What Color Is Your Parachute? 2020: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

This is THE book for Job Hunters. I buy it annually. New "Hard Times" edition for 2010. Richard N. Bolles really knows his stuff. He takes reader feedback every year (by a deadline) to input into future editions. READ THIS and follow all instructions if you are out of work or hate your job. READ THIS even if you are employed and/or wish to start your own business. Yes, Bolles addresses would-be Entrepreneurs/esses, too!

This book has definitely given me insight on how the job market works. As a college graduate, it is definitely important to have a good overview of what to expect during the job-hunting process. Bolles' book has provided me with tools that will be useful in when searching for my career. Most importantly, it also puts me in the right mindset- not finding a job for the sake of finding a job but to dare go for what I am passionate about and believe that things will fall into place after that. A highly recommended book for job-hunters!

I am currently between jobs, and use this book every day to plan my job search. It is literally like a shot of confidence in the arm. The book is full of great insights not just on the job search, but also on the entire psychology of it all. It has great websites you can use to do career tests and personality tests. The great thing about the book is that the author has so much experience, so is able to draw on those many years, to give advice. It is like having a high-paid careeer coach. I can't recommend this book enough.

"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. 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 job hunt again. Thoroughly practical, Bolles asks you questions about your mission in life. His belief is that just getting a 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 their. 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. 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 editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Richard Bolles'," What Color Is Your Parachute?," has garnered a lot of praise, and sold not a few copies, over the years. I found the book easy to read, with simple, but useful, advice for the job-hunter. Like other books of its type, it contains a combination of exposition and exercises, or homework if you like; Bolles provides short-cuts for those who may already have the "answers" and step-by-step details for those who do not. Read it like you would a textbook and expect to be called upon in class to answer questions. Completing the exercises does take some time, but the few hours needed are a small price to pay.Bolles writes in a down-to-earth, non-academic style. He is constantly hammering home a few points: the job-hunt may take a long time and be meet with failure after failure, which leads to giving up too quickly i.e. persistence pays off, the job-hunter should take no short-cuts and leave no stone unturned, if a particular strategy doesn't work pick another one, and that it is important to identify what your skills and interests are; none of this is particularly unique to this book. Bolles clearly makes a distinction between skills and traits, something not all books of this type do adequately. He provides alternatives when a particular approach fails to produce results. And above all he encourages while at the same time providing some realism.The book is copiously illustrated. And ironically - I typically complain that publishers of non-fiction often leave out illustrations - this is my one complaint about the book, that the illustrations take up so much space and yet provide nothing but aesthetic value. A word of caution, that the author himself acknowledges, many of the Internet links provided are out-dated - either because the links are "dead" or because they have become fee-for-service sites instead of free. I have just started looking for that dream job, so my journey isn't over yet. But I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to improve their working life.