To educate and entertain my two young sons, I recently took them to our local science museum for an exhibit based on the popular television series, CSI. This exhibit was unlike others we have visited. When you enter, you are given an evidence card and watch a brief video from the star of the show. What struck me during this interview is a statement he made. Let me paraphrase it as I can't recall it as a quote. He said that dead victims are telling you what happened. The crime scene is telling you what happened. His advice? "Listen to the crime scene."

The fifth chapter in The Art of Career Building is for when you need new ideas about how to keep your career moving forward.

In the first chapter of The Art of Career Building, Gary provides a discussion of the five factors that determine your position. In the second chapter, he reminds us that job hunting can be expensive so we must be aware of the economics of career competition. In this third chapter, we address how pick the right job.

Career building is one of the most important issues we face in our lives. However, few of us take it serious until we reach middle age and the best opportunities of our lives are behind us. Why don’t we take it more serious? I believe it’s because we don’t know how. As I recall, high school and college focused on how to get a job, not how to build a career. All the books I can find on career issues focus on how to get a job, how to interview, and most importantly how to get the highest possible salary.

In a hurry to get where I was going I had two choices, take the known path or the unknown path. What should I do? I quickly assessed the situation and knew that if I took the unknown path, it would almost certainly get me to my destination quicker. On the other hand, if I took the known path it would take longer but I wouldn't get lost. I chose the known path. By taking the familiar path I had an advantage of knowing where I was, where I was going, and how long it would take me to get there.