BOOK REVIEW: A Career In Your Suitcase: A practical guide to creating meaningful work…anywhere (2013, 4th ed.) by Jo Parfitt and Colleen Reichrath-Smith
***Please note: this book review was first published on my Both but Neither blog – that blog will now disappear as I focus all my attention on this website and blog. And as this book was pivotal in my life when I was at a career cross-roads I wanted to re-post it here. Happy reading!***
A Career In Your Suitcase could not have entered my life at a better time! I was in the middle of a career transition and I felt lost. I had a vague idea about where I wanted to go, but I knew I needed help.
Enter Career In Your Suitcase!
When I first started reading it I felt like the two authors, Jo Parfitt and Colleen Reichrath-Smith, were describing aspects of my life. It really resonated with me. As a CCK, a keen traveller and having lived abroad, I was looking for a way to take my career with me wherever I went next.
The title of the book therefore appealed to me, but having said that, if you’re not interested in having a portable career, then don’t dismiss this book yet. There is a lot of valuable information about careers no matter your background, focus and vision. For starters there is a chapter that helped me to (re-)discover and clarify my passion(s). I feel anyone could benefit from it.
The book is a great resource, one that I now dip in and out of, although I read it chronologically at first. Then I started at the beginning and went through the exercises that I felt were applicable to me. The first couple of chapters are good to re-visit as it felt to me like they were laying down the foundations and getting me to the heart of what I really wanted.
What’s more, this book helped me to think far outside the box. It helped me imagine avenues I may not have considered if I didn’t have this book as a guide. The book has also given me the confidence to create my career the way I want it to be. Rather than react to opportunities, I feel much more in control of my direction and vision. It’s easy to go with the flow without purpose and I didn’t want to end up somewhere I didn’t want to be!
Once I got clear about my vision and the direction, the book continued to take me further on my journey. More advice and practical steps for manifesting my (new) career vision are included in the book. Jo and Colleen draw a lot on their own experiences to illustrate how their advice has helped them, and that motivated me and I felt I was continually supported.
At the back of the book is a section where answers to specific questions can be written down. It is a great overview of the questions and exercises from each chapter so I could access them quickly and directly.
The Career In Your Suitcase website is also well worth a browse: http://careerinyoursuitcase.com/ Here you can find some great resources, too.
All in all, I highly recommend this book!