Career change and redundancy resources
For redundancy, career change and dreading Monday. Books, podcasts and guides on working out what’s next, without a five-year plan by Friday. Some links may earn us a small commission. It never changes what we pick. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Want something to write in? Spiral bound is our free guide for career change and redundancy.
53 career change resources
Your Career
The government careers service: free skills assessment, real course and pay data, and an adviser on the phone.
Designing Your Life, Burnett and Evans
Stanford’s design-thinking course as a book. Prototype a career instead of agonising over it.
Squiggly Careers
Weekly episodes on non-linear careers, with free worksheets. Good for the Sunday-night dread.
Why you will fail to have a great career, Larry Smith
Bracing rather than comforting. Best watched when you are stuck.
Workplace mental health, Beyond Blue
What your employer owes you, and how to ask for it without over-explaining.
The Squiggly Career, Tupper and Ellis
Strengths, values and networks, with exercises you will actually finish.
How’s Work?, Esther Perel
Esther Perel runs sessions with co-workers and business partners. Fascinating if work feels personal.
How to find work you love, Scott Dinsmore
On the difference between a job you tolerate and one that fits.
Workforce Australia
Government job search, training and career support.
Working Identity, Herminia Ibarra
The research on how people really change careers: by doing, not by thinking.
HBR IdeaCast
Harvard Business Review interviews on leading, changing jobs and working better.
Grit, the power of passion and perseverance, Angela Duckworth
The research on sticking at things, before it became a slogan.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Your rights on redundancy, notice and final pay.
Pivot, Jenny Blake
A method for the next step when you cannot see the whole staircase.
Women at Work, HBR
Honest conversations about careers, money and confidence at work.
Your elusive creative genius, Elizabeth Gilbert
On making things without the pressure of being a genius.
So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport
The argument against following your passion, and what to build instead.
Happen to Your Career
Scott Anthony Barlow interviews people who changed careers, and explains how they did it.
Range, David Epstein
Why generalists win in the long run. Comforting if your CV looks like a patchwork.
The Diary of a CEO
Steven Bartlett’s long interviews on success, failure and mental health. Huge, and often moving.
Quit, Annie Duke
How to know when leaving is the smart move rather than the failure.
How I Built This
Founders tell the story of how their business started. Comforting proof that everyone wings it at first.
The Pathless Path, Paul Millerd
Leaving the default track, from someone who did it and kept notes.
Second Life
Hillary Kerr interviews women who changed careers partway through life.
Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber
If your dread is about meaninglessness rather than workload, start here.
How I Work, Amantha Imber
An Australian organisational psychologist asks high achievers how they actually get through the week.
What Color Is Your Parachute?, Richard Bolles
Updated every year since 1970. Unfashionable, still the most practical job-hunting book.
The Pathless Path Podcast
Paul Millerd on leaving the default career path and building a life that fits.
Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite, Paul Arden
A tiny, cheeky book from a former ad man on breaking rules, taking risks and getting unstuck. Read it in an hour.
Coaching for Leaders
Dave Stachowiak on managing people and growing at work, without the hustle talk.
Crucial Conversations, Patterson and Grenny
How to talk when stakes are high and emotions run strong.
Dear HBR:
Listeners send in workplace dilemmas. Useful scripts for awkward situations.
The Defining Decade, Meg Jay
A psychologist on why your twenties matter, and what to do with them.
The Anxious Achiever
Morra Aarons-Mele on anxiety at work, and how to lead when your brain is loud.
Ikigai, García and Miralles
The Japanese idea of a reason for being, applied to work and life.
Dare to Lead, Brené Brown
Brené Brown on courage, vulnerability and leadership at work.
Mindset, Carol Dweck
Fixed and growth mindsets. Useful when change feels like failure.
Akimbo, Seth Godin
Short, thoughtful episodes about work, creativity and doing things that matter.
The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday
Stoic ideas for turning setbacks into something useful.
The Tim Ferriss Show
Long interviews with people at the top of their fields about routines, failure and reinvention.
Who Moved My Cheese?, Spencer Johnson
A tiny parable about change at work. Read in twenty minutes.
Transitions, William Bridges
The classic on endings, the in-between, and new beginnings. Perfect after redundancy.
Think Again, Adam Grant
On changing your mind, and why it is a strength.
Hidden Potential, Adam Grant
How people grow further than anyone expected, including themselves.
The 100-Year Life, Gratton and Scott
Longer lives mean more careers. How to plan for several.
Grit, Angela Duckworth
Passion plus persistence, and how to grow both.
The Second Mountain, David Brooks
On moving from a life of achievement to a life of meaning.
From Strength to Strength, Arthur C. Brooks
On finding purpose and happiness in the second half of a career.
Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer
A short, gentle book on vocation and listening to yourself.
Tiny Experiments, Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Swap the five-year plan for small experiments. Ideal for career pivots.
Feel-Good Productivity, Ali Abdaal
Getting more done by enjoying it more. Friendly and practical.
The Start-Up of You, Reid Hoffman
Treat your career like a start-up: adapt, network and take smart risks.
Originals, Adam Grant
How non-conformists move the world, and how to speak up at work.
Where to start with career change and redundancy
Redundancy and career change can knock your confidence and your sense of who you are, even when the change was your idea. It is normal to feel shock, relief, anger and panic in the same afternoon.
If you have just been made redundant, deal with the practical things first. The Fair Work Ombudsman explains your rights on notice, redundancy pay and final pay. Then give yourself a week before making big decisions.
When you are ready to think about what is next, Designing Your Life and Working Identity both make the case for testing ideas in small ways rather than planning the perfect move. Our free guides Spiral bound and Plot twist walk you through it with exercises.
When it is more than this page can help with
If job loss is affecting your sleep, mood or money, talk to someone early. The National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) offers free financial counselling, and Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) is there for the rest.
How we choose
Everything here is something we have used or been sent by someone it helped. Nothing is sponsored, and none of it replaces advice from a GP or psychologist.