So, I"m grateful for my three remaining grown children and their families: Stephen, Gary, and Sharon, plus their most-loving mother, my former wife, Jan, who shares in all our family gatherings; and my former stepdaughter, Dr. Serena Brewer, whom I helped raise for twenty years, and is now a physician in the city of b.u.t.te, Montana. I"m grateful for Marci"s grown children, Janice and Adlai, with their families, and Marci"s first grandchild, Logan, now four years old. (I have ten of my own. They are all as dear as can be, to me.) We lost two giants in our profession this year. I prized them both as friends: Bill Bridges and Nathan Azrin. They both had a tremendous influence on a lot of people"s lives. Bill for his work on Transitions, and Nathan for his creation of job-clubs.
As for the living, I want to express my grat.i.tude to my dearest friend (besides Marci), Daniel Porot of Geneva, Switzerland-we taught together for two weeks every summer, for nineteen years; then there is Dave Swanson, ditto; plus my international friends, Brian McIvor of Ireland; John Webb and Madeleine Leitner of Germany; Yves Lermusi, of Checkster fame, who came from Belgium; Pete Hawkins of Liverpool, England; Debra Angel MacDougall of Scotland; Byung Ju Cho of South Korea; Tom O"Neil of New Zealand; and, in this country, Howard Figler, beloved friend and co-author of our manual for career counselors; Marty Nemko; Joel Garfinkle; d.i.c.k Knowdell; Rich Feller; d.i.c.k Gaither; Warren Farrell; Chuck Young; Susan Joyce; and the folks over at Ten Speed Press in Berkeley, California, now an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group of Random House, plus Crown"s head, Maya Mavjee, who has been very kind to me.
My original publisher, Phil Wood, is gone now. He was my publisher for almost forty years; he was a dear man, and I owe him more than I can say for helping Parachute find its audience, and for letting me have great control over the annual editions. Parachute would never have sold ten million copies, if it were not for him.
I much appreciate my current friends over at Ten Speed: Aaron Wehner (publisher), George Young, Lisa Westmoreland, Kara Van de Water, Chris Barnes, Betsy Stromberg, Katy Brown, and Colleen Cain. My especial thanks to my readers-more than ten million of you-for buying my books, trusting my counsel, and following your dream. I have never met so many wonderful souls. I am so thankful for you all.
It is not fashionable these days to talk about one"s faith, but I"m going to do it anyway. I am very quiet about my faith; it"s just ... there. But I want to quietly acknowledge that it is the source of whatever grace, wisdom, or compa.s.sion I have ever found, or shared with others. I have all my life been a committed Christian, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and an Episcopalian (I was an ordained priest in that Church for fifty years). I thank my Creator every night for such a life, such a wonderful mission, as He has given me: to help millions of people make their lives really count for something, as we all go spinning through s.p.a.ce, here on s.p.a.ceship Earth.
d.i.c.k Bolles [email protected] www.eParachute.com www.jobhuntersbible.com
A Grammar and Language Note
I want to explain four points of grammar, in this book of mine: p.r.o.nouns, commas, italics, and spelling. My unorthodox use of them invariably offends unemployed English teachers so much that instead of finishing the exercises, they immediately write to apply for a job as my editor.
To save us unnecessary correspondence, let me explain. Throughout this book, I often use the apparently plural p.r.o.nouns "they," "them," and "their" after singular antecedents-such as, "You must approach someone for a job and tell them what you can do." This sounds strange and even wrong to those who know English well. To be sure, we all know there is another p.r.o.noun-"you"-that may be either singular or plural, but few of us realize that the p.r.o.nouns "they," "them," and "their" were also once treated as both plural and singular in the English language. This changed, at a time in English history when agreement in number became more important than agreement as to s.e.xual gender. Today, however, our priorities have shifted once again. Now, the distinguishing of s.e.xual gender is considered by many to be more important than agreement in number.
The common artifices used for this new priority, such as "s/he," or "he and she," are-to my mind-tortured and inelegant. Casey Miller and Kate Swift, in their cla.s.sic, The Handbook of Nons.e.xist Writing, agree, and argue that it is time to bring back the earlier usage of "they," "them," and "their" as both singular and plural-just as "you" is/are. They further argue that this return to the earlier historical usage has already become quite common out on the street-witness a typical sign by the ocean that reads, "Anyone using this beach after 5 p.m. does so at their own risk." I have followed Casey and Kate"s wise recommendations in all of this.
As for my commas, they are deliberately used according to my own rules-rather than according to the rules of historic grammar (which I did learn-I hastily add, to rea.s.sure my old Harvard professors, who despaired of me weekly, during English cla.s.s). In spite of those rules, I follow my own, which are: to write conversationally, and put in a comma wherever I would normally stop for a breath, were I speaking the same line.
The same conversational rule applies to my use of italics. This book is a conversation: I"m sitting down with you to tell you what I know. Conversations have rhythms. You emphasize a word here, you speak a word softly, there. There are pauses. The speed of one sentence sometimes changes from the previous. All of this is difficult to reproduce in print, if all the text looks equal. So I use italics, I use dashes, I use parentheses, I use color, etc. to reproduce in print-as much as I can-the rhythms of natural speech.
Finally, I guess some of my spelling (and capitalization) is weird. (You say "weird"; I say "playful.") I sometimes like writing it as "e-mail," for example, but other times I feel like writing it as "email." Fortunately, since this is my own book, I get to play by my own peculiar inclinations and playfulness; I"m just grateful that ten million readers have gone along. Nothing delights a child (at heart) more, than being found at play.
-d.i.c.k Bolles P.S. Over the last forty years a few critics have complained that this book is too complicated in its vocabulary and grammar for anyone except a college graduate. Two readers, however, have written me with a different view.
The first one, from England, said there is an index that a.n.a.lyzes a book to tell you what grade in school you must have finished, in order to be able to understand it. My book"s index, he said, turned out to be 6.1, which means you need only have finished sixth grade in a U.S. school in order to understand it.
Here in the U.S., a college instructor came up with a similar finding. He phoned me to tell me that my book was rejected by the authorities as a proposed text for the college course he was teaching, because (they said) the book"s language/grammar was not up to college level. "What level was it?" I asked. "Well," he replied, "when they a.n.a.lyzed it, it turned out to be written on an eighth grade level."
Sixth or eighth grade-that seems just about right to me. Why make job-hunting complicated, when it can be expressed so simply even a child could understand it? (D.B.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
d.i.c.k BOLLES-more formally known as Richard Nelson Bolles-has been featured in Time, the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Money, Fast Company, the Economist, and Publishers Weekly. He has appeared on the Today show, CNN, CBS, ABC, PBS, and other popular media. Bolles has keynoted hundreds of conferences, including the American Society for Training & Development and the National Career Development a.s.sociation. He is a member of Mensa and the Society for Human Resource Management. "He is the most recognized job-hunting authority on the planet" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "America"s top career expert" (AARP).
Bolles is the author of What Color Is Your Parachute?, the most popular job-hunting book in the world. Time magazine chose it as one of the hundred best nonfiction books written since 1923. The Library of Congress chose it as one of twenty-five books down through history that have shaped people"s lives. It is a New York Times best seller, appearing on its list for more than five years. The book has sold 10 million copies, to date, and is revised every year. It has been translated into twenty languages and is used in twenty-six countries.
Bolles was trained in chemical engineering at Ma.s.sachusetts Inst.i.tute of Technology, and holds a bachelor"s degree c.u.m laude in physics from Harvard University, a master"s in sacred theology from General Theological (Episcopal) Seminary in New York City, and three honorary doctorates. He lives in the San Francis...o...b..y Area with his wife, Marci.
E-mail address: [email protected] Websites: www.jobhuntersbible.com; www.eparachute.com Blog: Facebook: LinkedIn: Twitter: http:
INDEX.
A.
Achievements, doc.u.menting Ads answering, 6.1, 6.2 researching salaries through Agencies. See Employment agencies; Governmental agencies Aging American Job Centers, 1.1, 6.1 "A minus B equals C" method Anger Appearance, importance of Apprenticeships a.s.sessments, vocational. See Tests Att.i.tudes toward aging during interview toward yourself (self-esteem) Austerity, effects of Azrin, Nathan, 6.1, bm1.1 B.
Behavioral Interviewing Benefits, job Blogging, 1.1, 2.1 Bridge-people (contacts) asking for job-leads from definition of finding importance of for salary research Bridges, Bill Brown, Barbara Buechner, Fred Building-block diagram of skills, 7.1, 7.2 Bureau of Labor Statistics Business, creating your own, See also Self-employment Business Owner"s Idea Cafe, The Business Owner"s Toolkit C.
Calling, one"s, See also Mission in life Career-change cautions about frequency of, in lifetime as fun Informational Interviewing and job-market needs and online resource for school and self-inventory and step-by-step process for, with Flower Exercise testing and two-step process for Career cl.u.s.ters Career counselors/coaches choosing contracts with degrees held by, app3.1, app3.2 dishonest, app3.1, app3.2 fees of, app3.1, app3.2, app3.3 forms for hiring free workshops by groups run by Mission in life and operating by Internet or telephone religious sampler list of, app3.1, app3.2, app3.3 success rate of Career Interests Game CareerOneStop, 1.1, 6.1 Career portfolios Cheesman, Joel Cla.s.sified ads. See Ads College degrees, failure in getting a job with Companies. See Employers; Organizations Competency-based interviewing. See Behavioral Interviewing Considerateness, importance of Contacts. See Bridge-people Contracts with career counselors/coaches with employers Control, finding something within your Counseling. See Career counselors/coaches; Spiritual counselors Cover letters, importance of Co-workers, preferred Creative approach to job-hunting Crystal, John, 9.1, 9.2, app1.1, app4.1 Curricula vitae (c.v.). See Resumes D.
Data, skills dealing with Day laborers Decision making, tips about Depression (emotional) Diagrams A minus B equals C Breaking Down and Building Up a Career Building Blocks of Transferable Skills Client Coaching Forms Combining Three Fields Cutting the Territory Down Distasteful Working Conditions (chart) Favorite People Chart Favorite Subjects Matrix (sorting box) Fears Behind Employers" Questions (chart) Flower Diagram (example) Flower Diagram (to be filled in) Geographical Preferences (chart) Healthy vs. Unhealthy Religion (chart) List of 246 Skills as Verbs Model of Bad or Good Career Planning Parachute Skills Grid Party Exercise PIE (Porot) Preferred Methods for Filling Vacancies (employers" vs. job-hunters") Preliminary Outline of The Flower Prioritizing Grid for 24 Items, 7.1, 7.2 Prioritizing Grid for 10 Items or Less, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 Sample Resume Search for a Good Career Counselor (chart) Setting Your Salary Range Ten Commandments for Job-Interviews (tablet) Ten Greatest Mistakes Made in Job Interviews (tablet) Three Types of Career-Change (heart diagram) Traditional vs. Creative Approach (two columns) Transferable Skills (Sidney Fine"s diagram) What You Can Do, What You Can"t (chart) When to Negotiate Salary Worksheet of Favorite Knowledges Dictionary of Occupational t.i.tles, The (D.O.T.), 7.1, 10.1 Discrimination in hiring Distance-counseling Dreams, pursuing your, 7.1, 8.1, 9.1 E.
Education career-change and online worthless degrees See also Learning Egotism E-mail sending resumes by sending thank-you notes by Employees, skills of highly sought Employers bad-mouthing previous contacting interesting diversity among "foreign country" a.n.a.logy for hiring-fears of, 4.1, 4.2 new over-screening by preferred methods for filling vacancies vs. job hunters"
questions likely to be asked by, at interviews, 4.1, 4.2 size of targeting particular, 2.1, 2.2 type of employee sought by See also Organizations; Person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you Employment agencies success rate for temporary (temp agencies), 5.1, 8.1, 8.2 Employment interviews. See Hiring-interviews Enthusiasm importance of lack of shyness vs.
Entrepreneur magazine Executive counseling firms, app3.1, app3.2 Ex-offenders (d.i.c.k Gaither"s materials) Expenses, estimating Experience Unlimited Job Club F.
Facebook, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2 Faith. See Mission in life; Religious beliefs Family asking for job-leads from home businesses and Fear employers", 4.1, 4.2 job-hunters", of talking with others Feller, Rich, ii Fields of interest, 7.1, 8.1 50-50 rule during job interviews Fine, Sidney, 7.1, app1.1 Flower Diagram (self-inventory) this page career-change and as complete picture of self example of filled-in form finding a name for your geographical preferences (petal 6) goal, purpose, or mission in life (petal 7) importance of knowledges or fields of interest (petal 1) overview of people to work with (petal 2) reasons for success of salary and level (petal 5) transferable skills (petal 3) working conditions (petal 4) Franchises Fraud, perpetrated on you, 11.1, app3.1, app3.2 Free Agent Nation Freelancing. See Self-employment Friends asking for job-leads from career counselors/coaches used by renewing contact with old researching organizations through, 4.1, 8.1 See also Bridge-people Fringe benefits at work G.
Geographical preferences G.o.d belief in, app1.1, app1.2, app2.1 reestablishing contact with, app1.1, app2.1 Google, as resume Governmental agencies, 5.1, 6.1 Grat.i.tude list, making H.
Haldane, Bernard, ii Handicaps, 2.1, 9.1, 9.2 Happiness, money and Health, employers" questions about Hiring-interviews for already-filled vacancies asking for feedback after bad-mouthing previous employers during bringing evidence of skills to characteristics of dating as a metaphor for, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2 employers" fears during, 4.1, 4.2 ending, 4.1, 4.2 50-50 rule during importance of first two minutes of length of answers during mistakes made in obtaining, 2.1, 2.2 personal appearance and conduct at preparing for questions asked by employer at, 4.1, 4.2 questions asked by job-hunter at, 4.1, 4.2 researching organization before role-playing salary negotiation and ten commandments of thank-you notes after, 4.1, 4.2, 9.1, 9.2 as two-way conversation, 3.1, 4.1 See also Behavioral Interviewing; Person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you Hobbies Holland, John, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 10.1 this page Home businesses Human Metrics Test I.
Income. See Salary Informational Interviewing to find out about organizations job offers during, how to handle naming your Flower Diagram through PIE Method and, 9.1, 9.2 thank-you notes following, 8.1, 9.1 trying on careers through Interests. See Fields of interest Internet access to career-change and job-hunting on, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1 marketing strategies using posting resumes on, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1 researching on, 5.1, 8.1 testing and counseling on your presence on See also E-mail; Social media; Websites Interviews. See Behavioral Interviewing; Hiring-interviews; Informational Interviewing; Practice Interviews J.
Job beggar vs. helpful resource, 2.1, 4.1, 6.1, 9.1 Job clubs, 6.1, app3.1, app4.1 Job-hunting as art, not science best and worst methods for, 1.1, 6.1, 7.1 conservation of energy in as continual activity culture and groups, 6.1, app3.1 importance of alternatives in, 1.1, 7.1, 11.1 on the Internet, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1 length of life-changing recent changes in reexamining approaches to, 6.1, 6.2 "right" vs. "wrong" ways of social media and targeting small organizations tax deductions for time devoted to traditional vs. creative approach to unchanging essence of, 3.1, 3.2 unsuccessful, 3.1, 6.1, 6.2 See also Career-change Job-hunt.org (recommended site), 6.1, app3.1, app3.2 Job-interviews. See Hiring-interviews Job-leads Job-markets approaching multiple projections of See also Unemployment; Vacancies Job offers, 4.1, 5.1, 8.1 Job portfolios Jobs creation of, 4.1, 11.1 dream, 7.1, 8.1 families of hot length of part-time, 5.1, 8.1 trying on, 8.1, 8.2 Job Shadow Jobstar.org (recommended site) Job-t.i.tles JOLT (Job Openings and Labor Turnover) Joyce, Susan, 6.1, app3.1, app3.2 K.
Kawasaki, Guy Keirsey Temperament Sorter Knowledges, favorite, 7.1, 8.1 L.
Large organizations definition of small vs.
Learning unemployment and unlearning and See also Education Letter of agreement Level at work, 5.1, 7.1 LinkedIn, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 8.1 LinkUp M.
Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed (Schwerdtfeger) Meditation Mission in life career counseling and definition of first stage, app1.1, app1.2, app1.3 on the Flower Diagram as intersection job-hunting and nine kingdoms of second stage, app1.1, app1.2, app1.3 secret of finding third stage, app1.1, app1.2, app1.3 unlearning and learning Money. See Salary Mosquitoes (metaphorical) killing a job-interview Moving (to another place) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator MyPlan.com Mys.p.a.ce, 2.1, 2.2 N.
Nervous mannerisms during interviews Networking anxiety surrounding importance of, 8.1, 8.2 Informational Interviewing and social media and, 1.1, 1.2 See also Bridge-people Newspaper ads. See Ads North American Industry Cla.s.sification System (NAICS) codes O.
Occupational Outlook Handbook, The, 5.1, 10.1 Occupations. See Jobs Offers. See Job offers Older job-hunters O"Neil, Tom O*Net Online (onetonline.org), 7.1, 10.1 Online job-hunting, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1 Organizations kinds of making list of researching, 4.1, 8.1 size of, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 6.1 websites of See also Large organizations; Small organizations Overseas jobs P.
Parachute Skills Grid Part-time work, 5.1, 8.1. See also Temp agencies/temporary work Party Exercise, 7.1, 7.2 Pay. See Salary People favorite to work with skills dealing with as sources of job information as sources of salary information See also Bridge-people; Family; Friends People-environments, jobs treated as, 7.1, 7.2 Personality types Person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you fears of, this page, 4.2 interview with in large vs. small organizations See also Employers Philosophy of life, See also Mission in life Physical environment, effects of Physical fitness Pie Method Pinterest, 2.1, 2.2 Plan B, importance of having, 1.1, 7.1, 11.1 Plaxo Pleasure interviews. See Practice Interviews Porot, Daniel, 4.1, 5.1, 9.1, app4.1 Portfolio, approaching employers with your Powerlessness, feelings of Practice Interviews Prayer websites Prejudices, employers"
Prioritizing Grid, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 R.
Raises References Rejection, dealing with Religious beliefs career counseling and, app1.1, app4.1 definition of healthy vs. unhealthy importance of prevalence of, app1.1, app1.2, app1.3 unemployment and websites on See also Mission in life; Spirituality Research prior to hiring-interviews on home businesses on the Internet, 5.1, 8.1 on organizations, 4.1, 8.1 on salary on self-employment Resource person vs. job beggar, 2.1, 4.1, 6.1, 9.1 Resumes alternatives to contents of emailing employers" vs. job-hunters" views of first impression from format and style for good example of Google as handicaps and inaccurate posting online, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 6.1 purpose of, 2.1, 2.2 references in success rate for targeting particular employers with, 2.1, 2.2 tips for writing Retirement, 5.1, 9.1 Rewards, favorite RIASEC system. See Holland Codes S.
Salary desired fringe benefits and happiness and level and negotiating older job-hunters and raises ranges, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1 researching time to discuss Salary.com SalaryExpert.com School. See Education Schwerdtfeger, Patrick, 1.1, 11.1 Search firms Self-confidence/self-esteem, importance of, 4.1, 9.1 Self-Directed Search (SDS, John Holland), 7.1, 7.2, 10.1 Self-employment this page finding employees or vendors franchises home businesses key to success for marketing tips for finding clients researching taxes and Self-inventory. See Flower Diagram Self-knowledge, importance of Seven Stories exercise (to identify transferable skills) Shadowing employees at their workplace Shadow professions Shyness Skills, transferable (functional) dealing with data (mental) dealing with people (interpersonal) dealing with things (physical) evidence of identifying, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 9.1 inventory (grid) levels of as list of 246 verbs prioritizing sought by employers traits vs.
Skype Sleep, importance of Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Expert, A Small organizations definition of, 4.1, 6.1 job creation at large vs.
targeting Smoking, hiring-interviews and Social media editing sites, popular tips for Spiritual counselors Spirituality, app1.1, app2.1. See also Religious beliefs Stack Exchange Statistics, good and bad Style. See Traits Subjects, favorite Success stories, 5.1, 7.1, 7.2 Suicidal thoughts Surroundings, effects of T.
Tardiness, for job-interview appointments Taxes, 7.1, 11.1 Telephone area codes counseling by Skype See also Yellow pages Temp agencies/temporary work, 5.1, 8.1, 8.2 Temperaments Ten Commandments for Job-Interviews Tests of traits vocational Texting Thank-you notes, tremendous importance of after hiring-interviews, 4.1, 4.2, 9.1, 9.2 after Informational Interviewing, 8.1, 9.1 after Practice Interviewing "That One Piece of Paper" exercise. See Flower Diagram Things, skills dealing with Traditional approach to job-hunting Traits, 7.1, 7.2 Turnover, job-market Twitter, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 Types, personality U.
Unemployment employer prejudice and, 1.1, 9.1 feelings during length of national statistics on as opportunity, 7.1, app1.1 religious beliefs and Union hiring halls Uniqueness, identifying your, 4.1, app1.1 V.
Vacancies this page hidden number of preferred methods for filling, employers"
Values, importance of Veterans, 1.1, 2.1, 6.1, 10.1, app2.1 Videos Vocation, See also Mission in life Vocational tests Volunteer work, 2.1, 8.1, 8.2, app2.1 W.
Want ads. See Ads Websites for career information creating for home businesses of organizations on religious beliefs on salaries for self-employment for social media See also Internet Where Do I Go from Here with My Life? (Bolles and Crystal) Working conditions Working Solo World Wide Web Tax Y.
Yellow Pages calling employers from career counselors/coaches in using, to make list of organizations Yelp YouTube, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
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