Book Review: Your Job Survival Guide: A Manual for Thriving in Change

Your Job Survival Guide: A Manual for Thriving in Change
by Gregory Shea and Robert E.Gunther
# ISBN-10: 0137127022
# ISBN-13: 978-0137127023

SUMMARY: A book that feels like a job advice seminar in book form, it's easy to read and uses the effective metaphor that modern careers are like navigating whitewater rapids.  Focused on upper-level careers, most of its advice applies to anyone who has a definite career path in mind or being followed at the time.

I grabbed this book after getting my new job when it caught my eye at the bookstore.  Having had a whirlwind layoff, series of interviews, and new job start, I felt it was time to take a look at something just like this.  It turned out to be an excellent purchase.

The book is based on the idea that the job and career realm is like whitewater rafting - always changing, always potentially dangerous, always moving forward.  Thus, managing your career is much like managing a raft or raft team, requiring one to adapt, face danger, understand when to change, learn to fail and get going again, and organize almost spontaneously.  The metaphor does occasionally get overused, but it's applied very well, and in a way that makes sense.

Taking this metaphor, each chapter of the book covers a particular issue, usually using the whitewater metaphor (and others) to illustrate the importance of the actions one must take to deal with a particular issue or related set of issues.  This is done practically, with very readable and straightforward text, and a very welcome sense of humor.  The book flows along lightly, each chapter has solid practical advice (made even easier with asides, quotes, and summaries).

To give an example, there's a chapter on play - which may seem odd considering the whitewater metaphor, except plenty of people face whitewater for fun.  The chapter looks at how one can enjoy themselves at work (that is the point) in the midst of chaos, how sometimes the difference in fun and danger is the right equipment and attitude, and cultivating the attitudes to enjoy life.  The chapter also contains a section on how, despite fun you have had or want to have, sometimes you just have to "paddle like hell."  The book recommends optimism, but it doesn't sugar-coat bad situations or suggest positive thinking solves everything.

The advice itself is extremely solid - I measure a book by how much new information and ideas it imparts, and this book managed to help me see things different.  In a few cases, I found the warnings about behaviors that were "bad for being in whitewater" seemed aimed squarely at me.  The authors know what they're talking about, and know who they're talking to.

One flaw in the book is that the good advice often seems aimed at people in high-level careers: those who manage others, who are well along their career path, etc.  The book in fact is good for anyone who has a career started and going, but they may be put off by some of the high-level people mentioned in the book, and some of the advice is aimed at those people.  This however is not a reason to put off purchasing it, but it does affect what some people get out of it.

Of the career advice books I've seen, this is definitely one of the best.  Its got a solid foundation, good advice, is easy to read, highly accessible, and very little fluff.  You may not enjoy the heavy use of metaphor, and its is more useful (and aimed) at someone whose careers have been going for awhile, but these flaws are minor.  It's worth the purchase for anyone who has a solid career or is solid career foundation.

Find out more at the book site: http://www.yourjobsurvivalguide.com/