Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career [Paperback]

Sheila J. Curran (Author), Suzanne Greenwald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Most people would love to have 20/20 hindsight on their careers. In Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads, college career experts Sheila Curran and Suzanne Greenwald have assembled the next best thing: the collective wisdom of a diverse and inspiring cast of success stories—twenty-three liberal arts graduates who have gone on to all manner of fascinating and satisfying professions. The authors have combined lessons from the stories with their own hands-on experience with thousands of students and graduates to outline a framework for finding a perfect career. What makes Smart Moves different is that it provides essential career advice while being fun to read. Readers will be struck by the frankness of the biographies of real graduates whose careers have taken twists and turns. Todd turned his passion into a living as the founder and CEO of several small businesses and a professional cellist; Thad's path took him from English major to a dream job in the front office of a major league baseball team; and a subway ride helped Sharon speed her intended career leap from a luxury department store to journalism. What binds them together is that they have all made smart moves on the way to career success—both during their liberal arts education and in the real world.Smart Moves not only champions the value of a liberal arts education, it also embraces the complexity of careers, and the notion that many different factors contribute to success: education, experience, attitude, personal characteristics, and a good dose of luck. Smart Moves is an inspiration to all those who are seeking proven strategies to follow their passion—no matter what their age.The quarter million liberal arts students who receive diplomas each year will truly benefit from the insights of Smart Moves. But this book is equally helpful for high school students (and their guidance counselors) looking at colleges, for graduates still looking for their life's work, and for parents who want to understand career realities for their children. An innovative career guide for our stressful, fast-paced world, Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads illuminates valuable career lessons with sharp advice and an unparalleled framework for success.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Smart Moves is a marvelous book. Marvelous! It stands head and shoulders above most other books for college students, recent graduates, and their families.”—Richard Nelson Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute?". . . [a] terrific book. . . advice is both encouraging and down-to-earth."—Fortune  Read a Washington Post review of Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads

From the Publisher

* Career advice for current and future liberal arts majors and graduates from two career counselors, featuring both straightforward job-searching advice and real-life stories from grads who have taken unique paths to their dream careers. * Sidebars and distill the "smart moves" that turned liberal arts degrees into career success. * Debunks the top four myths for liberal arts majors: a liberal arts degree is a lousy investment, you have to go to grad school, your major equals your career, and GPA is everything.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580087094
• ISBN-13: 978-1580087094
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading For My Students, March 16, 2007

By 

D. Warshay - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career (Paperback)

Smart Moves is a fantastic resource, which I recommend to all my students, especially to the ones who approach me bewildered and anxious about internship, job, career, life mission issues. I worry about the official and unofficial messages they are receiving from a variety of sources inside and outside the university (e.g., advisors, peers, parents, recruiters, employers).

I frequently lend out my two copies of Smart Moves, and believe it should be required reading for any student seriously considering career issues.

Thanks for writing it!

Danny Warshay
Professor and Entrepreneur, Brown University

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book That College Sophmores and Freshman Should Read, January 31, 2007

By 

K. Mohan (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career (Paperback)

This text is excellent, and really gives students an eye-opening perspective on what else is out there. I think this book would be especially useful to students at top universities - students who often assume that the only choices after college are investment banking, consulting, or professional school.

The book is very simply an excellent example of calculated risks - a series of stories of graduates who weren't afraid to take their own paths after college. The lessons resonate across wide demographics.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Career Book That's Truly Different, October 31, 2006

By 

Peter Vogt (Bloomington, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career (Paperback)

Unlike the nuts-and-bolts approach you find in the typical career book, Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads taps into the detailed stories of real job seekers--namely, 23 relatively recent college graduates who share their career journeys with the reader.

As they do, authors Sheila Curran (executive director of the career center at Duke University) and Suzanne Greenwald (an educational advisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) point out the "smart moves" the graduates have made along the way, so that you can easily pick up on both the attitudes and behaviors that lead to career success--even when you don't have a plan mapped out ahead of time (which describes the vast majority of those profiled in the book).

The authors also devote the first 40 or so pages of the book to the universal "smart moves" made by liberal arts graduates who go on to career success. The most critical is No. 5: "Find Your Hook"--i.e., "a way to differentiate [yourself] from other job seekers"--whether it's a special skill you have or a unique experiential background that you bring to the table.

If you love stories--especially stories that will illustrate important career concepts you need to know as a college student or recent grad--buying Smart Moves is, well, a smart move.