The Wonderful Work Book

What is it?

This workbook is designed as a practical, step by step guide to support you if you are thinking about going back to work after a break of any kind – whether that’s been six months or six years.

Whatever your previous background or experience the simple exercises will lead you from feeling unsure about your next career steps to a point of career confidence and clarity.

Following the workbook and online resources will give you a set of tools to help you feel focused and clear about the skills you have to offer and what really motivates you.

Once you feel sure about these, you’ll find it much easier to make good decisions about moving forward in a career direction that develops you – not only in the short term but going forward into your future.

Who is it for?

The Wonderful Work Book is especially helpful if you’ve been away from the workplace for a while and are feeling uncertain about your next career steps. It is easy to feel out of touch and lacking in confidence even after a short break, and as time goes on self doubt or just lack of direction is very common, especially if you’ve been caring for others during that time.

You may want to change direction or make changes to the work patterns you had before. And yet when you’ve been away from paid work it can seem nearly impossible to put yourself in a confident position and reach out for a role or job that you would really love.

And then there’s the worry of the gap in the CV or what to put on your profile. Lots of questions, doubts.

Just remember that many thousands of people are changing, creating and finding new work every day.

This workbook is designed to help you do that too.

How can I use the Wonderful Work Book to help me now?

Every person is different, so there can be no set rules about how you use the workbook and the resources attached to it – the length of time you spend on it, how often, and how much support you want as you go along. But there is a basic plan to guide you.

The six sessions are designed to lead you through a number of simple steps that take you forward into a place of career confidence. You will:

• find self-review exercises that show you how to value and name your own preferred skills and motivators explore new ideas and exciting possibilities
• be led to make choices and take actions that feel right and positive for you
• finally feel a sense of confidence and the career direction you are seeking

You may like to put aside a certain time each day or each week to think about and fill in each page. And you might find it easier to do this in a different setting from your usual home surroundings. Sometimes a quiet café, or anywhere you can sit undisturbed for a while, can help you concentrate and not be distracted by the usual daily things around you. But the kitchen table or a corner of the bedroom may do just as well for you.

Some of the exercises may seem easier or more interesting to you than others, which is fine. But try to complete each one, as they all piece together to create the elements you need for your best possible outcomes.

There are also audio and video supplements alongside each session which you may find will explain certain ideas in depth and help you to keep on track as you go along. You can access these through the wonderful work website.

Do take a moment to review at the end of each session for yourself. This is an important part of the process, as you learn to put words to your own journey back to work

And try to see the exercises as tools that will help you not only now, but way into your future work and life.