understand. What’s the point of getting a job if you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish in your life?
And second, I like the exercises and worksheets. These are nothing fancy, but Blake has a good instinct for summarizing the points a reader would need to explore in order to develop an action plan on each topic.
