Grindhopping
by Laura Vanderkam
Published by McGraw-Hill
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Reviewed by Jackie Baumgarten
Subtitled: Build a rewarding career without paying your dues
Grindhopping:
1. Hopping out of the corporate grind and into the work you want.
2. Building a rewarding career without paying your dues.
For the most part, the author is talking about developing skills that will allow you to "hop" into the corporate world at the point YOU want to without putting in all those years of meaningless drudgery and traditional corporate ladder climbing.
The author lays out the characteristics essential to successful Grindhopping, urging her readers to follow their dream and get someone else to pay you to do it. She offers as much 'sage' advice as a 29-year-old can, and gives illustrative examples of her points, shoring them up with statistics. But, I wonder if the 'reader' is hearing what she is saying.
While the external environment and internal motivation may differ between the true Grindhopper and the corporate ladder climber, many of the character traits and advice for success apply to both.
Grindhoppers are people who either by desire to be their own boss or lack of options, have a combined fiscal acumen, the ability to long-range plan and set goals, with a lot of self-control to succeed at controlling their own career destiny, much like the corporate climber.
The advice offered for potential Grindhoppers--know where you're going, work hard, network, get experience, stay ahead of the curve, pay attention to detail--has a vague business school ring to it.
The difference is that the Grindhopper IS the boss - either of her one-woman operation or of others who desire to climb her company's ladder!
While I'm not convinced Grindhopping is as revolutionary as the author wants you to believe, the book is worth a read, especially if you allow it to provoke questions about your own career choices.
Armchair Interviews says: A look at transitions written by a New York City-based freelance writer who is a contributing editor at Reader's Digest and is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors. She reports and writes on a variety of topics including careers, education, health and pop culture trends.
Author's Web sites:
http://www.grindhopping.com