Job Searching Resource - What Color Is Your Parachute

I must confess that I am going to recommend a resource to my job seeking readers that I haven't read yet. It's on my "to-do" list, but the reality is that I will not get it accomplished this month.

The resource is the book, "What Color Is Your Parachute?, 2008: A Practical Manual for Job-hunters and Career-Changers." This is the latest release by Richard Nelson Bolles, and his "What Color Is Your Parachute" book has been a New York Times bestseller for years.

While I haven't had a chance to read this release yet, I have read an earlier release, and agree that this is one book every person conducting a job search or considering a career change should read.

The Simple Dollar, a blog I catch from time to time, started a book review series, with his first entry focusing on the Chapters 1 through 4. Following is an excerpt that focuses on Chapter 3: How To Deal With Handicaps.

Part of the reason I wanted to read this book again in great detail is because there are so many little strokes of genius throughout it. The first one is in this chapter, where it suggests a really interesting exercise for job hunters with some sort of handicap. The book provides a list of about 250 action verbs, and then it invites the reader to separate these into two lists - ones you cannot do and ones that you can do (or at least potentially can do).

This activity is wonderful because most people with handicaps that might still be reading What Color Is Your Parachute? will have a much longer list of things they can do than things they cannot do. That’s incredibly empowering, as it takes the focus away from the handicap and puts it on the skills a person has, which is where the value is anyway.

For non-handicapped readers, there’s really only one point that should be brought out of this chapter: the idea that a handwritten thank you note is incredibly valuable to send after any interview, whether it be good or bad. A note like that shows that you actually care about the position in a personal way, which speaks a lot about your character to the people doing the hiring. You’ll also stand out distinctly from the horde that doesn’t bother to send one.

Following is an exerpt from Alison Doyle on About.com: Job Searching, who writes a review of the book after talking with the author himself.

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.

Work some time in your career search to read this book. With worksheets, tools, excercises and updated advice, it will be time well spent, and your job search may well end more successfully than you had imagined!