Reading Your Way To The Real World

Spring semester. For many people, those words mean that the hunt for a summer internship or a post-graduation job needs to happen and happen quickly. Entering the “real world” can be a scary, intimidating and confusing feat. Luckily, “InternQueen” Lauren Berger, actress Lena Dunham, and NastyGal founder Sophia Amoruso have all come out with novels to make the “real world” a less scary place.

“All Work, No Pay” by Lauren Berger

Lauren Berger started her own company, InternQueen, at the age of 24 in 2009. She is a career and internship expert and helps many young career seekers land their dream jobs through her advice, website and books. All Work, No Pay is Berger’s first book about landing an internship and what to do once you’re there. In the novel, Berger writes “Together we’ll go beneath the surface of an internship. I take you past the satirical depictions of interns and guide you directly to the core of internships, where you can transform your college careers. You will finish this book as a focused internship candidate, one who is confident in how to land an internship and who knows how to make the most of the experience.” This book is great for anyone looking for a solid summer internship.

“Welcome to the Real World” by Lauren Berger

Berger’s most recent work is her book Welcome to the Real World, which came out in early 2014. This book mainly focuses on the seniors looking for their first “real” job. She gives advice for maneuvering your first job, as well as how to turn your job into your dream career. In this book Berger offers tidbits of advice on a variance of topics such as, thinking about “the big picture”, dealing with rejection, effectively manage your time, navigating “sticky situations” in the office, communicating with different personality types, embracing entrepreneurship regardless of; position, rank, or title; organizing your financial situation and personal life, and getting promoted to one day take your boss’ job!

“Not That Kind of Girl” by Lena Dunham

Creator, producer and star of HBO’s Girls, Lena Dunham compiles many personal stories for your benefit in her novel Not That Kind of Girl. This one is for more life advice than it is about career, but the information in this book is still relevant for this “real world” we keep referring to. Dunham writes, “If I can take what I’ve learned in this life and make one treacherous relationship or degrading job easier for you, perhaps even prevent you from becoming temporarily vegan, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile.” In this supposedly hilarious book, you will learn about Dunham’s trials and tribulations with health, fame, friends, boys, fashion and so much more. Comedian David Sedaris praised Dunham for her work saying, “It’s not Lena Dunham’s candor that makes me gasp. Rather, it’s her writing—which is full of surprises where you least expect them. This is a fine, subversive book.”

“#GIRLBOSS” by Sophia Amoruso

NastyGal’s Sophia Amoruso didn’t take the traditional route to create her multimillion dollar empire. After dropping out of community college at the age of 22, Amoruso created an online eBay store and thus, NastyGal was born. There were obviously a lot more challenges to overcome, but you’ll have to read the book to find out more about those. In an interview with Elle magazine, Amoruso explains “A Girl Boss is someone who has big dreams and is willing to work hard for them. So being a Girl Boss is really about being the boss of your own life,  it’s about keeping personal responsibility for your future, being comfortable taking risks, and understanding that failure is the byproduct of your own invention.” It looks like we could all take some advice from this Girl Boss.