What Color Is Your Parachute? 2010: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers [Paperback]

Richard N. Bolles (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 22, 2009 | Series: What Color Is Your Parachute?

What Color Is Your Parachute? has been the bestselling job-search book in the world for more than three decades, in good times and bad, and it continues to be a fixture on best-seller lists, from New York Times to BusinessWeek. It has sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages around the world. What Color Is Your Parachute? is streamlined this year to help those struggling to find part-time and full-time employment in these hard economic times acquire the job-search tools they need faster and more efficiently. This classic job-search book is, as always, updated and relevant to today’s job market.   

Career guru Richard N. Bolles leads job-searchers to find meaningful employment. He asks, WHAT skills do you most love to use? Where—in what field—would you most love to use them? And how do you search for such a job without depending on employment agencies and ads? This book is not only about finding a job in hard times. It’s about finding your passion. In the words of Fortune magazine: “What Color Is Your Parachute? remains the gold standard of career guides.”

This New York Times and BusinessWeek bestseller answers such questions as:

• I was just laid off from my current job. What do I do first?
• What are the most helpful job sites on the Internet, out of the thousands that are there?
• What are the five best–and worst–ways to hunt for a job?
• I haven’t a clue how to do salary negotiation. Help!
• In general, what are employers looking for?
• What interview questions can I expect to be asked, and how do I answer them?
• I’m over 50. What special problems do I face when I go job-hunting?
• How do I survive financially while I’m out of work, and how do I find health insurance when I have no employer?

[This is the trade paperback edition.]

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Forty years after it first was self published...What Color Is Your Parachute? remains a perennial favorite for job hunters.” “(It’s) the old standby, tried and true,” said Birmingham-Southern College’s Director of Career Services Michael Lebeau. “(It’s) the one that started it all.”
—Birmingham News 2010
 
Starred as essential for all library collections. “A best seller for 40 years, this annual guide gives great advice on choosing a suitable career, as well as how to find a job.”
—Library Journal 2010
 
“One of the most popular job-hunting guides has been streamlined for 2010. The new edition…tells readers how to find a job more efficiently than ever before.”
—amNew York 2010
 
“one of the first job hunting books on the market and remains one of the bestselling books of all time.”
—Boston Sunday Globe 2010
 
“the godfather of all pavement-pounders”
—Mark Lange, a former presidential and Labor Department speechwriter who wrote the 1991 State of the Union address (also a contributing writer for Christian Science Monitor 2010)
 
“Richard deserves sainthood for all the people he’s helped over the last 27 years. He boils career-searching down to three basic steps: What, Where and How.”
—Bob Rosner, United Features Syndicate’s “Workplace 911” columnist 2010
 
“one of several books that changed my life. ...it’s been in print for almost four decades for a reason.”
—New Age Retailer 2010
 
“What Color Is Your Parachute? is about job-hunting and career-changing, but it’s also about figuring out who you are as a person and what you want out of life.”
—Barbara Kiviat, Time magazine 2009
 
Called Dick Bolles: “guru of all things career related.”
—Bob Rosner, United Features Syndicate’s “Workplace 911” columnist 2009
 
“I read What Color Is Your Parachute? years ago and found it to be a very empowering book.... Now What Color Is Your Parachute? 2010 is being promoted as the ‘Hard Times’ edition, and again I’m impressed with the information it provides to allow its readers to seize the day. ...All useful stuff that’s more about your quality of life and less about just landing a job.”
—Knoxville News Sentinel 2009
 
A “category killer.”
—Library Journal 2009
 
“fortified with fresh advice for job hunting in tough times.”
—Content That Work’s Jobweek 2009

“He’s a preacher. He’s a career counselor. He’s a warm washcloth over the eyes of the desperately unemployed.”
—Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals 2009
 
“Job seekers, don’t despair. Richard Bolles is on your side. At 81, his life’s work has been about how to find a job. And not just any job, but the career of your dreams. Even in a recession.” 
—Sacramento Bee 2009
 
“Chock-full of revisions and tips relevant to today’s circumstances.”
—San Francisco Chronicle 2009
 
“The newest edition has been rewritten, updated and expanded to offer tools, support and hope to help job-seekers even in the worst of economic times.”
—McClatchy-Tribune News Service 2009
 
“There’s Parachute, and then there’s all the rest.  . . . Parachute is not just a best-seller, not just a practical manual, and not just a life-changing book. It’s a work of genuine love and compassion.”
—Career Planning and Adult Development Journal 2009. 
 
“Find success in your job search by picking up a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute?”
—Complete Woman 2009
 
“Parachute has been a perennial favorite of the ‘job transition’ genre.  . . . Bolles’ thoughts and website can help a job seeker at any starting point.”
—Sunday Las Vegas Review Journal 2009

From the Publisher

* The #1 job-hunting and career planning book of all time--more than 10 million copies sold.
* Revised and updated with the latest information for dealing with the toughest job market in decades.
* Honored by the Library of Congress as one of 25 books that have shaped people's lives down through history.
* Used in 26 countries and translated into 20 languages.
* The best resource--whether you're concerned about a current job-hunt, changing careers, starting your own business, or looking for options for relocation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; 1 edition (September 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580089879
• ISBN-13: 978-1580089876
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

RICHARD N. BOLLES has been a leader in the career development field for more than thirty-five years. He was trained in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and holds a bachelor's degree cum laude in physics from Harvard University and a master's in sacred theology from General Theological (Episcopal) Seminary in New York City. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Marci.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What Color Is Your Parachute - 2010 October 12, 2009

By Don Sutaria, MS, IE(Prof.)

Format:Paperback

As a career counselor and career coach, I have been following the progression of this book every year since 1972! Since September 11, 2001, there have been dramtic changes in the world of work, and Richard Nelson Bolles has revised this book every year, and kept it so contemporary. I recommend this book to all my clients and also use the section, How to Find Your Mission in Life, as reading material and a starting point in my career counseling sessions, especially with career changers.

The 2010 edition has been dramatically revised. You may want to look at the recently published companion volume also: The Job-Hunter's Survival Guide. This book (Parachute) is truly a Job-Hunter's Bible, as it has been affectionately nicknamed. I would recommend that people between the ages of 16 and 69 read it and digest it. Even if you are not actively looking for a job, it will give you additional smarts. No wonder more than 10,000,000 copies have been sold, including translations in several languages! It is also a New York Times and Business Week best seller, and has a deserving place in the Library of Congress as one of the 25 books That Have Shaped Readers' Lives.

Don Sutaria, MS, IE (Prof.)
Founder, President & Life-Work Coach
CareerQuest
Author: CAREER AND LIFE COUNSELING FROM THE HEART (YOUR CAREER IS A PATHWAY TO YOUR SOUL!)

44 of 54 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars What Happened? December 6, 2009

By M. Atkinson

Format:Paperback

I've read the two previous versions of What Color is Your Parachute for 2008 and 2009. They were indispensable in my job hunt. So I curiously picked the 2010 version of the book up. In a Gasp, you can tell this book cut out a chunk of what the previous versions that I have read had in them. There exercises for finding work and changing your career are very skimpy, and these exercises and what the author writes about them are key to what makes this book a best seller. This is clearly a rip-off and it shows how the recession is affecting the publishing industry. After reading it, I threw it in the Garbage and sticking to last years What Color is Your Parachute!

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing August 4, 2010

By A. Ashley

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've heard about this book since I was a kid and finally decided to pick up the "Hard Times" edition to help my husband with his job search. I was shocked at how little it helped at all.

While I understand the value of networking, I don't know anyone who gets an interview before presenting a resume -- at least not in my or my husband's fields. The idea that you would only write a resume "if you must" and that it should be something that you "leave behind" after the interview is contradictory to the fact that most employers ask for one.

I really didn't like the fact that Bolles only briefly mentioned a cover letter and called it an "alternative" to a "classic resume." A cover letter is a letter that *covers* your resume and gives you the opportunity to catch the reader's eye and explain why you desire to work for the company/organization -- it is not optional and it is not a replacement for a resume; It serves a totally different purpose.

It also bothered me that Bolles didn't really explain his methodology for the studies on job search effectiveness. He explained each time what the percentage meant (that ___% of job-seekers will find a job using this method if they ONLY use this method) but not really how he got those percentages. It seemed very unscientific. Maybe I missed that information? I don't see how he could include those kinds of numbers without a more thorough review of methodology.

The part that bothered me the most was the one example that he gave of what he considered an effective resume -- an outdated resume that displayed a heavy dose of sexism. It was like he was so out of touch with modern society that he didn't even realize the inappropriateness of that resume.

It seemed, overall, that his information was outdated -- or at least specific only to certain fields. I've worked with a lot of hiring managers and none of them have ever posted a job as a "last resort." It's the first thing they do when they find out that there is going to be a vacancy -- unless they have an internal person in mind. I just found Bolles' advice to be universally . . . bad.