What Color Is Your Parachute? 2009: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers (What Color Is Your Parachute?)

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2009

A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers (What Color Is Your Parachute?)

by Richard Nelson Bolles
(based on 18 customer reviews)

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2009: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers (What Color Is Your Parachute?) (Paperback)
Edition: 2009
Author: Richard Nelson Bolles
Publisher: Ten Speed Press


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Most useful review as voted by customers:
17 out of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 8/13/08


First Book To Buy for Job Hunting

"What Color Is Your Parachute" is the first book you need if finding a job is your goal. If you've not bought this yet, you haven't started looking. It is that good.

Richard Bolles is the expert. His books sell because they are fresh each year with insight, purpose and ideas for determining what job you should do, and how to get it.

I used "Parachute" to get my first job. It continues to influence me today, as I keep my eyes open for a possible career change. As I have trandsitioned from nonprofits to corporate work, to freelance/consulting to looking again at nonprofits, I take what Bolles' teaches into each situation. He helps balance out reality. No smoke and mirrors, but encouraging and candid exhortation.

Thoroughly practical, Bolles asks you questions about your mission in life. His belief is that just getting a job (any job) -- even ones you are good at -- won't be a wise decision in the long haul. He helps you see your passions mixed with skills and experience, and guides you to getting there. Though it is hardly a self-help book, it is far more useful than the ones clogging up the Top 10 list.

He keeps you accountable. Finding a job is your job if that's what you say you want. And if you aren't working, he won't let you make excuses -- you've got the time. Either you are looking or you aren't. Dr. Phil could take a note from Bolles' direct yet congenial style.

Bolles has kept current, with a significant look at the internet, starting your own business, dealing with the tempestuous employment marketplace, working in an unpleasant situation, and more.

Don't bother with the hardcover. You need the paperback. This is not a sit-on-the-shelf book, but a get-down-to-business book, and you'll appreciate the flexibility while at work or on the train.

I fully recommend, "What Color Is Your Parachute" by Richard Nelson Bolles.

Anthony Trendl
http://anthonytrendl.com

9 out of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 8/24/08


Here we are again

Another time of uncertainty. Another copy of Parachute. It changes; it's eternal. Is it really the 39th edition? What's he going to do for #40? Have I been a part of this phenomenon THAT long?

My question was, "do I need a new edition?" When I looked at my 2000 copy and saw Bolles recommending metacrawler, I knew the answer was Yes. He recommends buying a new copy if yours is older than 2005.

More, do the work. It's not a book to read and shelve. I don't think my answers will change very much, in their heart, but the world has changed since the first time I filled in the petals on that flower and therefore the opportunities for using my skills / gifts / etc. have changed, too.

10M copies sold. I've had three or four myself, so maybe that only represents a market of 2.5M job hunters. Hard to say. Perhaps the tide shifts. Bolles' work and guidance complements the Strengthsfinder philososphy of finding what you want to do and are good at, rather than repairing imagined weaknesses and attempting to compete with people who are naturally good at tasks you hate. (Perhaps it's the other way around.)

I don't remember being (able to be) as clear about my values--where (in what arena) I want to apply my gifts. Maybe that's age; maybe the book changed. Kinda wish I'd kept all my copies along the way, now.

If only there were a way that an Amazon review could actually nudge a reader into not only buying the book, which is easy, but also DOING the book, which is harder, and then even more, ACTING on the knowledge that can be revealed. This IS the easier, softer way.

9 out of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/9/08


THE book for job hunters

This is something like the 10th edition of the landmark job hunting handbook, What Color is Your Parachute? This book is great because, like all the others, it gets you thinking about what job is right for YOU. Aka, in what kind of job will you succeed because you'll be able to flourish by applying your strengths. This new, 2009 edition is also geared toward the tough job market we're facing today in our troubled economy.

Another key book for job hunting is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book. A lot of employers look for emotionally intelligent candidates these days, and the book comes with a test to show you where you need to improve (the book shows you how to improve).

8 out of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 9/29/08


Great Book. Get the New Version!

The new version is worth the money. I got the 2001 (from the library) and 2009 version (from amazon). The 09 version is not only updated with the most current internet information (a lot has changed since 01 to make that version out of date), it is sequenced and ordered completely differently and includes "the parachute workbook" integrated into the text... no flipping back and forth through the appendices. I think every high school career class should use this book. It is great for any time in life, and I will use his principles/strategies for reflection on an ongoing basis. It definitely would have been helpful in picking my college major...I am going to recommend this to my younger sister, and keep using it myself.

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