A great new addition on the topic of career advice, this book is aimed at professional women who have been out of the workforce and want to get back in. I believe it will also help a somewhat wider audience. You will find Comeback Careers: Rethink, Refresh, Reinvent Your Success–At 40, 50, and Beyond helpful if one, or more, of the following describes you.

1) You have a recent employment gap.
2) You feel that your age is limiting your job prospects.
3) You are trying to change careers.
4) You want examples of how to sound qualified even if you don’t have relevant job experience.
5) You are unsure how to make the most of your LinkedIn profile (or even why you need one).
6) A woman looking for a job.

I liked the wealth of additional resources that are mentioned in the book. There were many websites and podcasts that I had never heard of, even though I’ve scanned both for all things career-related before. And in following those links, I’ve gotten still more great ideas and pointers from some of those podcasts and people behind them.

For example, iRelaunch is dedicated to helping people return to work after a break. One of their offerings are returnships – programs patterned after internships, but targeting experienced workers looking to re-enter the workforce. Or how about Fairy Godboss – a career community for women. These are just a tiny sample of the goodies that are sprinkled throughout Comeback Careers: Rethink, Refresh, Reinvent Your Success–At 40, 50, and Beyond

The book is also wonderful for showing how to present non-work life experiences as the skills that qualify you for the job you want. Dozens of real-life examples are invaluable for demonstrating how this can be done. Additionally, many options for getting new relevant experience – education/training, volunteer positions or temporary gigs are all clearly laid out.

If I had one complaint, it’s that the book is just a wee bit too slanted towards very high-achieving women. Not everyone in the U.S. knows what a C-level position is, and many will feel that examples talking about vice-presidents or directors of marketing don’t apply to them. It would be better if the authors had added more woman-next-door stories, or maybe these are the women who live next door to them, but they aren’t the women who live next door to me.

Nonetheless, I’m super glad that the authors have created this book and think it can help many people who want or need to make a big change in how they earn a living and need help figuring out how to make that happen.  I highly recommend it and am adding it to my overall list of Best Career Advice Books