Customer Reviews

No Parachute Required: Translating Your Passion Into a Paycheck--and a Career

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a recent college grad I found the book helpful and motivational. Having changed my major multiple times and still trying to figure out for sure what I want to do, I felt the exercises opened my eyes to different possibilities for my future. It also gave me some helpful tips on getting into the career of my choice. The many quotes helped spice up the book, and made for an easy read.

I recently picked up a copy of this book and found it to be very helpful. Nearing graduation, I have been doing alot of research and reading before entering the work force. This was motivating and exciting, it has an easy to use approach that I hope to apply to my life over the next few months.

As I get closer to graduation I have some serious concerns about what comes next: Do I go straight to graduate school? Do I get a job, but what kind? Do I do both? No Parachute Required has given me the inspiration to grab my diploma and then take charge of my life. I now feel I have the tools I need to turn what I learned in class into something meaningful for my future. I only wish I had read this book a few years ago, while I was still in school ... I think I would have done a few things differently.

The Job market is slowing down. Getting rich out of college is a myth. Gunhus's book helps prepare students for the reality of job hunting and helps them package themselves for the future.

Tired of mundane career jargon? Then jump into No Parachute Required!!! I loved its every page as I found a truer view of not only getting a job, but also getting a lifestyle that I love living. Don't buy this book if you want to sit in a cubicle for the next 15 yrs. Only buy this book if you want to step outside the box of a normal job search and into an open world of opportunity.

While attending the University of California at Santa Barbara I devoted a great deal of time to socializing with an unmotivated crowd. Most of my friends spent most of their time "partying" and relying on the fictious statement, "it doesn't matter what you know it matters who you know." Well I know alot of people and not one would give a job to an applicant with no experience, even if it was their son or daughter. I can't think of anyone that just gives money away because they like someone or because they were in the same fraternity years ago. It doesn't matter what you know or who you know, it matters what you do with what you know and who you know.

No Parachute Required provides a thorough map for individuals looking to move off the couch and into a rewarding career. The book looks at numerous carreer opportunities and provides specific answers to the question, "What do I have to do?" Jeff focuses on traditional and non traditional employment alike, providing a method to increase "what you know" as well as use it. The book provides answers what ever you goals may be, even if you have not set them yet.

As an employer, I strongly recomend this book. I consider it a must read for anyone looking at leaveing the lap of luxury (life at University is a vacation compared to the "real world") and entering the work force, civil service, entrepreneurism, or anything else that does not involve living with your parents.

I found Jeff's book to be quite uninspiring. Ironically, Jeff is one of the heads of "College Works Painting." A company that actually rips off college students. Google his company name and scroll down a bit and you can read the 1000 complaints against this company. Jeff is not a good person and his book was a waste of my money.

It seems that the Library Journal review of Jeff Gunhus's "No Parachute Required" is rather mean-spirited, to say the least. It is seldom that one reads a book review in which the reviewer cannot cite any merit to the piece, and that makes one uneasy. The reviewer seems to take particular offense to the title and marketing, which she sees as a jab at the fine work of Richard Bolles, a motivator and guru with decades of experience. Perhaps it can be argued that the title slyly acknowledges Bolles as the standard.

I am a recently retired veteran of a thirty-year career in student advising and employer relations, including positions as Assistant Dean/Director of Career Services at UCLA, Southwestern University School of Law, and Loyola Law School. I have never met Mr. Gunhus, but was asked by him, via telephone, to look over an early draft and was subsequently contacted by the publisher to make a statement on an advance proof. I therefore feel qualified to speak about the unfairness of a cranky reviewer and, more importantly, able to state that the book has considerable merit. It is a book that speaks to its own generation, and that is one of its strengths. It is a young man's book about young people interested in entrepreneurial and creative careers, and the plain need to earn a paycheck, and it speaks forcefully and well.

Like most business-side writers, as opposed to academics or career services professionals, Mr. Gunhus speaks about his business and the lessons from that work. This seems valid enough. His use of quotes is a common motivational technique, and any quote-adverse reader can ignore the insets easily enough. I found them to be well-chosen when I read the final piece.

College grads and twenty- or thirty-somethings considering business or creative work frequently fall into passivity and confusion. This is understandable because of the complexity of choices, and the increased anxious parental pressures. Mr. Gunhus's enthusiasm about goal-setting and having faith in oneself is energizing to read. Perhaps this quality is what struck the Library Journal reviewer as excess, but the examples she presents of the author's advice seem to misrepresent his viewpoint.

The sharp sword of a book reviewer completing a critique by indicating that it is nap time for her may be a shade too trite, even harsh, to make some entirely trust her good faith as a critic. "No Parachute Required" is solid, standard career-planning and job-search material from a pleasing and lively author. It should be appealing to the under-35 audience without a childhood job dream in place. In this reviewer's opinion, it is well-written prose and should sell extremely nicely to the intended audience.

For a very young working man to research and draft a book, sell it to a publisher, and have a highly competitive piece in a saturated career-guide market is reason enough to trust his advice and purchase and read the book.

I just recently finished this book, and all I can say is "WOW!" Jeff Gunhus writes in a very straightforward, down-to-earth style that is very conversational. It's like having a wise older friend show you the ropes in life.

Filled with inspiring quotes, the book made me excited about life and about career choices. Having grown up a great deal in the past few years out of college (I'm 25), pretty much everything Gunhus wrote rang true for me. Trust me, you younguns' still in college can USE THIS BOOK! If I had read it, it might have saved me from a lot of heartache and depression, upon graduating from university with a 3.8 GPA and being totally unable to find a job in my field (that challenged and motivated me.)

This book is a great investment. It's very inspirational, and gets you excited about life. Most importantly, YOUR LIFE. Mr. Gunhus pulls no punches. He makes it clear to the reader that if you want success and happiness, YOU MUST PURSUE IT. Cuz it ain't gonna just come to you, folks! That perfect job isn't gonna come a'knockin' on your door!

One of the most useful parts of the book to me was the section on resumes and cover letters. You must be tenacious and direct in order to get a job these days. BUY THIS BOOK and you'll be on your way!

PS: I also thought the first book reviewer wasn't too wise. I think Mr. Gunhus' book title is amusing and truthful. That other "parachute" book was boring to me, a young person.

I found No Parachutes Required to be very motivational. I think that Jeffs strive to help young students grow up and actually become someone or something shows Students not to put there talents and ambitions to waste. I would definitely reccomend this book to anyone who wants helpful hints on how to not strive for your goal in life but actually make it there.