"Wherever you are at this point, you have a feeling there is an authentic career within you. Watch it unfold as you learn about the nine career types, discover which one fits you, and then match yourself to a career that is right for your particular combination of traits, gifts, and wishes. Then, this book will help you determine how to best fit into today's job marketplace. The first step is to ask some questions that have fascinating answers. Who are you? What are your greatest strengths?" - From The Career Within You
Whether you're on the cusp of finishing your education, wanting to leave a dead-end job, desiring to find fulfilling work or needing to secure employment in the face of a layoff, The Career Within You by Elizabeth Wagele and Ingrid Stabb serves as both a portable career-coach and a comprehensive job-matching guide based on your unique personality.
Perhaps you're the Adventurer type (7) like myself, one who relishes pursuing multiple interests, exploring new ventures and synthesizing information--all with a sense of idealism, optimism, infectious enthusiasm and a "sky's the limit" attitude.
Or maybe you're the Peacemaker type (9), one who craves harmony, physical comfort, emotional balance and equilibrium in your career. Your peaceful demeanor brings calm to the workplace, and you're known for being a fair-minded team-player, often with the talents of broad perspective, empathy and mediation.
Using a fascinating personality system called the Enneagram (pronounced ANY-a-gram), The Career Within You will help you determine which of the nine types reflects your innate strengths, motivations and preferences. Peppered with clever and type-specific cartoons drawn by Wagele, this book also features the groundbreaking Wagele-Stabb Career Finder tables for each of the nine types.
The authors encourage YOU to determine preferred strengths according to your type, and then match those strengths to careers that bring you a twinge of curiosity or enthusiasm when you read them.
For example, as an Adventurer, my type's strengths are enthusiasm, idealism, seeking challenges, social networking and synthesizing information. However, the traits I value most in a career are the ability to synthesize and cross-fertilize information. Because I ranked this strength the highest, I then looked at the careers listed in the Adventurer section, noting which ones utilize synthesizing information--as rated by fellow Adventurer types.
I was blown away at the accuracy Wagele-Stabb Career Finder. Would you believe that EVERY career that I found interesting was one that I either dreamed about as a child, seriously considered in High School, majored in at college or actually PURSUED as an adult! In fact, I'm insanely happy with my three current careers and--you guessed it--they all use my preferred strength of synthesizing information! (In case you're wondering, the careers are Writer, Entrepreneur and Stay-at-Home Parent).
But although information contained in The Career Within You passed my personal criteria for accuracy, excellence, comprehensiveness and practicality, I felt that I had to ask someone else to test the Wagele-Stabb Career Finder. Knowing that my husband is a Peacemaker type, I asked him to rate his favorite strengths in terms of job. He selected Capacity to Repeat the highest. I then asked him to look at all the careers and put a checkmark next to the ones that he would enjoy doing.
Get this: almost every job he selected was one that he actually did in the form of a hobby or used at his current employment (which he finds satisfactory)! (And I learned something about him, too; I had no idea he'd like a job as a Personal Organizer! I told them that they are in vogue right now.)
However, The Career Within You doesn't stop there (and compared to a lot of personality and career guides, that would still make it a superior book!). There are also Job Fit Worksheets for each type so you can compare the jobs you've held or are thinking of pursuing, create a starter resume according to your type's strengths, and identify job objectives (including high pay or recession-proof careers). The book also helps you perfect an "elevator" speech, as well as provides tips for getting the word out about your job search and interviewing (and which types could help you with various aspects of securing a job).
At 360-pages, The Career Within You also supplies sample resumes and case studies throughout, highlighting the connections between type talents, favored strengths and career requirements. Wagele and Stabb also recommend reading the types before and after your primary type (known as "wings" in Enneagram lingo) for a broader perspective into additional talents and career opportunities.
If you're ready to step off the treadmill and find work authentic to your personality, you must get The Career Within You.
College graduates will find a wealth of information, including crucial insights that might save them from chasing someone else's dream or pursuing an unfulfilling career. In additional, this book belongs on the shelf of every Guidance Counselor or college advisor; even high school students will benefit from the personality-related material.
There IS an ideal job out there for you, especially in light of your innate strengths, preferences, and motivation. The Career Within You, especially the Wagele-Stabb Career Finder, will help you discover what it is and how you can best secure it. I've already recommended this book to several of my clients, most who come to me for job advice, and I know I will continue to do so in the future.
-- Janet Boyer, author of Back in Time Tarot (Type 7w8)
