If you’re not as passionate about your career as you should be, the effort you’ve put into it just may be for naught.

“You have to be proactive and passionate about your career to be happy and have longevity in it,” said Candace Spicer, who offers advice to job seekers trying to scale the corporate ladder in a book entitled “No Box: A Journey to Professional Enlightenment.”

For Spicer, the journey started in 2004 after she graduated from the University of Memphis with a Bachelor’s Degree in Consumer Science and Education.

“I couldn’t find a job,” Spicer said.

The closed doors turned out to be a valuable lesson for Spicer, which she shares in the first-person in this 76-page book. There are 10 chapters, each one written as her personal roadmap to success.

“I used my personal journal (writing style) in the book to bring readers into the book,” said Spicer. “Also, in the book, there are personal ethics, progressive thinking, and applying balance in my life.”

Candace Spicer

Chapter One places Spicer on stage at the U of M, accepting her degree from the university president.  

“As hundreds of onlookers watched,” Spicer wrote, “I basked in the moment; all the while, though, I was scared to death of what lay ahead of me.”

Today, Spicer is a delinquent account processing clerk and creator of a motivational radio series that encourages social awareness and business etiquette among young professionals.

She ties her success to her mother’s commitment to excellence.

“My mother was very driven and worked all the time,” said Spicer, who grew up in the Whitehaven community with her brothers – Terry and her twin, Jason

Spicer, 27, was 14 when her mother died. Her memories include her mother’s penchant for goal setting and hard work.

“I picked up that aspect and was driven the same way,” she said. “I guess I was a little girl trying to be like her mother.”

Although the book is a personal testament of one woman’s journey to corporate America, it also doubles as a guide for career enthusiasts who grapple with rejection.

Said Spicer: “When I became passionate and proactive, doors began to open for me.”