What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021: Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success

by Richard Nelson Bolles

the best career,

one that uses your favorite transferable skills, in your favorite subjects, fields, or special knowledges, in a job that offers you your preferred people environments, your preferred working conditions, with your preferred salary or other rewards, working toward your preferred goals and values.

you learn to describe yourself in at least six different ways, so you can approach multiple job markets.

You are a person who has these multiple skills and experiences.

bring mindfulness to the process, which has been shown to improve decision making.

you can describe in detail exactly what you are looking for. This greatly enables your friends, LinkedIn contacts, and family to better help you.

You will have a story to tell them. About your skills. About your traits. About the job you’re seeking. This helps them to focus, and to look for something very specific, thus increasing their helpfulness to you,

By ending up with a picture of a job that would really excite you,

you will inevitably pour much more time, energy, and determination into your job search. This is really worth looking for.

persistence becomes your middle name, once you’ve identified a prize worth fighting for.

Armed with the knowledge you’ve gained, you can choose places that match who you are. And then you can approach them (through a contact, or what I like to call a “bridge person”

knowing confidently that you will be an asset there, whether they have a job opening or decide to create one for you.

you will stand out above them all, because you can accurately describe to employers exactly what is unique about you and what you bring to the table that the others do not.

sometimes, sometimes, that dream job can be found simply by doing enough informational interviewing.

The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn’t get written because someone knocked on the door.

Use this opportunity. Make this not only a hunt for a job, but also a hunt for a life. A deeper life, a victorious life, a life you’re more proud of.

Prioritizing Grid that is automated and interactive. It is free at www.beverlyryle.com/prioritizing-grid.

there are seven sides to you, or seven ways of thinking about yourself, or seven ways of describing who you are—

Every job or career has a characteristic people environment. Tell us what career or job interests you, and we can tell you, in general terms, what kind of people you would prefer to work with (from among six possibilities).

The Investigative People Environment: Filled with people who prefer using their brain, specifically the observation and symbolic, systematic, creative investigation of physical, biological, or cultural phenomena.

The Social People Environment: Filled with people who prefer activities involving working with others to inform, train, develop, cure, or enlighten. I summarize this as: S = people who want to help, teach, or serve people.

From among the six letters—RIASEC—you name your three preferred people environments, and this gives you what is called your Holland Code;

you can take the free O*NET Interest Profiler online, which will give you your three-letter code

question they are likely to ask you is “Tell me about yourself.”

In the length of time it takes to ride an elevator up a tall building, you should be able to give your entire answer to this question,

The employer’s unspoken real question is What experience, skills, or knowledges do you have that are relevant to the job I am trying to fill?

What are the three most important competencies for this job?”

“Well, I noticed in your job posting you are seeking a person who is _______, and I guess that’s what most excited me about this position. I…” and then tell your story that relates to this trait.

five basic questions

“Why are you here?” This means “Why are you knocking on my door, rather than someone else’s door?”

“What can you do for us?” This means “If we were to hire you, will you help me with the challenges I face?

“Will you fit in or add a new perspective?

This means “Do you have better work habits than the others, do you show up earlier, stay later, work more thoroughly, work

“If we decide we want you here, how much will it take to get you, and are we willing and able to pay that amount—governed,

“What does this job involve?”

“What are the skills a top employee in this job would have

You need to think out, way ahead of time, what does make you different from other people who can do the same job.

What significant changes has this company gone through in the past five years? What values are sacred to this company?

What character traits do the most successful employees in this company have? What future changes do you see in the work here?

Who has succeeded in this role previously and how do you measure success?

how you’ve been conducting your job hunt, and what it was that so impressed you about this organization during your research that you decided to come in and talk to them about a job.

They get changed into five statements that you make to the person who has the power to create this job.

You tell them what you like about this organization. You tell them what sorts of needs you find intriguing in this field, in general and in this organization in particular

You tell them what seem to you to be necessary in order to meet such needs, and you give them brief stories from your past experience that demonstrate you have those very skills.

You tell them what is unique about the way you perform those skills.

how the hiring of you will not cost them, in the long run. You need to be prepared to demonstrate that you will, in the long run, bring in more money than the salary they pay you.

ask them what their management style is. You can also ask how they measure success

in a worker. Remember, this is a conversation you are continuing to have until you have made up your mind that this position is for you.

the “behavioral interview,” you’re asked to specifically describe instances when you demonstrated certain traits or skills. As the name implies, they are focusing on your behavior,

responses to interview questions should be two minutes maximum, and often less.