Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success

Brazen CareeristI picked up a copy of Brazen Careerist after stumbling upon Penelope's blog of the same name, reading through the archives, and thinking to myself that this is something like a "What Color Is Your Parachute?" focusing on twenty- and thirtysomethings. When I saw the book at the bookstore shortly thereafter, I knew I had to pick it up and give it a shot. An hour later, I had read a good chunk of the book in the bookstore and I realized that I had already decided to buy it, take it home right now, and finish it. I'm glad I did. Brazen Careerist is basically a guide written for modern twentysomethings on how to get ahead in the workplace. By focusing on that group (the late Generation Xers and the oldest of Generation Y) so tightly, it really provides a lot of very specific and useful advice for that group - assumptions about the social order in the workplace, the specific career desires of workers from Generation X and Y (not necessarily money), and the rather transient nature of modern white collar work are just assumed here. Here's an analogy: I feel that What Color Is Your Parachute? (a standard career guide for the last twenty five years) is quite useful and applicable for both myself and my father, but that Brazen Careerist is very useful and applicable for me, but not much at all for my father. Digging In Brazen Careerist is broken into two distinct parts. Chapters one through six make up the first part, entitled Relish the Path From Starter Job to Dream Job; it focuses primarily on the intial steps of getting your foot in the door at a particular job. The second part, How to Get What You Want from the People You Work With, makes up the rest of the book and discusses a lot of the issues that arise once you're actually in the door at a particular job. While the division is clear, the individual sub-topics all flow together well enough that the division probably isn't necessary - if one part sounds interesting, the other part is well worth reading and serves as a nice complement. Chapter 1 - Detours Are the Route to Happiness Most people spend their twenties flailing. In fact, only about 12% of people did what I did - fall right into things they love doing right out of college. The others spend their twenties going through what is now commonly being called a "quarterlife crisis" where they try desperately to define themselves and figure out what they want to do with their lives. The average American college graduate now has 8.2 jobs before their thirty second birthday. The point is that if you find yourself doing this flailing about from position to position and don't really know where you're going, you're normal. I would agree - many of my friends and relatives close to my age either went through or are going through this experience. But it seems like such a waste, you might think. It's not, and in fact it can serve several useful purposes: you can learn the corporate ropes from several different places and know how to navig

I bought the book and value it for its insightful and practical advice. Penelope's advice will challenge you, resonate with you or be disagreeable with you which is quite evident when you look over the other reviews here. It will not bore you or put you to sleep. This book is thought provoking and made me reflect back on the decisions I made or didn't make in my career. I honestly believe it could have helped me in my career. Three themes in this book that most resonated with me were 1) the importance of knowing yourself, 2) being likeable matters more than being competent, and 3) understanding that control of your life comes from within yourself as opposed to making excuses or placing blame elsewhere. A topic as important as career advice needs more than one book or one author's point of view and this book should be one of them. She covers a lot of material (45 rules) in this book so it must have been an arduous undertaking to define all of them, give supporting statements and examples, and tie them all together. The rules are well explained and provide a good starting point for further exploration if necessary. It's a book on a landscape that is changing and does have new rules. It doesn't mean some of the old rules don't still apply. It's also important to remember this is a self-help book and will only be as effective as the person who implements it. A book can provide a good starting point but it isn't an end all. I have self-help books on golf but it wasn't until I hit many balls at the range, played games with more experienced players, and got lessons from a golf pro (in that order) that I started to really feel confident about my swing and enjoy the game. My point is that the search for a satisfying and meaningful career will require preparation, practice with trial and error, and learning through feedback given by other players or a pro (career coach) if necessary. This book was the first book I bought without reviewing it first in a bookstore, library, or whatever. [...] I agreed with much of it so I bought the book and I'm glad I did. The advice given in this book is to the point. It is illustrated with her own and other peoples' experiences (successes and failures). Her writing style makes this book easy to read. It is also well laid out which makes it easy to find what you're looking for in the book. There is no doubt the advice is brazen and hence the title. Here's the brazen last paragraph on a recent blog post (4/14/08) titled How to get a job that's way beyond your experience - "Tough part: Seeing your true self and believing in the person you see. This is actually the tough part of all of life. Which explains why I like writing about career advice so much." She challenges herself and is always looking for new and fresh perspectives from her readers. There are no sacred cows here so that's why I like to read and comment on her blog. I would recommend buying this book.

Penelope Trunk has taken the material from her blog and her Yahoo finance column to provide an interesting perspective on working today. You may not agree with everything she says, but she has an interesting perspective with lots of good suggestions on finding a job, interviewing, and getting ahead. I've shared many of her suggestions with other workers and gotten positive feedback on how to deal with bosses and managing both work and life.

I bought this book after discovering P. Trunk's blog. She is one sharp thinker, and an excellent writer. I've given her thoughts a lot of thought, and believe I'm a better employee because of it. I work in a Boomer-rich environment, so it's been useful understanding the world as they see it (because of course, it seems that's the only one could see it). Remarkably useful book, and easy to read.

I read Brazen Careerist a couple of weeks ago and could not put the book down - and that's not usual for me because I often find it hard to sustain interest in books that I read or review. There's a lot more in BRAZEN CAREERIST that is much different than what you'll read in any career book I've seen before this - Penelope cuts her own path and makes a convincing case for her approach to the workplace and work/life balance. Not only is the career advice unusual - different than what everyone else is saying - but it's accurate AND spoken in a direct voice that's totally different than what you expect to come from a career guidance book. And while Brazen Careerist is directed at GenX and GenY job seekers - I find it applicable to Baby Boomers as well. It's like Penelope is writing and speaking directly to me.....maybe she is. See some takeaways from Brazen Careerist below: 1. The American Dream for Gen X/Y is not about money or security - it's about fulfillment and is measured by leisure time to spend more free time for things Gen X/Y enjoy doing. 2. Changing jobs often is the norm for Gen X/Y and it's more important to grow and learn - there's no job security, no pension and usually no long term prospects with any company, any longer. 3. However, when your working for someone, your chief job is to make your boss happy. 4. Authenticity is the most valued quality of Gen Y - being genuine, doing things you know and believe in and not doing things you don't believe in. 5. You get hired for a job because you are liked, not because your competent - being hired is a measure of how comfortable your interviewers feel with you and if they like you enough to want to work with you. 6. You can study and prepare for an interview and it's very helpful to become a story teller - find a way to tell your story. 7. Sex Discrimination is here to stay - and it's best, according to Penelope, to realise it's happening and do your best to ignore it, transfer to another department or find another job (she mentions that fighting Sex Discrimination directly usually does not work and ends up being a bad career move for many Woman - and she gives examples from her own life (she follows her own advise). 8. It's important to work hard, but not too hard, and not to be the hardest worker but the smartest work, or at least, a smarter worker. 9. Electronic communication can't improve the relationships you don't have with your coworkers - you need some face time. As far as buying this book - I think everyone would benefit from reading it. Marshall Sponder [...]