Take Control of your Career offers a practical guide, developing the best career strategy that suits you

Take Control of Your Career

THIS book is brilliant and highly recommended for anyone - whether you want to take the next step up the career ladder, move to a more interesting job, devote more energy to learning and living, or make a change and get your life/work in balance.

Take Control of your Career offers a practical guide, developing the best career strategy that suits you. The book also examines how to raise and maintain a good profile as well as how to understand and manage others people's perceptions of you.

It is written in simple language and very easy to follow. Each chapter consists of guidance, realistic advice, key steps to build your skills and exercises - for example, how to identify what you want to get out of work - and ends with a `must do' list to achieve your goals and objectives:

We spend so many hours of energy in work during the course of our working lifetime. It is, therefore, pretty important choosing how we spend our working life. Reading this book is a good start.

Take Control of Your Career is certainly thought-provoking and will help you identify what career direction you wish to follow. The last chapter summarises 10 steps towards taking control of your career. Each step is punctuated with useful tips and insights, based on a career survey:

1 Invest in yourself: Put time aside to review, plan and investigate possibilities for your future.

2 Know the organisation: Be aware of what your organisation needs, before you focus on your own strengths.

3 Watch the politics: Understand what your boss really wants in life and help to provide it.

4 Be an ideas machine: Keep up to date - read widely, go to exhibitions to get new information.

5 Adopt a strategy for rejection: Learn how to cope with rejection and focus on the winning outcomes.

6 Communicate a clear message: Learn the art of self-marketing - communicate what you do well, how you make a difference, and the kinds of challenges you would like to take on so your job will develop.

7 Fall forwards: Don't be afraid of making mistakes; it's all part of the process - fall forwards, not backwards.

8 Recruit your dream team: Who can help you? Recruit some positive-thinking friends to support you through your exploration and to help you cope with the ups and downs of job search.

9 Keep making connections: Set time aside to maintain relationships, keep records of contacts and keep in touch at least once every six months.

10 Step out: Once you've got the preparation sorted out, start thinking about the following activity.

• Take responsibility for your future

• If you want an average career with average career satisfaction, continue the passive route.

• If you want to create real choices, take control

• An employer is responsible for getting the best out of you, but no one else will look after your career but you