What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job [Hardcover]

Kerry Hannon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2010

Filled with inspiring stories from real people who have changed careers mid-life, What's Next? is an exciting roadmap for anyone looking to make their next job their dream job. From a former mortgage banker who's back in the classroom to a tough cop turned Nashville music agent, these in-depth testimonials offer encouragement and adviceand prove that it's possible to pursue your passion. Authored by Kerry Hannon, a celebrated journalist and leading authority on careers and personal finance, What's Next? offers those seeking a more fulfilling path the tools to get started and the inspiration to do it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A fascinating and extremely helpful book for anyone planning to switch careers--from one of the nation's leading experts on the subject. --RICHARD EISENBERG CBS MoneyWatch.com

A must-read for anyone--at any age--curious about a career change. A perfect blend of inspirational, readable stories and logistical, practical advice, walks you through the nuts and bolts of switching careers so you can follow your passion the smart way and set yourself up for long-term success. (If I didn't love my career so much, this book would be my bible!) --BETH KOBLINER Author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties

Kerry Hannon is a top-rate personal finance journalist filled with smart, practical advice. --DIANE HARRIS Executive Editor, Money Magazine

These profiles reflect the passion of those who have taken a different path. The practical advice will make the journey smoother for others summoning up the courage to take that leap of faith. Tim Smart, Executive Editor, U.S. News & World Report

An essential roadmap and guidebook, full of great ideas. Jim Connor, Assistant Managing Editor, CNBC Business News --CNBC Business News

More and more people have realized the importance of following their passions. But if you can't make money at it, it's your hobby. Follow Hannon's road-map to make sure you're on the way to a passionate--and prosperous--career. --JEAN CHATZKY Best-selling author of The Difference and Pay It Down

A fascinating and extremely helpful book for anyone planning to switch careers--from one of the nation's leading experts on the subject. --RICHARD EISENBERG CBS MoneyWatch.com

From the Back Cover

More and more people have realized the importance of following their passions. But if you can't make money at it, it's your hobby. Follow Hannon's road-map to make sure you're on the way to a passionate--and prosperous--career. --JEAN CHATZKY Best-selling author of The Difference and Pay It Down 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1 edition (April 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811871150
• ISBN-13: 978-0811871150
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #710,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kerry Hannon is an award-winning author and career reinvention expert. She is a nationally acclaimed personal finance and retirement authority and the AARP Jobs Expert. She writes the Great Jobs for Retirees column on AARP.com. She is a Contributing Editor for Forbes Magazine and writes the Second Verse column. She writes a personal finance column for boomer women at the PBS website, NextAvenue.org. Her NEW book is Great Jobs for Everyone 50+ (John Wiley & Sons, September, 2012).

Her previous book, WHAT'S NEXT? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job (Chronicle Books), is a winner of the Independent Book Publishers medal for Career and Business Books and Axiom Business book award. Hannon is also the Money section book review columnist for USA Today.

Hannon is the author of Getting Started In Estate Planning (John Wiley & Sons), Suddenly Single: Money Skills for Divorcees and Widows (John Wiley & Sons), Ten Minute Guide to Retirement for Women (MacMillan Publishing), and You and Your Money: A Passage from Debt to Prosperity (Credit Education Group). She has penned one non-fiction saga of an American Indian Trading Post, Trees in a Circle: The Teec Nos Pos Story (Teec Nos Pos Trading Post).

Hannon has previously served as a reporter and personal finance columnist for USA Today and as a writer and editor for U.S. News & World Report, Money, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, and Forbes. She was a regular women and money columnist for iVillage.com.

Hannon's work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Institutional Investor and Advertising Age, among other national publications.

She has appeared as a financial expert on ABC News, CBS, Fox, CNBC, and CNN and has been a guest on numerous radio programs, including National Public Radio's "Talk of The Nation."
Hannon received a Bachelor of Art's degree from Duke University and is currently a member of an editorial board at Duke.
For more on Kerry, visit, http://www.kerryhannon.com/
Follow her on Twitter: @KerryHannon

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for Baby Boomers, no good for Gen X, Millenials July 11, 2010

By Todd Justman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I found this book to be quite frustrating and tone-deaf in this economy. Judging from the subjects of most of the case studies, this book is written for the recent retiree who has a steady retirement income coming their way. For those of us who are in the generations that won't get a retirement, the book is almost offensive. It will also probably offend Baby Boomers who have lost their jobs to read about one hard-charging executive after another who decides they want to make wine or birth calves. Heck, the lawyer-turned-farmer featured in the book has NO expectation to make any money. To have that kind of security must be nice, but for 99.9% of the American population, we want or need to change careers to MAKE money. Hard-charging executives will always do fine - what about the rest of us who are left with dwindling fortunes to match our dwindling 401(k)s and home values?

The format of the book itself is very good, although I was initially skeptical. The book lays out case studies and then has a Q&A and a summary of tips in-between. The questions can use some work; the question "would you do anything differently" was answered the same each time - "nothing" - so it was useless. Using stories teaches the concepts and makes it much less text-booky. I would want to combine this book with a companion title that would be more methodical in walking you through an approach. Perhaps the famous "Parachute" book would do well. This book is more about teaching old dogs new tricks. I see this targeted to the generation where a one-company career was the norm, but with my generation we have no illusion of that; I have no problem believing I could make wine someday if I wanted to. If you don't believe that for yourself, than this book would be great....

In the end this wasn't the book I was hoping for. I was hoping for something that was more oriented on the challenges of the Second Depression and instead I got stories about retired Fannie Mae bankers, mortgage bankers, patent lawyers, and MBNA executives. The writer could have chosen more sympathetic subjects. Even the retired deputy police chief from California gets little sympathy from me after hearing about outsized retirement packages for public workers in California ($240k/year for one 50 year-old fire chief). How about writing about the young couple in Mint Hill, NC who left their teaching careers to start "Aloha Snow" in order to support their 8 children? (Best Hawaiian shaved ice in the 48 states, by the way.) They're doing it despite huge risks and no retirement checks reliably rolling in. Write about people like them, Ms. Hanson, if you can find them somewhere other than your local country club. Read more ›

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Stories of rich people taking on second careers August 2, 2010

By Jason Stokes VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I picked this up as a 29 year old thinking about what it would be like to completely change my career. I didn't realize, however, that I'd need to be:

- A retired military Captain with a pension
- A Microsoft millionaire
- A 60 something retiree with a pension
- A retired professor who goes into chocolate making with her physician husband

Basically, everyone in the book either has a pension, a wealthy spouse, or a huge nest egg already. It's not the most sympathetic group, and certainly not really applicable for the vast majority of people.

That said, there are some good parts - like questions and answers on how people did it, what worked well, what they wish they had done different. Still, for someone expecting grand stories of changes in career, this isn't the book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars More than just a self help book June 14, 2010

By pebblepuppy VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I got What's Next because that is what i've been saying to myself for a few months now. I took early retirement from my state job and now am trying to figure out what I want to do now. The book is a series of short stories about people who knew they needed a change and went for it. It includes quite a lot of information about career changes. Websites, books, and organizations that can help entrepreneurs get a leg up. I think those will be helpful to me in my search. The stories, maybe not so much because these people all were making great money and had a nice cushion to fall back on when they decided to make the change. They also knew what they wanted and had the confidence to take the leap. Not a lot of people I know have the luxury of a fat bank account to start a new business or move across the country. And also, many people, including me, don't have the sort of "I can do anything you can do better" attitude about themselves. Both of those things would be very nice indeed. If they make a poor person's version of this, I would be even more relevant to so many people who are struggling to move on and move ahead.
That said, it is well worth the time to read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Short on specifics, long on spirit; like a life coaching session June 20, 2011

By Jared Castle TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Subjects of Kerry Hannon's self-described 'happy journalism' launched second careers on a foundation of solvent pensions, deep retirement savings and a youthful retirement - for example, career coach Beverly Jones 'retired' at age 53 "after two decades as `a high-powered corporate lawyer...[who] took the golden parachute retirement package."

If that sounds like you, well, God bless. Pick up the book so you have something to read in the lobby between life coaching sessions.

If you are considering a second career because you've reached the last extension of unemployment benefits this book won't be nearly as inspirational as it promises.

There are 16 vignettes in this book, each followed up with a brief Q&A with bits of 'expert' advice scattered throughout. The chapter titles are similar, such as 'From Stress to Bliss' and 'From High Tech to High Minded.'

I found it odd that there is no mention of anyone clinging to a tired job to help their children pay off college debt or to afford a nursing home for their elderly parents. Hannon slips in a single page of financial advice that opens with this caveat:

"Whatever your motivation, you still need to be pragmatic. For most people, a midcareer restart comes with a financial price tag, particularly if you don't have the cushion of a partner's income or a retirement or severance package. It might mean a sizeable pay cut to pursue work in a more altruistic field, a hefty tuition bill for more schooling, or a temporary loss of medical and retirement benefits."

Sort of knocks the bloom off the rose, doesn't it?

Ask me how many people I know who would L-O-V-E to make a midcareer restart and I'll pass you a roll of names that could rival the wish list St.... Nick contends with each Christmas. Now ask me how many people I know who can forego financial concerns and risk a temporary loss of medical benefits and I can count them on one hand.

In summary, instead of drawn into these personal stories, I found myself ticking off inspirational buzzwords like 'spirit' and 'challenge,' no closer to starting a paid relationship with a life or career coach. Although, after reading this book, I highly recommend coaching should you switch careers because that gig pays well.

Rating: Two stars. Read more ›