Cool Careers For Dummies

by Marty Nemko

Sure, some people enter preschool knowing what they want to be when they grow up. But most of us aren't so lucky, and we don't get much help. Some parents say things like, "It's your life, you decide." Other parents go to the other extreme, expecting you to follow in their footsteps. In high school, you take a career test, but many high school students laugh at their test the utterly useless, "You could pursue a wide range of careers." This revised edition of Cool Careers For Dummies provides insight into landing a job for anyone who doesn't know where to look, doesn't have time to look, or doesn't want to suffer through a long back-to-school stint. It's designed for people of all walks of life to uncover rewarding, viable careers or get in on the ground floor of the next Big Things. What's more, this guide even offers tips to make even a humdrum job much better. Clearly organized by specific topic areas, you can easily find the topics that appeal to you. You'll uncover information like And, you'll find a fast yet substantive introduction to more than 500 good careers, including many unlikely suspects! Despite taking career tests, plowing through fat career guides, and spending hours of reflecting, many people end up falling into their careers more by chance than by choice. Not a good way to ensure career happiness. There is a better way. Read all about it, in Cool Careers For Dummies .

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Business

456 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the section on the cool careers. You can tell the authors have done their homework as there are many niche jobs which most people have no clue about.

There's a section on all the other usual chapters expected in such a book.

Well written and doesn't drag. Kudos to the section on applying extra effort for your dream job.

OVERALL GRADE: B plus to A minus.

[Ben Kellermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anumber of years ago, I heard about a little-known career called child life specialist. When children must go to the hospital for an extended stay, they’re assigned a child life specialist to help them adapt to living without their parents.When I told a client about this career, something happened that had rarely occurred with previous clients: her eyes lit up.That helped me realize what people most want from career counseling: new options. So, I started collecting cool careers. Every time I heard of an interest- ing career, I added it to the list. I included unusual careers as well as neat niches within the popular careers. One example: lawyers who specialize in outer space issues. Plus, I included low-risk/high-payoff ideas for self-employ- ment. After a few years, my list contained more than 500 careers.This book contains a quick scoop on each of those careers. Each scoop focuses on the non-obvious insider information about that career and ends with a great Web site and/or book in case you want to learn more about that career.The book also gives you, for free, the strategies that my private career coun- seling clients pay me big bucks for. These approaches have been the most helpful in choosing a career, in landing a job, and in making the most of it. I developed many of these strategies because, for many people, the standard career advice wasn’t working. And that’s the book in a nutshell. Its ideas have helped many, many people find a cool career, including folks who were quite stuck. Whether you’re look- ing for your first real job, thinking about changing careers, or considering self-employment, I know this book will help you — a lot.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

If looking solely at the career advice, I would give this book a 3-star rating. However, the author kept inserting his opinions into the book. For a non-fiction book about careers, I really don't care what the author thinks about religion and homeland security. The kicker was when he and his wife wrote "top ten careers musts for women" and the same for men. In addition to reading (in the women's section) about "flirting to advantage", I then read the men's section and learned that "The unvarnished truth is that in today's typical workplace, men must usually accommodate to women's ways, not vice versa."

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Mr. Nemko's advice on the whole process of finding the right career for you, putting together your resume and preparing for the interview. I feel more prepared to tackle the job hunt after reading this book. I checked this out from the library, but have since purchased it so I can highlight and write my own comments. I plan to use it as an ongoing reference.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Yellow Pages section of this book is a gold mine of careers I never knew about, the best reference I've found. The rest of the book fits the reliable "dummies" pattern: engaging, practical advice from an expert. Recommended.

[Louba · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to google him after reading countless sentences where he whines about black, Hispanics, immigrants and women and of course liberals. The list of jobs is great but his bias towards minorities and women bleed through his work. For example, he talks about how the only tenured professors must be in STEM or black, he failed to mention that most universities have 1 or 2 black professors in their department and the lack of representation of black professors in Universities. He also whines about universities being too liberal and his evidence was the fact they made a Harvard president step down from his job because he said that “genetic predisposition” may explain why there are “so few female scientists”. He also says that universities force professors to pass students of certain races despite their mediocre work. We all know he’s again talking about minorities. It’s sad that they would allow his bias/racist comments to destroy this book for “certain races” pg 275 of ebook. I’m giving it a 2 because it’s helpful for people seeking new careers. -3 for his dishonest analysis of the experience of nonwhite people in America.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading about all the careers in the career yellow pages in this book. I also like that he gave links to websites and books about the jobs in the career yellow pages. I also like the chapter on self employment. Its so fun to read about different careers. Its a shame I cant do all of them.

[Kyle R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book - a little outdated (from 2007). Most interesting was the yellow pages section which listed a number of careers and fields I never even knew existed, as well as resources, training programs, and education required for each particular job. Worth the read for that section alone. The rest of the book was pretty basic - covering the process of searching for a job, creating a resume, writing cover letters, calling up offices, etc.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously parts were more relevant for me than others. Preachy and cheerleader-y at times. I dont need a coach, just ideas. I feel like I was able to get some.