The Pathfinder : How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success
by Nicholas Lore

Author Nicholas Lore uses the techniques of his career-guidance network, the Rockport Institute, to make The Pathfinder a substitute for a great job counselor. Through goal setting, list making, and other techniques, the book leads readers though the process of deciding exactly what they want to do for a living and finding a way to make it happen. Lore realizes that people have different temperaments and decision-making methods, so he provides individualized advice to suit each one. He also understands that creating a new career requires courage as well as desire, so The Pathfinder devotes plenty of space to motivation and overcoming fears. While anyone looking for a new career will find direction with this guide, people who didn't know they were looking may decide to start once they go through Lore's probing self-examination process.

I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was : How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It by Barbara Sher

"A life without direction is a life without passion," says motivational specialist, therapist, and career counselor Barbara Sher. In I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, a sort of broader, less dense, and less intimidating version of What Color Is Your Parachute?, she reveals how to "recapture long lost goals, overcome the blocks that inhibit your success, decide what you want to be, and live your dreams."

This is a perfect book for new college graduates or anyone sick and tired of languishing in a dead-end job or relationship--yet reluctant to make drastic life changes due to uncertainty about what would actually inspire them. I Could Do Anything combines the I'm-not-buying your-excuses inspiration of Dr. Laura Schlessinger with the soothing, analytic encouragement of Dr. Martin Seligman in his classic Learned Optimism. In other words, Sher will pick you up off your butt and get you moving. She's included enough self-analytical exercises in here to save you hundreds of dollars in therapy.

Whether you're looking to make improvements in your job or personal life, Sher will teach you how to determine what your goals are, and how to successfully reach them--even if right now the only thing you know is that you're vaguely to very unhappy and haven't the foggiest idea what to do with yourself.

What Color Is Your Parachute 2006: A Practical Manual for Jobhunters And Career (What Color Is Your Parachute) by Richard Nelson Bolles

The classic in the field. In the last five years, the United States has lost 2.6 million jobs — the most in any five-year period since the Great Depression. In the 2006 edition of his legendary job-hunting book, WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? Richard Nelson Bolles offers hope and presents an inspiring and detailed plan for finding your place in this uncertain job market. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? has been the best-selling job-hunting book in the world for more three decades, in good times and bad, and it continues to be a fixture on best-seller lists, from Amazon.com to Business Week. It has well over eight million copies in print and has been translated into 12 languages around the world. With an extended preface that addresses job loss, vacancies, and outsourcing and updated references on how to use the Internet in your job-hunt throughout, the 2006 PARACHUTE addresses the top concerns of today ’s job-hunters. In the words of Fortune magazine: "Parachute remains the gold standard of! career guides."

I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This : A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work
by Julie Jansen

"Close your eyes and…imagine what it would feel like to be happy and excited and fulfilled in your work." Can’t do it? Career coach Jansen’s no-nonsense volume just might help. Herself a former disgruntled employee (she worked in broadcasting, recruiting, outplacement and other fields), Jansen is a big proponent of jobs that suit: work, after all, "is not ‘one size fits all.’" She identifies six reasons people find their employ unsatisfying, from boredom with an overly familiar routine, to insecurity in the face of discrimination or a toxic boss, to lack of focus on work due to an eye on upcoming retirement. Several quizzes and questionnaires ("When you think about the things you find meaningful, what comes to mind?"; "Do you prefer to be the leader rather than have others lead"?) help readers identify their job problems and the kinds of work they might find more meaningful, as well as build confidence in their choices. Jansen offers stories of those who made the career change successfully (or in some cases, found a way to renew their interest in their old positions) as well as guidelines for becoming more entrepreneurial. Her advice is seasoned and her tone encouraging, making this a solid resource for people who know they don’t like what they do; it might also be a wakeup call for others numbed into job complacency.

How To Find Your Mission In Life by Richard Nelson Bolles

Another winner by Bolles Published in 2005. In this intimate treasury of wit and wisdom, Richard Bolles, author of the job-hunting bible WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE?, explores the spiritual aspects of finding one’s place in the work world. For anyone who has ever wondered how to make the most of their unique natural gifts, or how to find a vocation that is both socially responsible and personally fulfilling, this enlightening and empowering little volume provides immeasurable guidance. Originally appearing as an appendix in PARACHUTE, this book has led countless people through life’s most difficult passages and is sure to inspire anyone who is either new to the job market or reconsidering their place in it.