The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success

Nicholas Lore's Pathfinder and Jay Levinson and David Perry's Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters are hands down the best books on the market for job seekers looking for a new job or changing careers. The two books have no parallel in both in-depth, up-to-date excellent knowledge and helpful strategies about every single step of the job-seeking experience. I recommend: Buy Pathfinder and Guerrilla Marketing, and don't buy What Color is My Parachute? which is overly general and vague in its terminology and outdated in its information by as least 20 years.

The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success.


The Pathfinder is the book I had been looking for and feared didn't exist; a quantum leap forward when it comes to navigating the angst-filled process of career change. Whether you are thinking of making a change because you are looking for something more fulfilling, or you are on the pointy end of the downsizing stick, this brilliant book is a resource you should not be without.

As a career and life coach myself, I should say that I don't think any book can quite substitute for having a real live coach in your corner to take you step by step through the process and help you to keep your commitments to yourself. Having said that, I think that the author Nick Lore, founder of the Rockport Institute ([...]) and one of the pioneers of career coaching, comes amazingly close here. Mr. Lore's writing style is in turn insightful, demanding and hilarious - and anyone who has looked for a job recently knows you need a sense of humor. The book makes you feel as if he's sitting across from you at your kitchen table, asking pointed questions and offering expert advice.

Intended to be a low-cost alternative to Rockport's amazingly successful Career Choice program where senior Rockport coaches guide and support clients all the way through to their goal of choosing a fulfilling and practical new career, the book works hard at instilling the reader with a sense of confidence that they can do this, and then shows them how. Many people have heard the adage, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time," but they forget that wisdom when they contemplate a major life change. People regularly condemn themselves to jobs they find just tolerable, and even to jobs they hate, because the process of finding something new feels too overwhelming. This book helps you break that huge decision "What should I do with my life?" into bite-sized pieces and shows you how to do it step-by-step.

At the heart of the Rockport approach is the core principle that what makes a career fit is that it fits you fully. Since author Lore coined the term "career coaching" in the 1980s, Rockport has used methods they created that are much more powerful and practical than most career counseling; methods that help people choose careers that provide both satisfaction and maximum success. They say that in order to have a job that has you singing in the shower in the morning, your work needs to fit you like a custom-made suit, making full use of your natural talents and abilities, fitting your personality, in work that is meaningful to you in an environment that supports you. This method is the heart of The Pathfinder.

Talents, work environment, job functions, and your own inner sense of purpose and many other areas all play a role in designing the perfect career, and the book tackles each in turn to help you decide what matters most to you. (If you are the sort who "wants to make a difference in the world", the chapter on Meaning, Mission and Purpose is worth the price of the book all by itself!)

Having read some of the negative reviews for this book - honestly, because I couldn't imagine why people didn't like it - I find that a lot of the complaints people had were that the book asks people to make "too many" lists or is somehow too introspective. The book does ask the reader to do a fair amount of work, in fact, on page one, the author writes, "I hope you will choose to be a participant and not just a reader." A lifetime of personal and work experience has taught me that if you are looking to other people to give you the answers as to what will make you happy, you are bound to be disappointed. If, however, you are looking for someone who has been down the road himself to give you a compass and a map, tell you what to watch out for and what shouldn't be missed, then The Pathfinder can definitely help you find your way.

For students and young adults under 30 I recommend Lore's new book, "Now What? The Young Person's Guide to Choosing the Perfect Career."

Once you get past the first few chapters about whether or not you're serious about changing your life, The Pathfinder takes you on an interpersonal journey that few books offer. I would recommend this book not only to anyone that is questioning or moving in the direction of a career change, but also to anyone that is looking to improve their personal goals.

The Pathfinder changed my career and my life. The activities in the book helped me navigate through my unconscious assumptions about my life, and connect my vision of my future with my career goals. Completed the exercises in the book -- particularly the life timeline -- led me to an epiphany about how I wanted to spend my life at work. Nick Lore is a master career coach, even in book form. The Pathfinder is a must read for anyone who wants to have it all at work and in life, but may be stuck in their current career.

If you're not experiencing turbulence and dynamic change, you must not be paying attention. The tectonic plates of human endeavor are shifting. As Nick Lore notes in his seminal work, The Pathfinder, we're witnessing an unprecedented explosion of career options and the old ways - serendipity, tradition, dumb luck - of choosing or re-choosing which career might fit are no longer sufficient.

Eight years ago, I used The Pathfinder when it was clear to me that, after 10 wonderful years, I'd outgrown my career as a diplomat. The Pathfinder's engaging inquiries and exercises and Lore's delightfully engaging style, led me to identify the outlines of the private sector role that would challenge, enrich and fulfill me for most of the last decade.

But I'm a serial adventurer, and its out on the edges of dynamic change that I'm most at home. There are big waves building in the world of work and I'm ready for a new challenge. My second time through The Pathfinder - I'm three weeks in - I'm discovering even deeper insights and am designing a new list of commitments to suit who I've now become. With a steady guide like Nick Lore I'm ready to tow-in to the really big waves - the ones most fun to ride!

If you're ready for work you LOVE and you're prepared to confront yourself - strengths, proclivities and foibles - squarely and honestly; if you're willing to engage in a rigorous and engaging exploration, then there is no better route to professional fulfillment than The Pathfinder.