Career Errors: Straight Talk About the Steps and Missteps of Career Development

Career Errors: Straight Talk about the Steps and Missteps of Career Development examines the career development encounters that people experience across their life-span. The book begins with a comprehensive examination of the career development process and why these eight phases must be understood in order for career satisfaction and success to be achieved. This analysis is followed by a meticulous treatment of 27 things active members of the workforce “do wrong” or “don’t do” in pursuit of their career ambitions. Conducting an effective job search, dealing with job loss or termination, and how best to prosper in the workplace, are among the subjects included. Throughout the book, the author sets life-work balance as a paramount goal and outlines strategies about how this illusive objective can be achieved. Career Errors is the next best thing to having a professional career counselor or recruiter in the room. While written for the individual experiencing the various life and work activities, this book is also of significant value to counselors, search and staffing professionals, educators, and others playing important roles in these transitions

Table of Contents:
Preface Part 1 –Entering, Reentering, and Moving about the World of Work Chapter 1 – Clueless about How the Career Development Process Works Chapter 2 – Sub Par Decision-making Leading to Catastrophic Consequences Chapter 3 – A Good Search Spoiled Chapter 4 – Unknown Occupations are Off the Career Radar Chapter 5 – Missed or Failed Education, Training, and Retraining Opportunities Chapter 6 – Inability to Find or Use Good Information Chapter 7 – Over-aspiring and Under-aspiring with Troubled Results Chapter 8 – Ignorance of Human Resources and Life Experiences as Career Teachers Chapter 9 – The Perils of Poor Time and Calendar Organization Chapter 10 – Failure to Use Professional Counselors Part 2 – Finding, Acquiring, and Moving into the First or Any Job Chapter 11 – Inability to Adapt to Change Chapter 12 – Inadequate Job Search Skills Chapter 13 – A Killer Resume and You are the Deceased Chapter 14 – The Interview that Implodes Chapter 15 – Poor Writing Resulting a Failure to Communicate Chapter 16 – Mismanagement of Transitions Chapter 17 - You Didn’t Get the Job and Don’t Know Why Chapter 18 – To Accept or Not Accept, the Job Offer that Is Chapter 19 – Coping with New Job Anxieties and Stresses Chapter 20 – Holding Out for the “Dream” Job Chapter 21 – Insufficient Encounters with Career Helpers Part 3 – Achieving Career Satisfaction and Dealing with the Occasional Crisis Chapter 22 – Blundered Growth, Mobility, and Maintenance Opportunities Chapter 23 – Inability to Achieve Life-Work Balance Chapter 24 – Faulty Treatment of Termination, Job Loss, and Other Career Dilemmas Chapter 25 – Ignoring the Knowledge Explosion Part 4 – Winding Down Exiting Career Chapter 26 – Poor Posturing for Career End and Retirement Chapter 27 – Mishandling Change Late in Career Part 5 – Voices that Matter Chapter 28 – Learning from the Experts Conclusion Appendix Index About the Author

About the Author :
Dr. Frank Burtnett is a counseling and counselor education veteran who writes for individuals of all ages who are experiencing the school to college, education to career, employment to employment, and career to retirement transitions. His books offer concise and pragmatic solutions to the issues and problems that people experience during those transitions.

Review :
Frank Burtnett calls upon his experiences as a professional counselor and counselor educator to provide the advice, guidance, and nuances of career development issues that must be addressed if personal satisfaction is to be achieved. His “straight talk” approach is candid and refreshing. The author's wisdom is priceless...few have seen so much with such clarity, insight and hope.