Student Reviews of Humanities Career Books

Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career
(by Sheila Curran and Suzanne Greenwald)

I would recommend this book first and foremost because of it's accessibility. I know it might seem strange that this is coming before content, but it's not! My biggest problems that I have with books assigned for classes usually come down to this. It's my deciding factor on whether or not I like the book, and if I don't like it... well, I've already decided I'm not going to learn very much from it. I just can't enjoy books that feel like the author is working against my understanding of them. How as a student am I supposed to comprehend something in an area I may not understand very well if the author of the book is trying to communicate with me at a completely different level of language skill than I possess? Maybe this is not a very good attitude to take towards books, but I know a lot of other students probably feel this same way. Smart Moves is accessible, both in language and content. It's an easy read. It took me some time, but I didn't have to go back and reread and reread whole pages to understand what Curran was telling me.

I didn't really have any specific issues with this book. Sometimes I was less interested in a subject's story than others. This book is written in my favorite way that things are written: It did not build and build and build on certain assertions it made in the beginning, except for that Liberal arts grads do have plenty of opportunities and perhaps more than in other fields. I love books like this because they are the type that you can come back to later. I don't have to take it all in at once. I can read about one experience and skip to another and go back to the one I skipped. You can jump around in this book (except for the beginning -- it's good to read the beginning part in succession) Books that you have to read in one large chunk to get anything out of don't really stay on my bookshelf.

The last reason I would recommend this book was because I could see myself in many of the subjects that Curran wrote about and I think that is probably the most important thing to students who have graduated or are about to graduate. Half of the problem is being unable to visualize your career or yourself in any certain career. Curran gives many different accounts and I think there is someone to relate to in this book for everyone. When I read the accounts of the other liberal arts grads and I was able to visualize my career path choices, it made me confident in myself. It made the scary world of the recently graduated liberal arts student feel a lot less scary and more in reach. It wasn't just the accounts of these people also in my place, though. The whole first part of this book spends a good deal of time debunking "Myths" about the liberal arts degree. This is great because my confidence was affected by all of these myths in one way or the other -- and they're perpetuated by people who don't really know what they're talking about anyways. I don't know how many times I've heard from someone who knows little to nothing about an English degree tell me it was a poor choice on my part in deciding to attain one. And usually said person is working a job that I would never want to have in a million years, anyways. "Why would you go for English. You can't do anything with that." Um, why don't you take a step back and look at your career choices for a second before you insult mine?

(written by Katie Landry, spring 2014)

10 Things Employers Want You To Learn In College 
(by Bill Coplin)

 I would not recommend Bill Coplin's "10 Things Employers Want You To Learn In College" for students who are majoring in liberal arts. Although I have learned useful skills from the chapters, I found myself regretting choosing another book.

First, this book would be a great read for freshmen students or late seniors in high school. Coplin provides useful advice and tips. I wish I would have encountered the learnings from this book years ago. Because if that were the case, I could have build on the skills during my college years. He mentions how to be a better student and how to make the best out of your college years. He also provides advice on writing, verbal communication, networking, today's technology tools, life management, etc. This is why college freshmen should read this particular book. It really takes the time to explain what you need to do in college (in the beginning) in order to succeed in the end of your college years and, most importantly, the start of your career.

The second reason why I would not recommend this book is it has little or nothing to do with liberal arts majors. There are skills that can help a liberal arts major in the workplace setting and being a college student. However, it did not provide information or advice for English majors specifically. This book is for a general audience not a specific (besides college students). A student with an English Major would be more interested in learning the kinda of writing they would do in the workplace, how to do research for a journal or magazine or for a non-profit organization, which technology tools should they be comfortable with, and what are the different jobs available for English Majors, and what resources are available to them. This book does not ask or answer these questions.

Those are my two reasons why I would not recommend this book to students with a liberal arts major. I did not hate the book. I actually enjoyed reading it. I was marking up the text and putting post-it notes on the skills that I really want to work on. My only disappointment was that I was not a college freshman. The book is useful but more to a specific age group. And so, I decided to let my cousin, who is attending his first college semester at URI in the fall, borrow the book. I know he will learn from reading it.

(written by Madelyn Brito, spring 2014)

Life After College: A Complete Guide to Getting What you Want 
(by Jenny Blake)

Though the author does not deal specifically with life after college for liberal arts graduates but I would recommend Life After College: A Complete Guide to Getting What you Want by Jenny Blake for anybody graduating college in the near future. In her novel Blake covers almost all facets of a new graduates life, ranging from work to home life.

Blake’s section on adjusting to a new work place is something that I think any person entering the professional workspace for the first time would find useful. In this section Blake discuses the importance of finding balance in each day and how someone can make their work life meet their individual needs. Though what I found particularly interesting is on page 129 and 130 she gives useful tips about building a resume. A couple of things that stood out to me were that Blake says to focus on the “Impact” of previous work responsibilities rather than just giving a description. By doing this the employer will hopefully see the candidate as a dynamic force in the workplace that can incite change and progress rather than just being another worker. Another tip for building the resume was the suggestion of taking personality assessments. Blake says this is useful because the person applying will be able to have a solid grasp on their strengths and weakness as an individual and tailor that to fit in their resume.

Blake’s section on money also has a lot of helpful information to offer. On page 259 Blake has a section called, “The Four Step Budget” and it is a great and easy way for someone to create a budget for themselves. I created one for myself and I find myself being much more money conscious lately. In this section she also goes into how to generate some extra income. One suggestion she has is using Craigslist to your advantage. Blake says that by offering up services on the site (such as dog walking and tutoring) you can find yourself making a few extra dollars on the side that will relieve some of the pressures of paying bills.

 Relationships are also touched on extensively in this novel. Blake goes into how to balance family, home, and romantic relationships. She goes into the importance of finding the right roommate, how to go about dating as an adult without having the foil of school to rely on, and keeping a strong relationship with family. There is a ton of information and sound advice in these sections and it jives well with what I saw as the main message of this book: finding balance.

 So all in all, I enjoyed reading this book. It was easy to read and the Jenny Blake does and excellent job at involving the reader. There are also a ton of resources that are given for money management and tracking personal goal. I think that any newly graduated individual entering “the real world” for the first time would be able to pull something useful from these pages.

(written by Neal Beaudrea, spring 2014)

The Defining Decade
(by Meg Jay)

1.

I would recommend The Defining Decade by Meg Jay.

The interviews with her clients were very useful, it helped to validate her knowledge because it was clear she had experience in the field and her clients expressed sentiments that many undergraduates feel. This can help people feel less alone and show practical steps to take to ease such concerns., such as narrowing down potential careers by looking at qualifications and past experiences.

I found the chapter that dealt with inaction particularly helpful. I've had times where I thought that because I didn't have to have things figured out yet, I shouldn't even worry about trying right then. Jay makes clear that you can always be making progress, even if it's just baby steps. No, I can't reach all of my goals right this second, but there are little things I can do every day to make progress towards them.

Although the book as whole was informative, I think the chapter Every Body should have gone deeper into the issue of children and whether or not they are right for some people. I understand that timing for those who do choose to raise children is incredibly important (and it's great that she discussed it), but I would have liked some more coverage of what the people who don't have children will deal with, for example, biological clock comments and people telling you you'll change your mind later.

2. 

While I enjoyed reading Meg Jay's book, I'm not sure I would recommend it to future students taking this course. I say this for only a couple of reasons, but I think that my reasoning is justified based on the textual contents of the book.

First, I expected the book to have more of a focuson the scholar-to-adulthood transition. Sure, it provided insight into not feeding into cliche'sspoken to us by those with more seniority, but it felt like advice that I'd heard before. For some, it may be useful, but I cannot help but be somewhat baffled by how much of what was articulated in the text was common sense. 

Second, I thought that the text feeds too much into what twenty-somethings should be doing at their age. In one breath, Jay was attempting to debunk these "myths," while in the next she seemed to be going against her own advice. For example, on page 47 when she discussed Talia coming to see her while crying about whether she should be traveling in France, Jay responds "sort of...but sort of not." 

I think that her way of encouraging twenty-somethings to "rise above" societal norms collapses on itself in moments like the one I just mentioned. "Sort of...but sort of not" makes it seem as if she isn't sure of her own advice. I wish she was stronger in her convictions because I think it would have helped increase the significance and strength of her message.

Finally, I don't think the material she covers is suited for every twenty-something. It seems as if the text is geared specifically toward women (especially in the subject of fertility), and I think that a book a little bit broader in its content and demographics would be beneficial to students taking this course. I’m glad that I read it and though I did gain some wonderful insight from reading it, I think that another coming-of-age self-help book selection would be better suited for a course such as this one.