Author: Richard N. Bolles

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Pub. in: August, 2006

ISBN: 1580087949

Pages: 382

Measurements: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches

Origin of product: USA

Order code: BA00048

Other information:  

Chosen by the Library of Congress (Center for the Book) as one of the 25 Books That Have Shaped Readers' Lives and ranked as one of the seven essential business books by Today's Librarian. Up till today, this book has sold more than 8 million copies in 18 languages. It ranks #554 in books on Amazon.com as of December 14, 2006.

In the past years, there have been many revisions about the original copy. But this one - the 2006 edition - is the most dramatic rewrite of the book that the author has done in the last 25 years! Richard Bolles worked on this one every day for ten months, researching, re-thinking, and explaining in a new way his ideas, hints, and perspectives - in what has come to be the best-selling job-hunting and career-changing book in the world, now in 13 languages. It was also a #1 Business Week best-seller in 2005.

The motivation for such a drastic revision this year was the author's strong conviction that the most dramatic change in the past year has consisted in the various new forms that information has taken: blogs, podcasts, Websites, RSS feeds, TIVo, satellite radio, Webcasts, etc. supplementing the older and more familiar forms. The way the world used to be was the "consumer" being told, "Here is what we're going to give you; this is what you're gonna get." The way the world is now, it is the "consumer" who calls the shots: "Here is what I want; this is the kind of information I want, and in this form, and in this way."

Accordingly, he divided this new revision of his book into three sections, according to the form of the information therein.

The first section, "The Problem," delivers its information in the form of poetry and in short bursts of text. Its guiding, underlying questions with regard to any topic, are: What is the least you need to know? and What is the one key word, here? This section is for readers who need help, and need it fast.

The second section, "The Playing Field," is for readers with more leisure, who want their information in the form of a search for wisdom. Wisdom depends on context and weight, so this section offers in-depth discussion of the job search in the context of current world events, and the forced displacement of millions of people around the globe, by tsunami, Katrina, earthquakes, outsourcing, wars, plus political unrest - and what weight the reader should assign to each challenge facing them, when they are forcibly displaced.

The third section, "What, Where, and How" delivers its information in a form that is interactive. It is for readers who want to be active doers and not just passive readers. So, by means of a series of paper-and-pen exercises, guided step-by-step by Bolles, and using three techniques learned from brain research, each reader is led to do some fun but hard thinking, about who they are, what would be a dream job for them, and how to find their dream.

Beyond the matter of form, this dramatic revision is also packed with new content, developed from Bolles' extensive up-to-date research this past year; like:

- how to transform any job;
- outsourcing fears, realities, advantages, and opportunities;
- how to combine three fields to define one ideal career target;
- who gets hired, and why?;
- how to build your own personal philosophy of Work,

plus:
- 10 truths about the 21st century job-hunt
- 9 steps to identifying your dream job
- 6 essential warnings about career tests
- 300 career ideas for those just entering the job market
- 14 reasons why you might want to move
- 3 rules for making decisions about the future
- 10 tips for successful interviewing
- 1 key word that determines success

Businesses in this country are often caught dealing unethically with their employees - citing competition from low-cost, offshore workers who will work for a fraction of what it costs to live here, or worse, declaring bankruptcy - to walk away from commitments to pension benefits and health benefits that were promised when times were better, or at least when the workforce was younger.

Employees asked to take big pay cuts and benefits give-backs, while the top brass rake in double-digit raises each year, pulling down millions, pay their employers back in kind. If ethical standards in the business world today are poor, it is mainly, I propose, because people are not doing what they do best, and worse, they are doing work they hate, because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

What Color Is Your Parachute addresses the core problem in the working world today: employee satisfaction. Corporations are paper documents, group-think written by lawyers. Corporations are not equipped to, nor responsible for, providing their employees with satisfaction. People: employers, employees, entrepreneurs, all individuals, are responsible for finding their own calling in life.

Through exercises and worksheets and questionnaires, What Color Is Your Parachute guides the reader through the difficult task of getting to know himself, or herself, well enough to define their own mission in life.

Once one knows what that unique person should do with their life, finding out how to do it and how to get paid for doing it becomes possible, almost inevitable. One has to listen to oneself, carefully, and critically.

Networking interviews, a concept developed in the earliest editions of this book, some 30 years ago, yield advice from experts in whatever field one chooses. Finding out what one's unique mission in life is, what one is uniquely suited for, and what finds true satisfaction doing, is often much more difficult than the work itself.

Richard Bolles, the author, is a former minister. He is also an expert in career counseling. Each year he revises his book with fresh insight, purpose and ideas for determining what one should do, and how one gets a job in which one does just that.

What Color Is Your Parachute offers hope and inspiration in the roiling world of the current job market. It details a plan for finding one's place in this uncertain era. A best-seller for more than 30 years, through fat years and lean years, it continues to be high on the best-seller lists from Amazon to Business Week.

More than eight million copies in at least 12 languages have been sold everywhere in the world.

Bolles helps one find one's own passions, skills and experience. He is a trustworthy guide to getting exactly what one needs: personal accountability, and accomplishment. Finding the work one loves to do is a personal, individual responsibility. He hammers the point home.

If one is still working, doing the exercises in the book may well put one ahead in the game, even if one stays within the same company for 20 years or more. And if one has the misfortune (or perhaps the good fortune) to be laid off, down-sized, right-sized, or fired, then one has no excuse. One has the time.

The paperback is a better value than the hard cover edition. This is a reference book that will eventually wear out if used properly. And the flexibility of the paperback is makes it easier to fit into whatever one is hauling around in the way of a briefcase. (From quoting Publisher and Max Lebow, USA)

Target readers: Managers, working professionals, college graduates, and other groups of working population

Better with Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type - Revised and Updated Edition Featuring E-careers for the 21st Century :

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