The New Rules of Work Book Summary

Book Summary

By Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

To be happy and fulfilled in your career, your personal values, interests, and skills should all align with your job position and your company. To ensure these values are in line, you should identify your values, do strategic research on companies you are interested in, and don’t be afraid to negotiate and even turn down a job offer if it is not a good fit. Once you land your dream role, make sure to practice effective communication, keep developing your skills, and continue to pursue personal and professional growth.

About the Author

Alexandra Cavoulacos is the Founder & President at The Muse. She has been named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media, and Business Insider’s 30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech. She was also listed as one of INC’s 15 women to watch in tech.

Cavoulacos received her B.A. in political science from Yale University. She lives in Brooklyn.

Kathryn Minshew is an entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. She is the co-founder and CEO of The Muse. She previously co-founded the networking site Pretty Young Professionals.

She has been named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media, listed as one of Inc’s 15 Women to Watch in Tech, and was a 2019 winner of the One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Minshew is a contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Inc, and has been featured on CNN and The TODAY Show. She lives in New York.

Topics

Career & Success

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What You’ll Learn

The importance of aligning your personal values with your long-term career plans
How to tailor your job applications for success
Tricks for negotiating after receiving a job offer
Keys to continuing personal and professional growth

Who Is This For

Young professionals starting out in their career
Job seekers looking to advance or find a better professional fit
Individuals seeking to improve their professional skill set and continue their personal and career growth

Key Insights

There are more job vacancies out there than ever, and more career sites, job agencies, and social media apps than ever before where you can search for a new job. With the number of opportunities increasing and new roles seemingly everywhere you look, it can be intimidating to start the job searching process. It can be hard to know how to even begin your job search, and where to look to find your perfect job.

These new rules of work, which were devised based on years of career consultancy experience, are meant to help you navigate the changing job landscape. By assessing what you value in a career, understanding how to make informed choices, and planning for your dream career, these new rules will help you avoid getting stuck in the rat race. No matter what stage you are at in your career, these rules can help you find the perfect role that challenges you and helps you grow your career.

Identify Your Personal Values

Traditional job searching is difficult, especially if you don’t already have a clear idea of what you want to do. One of the best ways to figure out what you want to do is to identify your personal values. Not everyone has the same values, and what makes one person happy will not be fulfilling for someone else. It is important for you to assess what makes you feel fulfilled. For some people, it could be doing something creative, while others value giving back to their communities. The important thing is to understand your personal values and use them to shape your job search.

For example, Kathryn Minshew, one of the authors of this book, was unhappy in her former role because the job did not match up with her personal values. She had wanted to work in the foreign service and even majored in international relations, but once she landed what she thought was her dream job at the US embassy in Cyprus, she realized she wasn’t actually happy. She found the job slow and unfulfilling, so she began looking for a job where she felt her hard work could make a real impact.

When you are reflecting on your values, it’s important to be mindful of external influences. Other forces, such as parental expectations, may also be impacting your career choices. For example, the other co-author of this book, Alexandra Cavoulacos, grew up in France, where she faced a large amount of external pressure on her career choices. In France, she was made to narrow her course of study very early. By the age of 15, she selected science, over literature...