College Student Book Review: A Girl’s Guide to the Big Bold Moves for Career Success

I love it when I receive strong recommendations about a career-related resource directly from students. One of the students in my career planning class, Ashley, recently raved about the book The Girl’s Guide to the Big Bold Moves for Career Success: How to Build Confidence, Conquer Fear, Manage Up, Navigate Change and Much, Much More by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio.

Ashley is interested in pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies in business or education, and she has graciously given me permission to share her review of this book.

Review

When I discuss this amazing career success book, many people (meaning my peers) have said, “You don’t even have a career, why are you reading that book?”

Truth is, it’s more than just a career book: it highlights basic skills needed to actually have confidence in oneself in order to get the most accomplished. It has helped me in many ways, like prioritizing my tasks and ensuring success in everything I do.

There are many things I hadn’t known about myself that I learned through reading this book because it actually shares experiences and a way to reflect on one’s own situation. This book doesn’t tell you to follow a certain path but enables you to create your own path to success.

I enjoyed this book because it was both informative and fun. It’s not a typical boring business book with numbers and statistics. It’s a book that actually shares experiences of many women in different backgrounds. It can be a book for both pleasure and knowledge to take away and share with others. Lots of the material I read was learned as well in the textbook used for this class. So indeed I related to this book.

Once information is interesting to you, it becomes natural to think about success and how to get there. This book encourages women to always think about their individual success in their own careers to truly be happy and perform to the best of your ability.

These types of books don’t just tell anyone what to do, it’s more of a way to be aware of trends, instances and experiences that can either be beneficial or a downfall.

I want to summarize my thoughts and key aspects I learned through this book. I learned that it’s never too soon to plan your career and plan for success. The sooner the better because of all the experience involved in implementing your career.

Also bad moves can turn into good ones. Getting fired from one job can mean a better one awaits. Also it’s okay to make changes even though your whole life was based on that one goal in particular.

I recommend this book to women who are seeking a way to shift their lives in a positive turn. Being proactive can really go a long way. Reading books for your future can only strengthen your knowledge.

I lead a women’s organization on campus whose purpose is to promote success in college and in life despite the hurdles. I read every week a passage that I think pertains to our group.

The chapter about having a girl’s network really stood out to me because I had already implemented those ideas and have created a network where us ladies can mentor each other and offer guidance. The chapter highlights the importance of having a positive network to encourage each other to become successful especially through tough times. When I read aloud this chapter to my peers, they were all amazed that I had actually had taken the time to share this information.

I learned through this book how to be confident in your passion and share knowledge amongst your peers, which is exactly what I had done.