The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube [Paperback]

Goodman has created a helpful guide, extremely well-written with frankness and humor. She takes readers through the steps of feeling frustrated with life in a cube to considering alternative escape routes. Of course her own story will inspire readers, as she herself went from cube to freelance status, while managing to live comfortably and even make mortgage payments.

The best part of the book is the section on living the freelance life. She gives down-to-earth advice on organizing the ridiculous amount of paperwork that goes with the freelance life. (I got some good ideas I can use right awway!)

I also liked the section on interviewing for information. She's listed steps from dazzle (write a nice simple request) to prepare to saying thanks. I couldn't agree more.

Additionally, Goodman has some excellent resources in the back of the book. Any career-changer would benefit from readings the books she recommends.

This book will be most helpful to thirty-somethings - those who have worked for five to ten years and are now asking, "How can I express my creativity in the world?" The Anti Guide makes a great companion to a book that's similarly targeted, This Time I Dance, by Tama Kieves. Kieves focused more on the emotional and psychological elements,while Goodman deals with practical implementation.

My own career clients tend to be 45-60. While they'd benefit from some elements of this book, I find that senior executives and experiened professionals need to choose different networking approaches.

I have just three quibbles about the book's content.

First, career consultants often encourage clients to shadow someone who's in a career they're considering. I would rather encourage my own clients to talk to half a dozen or more people in a field to get a broader perspective. I wouldn't give up on a field based on a single shadowing day and I'd investigate further if a day appeared to be a "wow."

Second, Goodman recommends creating a website if you're a writer - and I agree completely. But you need to create a money-making website, which calls for copy as well as design. It's not reasonable to expect a whole treatise on the subject but I'd have liked to see some links to sources that can help.

Finally, I agree with Goodman that readers should be cautious before hiring a career coach or consultant. Again, I believe this advice makes moreo sense for the younger reader.

Goodman encourages readers to talk to HR departments and experts in fields of interest. My own experience is that getting through to an information source requires a referral and HR folks are in the business of recruiting and screening.

These days, you should expect to pay for mentors, especially if you're going off on your own. You might take a continuing ed class at the low end or hire a consultant at the high end, but you pay. I agree with the advice to buy an hour at a time and avoid long, expensive commitmentes. But thes packages work for some clients.

In summary, Goodman's book makes an excellent contribution to the field. And the writing is so good, it's a fun read for anyone.

I found this book at just the right time. I was beginning to give up on my dream of leaving my job, and doing something that I really love. People change. (How can we expect to stay in the same job we chose in our early 20's?) I began reading the book and doing the suggested exercises. I have to say that I had more in common with the way the author wrote, than other "follow your dream" books. Right when I would begin to doubt my plan, the author, Michelle Goodman had an answer! Thank you for a great book, with great topics! If you are aching to live a purposeful life and your current job is not part of that purpose, check out this book. Find out how you can begin living your dream today!

This book was kind of fun to read. I liked the author's frankness and humor. But I wasn't particularly impressed with how the title of the book was matched to its content. The book totes itself as a supposedly helpful career guide for young women just out of high school or maybe college who work in a cubical in an office environment. And it explains how young women can do some investigating and networking to learn about opportunities outside of a cube. But many of the opportunities discussed in this book were 9 to 5 JOBS. And the title says it is against such career moves.

I would have liked the book much better if it had stuck to explaining how to get out of a cube and make the transition into self-employment. Or if the title were changed, I would have like the book much better if it had only explained how to escape a cube into a more meaningful and lucrative job with an office or a company car. Of course, I wouldn't have pulled this book from the bookstore shelf if it was about the latter because I pretty much just review books that relate to my volunteering for SCORE, the small business coaching nonprofit.

The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was the author's story of how she had found herself stuck in a cube at age 24 and not doing what she wanted to do with her life - which was to do freelance writing. She decided to quit her job and start her own freelancing small business. And she found she couldn't make money at it at first - but she was resourceful and started temping in order to pay her bills while she got her business off the ground. Of course, I would have liked her story better if she were to have said she got her business WELL off the ground within a year or two. But unfortunately she says she continues to dabble in temping jobs from time to time to make ends meet. That doesn't sound like she has really accumulated enough of her own success to be writing this book, but some company did publish it and there are quite a number of positive book reviews posted on Amazon for it. So who am I to judge?

My favorite chapters were "I want a more flexible work schedule" (4), and "I want to be my own boss" (6). These two chapters were right on point when it comes to dumping a day job and starting one's own business. And in the book's appendix I very much liked "A Temp's Survival Guide" and "Boss in a Box." The "Must-See Resources" section in the appendix also seemed to be fairly informative. The checklists at the end of each chapter were well-thought out, too. 4 stars!

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