A Review: The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl

Yesterday I started brainstorming about what to write about in today's blog post. (In case you haven't picked up on the trend, I'm trying to post every day.) My eyes wandered to my bookcase, home of some of my favorite books. These books are almost exclusively focused on grammar, careers, journalism, personal finance, design, and fitness. (When I'm interested in something, you know it!)

A clean, pink and white cover caught my eye. Once I opened "The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use" by Karen Burns, I knew I'd found the topic for today's post. I did NOT know it would also inspire the four other posts bouncing around in my brain. That's inspiration for ya. 

I won this book in a Twitter contest back in July 2009. Yes, that is almost exactly four years ago. Check out this excerpt from my post giving a shout out to the author.

Recently I’ve LOVED learning more about @workinggirl, aka Karen Burns. I’ve been following her tweets and two weeks ago won her Twitter contest for a FREE copy of her book, “The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl.” And I’m absolutely loving reading it.(I’m hoping to finish soon, but my free time has gotten away from me recently.) Not only does she offer practical career advice (derived from personal experiences from 59 different jobs) but she’s created this amazingly cute, girly, witty and sassy brand surrounding the entire product. (I love the polka dots, pink, and little cartoons, as well as the fun atmosphere it all creates.)

I planned to write up all my thoughts, but, um, that never happened. Well, I might not be timely, but, dang it, I follow through! Eventually...

Does anyone else have books that look like this after one read? (Yes, those sticky tabs are from four years ago.)

Let me say this first: I love this book. Seriously. If my many, many tabs don't show how much fantastic stuff Karen Burns covers, let me tell you that she presents great career—and life—advice in a way that is real, relatable, fun, and informative. As I reviewed the book again, I honestly think it was written specifically for me today. I also think it was written specifically for the me four years ago. While I'm typing up some of my favorite excerpts, I'm blown away how much this book speaks to me. I'm almost to the point where I'm typing entire pages. A book that offers that much great content is exactly the kind of book I want to read.

I'll share some of my favorite highlights here, but I definitely think you should read this book for yourselves. And, even better, you can get it for a penny on Amazon. That's a deal, folks.

The book is based on the author's work experience (59 jobs ya'll!), and shares hard-earned wisdom that women everywhere can benefit from. The three sections (Clueless, Confident, and Carefree) are made up of chapters, each presenting a specific lesson learned at one of Working Girl's jobs. (I would have loved to be in the editing sessions to fine tune this book.)

The chapters are dotted with job survival tips, "eternal truths," do's & don'ts, various exercises, doodled charts and tables, and tons of cute illustrations. It's the kind of book that allows you to jump from section to section, following the career path you most relate to and the advice you most need.

Working Girl talks about the myth of security in a job and why she turned down an offer to stay on "permanately" after a holiday temp job. She shares tips on maintaining a good relationship with a boss, i.e. "managing your boss." She shares her experience walking away from a "respectable and okay-paying PR manager job and boarding a plane to Paris, where she had no job."

Whether you are looking to discover your true path (Page 252), quit a job with class (Page 130), measure your success (Page 236), learn to be lucky (Page 250), or take a career leap (Page 176), this book has something for you. Check out a few sample chapters here.

And all this fantastic content is also presented in a way that inspires Karianne the writer, the gal who wants to write a book of her own. I'm telling you, this kind of inspiring content is priceless. (I might be Working Girl's prime audience.) To avoid rambling on for much longer, I'm stopping now, but come back later this week for posts sharing "Working Girl's 10 Best 'Eternal Truths'" and my top excerpts from the book.

I'll leave you with just one highlight:

"A huge sign that you've found your true calling is that you are little bit afraid of it....At the same time, your true calling feels very right. It seems comfortable and inevitable. You don't mind the risks and problems, you make any sacrifices with joy, you are filled with energy." (Page 234)