Can a job hunting book show you the path back to yourself?

Yes, if it’s Richard Nelson Bolles’ What Color is Your Parachute?

If you’re a flower that thrives at 2000 ft above sea level, you will find out how to uproot yourself from the 200 ft level and plant new seeds where you will thrive.

If your interests run to psychiatry, carpentry and gardening, you will discover how to find the link between all three of your interests.

If you are going to an interview, you will learn to think of it as a blind date and improve both your interviewing skills and your dating skills.

You will never blow your chances at an interview again because of what Bolles calls mosquitoes - those tiny things which can instantly turn an interviewer off.

You will discover flower power after reading Parachute and find yourself writing Seven Stories About Yourself. You never know – you may even be able to start blogging after getting those down on paper.

If you’re tired or retired, faded or jaded, reinventing yourself will take some creative thinking.  Richard Nelson Bolles shows you how.

What Color is your Parachute? was full of ahas for me.

For instance, Bolles talks about how you should answer every interview question you are asked in under 2 minutes.

 “Aha,” I said to myself, remembering how I blew that one - at the one and only ad agency interview I got called to in the U.S.

I clearly violated the rule big time, because after wrapping up a good one and a half hours with me - the interviewer said to me (edge in the voice and all) “well, I don't believe you are what we need at this time. But best of luck with your job search. And here's a tip - try to be more conscious of the other person's time in the future. You were supposed to be here for half an hour!!!”

Ouch!

Good career planning starts with the person in the mirror rather than the opportunities in the job market.

You can get to know that person again with the help of Nelson Bolles’ book.

P.S.  As always thanks for reading and do visit again.

P.S. 2 :  If you are looking for resume tips, while What Color is Your Parachute? has plenty of them, you can also check out my post Resume Tips from Fortune 500 companies.

P.S. 3:  What Color is Your Parachute? contains several exercises to help you discover who you really are and what you really want.  You can prime yourself for those exercises by playing the Judge and Jury game suggested in my post How To Feel Good About Yourself When the Chips are Down.

P.S. 4:  Speaking of mosquitoes, there are bad mosquitoes which can blow your chances at interviews.  But there are also good mosquitoes which can make you a better person. I have written about some of those good mosquitoes in my post “You are a Mosquito in Somebody’s Room”.  You can read about those mosquitoes here.