What Color is Your
Parachute 2018: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career- Changers (Ten
Speed Press/Crown Publishing Group, 2018) by Richard Bolles. Reviewed by
Steve Gladis.
Overview: Updated
annually since 1972, this classic stands up to the challenges of modern-day job
seekers and career changers. In fact, it’s got so much information that it
could overwhelm some readers. So, think of it as a reference book. The author
enlightens us about how job seekers and organizations approach filling
positions in exactly opposite ways; how the market has radically changed since
the 2008 recession; how to interview for jobs; how to negotiate salaries; how
to handle the psychological ups and downs of the job-hunting process; how to
conduct a self-inventory; how to take charge of your career; and, even how to
start your own business. There’s a reason that this book has been updated
annually for decades—it works. A terrific manual with many useful PDFs available.
1.
Things
Have Changed: Since the 2008 recession, employers shifted from focusing on
employees to focusing on profit. However, job seekers never got the message and
continued to submit resumes and post on job boards, which don’t work well anymore.
Today, employers want more certainty; so, they search on a hierarchy that
starts with hiring known employees from within; next, with people who either
have consulted for them or have been recommended by an insider—both which mitigate
risk. Bad hires cost about $50K! So, HR
folks are not looking at online lists, and when they do, their job is to
eliminate you from a huge pile—to get from 250 resumes to the 5 top candidates.
Also, the length of time to find a job has increased dramatically. So, what previously
took one month, now can take six months to land a job. And the higher the
salary, the longer the time it takes. We’re turning over our jobs faster—in
some job-seeker age brackets 32% of their jobs lasted less than a year, and
69%, lasted less than 5 years. Thus, part-time work is becoming far more
prevalent, and roughly 50% of Fortune 500 employees will be part-timers. The best
jobs today are in finance, sales and healthcare. Job hunting has become a
normal way of life—people will go job hunting 17 times in their lives. And while
online hunting is not as effective as it used to be, here’s a very good site
for doing so: www.livecareer.com/quintessential.
The winners in this market are people who know how to get hired.
2.
How to
Get Hired: The author offers 17 Principles for getting hired. Here are just
a few.
a.
Find a job that fits you. Don’t just try to
force fit yourself into a job.
b.
Conduct a “Self Inventory.” He uses the “flower experiment” which looks
at your interests, personality as various petals of the flower. He claims that
this approach results in success 84% of the time.
c.
Search for what you love: It’s not just about
what you’re good at, but also what you love to do.
d.
Job hunts are also potential career changes.
This is a great time to scan your history and rethink what you really want to
do, not just what you can do.
e.
Target companies and organizations, not just
jobs. Regardless of whether a company you admire has a job opening, pursue the
organization.
f.
Especially target smaller companies of 100
people or less. These companies tend to be more flexible and open to discussion
and options.
g.
Try to avoid HR. As mentioned, HR’s job is to be
a gatekeeper. So, if you can find a way to get to the hiring manager, your
chances increase.
h.
Submitting resumes is a necessary evil. However,
conducting a self-inventory, working in association with people and coaches,
and knocking on doors of companies you interested in are all more effective ways
to tackle the search.
3.
The
Interview: One of the 17 Principles, the Interview, is critical.
a.
Practice interviewing with friends, fellow
seekers.
b.
Conduct informational interviews of people who
actually do the work you’re interested in—this serves as a reality check.
c.
Interview for jobs—this is the ultimate goal
that all activities should focus on. In job interviews, here are the only 5
questions they care about:
i.
Why are you here? Explain your research—about
what you know about our company and how your talents are a fit.
ii.
What can you do for us? Explain how you can
solve our specific problems and tell stories about how you did it in the past.
iii.
What kind of person are you? Explain how you
play well with others!
iv.
What are your distinguishing talents? Explain why you’re different.
v.
Can we afford you? Explain parameters,
flexibility, and don’t let money get in the way.
d.
Watch the time in an interview.
i.
Half and Half:
Don’t overtalk the interview. As best you can, try to make the interview
a conversation. And research on effective conversations shows that when both
get a chance to talk about the same amount, it feels like it’s been a good
exchange.
ii.
20 to 2: Answers should take between 20 seconds
to 2 minutes depending on the complexity of the question. But droning on can be
a turn off. However, answering in
machine-gun fashion can feel awkward and unsatisfying as well.
iii.
Ask for the job. At the end of the interview you
may want to ask: “Considering all that we have discussed here, can you offer me
this job?” The author swears by this technique. I’m on the fence about it.
4.
Stick
with it! It’s easy to get discouraged as the process takes more time than
we ever wanted. The key is Don’t Stop—keep the process going. It’s really a
full-time job.
5.
Job
Hunting Links: Finally, here’s a link to some pretty cool PDFs on job
hunting--http://content.randomhouse.com/assets/97803
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