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Has it happened yet? Have we been asked The Question? You know a one. It’s a subject which haunts we from your early undergrad days to months, even years, after we graduate… “What have been we starting to do with which major?” Inevitably this unleashes waves of anxiety, either you’re a magnanimous humanities tyro uncertain what your grade has rebuilt we for, someone with a “practical” vital whose career margin is oversaturated (or only unappealing), or a new grad still acid for inspiration. But take heart – The Question is essentially flawed. Your vital does not next to your job!
In You Majored In What?, nationally well known career advisor Dr. Katharine Brooks dispels a misconceptions as well as the… More >>
You Majored in What?: Mapping Your Path From Chaos to Career
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This book teaches us to listen to our heart more and discover who we really are rather than depending on some linear and “outside” definition of what we need to do and be. Its helpful for anyone, not just college students. In today’s world where young adults are feeling the pressure of knowing they will be graduating from college deep in debt– this book helps the student stay confident, follow their intuition, relax, and trust the process. You Majored in What? encourages its reader to use college as a time of exploration and uncovering interests, to enjoy and observe the lessons learned along the journey, rather than being only focused on the destination, while at the same time giving step by step instructions on what to do each step of the way.
Have you ever glanced through a book in an attempt to glean the few nuggets it contains? Not this one. “You Majored in What?” breaks the 80-20 rule as it’s JAM-PACKED with insight, knowledge, and self-guided exercises that will give you real clarity about your direction in life.
If you’re a student, the parent of a student, a returning student, or just wondering what to do now in your life – GET THIS BOOK.
Dr. Brooks is one of the most gifted and intelligent people that reads everything, knows more than most people, and has genuine soul and heart – and it comes through in this book. She is not stingy and freely gives away her knowledge in a language that’s easy to understand. You’re going to love it.
I wish I had a book like this to read this years ago! In fact, I’m going to spend the weekend curled up on my sofa with my favorite music playing in the background and try out her “mental wanderings” exercise. (Oh, and who knew about not using a highlighter when studying?? Read the book to understand why.
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I had the privilege of assisting Dr. Brooks with her Majors in the Workplace course over two semesters at The University of Texas at Austin and saw, first-hand, the amazing results she was able to provoke by exposing the principles in this book to college juniors and seniors. Not only did these students complete the course with greater self-confidence, but they hugely broadened what they believed was possible for them to achieve in the world of work, and had honed and refined the practical skills of resume and cover-letter writing that supported those aspirations.
At a time when career centers typically remain 5-10 years behind the curve in terms of adequately preparing college graduates for the 21st century marketplace outside of the narrow confines of academia, Dr. Brooks offers refreshingly innovative yet hugely practical insights into making the most of any liberal arts major in any kind of job.
Buy this book; apply its principles; then discover how you too can be attractive to today’s employers by creating your most compelling self.
“you majored in what?” provides a fresh, detailed approach to career research. about 22 years ago, i needed a career change. i attended counseling classes, and also went through the then-current volume of bolles’ ubiquitous “what color is your parachute;” although i was successful in my effort, i wish this book and approach had been available then (yes, even though this book is aimed at graduating college students, i think career-changers could benefit equally from its content). the WCIYP approach is terrific as far as it goes, but it is not as straightforward and freeing-from-stereotypes as would have been helpful to me. “you majored in what?” is an open-ended brainstorming of a sort, with a framework laid out to really allow me to link experience,strengths and interests. the author uses the term “wandering map” to describe the basic tool upon which the “search” is built. “wandering” sounds a little too unfocused to me; i think it really works more like a “brainstorming map.” other reviews here provide terrific detail on the content, so i’ll stop here.
the book is easy to read and follow, and yet is a complete, detailed description of a confidence-building career search process.
If I can think of a criticism of Katharine Brooks’ “You Majored in What?” it would have to be that it is a very ambitious project. While primarily aimed at college-age students trying to decide how to decide what comes next, the book is filled with highly useful and thought-provoking guidance for the parents and aunts and uncles of those students, but also for people trying to get a job (especially in this economy!),employees trying to keep their jobs, those exploring career changes, and people who are just plain having a tough time realizing their potential and leading happy and focused lives.
The book starts out from the premise that “linear” thinking about career planning is an outdated and less-than-useful way to go about the process (and the author explains why that is– much of it having to do with social, economic, and cultural changes within society). She posits that a new way of approaching such decision-making is far better, calling it “chaos” theory. But the word “chaos” shouldn’t scare us, she cautions. “Chaos looks orderly from afar” but at the same time “Systems will ultimately reveal an order” if one approaches these issues from the “chaos” perspective.
The book is a terrific guide for the young and their parents, largely because it starts out challenging them to think differently about career planning, yet morphs into a book filled with practical (sometimes very practical, i.e. using correct grammar) advice about the job search process. Her examples of cover letter “dos” and “don’ts” alone may make the difference between landing that interview or receiving a form “thanks, but no thanks” letter.
But this book is much, much more than that. As a lawyer who represents employees (usually unhappy employees) in workplace disputes, I feel the book should be required reading for those employees who are at a loss as to why their working environments (or careers) are not what they want, and provides some insight into ways that the employees themselves might be influencing their working environment in a negative manner and merely exacerbating their problems and disillusionment.
At one level, the book is probably somewhat too kind to employers, ascribing as it does only honorable motives to what they seek in employees. After all, employers are merely groups of individuals who may have their priorities just as out of whack as do disgruntled employees. But, hey, this is a tough economy and jobs are hard to find, so the author’s advice about “what kind of employee to be” is probably all for the best.
Finally, this isn’t a bad resource for people having trouble making a decision in any sphere of life. Its advice for looking at problems differently can only be helpful. Hopefully, the author will follow up with a few books applying her principles more specifically to situations beyond career planning itself.