Book Club – Profoundly Simple Career Planning

by Jaz Bruhn

Author: Steve Miller
Publisher: Implicit Career Services Incorporated
ISBN 978-0-9810945-3-3

“How do I decide what my work is going to be?” Haven’t all of us asked ourselves this very question or heard it from clients in some form or other?

Wow! I was blown away by Profoundly Simple Career Planning. It is a great resource book and workbook — you actually get two for the price of one.  The humour and easy style of the writing make it a pleasure to read.

The first time I read it – I have now read it three times – I enjoyed it but got the feeling that it would need to be reread.  I am glad that I did reread it and am currently working through the exercises.

As a workbook, it sets out a ten week cycle of activities. I am only in my first week so I cannot say if the whole process will be as valuable as this first week, but I can say with confidence that even if I did not continue through the complete cycle, the first week makes it worthwhile. This book will be a very beneficial as a tool for helping clients move ahead.

The basic metaphor of the book is the epic. You are the “hero” on a journey of self-realisation. The book developed out of the author’s own journey and his experiences providing career planning workshops. As many people working in the field of career counselling will attest, you sometimes have an epiphany. “I began to realize that my job wasn’t to tell people what they should do but to help them remember.”

The thing that I did not like about the book was the cover, which I understand is being revised, and the shape because it does not fit my bookcase well. However, I have to admit that the shape does facilitate using it as a workbook.

If you can only buy one book for yourself and your career, this one should be it.

Jaz Bruhn is the Conference Planning Associate at CERIC and works on Cannexus – National Career Development Conference. He holds a B.A. with specialized honours (Linguistics) and a M.A. (English) both from York University.