The Brazen Careerist: New Rules for Success

I finally found the right thing to give as a graduation present.

Penelope Trunk has a really powerful book about advancing in your career. She understands the marketplace in a way that few do and has shared her ideas in her new book called: The Brazen Careerist: New Rules for Success

It's only been out for less than a month is already #1629 on Amazon with 5 stars and 21 reviews.

An example of some of the best career advice that I've found is posted on Guy Kawasaki's "How to Change the World" blog in some Q&As where he asked her 12 questions. Here's my favorite:

Question: What’s the right strategy for the search for a first job out of college?

Answer: Don’t place too much importance on your first job. You’ll have a lot more. Most people have eight jobs before they turn thirty, and that’s fine. It is nearly impossible to know what career will be a good fit for you until you start trying things. So give yourself the latitude to try a lot. And don’t get hung up on a big soul search. To land a great job, you don’t need to know the meaning of life, just the meaning of hard work.

I love the chapter titles: "An Interview is a Test You can Study For" " A Resume is a Sales Tool Not a Work Summary"

An excerpt from her bio explains:

Penelope Trunk writes career advice for a new generation of workers. She explains why old advice - like pay your dues, climb the ladder, and don't have gaps in your resume - is outdated and irrelevant in today's workplace. She has a reputation for giving advice that is counterintuitive but effective, like take long lunches, ignore people who steal your ideas, and stop vying for a promotion.

She is a career columnist at the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance. Her syndicated column has run in more than 200 publications. Earlier, she was a software executive, and then she founded two companies. She has been through an IPO, an acquisition and a bankruptcy.

It's clear to me that "she gets it!"