What Color is Your Parachute

The new edition of the best selling job hunting book What Color is Your Parachute, in addition to the tried and true advice for job seekers Dick Bolles has provided for close to 40 years, has new information on job search productivity, job clubs, and how to organize and manage your job search.

What Color is Your Parachute is deservedly the world's most popular job hunting booking with over 11 million copies sold in 26 languages.

This 2011 edition is as relevant today as when it was first published. Dick Bolles insightfully stays on the cutting edge of job searching and the book is full of new and updated suggestions, along with the classic advice that continues to hold true today.

It's important to note, as well, that as Dick Bolles write, this is "... really a Book of Hope..." and hope is critically important when you're job searching in the worst job market in decades.

One of the reasons that the book still works so well is that, even though how and where we look for jobs has changed signficantly over the years, the basic premise of the book remains the same. If you follow that premise - the secret to a successful job hunt starts with knowing ourselves - you will be well positioned to successfully job search or change your career.

The worksheets, tools, grids, and exercises will help you figure out your strengths and who you are, and help you position yourself to job search effectively. In fact, Bolles told me last time we spoke that the primary reason that job seekers have a hard time finding employment is that they haven't started at the beginning.

He says, "You need to be knowledgeable about yourself and know your interests." So, just reading the book isn't enough - you need to take it a step further and use the tools in the book.

One chapter that is especially relevant in this job market focuses on older job seekers and how they can market themselves in a culture that often focuses on youth.

Bolles shares his advice for competing in a difficult job market, noting that energy and enthusiasm for work are what's important. The employer is going to want to know what kind of energy you have left and that you are ready, willing, and able to put that energy into their company.

Dick also provides suggestions on how job seekers can convey that energy:

• Lean forward in your chair when interviewing.
• Don't slouch.
• Be alive and energetic.
• Be aware of your image and the impression you are making on the employer.

What Color is Your Parachute is the world’s top selling job search and career book, has been a New York Times bestseller for years. In 1995, the Library of Congress Center for the Book chose the book as one of the "25 Books That Have Shaped Readers’ Lives."