Career Manual - Know Yourself. Book Review

Regular readers of www.econstudent.org will know I'm a big fan of Amazon and my Kindle. One of the greatest things about Amazon is it allows people who normally would not get published to self-publish books and connect with a global audience. Jonathan Milligan an executive recruitment consultant has written what I think is a very good career book. While most career books tend to focus on how to apply for your next job, resumes, interview skills and so forth. This book all about knowing yourself.

Central to the book is notion of having a vocation. Milligan guides the reader through exercises which will help them discover their vocation. For me I developed the following work purpose statement: "My vocational purpose is to use my analytical ability and creativity to advise and innovate, creating a more dynamic, productive and prosperous society." This vocation can then be used to inform your choice of career. 

I developed the following career statements:

Careers Statements:

Employment Consultant: To work with jobseekers to overcome personal barriers, assisting them to

develop win-win relationships with employers that will result in sustainable on-going employment.

Recruitment: To assist companies to access candidates unavailable on the open job market and

assist both the employer and candidate to develop a win-win employment relationship.

Finance: To maximize the return on capital invested while minimizing risk by ensuring it is invested

where it is most productive.

Economist (Microeconomics): To work with other professionals to create markets for goods and

services, that have low barriers to entry and which are not distorted by unnecessary regulation while

minimizing market failure.

As you can see it's actually possible to work towards a single vocational goal in a whole range of careers. In world where people change careers several times and there is increased uncertainty about the future, having a true north vocational goal is an extremely important concept. From my experience people often get hung up on doing a particular career or even getting a particular job title by having a vocational mission statement the reader is able to open themselves up to other opportunities. 

Milligan also gets the reader to determine their personality type (I was a communicator-planner) and provides exercises so the reader is able to determine what duties in their current job energize them. This exercise in particular has lead me to re-evaluate how I structure my days. I strongly recommend this book for anyone considering what career they are in or even to re-evaluate their current career. 

Career Manual - Know Yourself is available at  http://www.amazon.com/Career-Manual-Yourself-Discover-ebook/dp/B0087GFWG6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352529883&sr=8-1&keywords=career+manual.