What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles
A friend of mine bought this for me on kindle, saying it was a great way to find out what job best suits you. This book has been around for years and years, but as with textbooks, the author is quick to assure you that you really need the latest edition, as it’s constantly being revamped. While their certainly are new addresses and new urls in this book, the basic principal, I’m sure, hasn’t changed much.
Most of the book consists of a guided self-assessment of what your likes and dislikes, skills and weaknesses are. There are charts to fill out, lists to make, and in a particularly memorable exercise, Bolles wants you to draw a flower where every petal represents a different element of your work personality.
I admit, I didn’t do any of these exercises. First of all, the kindle format is really not a good format for reading this book. I strongly recommend that if you want to read this book, you opt for a paper version rather than an electronic version. While the silly little royalty-free illustrations came up okay, most of the charts were difficult if not impossible to read. Secondly, I’m not sure I really believe that these exercises would be a good use of time. They seem to presume a very high level of self-awareness. Do I really know that I wouldn’t want a job in the medical industry if I’ve never had one?
The other problem I had was that there seemed to be huge gaps between finding your perfect job and actually getting it. It’s like when you ask Google how to go to Australia and they tell you to kayak 1500 miles. You like chocolate + giving criticism + working near stainless steel? Chocolate taster! More than one person’s perfect job would be “chocolate taster” but the chances that you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who can get you that job are slim. It’s also a slim chance that “chocolate taster” pays a living wage and has insurance. I’m pretty sure that my flower would say that I’d be best in a creative job, like writer or artist which–guess what!–I’m already doing, but a lot of people need jobs that aren’t just emotionally fulfilling, but also pay enough that you can pay bills with it.
One of the ways Bolles suggests you go about getting your perfect job when you decide what that is is to talk to people from the companies you want to work for. You’re to find these people through LinkedIn. If you were on the far E of the extrovert/introvert scale, I’d imagine this would be a pleasant exercise, but the idea fills me with horror. Doing several informational interviews, and then going back and asking for a job interview, and then another one? I hate interviews. They’re like the worst, most insipid, baby-shower quality bullshitty overly-positive, barely-scratch-the-surface smalltalk wiht people you don’t like and have nothing in common with, except that at baby showers you at least have cake. You end up finding out as much about the job as you do about a suitor on a first date–which is to say, not much. And they find out just as much about you–close to nothing–and yet you’re both trying to simultaneously make yourself look good while stifling a deep, bone-grinding boredom. You suffer through it, and then, odds are at least 4-1, you won’t get the job. To deliberately seek out interviews before you interview seems as risky as taking a volunteer job in the hopes that it will turn into a paid position. Either way, you’ve used up a lot of hours. For an unemployed and discouraged person who had plenty of hours with nothing to put in them, it might be an acceptable risk.
But this book isn’t really a job hunting book, but a right-brained missive of hope. It’s even got a Jesus section in there, for people who are into that sort of thing. This book is about making you believe that you can get your perfect job somehow. It’s based on the idea that there are better ways to get a job than sending out resumes. It’s got a lot of information about starting your own business, about hiring a career coach, and about finding out what salary a specific job should command and what training it requires as well. So, I will probably go through this book again, once I get a paper copy that I can actually flip back and forth and look at. It probably won’t cost me anything except time, and the flower-exercises are a lot like personality tests, which I adore. I can’t say I have a lot of hope that it will do much good though. I’ve gotten most of my jobs by sending out resumes and answering ads.
