Build the career you want. These 10 books will show you how

Career books are manuals that help readers find a proper employment field and develop professionally. These texts cover issues including job searching, developing relationships, and building skills. The objective of these books is to assist readers discover job satisfaction and grow career-wise.

You can use these books combined with personality tests and career exams to determine an appropriate employment path.

This list includes:

1. books for career guidance
2. self help career books
3. career development books
4. career change books
5. career books for college grads

List of career books

From new releases to bestsellers, here is a collection of books about finding the perfect job and creating a successful career in the modern workplace.

1. Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron, Kelly Tieger

Do What You Are employs Myers-Briggs personality types to give readers employment suggestions. The book opens with a personality test to establish readers’ identities, then offers careers and outlines strengths and weaknesses based on the results. There are chapters devoted to each kind, including analysis of which jobs are most stimulating and gratifying to different personalities. The book includes advise on how to find a job that compliments interests and natural skill sets and how to earn advancements and leadership roles within that chosen path. Do What You Are provides instructions for finding a professional that brings forth your full potential and customizing your job.

Notable Quote: “The right job enhances your life. It is personally rewarding since it nourishes the most crucial components of your personality. It suits the way you like to do things and reflects who you are. It allows you use your innate abilities in ways that come naturally to you, and it doesn’t compel you to do things you don’t do well (at least, not frequently!)

2. What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles

What Color is Your Parachute is one of the most well-known job change books. This useful guide demonstrates how to master the job search and discover fulfilling work. Using a self-inventory called the Flower Exercise, the book helps readers reach the heart of their work identity and identify what motivates them professionally. The book also includes guidance about resumes, job interviews, salary negotiations, and creating self-run businesses. What Color is Your Parachute is the best guide to discovering the correct career fit.

Notable Quote: “Just because you can’t find them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You’ve got to adjust the method you’re looking for them. Because there are always job opportunities out there.”

3. Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

Designing Your Work Life is an extension of the book Designing Your Life. While many other self help job books emphasize on finding the perfect position, Designing Your Work Life tells readers how to find pleasure in present employment by modifying attitude and conduct. The book reframes dysfunctional beliefs in more constructive ways, and helps readers stop classifying workplaces as “good jobs,” or “bad jobs,” and start looking for methods to transform unfavorable circumstances. Designing Your Work Life focuses with subjects including the balance between money and meaning, office politics, and resilience. The book also addresses how to quit gracefully when the advised actions do not lead to fulfillment.

Notable Quote: “Yet most jobs are built around tasks to get done and transactions to manage, and most managers aren’t comfortable talking about meaning and impact. When you become the designer of your work life, you can help your boss and your organization make your job the job you want.”

4. So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport

So Good They Can’t Ignore You is a credo for skill-building. Cal Newport believes that while most people assume that “following passion” is the key to professional satisfaction, aptitude and competency are the elements that help people find meaning and pleasure in work. In other words, most professionals do not know what they like to do until they start doing it. Excitement in work occurs as a result of building abilities and honing the art, not waiting for inspiration to strike. The book analyses case studies of professionals who love what they do and lays out a strategy for getting competent at and enjoying work more rapidly. So Good They Can’t Ignore You reveals the factors that contribute most to helping workers stand out among other employees and discover a career that stands out from other jobs.

Notable Quote: “Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less essential than how you do it.”

5. The New Rules of Work: The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career by Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew

The New Rules of Work is one of the better publications for career counselling in the current age. The conventional adage of “get a good job and work hard to rise in the ranks over several decades” rarely applies in an era of ever-shifting chances. Instead, many professionals think more deliberately and shift positions more frequently in an effort to maintain improving and have greater control over their careers. This book lays out blueprints for discovering and landing attractive positions, networking, and generating great impressions. The authors are the creators of prominent job hunting portal The Muse. The New Rules of Work is a great tool for any reader wishing to master the job search and attain modern career success.

Notable Quote: “You want work to be a meaningful part of your life. You want to like what you do. You want to feel empowered by your profession. You want to make a difference.”

6. Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One by Jenny Blake

Pivot is a manifesto for changing course and taking charge of your career. The book shows how to take tiny steps that position you for a better career path. For example, eliminate decision fatigue, clarify your vision statement, identify work-history highlights, and broaden your zone of influence. The book teaches readers how to shift course and explore new chances, either by moving positions or redefining duties in the existing organization, or switching employment and industries completely. Pivot is a step-by-step guide that makes the process of professional reinvention considerably less scary, since the book advocates for a progressive approach over a quit-and-start-from-scratch strategy.

Notable Quote: “You can learn to enjoy calculated risk and uncertainty in exchange for adventure, flexibility, freedom, and opportunity.”

7. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

Drive is a deep dive into the world of motivation. Drawing on decades of behavioral study, the book investigates the psychology behind the impulses that propel people to action. For instance, material rewards like money are significantly weaker motivators than the need for self-expression and the desire to make a difference. The book tries to get a better understanding of how the brain functions and optimize employee mindsets. By recognizing actual motives and sources of fulfillment, individuals can find more suited professional objectives and employers can more successfully inspire team members. Drive unlocks the keys to passion and excellent performance at work by helping professionals care about work and locate work that they care about.

Notable Quote: “We have three innate psychological needs—competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When those requirements are satisfied, we’re motivated, productive, and happy.”

8. Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant

Give and Take tries to rethink the concept of success. Adam Grant insists that above luck, hard work, and talent, relationships are the component that determines career success. The most high-achieving individuals add value to professional connections, and simply put, give more than they take. This generosity produces gratitude, which pays off in the shape of a solid reputation and additional prospects. The book defines the three sorts of professionals: “takers,” who receive more than they contribute, “matchers,” who aim to make all trades equal, and “givers,” who put in full effort without totaling up the rewards. Grant contends that contrary to conventional belief, these “givers” become consistently great performers and gain various advantages in their careers. Give and Take includes case studies and statistics that highlight the benefits of being professionally generous and sincere.

Also Read: 10 Benefits of Developing a Growth Mindset in Life

Notable Quote: “Success doesn’t measure a human being, effort does.”

9. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is an instruction manual for next-level career growth, and is one of the top career development books. Often, the habits that result in early career triumphs are not adequate to sustain success or push workers to higher tiers. To compete in the competitive business environment, professionals need to constantly learn and improve. This book identifies the criteria that separate elite performers from the pack. The guide covers twenty common habits that inhibit high accomplishment and proposes practices for self-improvement such as listening, praising, and following up. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is packed with practical, realistic advice to reach the highest echelons of any career.

Notable Quote: “People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats.”

10. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy

Presence teaches readers how to convey confidence and competence in professional relationships. Amy Cuddy, Harvard professor and the speaker in the iconic “power pose” TED Talk, reveals physical and mental tricks that may make enormous differences in encounters and first impressions. This book points out tiny modifications individuals may make to body language and mindsets that can help professionals perform better in high stakes scenarios like job interviews or deal negotiations. Presence is a how-to-guide for conquering professional problems and embodying the finest version of yourself at every point of your career.