What Color Is Your Parachute? for Teens: Discovering Yourself, Defining Your Future

by Richard Nelson Bolles, Carol Christen

In today’s über-competitive climate, you can’t just wing it when you graduate and count on finding a great job (or a great job finding you). It pays to figure out your interests early, so you can decide what additional schooling—and tuition debt—makes sense for your chosen field. In What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens , career authorities Carol Christen and Richard N. Bolles not only help you plan for these decisions, but also help you define the unique passions that will lead  you to your dream job. With new chapters on social media and sustainable jobs—along with all-new profiles of twentysomethings who’ve found work in solar energy, magazine writing, and more—this new edition has all the nitty-gritty details you need to get started now. Most importantly, it’s packed with the big-picture advice that will set you up to land the job that’s perfect for who you are—and who you want to be.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Teaching, Parenting, Education

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Dick Bolles, more formally known as Richard Nelson Bolles, was a former Episcopal clergyman, a member of high-IQ society Mensa, and the author of the best-selling job-hunting book, What Color is Your Parachute? The book remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than a decade and has sold over 10 million copies.

Reviews

[Jaina Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

I'm a high school junior-almost-senior. You know what that means: I'm big-time stressing about college. After years of deliberating I've gotten no closer to a definitive decision about what career I want to pursue in college. Computer science? Information Technologies? Accounting? Publishing? Who knows? So when I saw that I could get a review copy of What Color is Your Parachute, I jumped at the chance.

But of course, I mentioned I'm a junior planning to go to college. And you may not have noticed, but it's May - otherwise known to high school students worldwide as "AP testing month." I got through about half of the first chapter and then completely dropped it because my brain was too tired to do anything in my free time but watch I Love Lucy.

I'm back, though, and I spent the last week slowly working my way through the rest of the book. I can't say I enjoyed reading it, because it's not that kind of book, but I do think it was very thought-provoking. The parachute idea is genius, it really is. It took me weeks to finish filling it out, mainly because there's quite a bit of work that goes into completing each section and I didn't have the time to do it (which goes back to the whole "AP testing" thing). I honestly probably didn't put as much thought into my answers as I should have, so I think if you really let everything simmer the way Christen wants you to, it would take a month or so. The second half of the book focuses on tips for conducting interviews, applying for jobs, etc. It was a little less interesting for me, because I'm not there yet, but it could be a very helpful resource in the future. There's also a chapter about managing your online presence. I didn't really like that one very much, because I don't use my real name online for safety reasons. It might be more useful for other people, though.

Now it's time for my biggest complaint with this book: its physical format. The parachute is just a tad too small, so you have to cram everything in with barely-legible small font. The text next to the parachute literally says "To make it easier to use, photocopy this page and enlarge it." Then the introduction to part one has this helpful tip: "Take your book to a print shop and have it spiral bound. Removing the spine makes the book lie flat so it's easier to read and photocopy." Do you see a problem here? Why do I have to get the book spiral bound, and then enlarge the parachute? Surely it would be much more convenient if they did that in the first place? It's not exactly a huge turn-on to open the book and be faced with "go spend your money and time doing something we could have done, but didn't want to!"

Physical logistics aside, What Color is Your Parachute? a great resource that I highly recommend for anyone who's still deciding what to do after high school. When you're ready to do some soul-searching, start filling out your parachute. When you're looking for some good career-search resources, flip through What Color is Your Parachute? - you'll find everything you could ever need, though it's unfortunately scattered throughout the text instead of gathered in one place. When you're looking for a one-stop quick-guide to planning for your future, give What Color is Your Parachute? a try. I will definitely be referring back to it in the future.

I received a copy of this book through the Blogging for Books programs in exchange for an honest review.

[Teechutha Netcharussaeng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for those who are unsure of what career path they should take. This book isn't going to magically expose your hidden talent just by reading it. However, there are several exercises to reflect upon yourself, whether it's your favorite interests, your best skills or the community you like to be in. These exercises are going to provide you some interesting questions that you may have never thought about yourself, leading to clues for future career options. This book has a lot of insights that are very helpful, especially for teens (like me). Wonderful book.

[Emily Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am ashamed of myself. On the very same day that I started reading this book, I gave it up.
I started reading it because I had decided that I would use this summer in a productive way. The particular productive way was to explore different career options, then what I would need to study in college to pursue those careers, and then start narrowing down my college options.
This book really didn't help me with that. I got bored quickly, and quickly gave it up. Not to mention, it also made me feel pretty crappy about my lack of "transferrable skills". Needless to say, I quickly lost interest and stopped reading.

[Anh Ba Nam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mình đọc bản tiếng Việt nhưng chỉ tìm thấy bản gốc tiếng Anh trên đây nên nhân tiện review luôn. Thực chất là mình đọc cuốn sách này rất nhanh, với mục tiêu là tìm kiếm vài ý tưởng để giúp đứa em của mình định hướng nghề nghiệp. Do đó, cảm nhận của mình về cuốn sách này không phải của người trong kẹt, mà là từ một người đã đi làm và trải đời.

Cá nhân mình thấy thì đây là một cuốn sách có thể gọi là đáng đọc cho các bạn trẻ còn là học sinh cấp 3. Nếu chuẩn bị tốt những gì được đề cập trong sách, bạn ấy có thể có nhiều lợi thế hơn so với những người bạn đồng trang lứa.

Khi đọc nhiều về các sách phát triển bản thân, mình nhận thấy đa phần chúng đều có một mô típ chung. Do đó, có lẽ ta không cần đọc quá nhiều sách kiểu đó, mà chỉ cần đọc một vài cuốn cho biết và cố gắng áp dụng những gì phù hợp cho bản thân mỗi người. Với tư cách là một người đi trước, mình khuyến cáo đây là một trong những cuốn sách mà bạn trẻ (học sinh cấp ba hoặc sinh viên đại học) nên tìm đọc.

Sài Gòn mấy ngày dịch,
26.07.2021

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I work at a pre-collegiate afterschool program and got this book to share with my students. There are a lot of things I've been telling them already about life and career planning in here and it will be nice to have them see it from another source. I've even thought of some lessons I can teach using activities in this book. I am suggesting it to everyone I know who has teens. I also have the college version of this book and am sharing it with our seniors in addition to this one as they have different info.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember the original hanging around my house, and this is written for teens without cheesy references. My high school seminar students will benefit from the practical strategies IF my grant for a class set of books is funded. No more "I love CSI so I will be in forensic scientist." These activities will provide an avenue for informed choices.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was very helpful in allowing me to discover myself. It reconfirmed what I felt was the right career path for me and gave useful insights into job-searching, financing my education and basically, how to find the right job once you know which job you want. However, given my situation being outside of the US and all, some parts of the book were not as applicable but still good to know.

[Doha Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening

[Scout College Consulting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offers great tools for self-discovery as well as helpful hints regarding resumes, internships, and social media.

[Laura✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good activities for teens to figure out their interests, values, and possible career paths. A little too American and some parts are dated.

[Chou2811 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Các bạn cấp 3 hoặc đầu đọc quyển này thì hợp hơn. Chưa đi sâu vào các câu hỏi chiêm nghiệm.

[Demilade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book it really changed me

[Akea]

read this books is wonderful wow

[Amy Wass · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great! I’m turning it into a careers class for high school students with a few additional things I think will be helpful!

[Jerry Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Color is Your Parachute is a self help book written by Carol Christine. This book acts as a guidance for teens to discover their interests, and possible career paths that wants to be pursued. The book does a great job guiding the reader to discover what they want to pursue in their future. The book is structured in a interview or test format, where it asks you questions to lead you to your answers. The books goes step by step, and slowly clubs to different stages of the process. The book includes great diagrams and side bars, that gives the reader further information. Most of all, the book comes with practices for you to conduct as well as online sources for further information. I generally enjoyed this book, and think it’s close to flawless. The one aspect the book can improve on is to have a more attractive cover. I would recommend this book to teens looking for their interests. Out of five I would rate the book a solid five.

[Abigail Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

(*DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FOR FREE AS PART OF THE BLOGGING FOR BOOKS PROGRAM, IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. NO OTHER FORM OF COMPENSATION WAS GIVEN, AND ALL OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS REVIEW ARE MY OWN.)



OVERVIEW:



I love science. I love computers, making them bend to my will programming them, and technology. That all adds up to Computer Science, of which I will major in. However, that decision hasn't always been concrete. In order to major in the sciences, one had to possess an inordinate amount of intelligence, I thought. I ain't that smart, I thought. So, I took personality tests, major quizzes, everything I could get my hands on. Still Computer Science. Still, I wasn't sure. I scoured the sites of colleges I was interested in, but they didn't answer my question: Am I really qualified for this?



Then, I started to read books like WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE?



Cue light-bulb moment.



I got the skillz, and I can totally pursue my major. With confidence, ya'll.



Many of us are at that stage of life when deciding a career path is, well, stressful. So, I had high hopes for this book. Now, at first, I thought WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE was going to be one of the “follow your dreams” kind. While I’m all for my dreams of becoming a published author, I’m not exactly smart enough to make any real money off my writing yet. So, I typically avoid books like that. They’re a little impractical.



Thankfully, this book surprised me. The authors know what they’re talking about, and even this Google addict learned a whole lot about careers — and college majors. It’s easy to pick a college major once you discover what kind of jobs you’re interested in. The authors of this book know how to talk us youngsters. Its language is simple, and any technical jargon is explained. This book is an excellent resource, written to help you do just that.



WHAT'S IT ABOUT?



There are three sections to WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE?:

DISCOVER YOUR DREAM JOB: And Plot to Get It
ON THE WAY TO YOUR FUTURE: Help If You Don’t Know Where to Go
LAND YOUR DREAM JOB: Create Your Ideal Life…and More




There are twelve chapters in total, and four chapters to a section.



Before we get started, if you think this book will be a go-to, end-all for your college choices — it’s not. It won’t help you choose a college major, and it won’t detail various job titles for you. That would be a long book. However, it will give you a broad idea of where to look for your ideal job position. Then, you’re given the ultimatum to find a college major that suits you.



In the first few pages of the book, you’re given an example “parachute”. In it, you're supposed to detail your work preferences. The book goes through everything you need to know about the parachute, and guides you through your answers. However, I suggest keeping a notebook in which you detail your "soul-searching". The "parachute" given is much too small. You must either possess tiny handwriting, or a mini-pen to write in that thing.



In under 200 pages, “What Color is Your Parachute?” talks about what a Holland Code is (mine’s IEA or EIA, what’s yours?), job shadowing, interviewing skills, work environments, and job sustainability. Within the first section, you’re asked to describe your skills (yes, we have skills, whether or not we’ve obtained employment) and interests. Those skills and interests are expanded upon into potential career choices, which translate into college majors for you.



Then, the book gets into the real nitty gritty. The author, Carol Christen, begins to discuss high school and college. She explains goal setting, and how those goals help you stay on track during the school years. Christen even talks about social media, and how we can best utilize it to further our educational careers. That was an interesting chapter, as Christen discussed the social media platform LinkedIn, and how your social media presence can either help or harm your college admission chances — and your employment status.



The author even discusses student loans. It talks about how to repay them, how much to borrow, and what to expect because of them. That section is a short one, but it truly makes the book worthwhile.



SO, WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?



If you’re in high school, and you’re pretty sure of what your future career, it’s a good read. But, if you’re in high school and you don’t know what your future career ought to be — this book was written for you, I think.



WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? Is short enough for a weekend read, and during the summer, I highly encourage you to pick it up a local bookstore or library.



(Originally posted on my blog, Writing Abby)

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I flipped through this book and think it may be a good resource for teens who are not sure who they want to be. Although my kids seem to be set on their chosen professions, I will keep this book in mind in case they change their mind. Just to note, this book seems like a lot of work. You really need to be determined and motivated to zero in on the best fitting profession in order to benefit from this book.

I took a second look at this book after a while. It does look like a lot of work and I don’t think any teen is so motivated to find what careers interest them that they would want to work with this book. I took some pointers from it but mostly, it does not look very compelling or interesting. I don’t think my kids will ever pick this book up.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was helpful for the most part. In my opinion certain parts of the book are best to read at certain points in your life. Like part one is best to read when you're in 8th or 9th grade and part three is more like for when you're in college, searching for your first job dealing with your major (I found this section kind of over-whelming since I'm not there yet. I'm only going to be a senior in high school.) I would recommend this book to anybody who wants advice for finding a perfect job/career and interview question etc.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lot of helpful information and advice! I read it through, and now I want to go back and do some of the exercises that I think will be helpful as I start my own business. I liked how the writing was professional, but easy to follow and to read.

I would recommend this to any of my teen/young adult friends, with the reminder that the world thinks differently than Christians, and so the "why we do what we do" may differ a bit from the book's philosophy. May your future dream job, and your future life, be lived to the glory of the Lord God.

[Kylia · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was very useful to me and the exercises appealed to me, I found that I just didn't want to put the effort required into copying all the charts and pictures and everything so I could actually do them. (I borrowed the book.) As a result, I didn't really get much from it. I still liked it, though, and it's a wonderful book, which is why it has three stars.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly quick read for a work project. As a title modified title from the original for teens, this book contains some sensible, practical advice about career planning and goal setting. It does its best to stay current, noting some trends and reporting the death of [paper] resumes.

[Ariana]

parents had me read this...was quite interesting

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book I'm reading for work....

[Rebecca Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was good :) definitely a must-read for people who aren't sure what do to when it comes to choosing a career

[Launna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will pick this up again when our children are a little older to help give them tools in their search for what they want to do in life.

[BCPL Youth Services Librarian]

Click to see book in BCPL's online catalog

[Elizabeth Flowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent workbook for teenagers and young adults who are "finding themselves" on their path to employment.

[Chris Weaver]

Hands-on guide and activities for younger teens seeking to discover direction for their futures.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good and kinda helpful. I thought the section on "the people you like most" was the most interesting and I slightly supprised myself with what I answered.

[Adeola]

The book is a great resource. It is very dense, so young people should take their time reading and be very thoughtful and reflective while reading.