Review of Make the Right Career Move:
28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job,
by Rachelle J. Canter.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007, 242 pp. ISBN 978-0-470-05236-5.

Rachelle Canter, also known as Shelley Canter, is passionate about helping knowledge workers and executives make the right career move. Canter provides leadership/executive, career, organization, and team development as well as selection assessment services to client organizations. Her clients include some of the best known and most respected companies in the world, such as American Express, Apple, BP Amoco, Bank of America, Barnes & Noble, CNET, Catholic Healthcare West, Charles Schwab, Deloitte & Touche, to name a few

She's just released Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job that I believe is one of the best business books on the market for knowledge workers, middle managers, and C-levels who are actively managing their careers. Her unique branding and positioning tools help job seekers build the business case on why a prospective employer should hire you.

Canter's book and expertise are invaluable for the Smart Lemming reader by helping you "differentiate yourself from the competition in ways that matter to prospective employers - and the sooner any of us learn to brand and position ourselves, the better our career results." I first read about Shelley's book in her interview with Marshall Goldsmith, see "3 Obstacles to a Career Move by Marshall Goldsmith." I was so excited about doing an interview with Canter that I couldn't wait to learn more about her recommendations for knowledge workers starting their career, how her clients' have responded to her consulting, or any other of pearls of wisdom that she might have.

Below is my interview Shelley Canter, who was more than happy to share advice on how we can prepare for our next career move, find passion in our work, reinvent our careers, or how to move up the career ladder.

Smart Lemming: I loved your book Shelley! I read it on a flight, and then the next day, I bought it for friend, who's been at the executive level for some time, but wants a career change. Your book was the perfect prescription for his career reinvention. What are the most important steps that workers can do when they set out to reinvent their career?

Shelley Canter: I'm so delighted that you liked the book and that you could read it on the plane - the original idea was a book for busy people that could be read in less than a cross-country plane trip!

Smart Lemming: I loved your book Shelley! I read it on a flight, and then the next day, I bought it for friend, who's been at the executive level for some time, but wants a career change. Your book was the perfect prescription for his career reinvention. What are the most important steps that workers can do when they set out to reinvent their career?

Shelley Canter: I'm so delighted that you liked the book and that you could read it on the plane - the original idea was a book for busy people that could be read in less than a cross-country plane trip!

The steps I recommend are to (1) figure out what you really want to do, (2) determine whether you need to build further skills and accomplishments to reasonably compete for your dream job or perhaps you need an intervening job to build that bench strength, and (3) develop the branding and positioning tools (resume, competitive advantages, interview skills) to build your strongest case for the dream job or the next job.

SL: Besides career reinvention, your approach seems applicable for people who want to figure out their passion in work. You have several tools and templates in your book. Which ones would you recommend for someone wanting to uncover their passion?

SC: I would use all the tools and templates to discover your passion. Basically, my idea is that this series of exercises in a logical step-by-step process can help you determine your passion actively instead of sitting around waiting for a blinding revelation to reveal your life's purpose, which rarely happens anyway.

SL: When you coach executives, are they still passionate about their work? Or have they outgrown their passion? Or have they just the outgrown the venue and still have the same passion?

SC: Some executives are still passionate about their work, some aren't - either they've outgrown their passion or they never felt it in the first place but just got carried along by the momentum and sometimes the golden handcuffs of high compensation. I've dealt with people all over the spectrum which makes it interesting. But for all of them, regardless of situation, I believe that we should all have passion for what we do and spend the time to find that passion. I hope that Make the Right Career Move can streamline the process for others so they don't feel trapped.

SL: You once mentioned to me that your book is for everyone, not just executives, wanting to make the right career move. What was your biggest challenge in writing this book since your approach can be knowledge workers, middle managers, or C-levels? Which part was the most difficult to write?

SC: I don't know what was the hardest part - the book is based on the work I do but it took lots of time (years) to write and rewrite, to get my thoughts clarified.

SL: If I were starting out my career again, I would apply your competitive advantages section in your book to help me define my personal brand. I would use it to help me define my value proposition to my current employer and future employers. What other advice would you give knowledge workers who aspire to be C-levels besides using your competitive advantages tools and templates?

SC: Manage your career actively - don't get so busy with your job that you forget to manage your career. Determine how you want to build your skills and marketability in the next year (and next three years) and actively look for assignments and opportunities to build skills in line with your goals. Even the most benevolent employer or mentor does not have the same commitment you do to building your career.

SL: For middle managers wanting to hit the C-level , what advice would you give them even if they aren't looking for a job, but know where they want to eventually be (at the C-level)?

SC: Manage your career actively, have a plan, track your accomplishments, establish your brand, look for small measurable steps to advance your goals.

SL: Your book can be used for three different aspects of our work lives like finding our next gig, passion in work, or career reinvention. What's the most common goal that your clients are trying to accomplish? Next job, passion in work, or career reinvention? Something else?

SC: I see all three and often more than one in a person, though career reinvention is probably the least common one - people often start out saying, "Anything but this," "Anywhere but here," but often realize that there's a reason they were doing what they were, but needed a new company and set of challenges to reinvigorate their careers. But I definitely see all three and have helped people in all three situations.

SL: When consulting with your clients, where do most people have more problems? Is it imagining their next career? Preparing their resume, competitive advantages, or interviewing skills?

SC: People have trouble in all these areas - and that's why I wrote the book, because of all the calls I got from folks wanting help and feeling trapped. One of the first things that holds people back is that they don't believe they have any other career possibilities, so often they don't even try! But they also have trouble with the branding and positioning because that's not the kind of resume or approach they are used to - though I can tell your readers that not a week goes by without at least one of my clients being told by a recruiter or a prospective employer that their resume really impressed them (and opened doors for them, which a traditional resume generally won't). And they also spend time in their job searches on the wrong things - for example, too much time on job websites and not enough time on their networks and using their contacts for all-important introductions and inside information.

SL: What has the response been to your book? Anything about the response that has surprised you?

SC: As a first time author, I didn't know what to expect, and quite frankly, the marketing falls pretty much on me alone. I've gotten some great reviews and emails from all over, even someone who heard one of my speeches to a big crowd at Hewlett Packard a couple of months ago tracked me down to say that my speech and my book had changed her career and her life. That is the biggest reward! I hope your readers will buy my book, and if they like it, write reviews on Amazon & Barnes & Noble websites. I know these things work, as my hundreds of clients are my biggest supporters because the tools and techniques have helped them.

SL: What are you working on now?

SC: I'm not working on another book, but I am very busy with a lot of coaching and career transition work, speeches, and writing articles. I'm very busy and I love my work. I feel that I have found my life's work, am passionate about it, and want others to experience that same passion.

Shelley Canter Resources

For more on Shelley Canter, sample chapters from her book, additional articles from selected publications, additional position papers, or her recommended resources, visit her website.

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