Two new career-expert friends have terrific books out that are great companions to my latest effort, How’d You Score That Gig?  Starting out, my fellow Ballantine author Pamela Skillings has written Escape from Corporate America, an extremely detailed and thorough roadmap to assessing if leaving traditional business is the right move for you, and if so, how you can do it without going broke or losing your sanity.

What I appreciate most about Escape from Corporate America is its practicality.  A veteran of traditional business herself, Pam understands while the corporate world has its disadvantages, it’s not necessarily easy or realistic to just up and quit.  Her book provides a concrete approach to developing an escape plan – for example, how to set goals, determine your timing, and evaluate your financial situation. 

Escape from Corporate America presents the reader with various options for discovering a meaningful new career – from fulfilling a creative dream to taking a job that “doesn’t bite” in a nonprofit or startup.  It’s chock-full of useful resources and exercises for undertaking a career change, and I was engaged all the way through by the entertaining stories of Pam’s “corporate escape artists” – people who left Corporate America behind and lived to tell the tale.  If you’re fed up with your corporate job but aren’t sure where to start to better your plight, this is the perfect book for you.

Next up is Kristen Fischer’s Ramen Noodles, Rent, and Resumes.  When Kristen was interviewing me for the career sections of her book, what I remember most was her positive attitude about the time she refers to as “After-College.”  This enthusiasm for post-graduate life shines through in her book, which addresses common twenty-something issues such as career, graduate school, living situation, finances, and emotional crises.

Ramen Noodles, Rent, and Resumes portrays a twenty-something life that college seniors can look forward to.  With Kristen’s book in hand, you can be sure that you will grow and thrive during this period, and when you do run into one of the inevitable challenges, Kristen has a workable solution you can employ today.