Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for this arc in return for my honest opinion.

This was a useful book, offering steps to implement change to a totally different career path. I found it was pragmatic and encouraging for those looking to step into the unknown charters of a new career path.

It was a good read, but it didn't provide as much depth as I would like. I was hoping for more concrete steps and action plans to help me in switching in my own career.

A must read if you are considering a job or career change

Switchers is geared toward individuals contemplating a transition from their current job to a totally new job (e.g. engineering to sales), industry (e.g. finance to media) or both (the double switch).

However, I found the advice in Switchers to be valuable for those that are eligible to retire from their current careers but are not truly ready for retirement. The examples that Dr. Dawn Graham provided with military personnel (who typically retire in their early to late 40s) can also be applied to others that can retire from their current jobs at a relatively young age.

What I found most useful with Switchers were the practical applications and templates that could be readily implemented in your new job or career switch. These tools were presented as a roadmap that consisted of the following steps (pg 17):

• Choose Your Switch
• Clarify Your Plan A
• Craft Your Brand Value Proposition
• Create Ambassadors
• Keep the Ball in Your Court

Although the job search tools that Dr. Graham describes in Switchers are valuable, her emphasis on being psychologically prepared for a job or industry switch is well worth the read alone.

Link to Amazon Review:

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3ELA52GLWMWHE/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

This book fills a niche -- a career advice book for those who wish to change careers at any time in life. Very solid advice, offers creative solutions to problems. Would definitely recommend. There are so many people who want to truly change what they are doing and there is not too much good advice out there for them. This book will help.

Switchers offered some interesting career advice. If you'require in your 40s the book is golden. However if you look at the book from a younger audience's perspective Switchers might as well have been a few longer blog posts instead of a book. I'd gift it to my mother of her friends looking to make a career switch.

Given the numerous opportunities that have arisen from globalisation and the internet switching careers has become more of a norm. According to statistics, most Americans will spend around five years of their lives in some type of job search activity. Further, the numbers also say that one is likely to hold eleven different positions in the course of your career, and each job search might take six months or longer.

Enter Dawn Graham, a celebrated career coach with her book Switchers: How Smart Professionals Switch Careers and Seize Success. Dr Graham outlines the process of making a shift from different functions (functional shift), industries (industry shift) and even locations to attain their desired careers. From her experience as a former recruiter, licenced psychologist and an expert radio host, Dr Dawn addresses the internal and external barriers that professionals encounter. She recommends that switchers should focus on an empowered approach of the 4 Rs: responsibility, reality, risk and resilience in order to ease the job search journey. In addition, she advocated for continuous career management which includes regularly updating one's resume, micro-networking and learning in order to make to make career switch more seamless and organic.

Throughout the book, Dr Dawn helps the reader to make an informed mind shift in this journey which she terms as one of the greatest barriers in this process, She also helps the reader to see the recruiters and hiring managers perspective so that the reader can be a fit for their prospective employers.

Switchers fills a need in the self-help (sub-)genre by compiling timely and practical information into an accessible form. This book would be a great resource for anyone thinking of making a career jump or someone fine-tuning their career plans.