1st Edition
Smart Career Moves for Smart Women How to Succeed in Career Transitions
Written for the businesswoman and professional, this book offers insights and guidance on making the right decisions about career paths and shows ways to strategically prepare for a career transition, be it a promotion, change of sector, setting up one’s own business or even changing careers altogether.
Women are looking more and more at a change of work set-up (to ‘at home’ and hybrid models) and what they want out of their careers and wider life. In easy-to-follow steps, this book demystifies the unwritten rules of making a successful career transition. The reader is provided with a highly practical guide to navigating professional changes at all career points and of all types – as well as a toolkit to facilitate the practice of these new skills and approaches. The book encourages professional women to stop, reflect, and do the groundwork on where they want their career to go. It provides the tools to identify what they want, prepare for change, and cultivate the necessary skills and self-confidence key to a successful career transition.
The insights and actionable steps contained in this book make it an invaluable resource for professional women looking to achieve success and navigate the transitional stages of their career, re-enter the workplace after a career break, or who simply want to develop the tools and skills to make smart career moves.
Part 1: Identifying what you want and making it happen 1. What you want to do is who you are 2. Knowing yourself better = better career choices 3. Navigating change and acquiring the tools to do this Part 2: Preparing for change 4. Preparing for change – understanding your choices 5. Exploring new pathways and opportunities 6. Thinking creatively about your next career transition Part 3: Getting to where you want to go and cultivating the skills that underpin successful career transitions 7. Transforming ideas and wishes into concrete opportunities 8. Learning the new 9. The people factor 10. Communication skills – communicating for purpose 11. Getting support 12. Moving into power 13. Planning your future career development Part 4: Believing in yourself 14. Aiming for satisfaction in your career journey 15. Practising being who you are
Biography
Susan Doering is an international career and leadership coach who operates globally, coaching individuals to achieve professional success and facilitating career development training courses for private and public sector organizations.
"It’s important for women to build a list of ‘trusted advisors’ along with a corporate career survival tool kit, for which Smart Career Moves for Smart Women is invaluable! A successful career is more than just skills, it’s important to take control of your career from the outset, ensuring that you are clear about your values, so that any career decision you make is values led – this book creates the framework to allow you to do this! I wish this book had been available when I started my career, more than 40 years ago."
Dr Heather Melville OBE, Senior Managing Director, Teneo
"This book reveals the hidden skills necessary to be successful in moving between different work environments and how to be flexible while staying true to your core values and passion."
Dr. Sama Bilbao y Leon, Director General, World Nuclear Association
"At a time of rapid, global change in society and the marketplace, women, especially, need to learn to adapt and prepare for their next career move, and this book is the ideal companion which shows how to do that."
Kirsty Gogan, Managing Director, Lucid Catalyst
"Susan has been a fabulous coach and professional resource with immense skill in helping one navigate career development. The book will be a great help to many professional women wanting insights and practical steps for developing their career."
Dr. Liz Williams, Board Director, National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), Australia
"A subject that is very close to my heart has been handled here by an experienced career coach with sensitivity and understanding of the challenges professional women face."
Cornelia von Rittberg, Business Matchmaker & Regenerator; International Art Broker
"A wealth of insight and strategies offered with a personal tone and style that feels like Susan is coaching you along toward your goals."
Jan M. Walton, Human Resources and Organisational Change Consultant
"Dr Doering has written a practical, focussed guide for any woman struggling with the complex and challenging issues around career transition. Real-life examples bring the issues to life, and Dr Doering’s compassionate, coaching-focussed advice would be an invaluable resource for any professional woman at a career crossroads. The text shows a deep and helpful understanding of the issues facing women thinking about a career change. Dr Doering’s wide professional expertise and understanding of different cultural contexts give the book wide relevance."
Susan le Jeune d’Allegeershecque CBE, Secretary General, International Order of St John of Jerusalem
"Transitioning into a new role can undermine confidence and be extremely stressful if not approached in a pro-active way. Susan guides the reader through the balancing act of establishing credibility, building relationships and delivering on expectations."
Helen Isacke, Founder and Director, Trusted Coach Directory UK
"Smart Career Moves for Smart Women is essential reading for women at all stages in their career, and one that they can return to again and again as they encounter or seek new transitions.
Written in a clear, honest and straight-talking style, it offers meaningful insights that will resonate with all working women. Having already made one major career transition with a change of both sectors and roles, a lot of the themes feel personally applicable. I am now finding myself returning to Susan’s insights as I embark on motherhood and the inevitable transition this will entail for my career. I will definitely be consulting this book when I contemplate how I want to re-enter working life after maternity leave and how I want to shape my career around my shifting values and needs.
Susan masterfully applies her own expertise and emotional intelligence to sometimes complex situations and gives actionable advice that will give the reader the confidence and clarity of thought to grapple with the essential questions all women need to ask themselves about the outcomes they are seeking and what they are willing and able to change to make these happen. The toolkits and journaling exercises are excellent and will allow readers to engage with the content as actively as they choose and offer great value to return to again and again.
The content is particularly timely and relevant as we adjust to the new ‘post-pandemic reality’ where women (and men) have realised a level of flexibility and work-life balance that can produce better outcomes for both their productivity and their well-being.
I will certainly be consulting this book often as I navigate new changes and challenges in my career and transitions I wish to make. The valuable insight and advice it provides for women at all stages of their careers and across sectors makes it an unmissable read."
Katie Reading, Wine Buyer
