Thank you to everyone who has been part of the adventure so far and has offered expertise, support, and/or feedback during the process. The writing and researching of  Escape from Corporate America was a labor of love and the focus of my life for more than three years. For years before that, Escape from Corporate America was the name of my own secret career plan that kept me sane while I did time in cubicles and conference rooms. So today has definitely been a long time coming.

I think the book is a great resource for anyone who feels stuck in an uninspiring career. It’s not just for people who are itching to escape…Escape from Corporate America also has lots of advice on finding a more satisfying career within Corporate America.

Want some unbiased opinions? Here are some of the cool things that other people have been saying about the book:

"With insight and humor, Skillings enumerates the stages of “Corporate Disillusionment” and the features of the “toxic workplace”—the bullying bosses, moronic co-workers, “terminal boredom” and rampant racism and sexism. A multitude of questionnaires, exercises and worksheets helps readers determine their dream job, assess expenses and assets, and plot an escape plan to break free of corporate life without going bankrupt….Vignettes of successful fugitives from the corporate world populate the book and an extremely useful “Escape Tool Kit” supplies information on where and how to find career coaches, health insurance, job listings and a wealth of other much needed resources when embarking on career change. Comprehensive, informative and witty, this book will be indispensable to those looking to start new careers with concrete plans and well-defined goals."

–- Publishers Weekly

“Escape from Corporate America isn’t just the best book ever written on creating the career of your dreams — it is the most stirring and useful book on careers that I’ve ever read. Pam Skillings inspired me first with her own story and then with stories who successfully escaped dreary, heartless, and sometimes nasty workplaces. This masterpiece will give you the skills to make the leap from a mind-numbing job to a great career and the courage to follow your heart.” – Robert Sutton, Stanford Professor and author of The No Asshole Rule

“This book might just change your life!” – Barbara Sher, best-selling author

“Pamela Skillings gives you the tools you need to take control of your career and have a more fulfilling life.”  – Beth Schoenfeldt, founder of Ladies Who Launch

Read more reviews of Escape from Corporate America

The survey, which  reached out to 880 women who are employed full-time with children under the age of 18 living at home, discovered that:

• 43% of working moms said they would take a pay cut if it meant they could spend more time with their kids
• 34% said they would be willing to give up 10% or more of their salaries

You know that work/life balance issues have gotten serious when people are willing to give up a good chunk of their paychecks for some relief. According to the survey:

• 34% of working moms said they spend less than three hours per day with their children

• 24% said work had negatively impacted the relationships they have with their children
• 27% had missed two or more significant events in their child’s life in the last year
• 17% reported they had missed three or more
• 16% of working moms reported bringing work home at least three days a week

For many of these working mothers, a little bit more flexibility would make a whole lot of difference. The good news is that CareerBuilder.com has also found that more and more companies are recognizing the importance of offering options like telecommuting and flexible work schedules. 

If you’re struggling to balance the demands of work and parenthood, keep in mind that there may be ways to negotiate a more flexible schedule at the office. Even if your company doesn’t advertise the availability of these work arrangements, you may be able to work something out with your manager. The key is to approach it as a business conversation and look for compromises that will give you more flexibility for family demands without leaving your company in the lurch.

And if your current company doesn’t see the value of supporting work/life balance, there are other companies out there that do. To find them, start by checking out the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For (in particular, see the companies ranked highest for work/life balance, telecommuting and other benefits) and the Working Mother Top Companies rankings.

Guest blogger Heather Johnson has some great advice on common career change mistakes and how to avoid them.

If you’re ready to take the plunge and shift your career, then you’re bound to be feeling a bit vulnerable.  As you make your transition, you will likely experience a myriad of  emotions including anger, anxiety, stress, excitement and terror.  With all of these emotions running wild, wrong turns sometimes start to look like good ideas  To minimize stress during your career change,  avoid these six common mistakes:

1.    Not having a plan in place.  Even if you have a clearly thought-out strategy to shift your career, it can still take a couple of months to complete.  If you just up and quit your current job with no plan in place, you may be facing an even longer and more stressful transition period. 

2.    Changing your career because you hate your job.  Don’t mix up your career with your job.  It may be that you’re at the wrong company but not in the wrong profession.  Don’t let a bad job make you rethink your career path.  Figure out if it’s your job or your career that you hate before making a drastic move.

3.    Making a change just for the money.  Remember the old adage that money can’t buy happiness when you feel lured by dollar signs toward a different career.  Even if a different profession inherently offers more money than your current field, be careful about switching for money alone.  If you switch and hate your new career, you’ll be spending that extra money to relieve your newfound stress.

4.    Changing careers due to pressure from others.  If you like your job and make a reasonable living, then you shouldn’t change your job because of what others have to say about it.  Your parents, spouse or friends don’t have to go to your job every day.  While you can certainly respect their opinions, don’t let those opinions dictate your career choices.

5.    Changing careers because someone you know is successful.  It’s human nature to compare yourself to your friends and family members.  But don’t make a hasty career change because you’re envious of the success a friend has had in a given field.  Put your competitive impulses aside and think about whether you would truly be happy in your friend’s shoes. 

6.    Searching for a new career without honing your skills.  Before you take the plunge and actually change your career, take the proper time to prepare. Do your homework on the field you’re interested in and seek out any additional training or knowledge you will need.  Make sure your resume is up to date and presents your qualifications in the best possible light.  Practice interviewing with friends and start building your network.

This article is contributed by Heather Johnson, who regularly writes on the topic of career exploration. She invites you to email her with questions and writing job opportunities.

Jack’s new gig is for the Department of Homeland Security. I’m sure that will end well.

At least he’ll always have that cool goodbye collage that his assistant made for him.

The Sheinhardt Wig Company: "Not Poisoning Rivers Since 1997."

A new survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that 84% of large U.S. employers do not support a single-payer system such as universal health care coverage. Of the 453 companies surveyed between November 2007 and January 2008, 78% favor private-sector solutions. 

“The link between health and productivity is a vital part of a company’s success. Most employers are not willing to cede influence over programs that affect their workers’ health," said Ted Nussbaum of Watson Wyatt in a press release. “Despite their frustration with rising costs, employers believe they can do a better job managing costs and meeting the needs of their workers than the government can.”

Isn’t it nice that your company cares so much about your health and productivity? I’m sure their feelings about universal health care have nothing to do with the fact that government-mandated health care coverage could lead to higher costs and tax implications for corporations.

I don’t claim to be an expert on the health care system, but I do think it’s ridiculous that it’s so much harder to get reasonably-priced benefits when you don’t work for a big company. Then again, many who work for large corporations argue that their benefit plans aren’t exactly reasonably priced either.

More interesting reading:

Watson Wyatt’s overview of the health care reform proposals of all three presidential candidates and the potential impact on employers.

Want to read something scary? Check out this article on AOL about all of the wily ways that your  company can track what you’re doing in and out of the office.

You’re probably aware that it’s possible for your employer to spy on your email and your computer usage. But did you know that corporations also use video monitoring, phone surveillance and radio frequency ID cards to keep tabs on employees?

If you’re naive like I used to be, you may have allowed yourself to be lulled into a false sense of privacy at work. After all, why would your company bother to watch every little move you make? As long as you don’t download porn or blog about your manager’s bad breath, you’re probably fine. Right?

Sorry, no. It seems some companies have plenty of time and resources to keep tabs on employees’ every email, phone call, and bathroom break. Here’s the awful truth:

• The ID card that gets you into the office may have an embedded radio transmitter that tracks when you enter and leave the office. Better not linger at Starbucks.
• Employers really do monitor email and 28% of surveyed companies have fired workers for e-mail misuse.  62% were fired for inappropriate  language in email, 26% for personal email use, and 22% for violating company confidentially.
• Some companies now use software that keeps track of employee printing down to individual print jobs. Better wait to print out that resume until you get home.
• Your boss could be monitoring your every keystroke at work in real time — including your typing speed, your Internet patterns, and what software you use. Nearly half of companies surveyed capture and save this data.
• Almost half of companies surveyed use video office surveillance, though most do inform employees if they are being recorded.

Creeped out yet? Well then, you better get back to work (and maybe delete some of those personal emails). Oh yeah, and smile pretty for the camera in the ceiling.

As always, I’m in the middle of two very different books. I tend to  have at least two books in rotation — one work-related or business title and one transporting novel or memoir. I like to always have a novel in my bag so that I can switch gears and escape to another place when i get too bogged down with work and day-to-day craziness (and when I’m squeezed between smelly people with no sense of personal space on the F train).

So my novel of the moment is one that I somehow didn’t get around to reading until eight years after it came out to great critical acclaim and won the Whitbread First Novel Award.  It’s White Teeth by Zadie Smith (I actually read her more recent novel On Beauty first and then had to go back and read the rest of her work).  Here’s the bit from page 123:

          Samad wasn’t listening. It was imperative that he be at school before nine if this trip were going to have any purpose whatsoever. By nine, she’d be in class. 

 I am also in the middle of reading Anita Bruzzese’s 45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy (And How to Avoid Them), which is a great and entertaining resource for anyone with a boss. Here’s the slightly-out-of-context snippet from page 123 (it’s part of a great chapter about being more tolerant int he workplace):

          Focus on the behavior, not the person. Calling someone a racist or a bigot won’t get anywhere — it will just erect more barriers. Sometimes just clarifying the comment will help the other person realize the error: "Am I clear in understanding that you believe all Irish people to be drunks?"

 Next on my reading list is the latest from the amazing Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth.

So who else wants to play tag and share their current reading? How about:

Anita Bruzzese

Analisa Balares

Richard Fouts

Nichelle Stevens

Because I know those of you with corporate jobs  don’t have the luxury of watching Oprah whenever you feel like it (I felt a little guilty about taking the time away from my computer myself),  I’ll provide a little recap before I wrap up work and run out to enjoy a little bit of this beautiful day in New York City.

Here’s your "executive summary."

• Oprah kicked off the show by citing a CareerBuilder survey that found that 84% of U.S. workers are unhappy in their jobs. This represents an even higher level of job dissatisfaction than those I found while researching my book (though I did find that up to 80% of corporate workers fantasized about leaving their jobs).

• According to Marcus Buckingham, only a little more than one in ten workers say they actually have the opportunity to use their strengths at work.

• There were four women profiled. All were struggling with different job dilemmas.
  • Vanessa, a pharmaceutical sales rep, said she disliked her job and the fact that it left so little time for her daughter. "I feel overwhelmed, underappreciated, and overworked." Marcus Buckingham coached her to get better at saying no to work projects and turning off her computer between 5PM and 8PM to focus on her daughter.
  • Ayesha said her job made her feel "tortured all the time" and that she loathed all of the job duties she performed on a daily basis. Marcus Buckingham coached her on how to build a bridge to a career that would better utilize her strengths.
  • Rachel was a teacher who was overwhelmed by the demands of her job. Marcus Buckingham coached her on how to make time for activities that re-energized her — like walking her dogs.
  • Beth was under extreme stress in a job that she didn’t feel qualified for. Because she worked for her husband’s company, she didn’t feel like she could walk away from the job without damaging the relationship. Marcus Buckingham advised her to have a conversation with her husband about changing her job responsibilities.
  • Good advice for all four women: Don’t bury your dream under mountains of "shoulds" and "have tos"

• The bottom line, according to Oprah and Marcus, is that your real job in life is to find out why you are here. In order to make any kind of lasting contribution, your job must "feed"  you in some way.

I just saw a  preview for tomorrow’s Oprah show and am very excited because the subject is near and dear to my heart. The topic is I Hate My Job Interventions and the featured guest is Marcus Buckingham, author of the excellent Now, Discover Your Strengths.

Based on the results of a poll on Oprah.com, many of Oprah’s viewers could really use an intervention. The poll asks: "Are you happy in your job?" And as of this writing, 82.9% of 1995 respondents said No. Go add your vote and see the latest results.

As the blurb on Oprah.com says,  "Don’t waste another second in a job you hate." I couldn’t agree more and am eager to see if Oprah and Marcus will swoop into the cubicles of the disgruntled and downtrodden to save them from  their  miserable careers.

Marcus Buckingham’s theory is that the key to career happiness is to identify and focus on your greatest talents and strengths. The problem is that many of us have forgotten what those talents are or have never had the opportunity to really use them. I think everyone can benefit from his advice on how to understand and develop your key strengths. Buckingham is offering a free online course on the subject on Oprah.com right now if you want to learn more.

If you’re a career changer or contemplating an escape from Corporate America, I suggest you set your Tivo for this show tomorrow for a dose of advice and inspiration.  I’ll also be posting a review and recap here for those who miss it.

Yesterday, I decided that spin class is a lot like a bad corporate job. For those of you not familiar with this particular type of exercise  torture, spin class involves a bunch of people pedaling madly on stationary exercise bikes to music for an hour or so, following a lunatic instructor’s orders to go faster, increase resistance, stand up, sit down, sprint until you want to throw up, etc. Sounds like fun, right? In a sick way, it kind of is. Plus, you can burn 600-800 calories in an hour.

But as I was pedaling frantically in place yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of my last corporate job. That’s mainly because one of my biggest complaints in my corporate days was that I often felt like a hamster on a wheel. There was just SO much frenetic activity — so many documents, meetings, conference calls, and email trails –  to achieve very  little. Often, by the time I would receive all of the approvals and "buy-in" I needed for a particular project, there would be some kind of reorganization or budget cut and I’d have to start over from the beginning. It once took me more than nine months just to get the approval to redesign a brochureware web site. That was just to get started. The actual design process was a study in endless torture that I don’t want to get into. Spin class is similar in that you expend a lot of energy and work up a real sweat, but you never actually move forward.

Then there’s the instructor. See, in spin class, I don’t really mind when the instructor yells random instructions at me or seems to get great glee out of causing me pain. I’m definitely not as forgiving toward corporate bosses that do the same thing at work.  At least I know that spin class will only last for an hour and I’ll leave in better shape. (Shout out to Chris Murdoch, brilliantly evil trainer and spin class instructor at Equinox in New York and a corporate escape artist himself).

But the biggest reason that spin class is a lot more fun than a bad corporate job is because it’s actually challenging in a good way. Spin class forces you to  push yourself, to get stronger and better every day that you do it. Similarly, when I was working in the corporate world, I was able to put up with a lot of annoying stuff if the job actually allowed me to learn and grow. Most of us don’t mind sweating as long as we’re sweating for a good reason.

Now if only bad corporate gigs burned 600-800 calories per hour. Then, even if we were aggravated and frustrated, at least we’d be in great shape and could eat all the Krispy Kremes we wanted.