Thinking it might be time for a career change? Read our low-down of the best books in the business to give you the advice, encouragement and power to pivot.
2020 has been a tumultuous time. Whether long-planned or entirely unexpected, many of us have found ourselves transitioning into a new role or industry. Going through a major career change can be daunting, but fortunately you don’t have to do it alone. There are a wealth of experts out there sharing their tips and guiding women through the process. Here, we’re sharing some of the best books by women that can make the transition less terrifying.
Change Your Life In Five: Practical Steps To Making Meaningful Changes In Your Life
By Sue Belton
When it comes to career pivots, Sue Belton has plenty of first-hand experience. After realising that her successful career as a BBC journalist was making her miserable she became a life coach, and now helps other women to find a fulfilling career.
Divided into five colour-coded sections, Belton’s life-coaching workbook challenges readers to put the author’s lessons into practice. Change Your Life in Five invites readers to clarify, conquer, choose, celebrate and commit as it lays the ground work to discovering what matters to you, and understanding how to integrate this into your life and career
Believe. Build. Become.
By Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones
From the co-founders of AllBright, Believe. Build. Become offers a step-by-step guide to help you refocus your mindset, establish your goals and build your confidence to create the work life of your dreams. Based around the AllBright Academy courses, hear Debbie and Anna share their own stories to success, from the start of their journeys until now.
Feel inspired in following your own path to achieve your goals with practical tips, useful learnings and advice on becoming the boss you want to be.
Why Losing Your Job Could Be The Best Thing That Ever Happened To You: Five Simple Steps To Thrive After Redundancy
By Eleanor Tweddell
With redundancies becoming sadly evermore widespread, many of us might be looking for advice on how to cope with job loss. Fortunately, Why Losing Your Job Could Be The Best Thing That Ever Happened To You is on hand to help. Author Eleanor Tweddell is the founder of Another Door, a programme which offers career advice to individuals experiencing redundancy.
In this guide, she offers a plan to help readers to navigate feelings of guilt and shame, search for new beginnings and progress with small steps towards a new career.
Love It Or Leave It: How To Be Happy At Work
By Samantha Clarke
Happiness consultant and TEDx speaker Samantha Clarke says that her book isn’t a “bog standard career change book”. Instead, Love It or Leave It focuses on shaking up how you feel about work and what it means to you. Clarke argues that in a world of digital nomads, tech automation and zero-hours contracts, traditional career advice no longer makes sense. Instead, we have to be prepared to step away from a job that doesn’t bring you joy.
Packed full of advice on finding a work-life balance and being happier and more fulfilled at work "Love It Or Leave It" is ideal for anyone considering a career change, stuck in a job they hate or working at their dream job but finding it unfulfilling.
Take The Leap: Change Your Career, Change Your Life
By Sara Bliss
Want to hear real-life stories from people who made a drastic career change? Take the Leap profiles over 60 people who made a radical pivot, from a tax attorney who now runs a surf school in Nicaragua to a retiree who took to YouTube to build a global beauty brand.
Written by brand strategist Sara Bliss, Take the Leap features high-profile pivoters and experts alongside a host of less well-known switchers. If a little real-life inspiration is what you need to find the courage to make a change, then this book is for you.
Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More And Live Bolder
By Reshma Saujani
Sometimes, an unwanted career change can leave you feeling like a failure. In this groundbreaking book, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code Reshma Saujani argues that this isn’t the case. Following on from her viral TED Talk Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection, Saujani’s mission is to inspire women to leave socially-ingrained perfectionism behind us, to let go of guilt and to make braver choices.
Whether you’re struggling with redundancy news or considering striking out alone with a new business, Brave, Not Perfect might just give you the push that you need to step forward with confidence.
The Multi-Hyphen Method
By Emma Gannon
Working less and creating more might seem like a pipe-dream for many of us, but that’s the premise behind Emma Gannon’s multi-hyphen philosophy. In The Multi-Hyphen Method she discusses how you can combine several careers to live a more fulfilled and financially healthy life.
Gannon argues that the world is changing, and in a modern culture where we can work wherever we want it is possible to have a career with many facets. With advice on how to start up a side-hustle or balance part-time work with a passion, The Multi-Hyphen Method shows how flexible a new career can be.
It’s About Damn Time: How To Turn Being Underestimated Into Your Greatest Advantage
By Arlan Hamilton
For anyone who has made a career change due to feeling underappreciated in their previous role, It’s About Damn Time is an empowering read. Arlan Hamilton went from being homeless to building a venture capital fund, and is now the Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a fund dedicated to minimising disparities in tech by investing in people of colour, women and/or LGBT individuals.
It’s About Damn Time shares Arlan’s personal experience to inspire us to defy other people’s expectations and strive ahead to be the role models that we’ve all been looking for.
Reinventing You
By Dorie Clark
Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, so it’s no surprise that her book is jammed full of insightful tips and knowledge. Reinventing You tells us that whether your goal is to change jobs or make the jump to a new field entirely, you will need to reinvent yourself professionally. The book promises to be a roadmap to this stage of your journey.
Reinventing You tackles topics such as assessing your unique strengths, developing a personal brand and recognising the power of your contribution. For anyone considering how they can stand out when switching careers, Clark’s advice is an essential read.