Thinking of changing careers in 2025? Here are the best books for career changers.
There are many reasons why you could be considering career changes in 2025.
- You feel uninspired and stuck in their current careers.
- You may want to change careers because of the rise of exciting new opportunities like AI, work-from-home opportunities, and new jobs that are popping up.
- Maybe your current career doesn’t align with your values or goals.
- You may want to try a new career after maternity leave, a sabbatical, or a spell of unemployment.
Either way, these are the best books on changing careers and can help you through the transition, from understanding your why to navigating change and upskilling yourself. These books offer insights and guidance to help you get unstuck and flourish in work and life.
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Find your next move
The 10 Best Books for Career Changers
1. What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles
Key Takeaway: A tried-and-true guide to discovering your passions and mapping out your career path.
This classic book is one of the best books for career changers. It is updated annually to provide job seekers and career changers with practical exercises, strategies for networking, and insights into the ever-changing job market.
Bolles’ step-by-step method empowers you to explore your strengths and align them with meaningful work.
This book will help job hunters and career changers successfully navigate the job market and more importantly, find fulfillment.
2. Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
Key Takeaway: Use design thinking to prototype your future career possibilities.
Based on their popular Stanford course, Burnett and Evans teach you how to approach your career as a designer would a product. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. Using this concept, this book provides practical tools to redefine success, brainstorm career paths, and make life decisions with curiosity and flexibility.
3. Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One by Jenny Blake
Key Takeaway: Learn how to pivot strategically and take the next small but mighty step.
Jenny Blake, a former training and career development specialist at Google, breaks down the “Pivot Method,” a four-step process for exploring options, testing ideas, and building a career strategy that minimizes risk. This is one of the best career change books for women who want to strategically move positions without upending their lives. Blake’s personal stories and actionable advice will help you double down on your strengths, scan for opportunities, run small experiments to take smart risks.
4. The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper
Key Takeaway: Embrace a non-linear, flexible career path.
This book explores how the traditional, linear career ladder is no longer the standard but the exception. Tupper encourages readers to embrace “squiggly” careers by focusing on strengths, values, and relationships. With exercises and insights, it’s a guide to thriving in an unpredictable career landscape.
5. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman And Ben Casnocha
Key Takeaway: Think of yourself as a startup to stay agile in your career.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t really about starting a business, it is about identifying opportunities and taking risks when others don’t. Co-written by LinkedIn’s co-founder Reid Hoffman and drawing on the best of Silicon Valley, Reid argues that everyone needs to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to think big and succeed. This book for career changers won’t teach you how to write a Resume, it will teach you how to gain a competitive advantage, stay nimble, and engineer serendipity.
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6. The Career Stories Method: 11 Steps to Find Your Ideal Career—and Discover Your Awesome Self in the Process by Kerri Twigg
Key Takeaway: Use storytelling to unlock your ideal career.
These days, growing your career requires a brand and story, from interviews to pitches and resumes. Kerri Twigg’s method encourages you to reflect on pivotal moments in your life and turn them into career narratives. Her 11-step process helps you identify what lights you up and communicate your value with authenticity.
7. Switchers, by Dr. Dawn Graham
Key Takeaway: Tactics for successfully transitioning to a new industry or role.
Dr. Dawn Graham dives into the mindset and strategies needed to shift careers. She offers insider tips for job seekers, including how to reframe your skills to build credibility in a new field, and spotlight transferable skills that companies covet as well as rebrand yourself to align your professional identity with your new aspirations.
8. Ikigai, How to Choose Your Career Path and Discover Your Strengths by Clement Harrison
Key Takeaway: Find your “reason for being” to align your career with your purpose.
We spend one-third of our lives at work–that’s over 90,000 hours over a lifetime! Don’t you want to find meaning and fulfillment in your work? This beautifully written book combines ancient Japanese philosophy with practical exercises to help you discover your ikigai—your unique purpose. It’s perfect for anyone seeking fulfillment and clarity in their work.
9. The New Rules of Work by Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew
Key Takeaway: Master modern job search techniques and career management strategies.
Today’s career trajectories aren’t so scripted and linear. Written by the founders of the popular career website The Muse, this book offers practical advice for navigating today’s workplace. Through quick exercises and structured tips, you will learn the new rules for finding the right path, landing the perfect job, and growing and advancing in your career.
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10. The Career Workbook by The School of Life
Books for career changers can be very theoretical and full of insights. If you want something more practical, look at a career change workbook. The Career Workbook is a guided journal designed to help you find a more fulfilling career. Through a series of essays, questions, and written exercises, you’ll build up a better understanding of your talents and ambitions and zero in on the career that will satisfy both.
What About Podcasts for Career Changes?
Alongside these exceptional career change books, here are some of the best career-focused podcasts. If you want to listen to career advice, here are the best podcasts for women in business.
1. Dare to Lead
Hosted by famous female leader and social psychologist Brené Brown, this podcast dives into topics like leadership, resilience, and vulnerability—essential qualities for career changers.
2. Working Hard, Hardly Working
Female entrepreneur Grace Beverley’s podcast explores how to redefine productivity and balance, making it relatable for women navigating career transitions.
3. How to Be Awesome at Your Job
Focused on workplace productivity and soft skills, this podcast delivers actionable tips for career growth.
Recommended Reading: 20 Women in Business Podcasts That You Need to Download in 2025
How Do You Know When You Need a Career Change?
Take a hard look at your current role: Are you learning, growing, and aligning with your values?
Complete a Career Audit
Here are some ideas for you to try to work out if you need a career change.
Conduct a SWOT analysis where you examine your strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats
Set SMART goals for your life and career.
Create a career vision board to visualize and bring your dream career to fruition.
What Are Good Jobs for Career Changers?
The answer depends on your interests, expertise, and aspirations. But here are some of the best online jobs and careers for women in 2025.
Best Online Jobs for Women
Working from home has kicked off since the pandemic. Turns out, 91% of employees worldwide prefer to work fully or almost completely remotely. Here are some of the fastest-growing remote jobs in 2025.
1. Remote Medical Writers
2. Software Engineer
3. Data analyst
4. Cybersecurity Analyst
5. Social Media Manager
6. Health and wellness coach
Recommended Reading: The Best Online Jobs for Women in 2025 (And Where to Find Them)
Best Careers for Women
We want to help you find a career that pays well, you enjoy, and you find meaning. We will explore some of the highest-paying jobs for women and some of the most interesting jobs for women.
1. Top Executive
We are seeing more women reach the top and become exceptional leaders. Executives often make strategic decisions, are big-picture thinkers, and are also responsible for creating a good company culture – playing up to women’s strengths.
2. Learning and Development Specialist
As a learning and development specialist, you will create, design, and deliver employee training programs or educational programs for employees.
3. Technical Writing
Technical writers can earn a lot. They often take complicated subjects and distill them into user manuals, documents, or white papers. A high salary and flexible working hours make it one of the best careers for women.
Recommended Reading: The 15 Best Careers for Women in 2025 And What Skills You Need
Are You Ready for The Next Chapter?
Now that you know what the best books for career changers are, you can start to change. Whether you want to network and stay nimble by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset, pivot, or find a practical career workbook – start your next chapter today. Find meaning in your work, grow exponentially, and reach more earnings with confidence and clarity.
FAQs on Career Books
What are the best books for changing careers?
From finding your purpose to applying an entrepreneurial mindset to work and knowing how to pivot strategically, these are the best books for career changers:
1. What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles
2. Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
3. Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One by Jenny Blake
What are the best career books?
These books can help you advance in your career by helping you focus on your foundational habits, guiding principles, and leadership styles.
1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear
3. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
What to read next? The 15 Best Business Books for Women in 2025 (What to Add to Your List)
What are the best books for improving speaking skills?
Some of the best books for improving speaking skills include Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo and Think Fast Talk Smart by Matt Abrahams.
Recommended Reading: The 5 Best Books for Improving Speaking Skills And Communication Plus Their Top Takeaways
What is the best mid-life career change book?
Switchers, by Dr. Dawn Graham, and Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans are perfect for navigating mid-career transitions.
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