Navigating Career Crossroads was recently reviewed by CareerHeads. Karin Schroeck-Singh provided a fabulously detailed review of each and every chapter.
“Navigating Career Crossroads” –
10 Things I love about this book
# 1 – The reader’s benefits.
The benefits that the reader will gain from reading this book are mentioned twice in “Navigating career crossroads”, once at the beginning and then again at the end. This approach will make the reader feel that it was worthwhile buying and reading the book. Would I choose a similar strategy if I would write my next book too? Definitely! Thanks Jane for this idea and inspiration!
# 2 – The topics.
I liked the fact that ‘Navigating Career Crossroads’ covered all the relevant topics from finding your ideal career to working at your chosen company. Thus, including advice on career choices, writing your cover letter and CV, job search strategies, preparing for different types of interviews, polishing your image, getting the job, negotiating the job and starting your new job role.
# 3 – The experiences.
Real value has been added by including the author’s and other peoples’ struggles and experiences from their personal and professional lives. What does it feel like to be out of work for a long period of time, to do a job that does not give you real satisfaction, to do something only because your parents want you to do it?These experiences (and many more!) that are shared in the book “Navigating career crossroads” will give every reader (who feels being in a similar situation) the impression that they are not alone in going through a tough time. But also many insights have been shared from Jane Jackson’s clients on how they recruit and what they focus on when dealing with candidates. Highly useful!
# 4 – The focus on Linkedin.
I found the section that focuses on how to promote yourself effectively on LinkedIn as very good, effective and quite detailed. The author provided a lot of information, for example the do’s and don’ts of your profile picture (check out also this article: http://careerheads.com/profile-picture-20-tips-what-to-avoid/).
# 5 – Your image.
I noticed that in other career books the “image” topic often focuses mainly on appearance and communication. You should know that the book “Navigating career crossroads” provides you with more details by covering: your hidden, your assumed, your visual, your experienced and your proven image. Never seen before, loved this part!
# 6 – The samples.
Describing something is one thing, but providing a concrete sample makes it much more useful and effective for every reader. Jane Jackson provides numerous samples for: cover letter, CV, thank you letter, career summary, list of referees, LinkedIn profile summary, 7 positive morning affirmations etc. But also what potential behavioural questions an interviewer could ask during an interview.
# 7 – The self-assessment tools.
I found the self-assessment tools that are included in the book “Navigating career crossroads” highly useful since they inspire the reader to look at their own situation in a more reflective way. For example, find out what stresses you the most, what impact stress has on your confidence, what your values, your motivators/demotivators, your skills, your knowledge, your dream role and your achievements are. Analysing your personal situation can become a quite eye-opening experience and that without having to spend hundreds of dollars on coaching sessions. However, should you still consider approaching a career coach I would say that having already all the answers to the questions from this book would give you a great start.
# 8 – Great resources and statistics.
Jane Jackson provides lots of other resources in her book “Navigating career crossroads” for additional research, support and exploration, e.g. other business professionals opinion and experiences, interesting statistical facts, useful websites, links and books for your job search (focusing on the Australian job market).
# 9 – The suggested tips, advice and strategies.
When it comes to networking, she describes 3 different approaches that one can take in order to network more effectively (PAL, PEARL and PEAK approach). Very good points, surely something that they don’t teach you at school! But there is much more advice to be found in this book, also for industry insiders.
# 10 – Quotes.
I noticed that more and more book authors start including quotes at the beginning of each chapter. “Navigating career crossroads” took a similar approach. My favourite quote was “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf” by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
