THE one thing you absolutely must do is love and enjoy your work. Get it wrong and you could spend 40-odd years regretting it.

This is the advice of Ray Rock, the author of Your Working Future, a guide to choosing a career and being successful.

In his introduction, Ray points out that the purpose of his book is to make people who are choosing a career think about themselves, their future, their happiness and their true purpose in life.

The book shows how this is done in a structured way, analysing aspects of life such as what you would like your working environment to be, what sort of duties you want, what hours you want to work, what your ambitions are, what sort of dress you would like to be wearing at work and your mental approach, ie, do you want your mind stimulating and new challenges presenting all the time? When you have the answers to these, are you nearer to seeing what sort of career would be right for you, one that helps you to stay true to yourself?

The book helps the reader to look at various suitable careers, check them out and eliminate them until there is only one left, which could be the right one.

It shows how goals should be set, including taking charge of one's own life, improving attitude, believing that true purpose in life will be found and believing in success.

With the basics established, Ray moves on to preparing for and handling interviews, and shows how the written information you have provided when applying for a job counts for much more than most people realise. Clothes, body language and saying the right thing are all covered in detail, along with asking the right questions.

Your Working Future is published by Suroc Publishing, £14.95.