BARNES & NOBLE | The Career Chronicles: An Insider's Guide to What Jobs Are Really Like - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from over 750 Professionals by Michael Gregory, New World Library

The Career Chronicles: An Insider's Guide to What Jobs Are Really Like - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from over 750 Professionals

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Overview

In this nuts-and-bolts guide, over 750 professionals speak candidly about "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of two dozen popular professions. Dispensing with romantic fantasies, real-world professionals - from nurses and pharmacists to architects and attorneys - speak about the day-to-day realities of their careers in six categories: College vs. Reality, The Biggest Surprise, Hours and Advancement, The Best and the Worst, Changes in the Profession, Would You Do It All Over Again?

Chapters include overviews of each profession, followed by helpful information about education, testing, and registration and licensing requirements; the number of positions across the country; and the average starting or median annual salaries.

This valuable resource is filled with the open, personal insights and observations most students and career-changers want - and need - to make informed decisions about what they will do with the rest of their lives.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Former attorney Gregory launches his writing career with the book he wish he'd had as a college student, a comprehensive guide to some of America's most popular jobs, including notes from the professionals themselves. In 23 profiles, Gregory introduces a double-handful of careers-from landscaping to accounting to veterinary medicine-with background info, "by the numbers" data (employment and salary levels) and quotes from a list of practitioners on topics like "College vs. Reality," "The Biggest Surprise," and "Would you do it all over again?" Going for depth over breadth, Gregory's selection of careers is rather narrow, but includes representative careers from 10 fields-including health care, architecture, the law, education, social sciences, sales and marketing-providing enough coverage for most job-seeking college grads. Without sugarcoating the grueling details, this guide still accentuates the positive, and hundreds of personal voices add to the encouraging tone.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

VOYA

For those trying to decide on a career, this guide is a good tool. Gregory interviewed hundreds of professionals about their jobs, asking the kind of questions that help show what the job is really like. He profiles twenty-four professions across a wide spectrum of employment categories, such as Health Care, Law, Financial Services, and Arts and Media. It is not meant to be an exhaustive study, but a useable volume that will give students a picture of what some real career choices are like. Each chapter gives a general overview of the job, training requirements, and salary along with other facts from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rest of each chapter shares responses from individuals working in the profession to questions divided into six categories: College vs. Reality, The Biggest Surprise, Hours and Advancement, The Best and the Worst, Changes in the Profession, and Would You Do It All Over Again? The most valuable part of the book are the candid answers from people actually working on the job. They point out unrealistic expectations they had as students, what they don't like about their jobs, and what keeps them going back to work every day. This informative guide may have students rethinking a career choice before they spend years training for something they really do not want to do. High school and college counselors could use this resource to help students choose a career path. Reviewer: Deborah Dubois

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Library Journal

Former attorney Gregory sent questionnaires to more than 750 individuals in his quest to provide "real-world insight" on a wide variety of careers in health care, engineering, law, education, sales, and more. The result is an extremely readable guide, with chapters detailing the history, educational requirements, and salaries for specific jobs. The real genius of the book is the verbatim inclusion of survey responses to questions such as "Would you do it all over again?" The respondents' words help paint a vivid picture of each profession, and, as several responses to each question are provided, the bigger picture emerges as it seldom does in career guides. Although the list of careers covered seems random (doctors are not included because the author found doctors so busy "they rarely had time to participate"), the 24 job titles that are listed are fully explored. Gregory has compiled an invaluable resource combining tangible and intangible information about the wider work world. Highly recommended for all public libraries and secondary school libraries.
—Sarah Statz Cords

School Library Journal

Adult/High School- An introduction to 23 jobs in health care, architecture, the law, financial services, education, the social sciences, information technology, sales, media, and more. Gregory dedicates a separate chapter to each one, opening with its history and background and describing the current status of the field (including statistics on employment levels, education required, and average salaries). The most revealing portions of each chapter are the direct quotes from surveys. Workers are asked to compare the reality of the profession to expectations developed in school, describe the biggest surprise, say whether they would choose that position again, and answer practical questions about hours and advancement, as well as best and worst aspects of and changes in the profession. The honest, insightful answers given by the survey responders, combined with the wide-ranging fields and professions covered, offer teens an opportunity to learn about "the real world" before committing to a specific career path. The concluding chapter features a table of data comparing current careers and dream professions from 50 survey responders and encourages readers to consider factors beyond salary and status when choosing a profession. This book belongs in every high school library and guidance office.-Sondra VanderPloeg, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781577315735
Publisher: New World Library
Publication date: 4/28/2008
Pages: 272
Sales rank: 852,950
Product dimensions: 8.38 (w) x 10.86 (h) x 0.64 (d)

Careers in Health Care

So You Want to Be a Nurse 3

So You Want to Be a Pharmacist 13

So You Want to Be a Dentist 23

So You Want to Be a Veterinarian 33

Careers in Architecture and Engineering

So You Want to Be an Architect 43

So You Want to Bean Engineer 51

So You Want to Be a Landscape Architect 59

A Career in the Law

So You Want to Be an Attorney 71

Careers in Accounting and Financial Services

So You Want to Be an Accountant 83

So You Want to Be a Banker 93

So You Want to Be a Financial Planner 103

A Career in Education

So You Want to Be a Teacher 115

Careers in the Social Sciences

So You Want to Be a Psychologist 127

So You Want to Be a Speech Pathologist 137

So You Want to Be a Social Worker or Clinical Therapist 147

A Career in Information Technology

So You Want to Be a Computer Engineer 159

Careers in Sales and Marketing

So You Want to Be a Marketing Manager 169

So You Want to Be a Public Relations Specialist 179

So You Want to Be a Realtor 189

So You Want to Be an Insurance Agent 197

Careers in Geoscience

So You Want to Be a Geologist 211

So You Want to Be a Soil Scientist 221

Careers in the Arts and Media

So You Want to Be a Television Broadcaster 233

So You Want to Be a Writer 243

Finding Your Dream Career 255

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