Do what you want: the book that shows you how to create a career you'll love

225 Pages·2012·3.747 MB·English

by  Bate, Nicholas

YOUR SUCCESSFUL
CAREER IS A FEW
SIMPLE STEPS AWAY.
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O
In a working world of rapid change, re-organisations W
and disappearing markets, is the satisfying, stable
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and lucrative career path a thing of the past?
A
Not at all! T
Y
DOWHATYOUWANT
This smart book is packed with all the practical,
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pragmatic advice, tools and strategies you need.
U
Use them to take control of your career and make
W
The book that shows
sure that you are getting the most out of your
working life. A you how to create a
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This vital guidance will help you understand and career you’ll love
T
adapt to the realities of today’s working world
and allow you to develop a focussed and realistic
plan to fulfil all your ambitions. N
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A
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£10.99
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CAREERS T
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&
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Visit our website at GN
www.pearson-books.com ESI
D
NICHOLAS BATE
DOWHATYOUWANT

DOWHATYOUWANT
THE BOOK THAT SHOWS
YOU HOW TO CREATE A
CAREER YOU’LL LOVE
NICHOLAS BATE
Pearson education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow CM20 2JE
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Website: www.pearson.com/uk
First published in Great Britain in 2012
© Pearson Education Limited 2012
The right of Nicholas Bate to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pearson Education is not responsible for the content of third-party internet sites.
ISBN: 978-0-273-77108-1
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bate, Nicholas.
Do what you want : the book that shows you how to create a career you’ll love /
Nicholas Bate.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-273-77108-1 (limp)
1. Career development. 2. Vocational guidance. 3. Career changes. I. Title.
HF5381.B348 2012
650.14--dc23
2012003475
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written
permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United
Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10
Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or
otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than
that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the Publishers.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of
any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark
ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply
any affiliation with or endorsement of this book by such owners.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
16 15 14 13 12
Design by Design Deluxe.
Typeset in 11pt Helevetica Neue Light by 30.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Henry Ling Ltd., at Dorset Press, Dorchester,
Dorset.
Contents
Author biography vii
Introduction viii
PART ONE WHAT’S GOING ON? 1
1 The end of ‘a job for life’ 3
2 Why it will get worse. But that’s good news for you! 13
3 The strategy in two: mindset and mechanics 21
PART TWO MINDSETS 31
4 Two kinds of mindset: resourceful and limiting 33
5 The mindset which will get you the career you want 41
PART THREE THE 7 STEPS TO AN
UNSTOPPABLE CAREER 53
6 Step one – From planned single career to flexible multiple
career 55
7 Step two – From CV to AV (added value) 73
8 Step three – From find the advert to create the advert 95
9 Step four – From job satisfaction to journey
satisfaction 117
10 Step five – From corporate umbrella to corporate
entrepreneur 137
vi CONTENTS
11 Step six – From qualifications to Renaissance
thinker 155
12 Step seven – From employee to brand 171
PART FOUR PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER AND
MAKING IT HAPPEN 185
13 The checklist for success 187
14 Making it happen 203
Recommended reading and useful resources 205
Index 207
Author biography
Inspirational and yet highly pragmatic, Nicholas Bate has
helped hundreds of clients realise and release their true and
full potential.
He is the founder and CEO of Strategic Edge, a consultancy
working with clients such as Microsoft, the BBC and M&S
to create long-term competitive advantage. He also teaches
on the Warwick Business School MBA Programme. His
other speaking and teaching engagements take him around
the world.
nichoLas bate is also a renowned coach to senior
managers, helping them to achieve their goals and ambitions
and has written a number of books, including Instant MBA;
Get A Life; Being The Best; Love Presenting, Hate (Badly
Used) PowerPoint; JfDI: the definitive guide to realising your
dreams, Beat the Recession and Have it Your Way.
To read more visit his blog www.nicholasbate.typepad.com.
You can also email him at: [email protected].
Introduction
the whoLe book in a Page or two
You may be holding this in a bookshop, considering. Or
maybe you are perusing a friend’s copy while waiting for
them to find their wallet before heading out for a movie. Or
– and this is the particularly exciting one – you’ve squashed
it flat and have your pen and notebook ready to write down
the pertinent actions. Whatever your situation, let me give
you a rapid overview of this book so that you can get the
most from it quickly and easily.
The point from which we will be starting won’t surprise
you: the world of work has changed. That world of work of
rules, gathering qualifications and developing career paths –
whether you were a schoolteacher, a copywriter, a landscape
gardener, a nurse or a doctor – has spun out of control. Here
in this introduction we are not concerned with why. We will
briefly look at the causes later, to ensure you can overcome
them. And are never caught out by them again. No, for
the moment we know the world of work has changed. No
guarantees, constant big company reorganisations, rounds of
redundancies in normal safe havens and ‘once safe’ jobs and
industries disappearing overnight.
INTRODUCTION ix
so, what’s to be done?
This book will introduce you to two powerful interconnected
strategies: mindset and mechanics. Mindset is how you
think and mechanics is what you do; they are interconnected,
of course, with one reinforcing the other. If you like: mindset
is brain and mechanics is hands. Mindset is thinking,
mechanics is doing; it’s clear that one is not that brilliant
without the other and that either one, once started, reinforces
its complementary partner. Understanding mindset and
mechanics means that we can address all aspects of the
fundamental changes we are looking for. We can get onto the
secure path we seek and stay on it.
Once you’ve gone through the mindset and mechanics
strategies, you’ll move onto the very accessible but hugely
powerful seven-step strategy to take you from wherever you
are now:
OO employed but wanting change
OO employed but really anxious about job security
OO unemployed and qualified/experienced in a dying industry
OO recently graduated, attending what seems like thousands
of interviews but not getting any offers
OO wanting to get to a job you enjoy a lot more
OO believing there simply must be more to the world of work
than this
OO fed up with being the ‘free’ intern