Yale School of Management - Career Library


There are many books on Job Search, and Careers available. Here is a short list of books that you may want to read with a brief summary of each book.
	Life Entrepreneurs Gregg Vanourek, Christopher Gergen This book co-authored by SOM 2000 alumnus Gregg Vanourek is designed to help people creatively construct their best lives "through opportunity, recognition, innovation and action." Experienced entrepreneurs with backgrounds in education, Gergen and Vanourek interviewed 55 individuals who have applied successful business lessons to their personal lives and extracted a number of hands-on lessons for their readers. The authors balance specific advice, such as stumbling blocks to avoid when setting goals, with big ideas concerning "untethering from traditional careers," authenticity and integration.
	What Color Is Your Parachute Richard Bolles This book is considered by many to be the "bible" of career change. Richard Bolles wrote it over 30 years ago for priests who were attempting to change careers. It has sold over 8,000,000 copies. Richard has continually made changes and updated the book every year since its publication. Engaging and well written it appeals to the head, the heart, and the soul.
	The Pathfinder Nicholas Lore The Pathfinder offers invaluable advice and more than 100 self-tests and diagnostic tools that will help you choose an entirely new career — or view a current job from a new, more positive perspective. What makes this book stand out is its focus on goal setting and commitment — two essential elements in transforming your career. The Rockport Institute offers a Career Testing program that works in tandem with the book. You can find out more about this program by viewing the Career Assessment page.
	Do What You Are Paul Tieger, Barbara Barron-Tieger Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger have created a book that helps individuals to use their MBTI (Myers-Briggs) assessment results to discover their ideal career. They have broken the book into 16 sections covering the sixteen MBTI types, and have provided dozens of profiles of individuals working in a variety of careers.
	What Should I Do with My Life? Po Bronson Other peoples’ stories can inspire us to great things. This book profiles dozens of individuals who have made radical changes in their lives. While it doesn’t tell you "how-to" it provides valuable insight into the commitment that making such a change requires.
	The Essential Ennegram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide David N. Daniels and Virginia Price A centuries-old psychological system with roots in sacred tradition, the Enneagram can be an valuable guide in your journey toward self-understanding and self-development. In this book, Stanford University Medical School clinical professor of psychiatry David Daniels and counseling psychologist Virginia Price offer the only scientifically developed Enneagram test. This book features effective self-tests for the simple, accurate, and confident determination of your own personality type. Daniels and Price provide step-by-step instruction for taking inventory of how you think, what you feel, and what you experience.
	Job Shift: How to Prosper in a Workplace Without Jobs William P. Bridges This is an insightful book that outlines how the changing nature of work has dramatically altered how we do our jobs. Bridges argues that the present information-based economy demands more flexible employment models than a manufacturing-based economy. Bridges states that the current economy doesn’t require just a set pattern of work from individuals (i.e., a job) but sets of complex tasks, requiring different sets of skills at different times.
	Career Anchors Edgar Schein In many cases, people select a career for all the wrong reasons, and find their responses to the workplace are incompatible with their true values. This situation results in feelings of unrest and discontent and in lost productivity. To help people avoid these problems, Career Anchors is designed to help people uncover their real values and use them to make better career choices. Career Anchors can help you think through your career options and give you a clear understanding of your own orientations toward work, your motives, your values, and your talents.
	Working Studs Terkel If you have ever wondered what it would be like to work in a totally different line of work you may enjoy this book. In it, Studs Turkel records the voices of America — men and women from every walk of life talk to him, telling him of their likes and dislikes, fears, problems, and happinesses on the job.
	Working Identity Herminia Ibarra Aimed at mid-career professionals who have invested much time in careers that may no longer fully satisfy, Ibarra's book challenges the traditional belief that a meticulous assessment of one's skills and interests will automatically lead one to discover the right job. In reality, she argues, "doing comes first, knowing second." Most people will navigate a career shift at some point in their lives, and in this guide, organizational behavior professor Ibarra shares the stories of 23 people who did it successfully.
	Rewired, Rehired, or Retired Robert K. Critchley Rewired, Rehired, or Retired? will help you to take a hard and sometimes confronting look at your life, while giving you actual tools and guidance to achieve a rewarding and satisfying future. Whatever your situation this book can help you think through your range of options and implement practical next steps.
	Discovering Your Career in Business Timothy Butler James Waldroop Designed to help both those just starting out in business and those in mid-career find work that it truly satisfying, this guide uses interest inventory in conjunction with a series of other exercises to help readers discover the particular combination of activities that best matches their personalities and gain insight as to how those activities are linked with real jobs in business.