Review of What Color Is Your Parachute? 2019

Richard N. Bolles

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What Color Is Your Parachute? 2019 book summary

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This perennially bestselling annual manual tells you how to parachute into the perfect job. It advises that the way to ensure a satisfying conclusion to your job search is to ask what kind of person you are and what kind of job would make the best use of your skills and talents. This latest edition of the late Richard Bolles’s classic text on job hunting and career development urges you to discover what is unique about you – and to figure out how that asset will be useful to employers. Bolles’s “Parachute Approach” to job hunting takes time and commitment, but he promises your results will more than justify the work. Ideally, he says, you’ll land a job in a company that fits you well, one where you can thrive. Readers looking for their next career challenge will find plenty of good advice here.

About the Author

The late Richard Bolles was a career development expert and former Episcopalian preacher. His manual has been a classic since 1970, and is updated and revised annually with new editions each August. See www.livecareer.com for a list of job boards online.

The Job-Hunting Landscape

The 2019 edition of this constant bestseller says that the world has changed significantly for job hunters. Since the 20o8 recession, the average length someone stays in a job is shorter – the majority of job tenures run fewer than five years. By 2020, this manual says, freelancers and part time workers will make up 40% of American workers.

Companies seeking lower labor costs prefer short-term workers. Despite the hype, the authors – writing under the banner of the late Richard Bolles, who originated this classic book of advice – believe that technology will displace only between 5% and 19% of the workforce. But, the days when one job would carry you to retirement are gone. Today, they assert, you must be good at job hunting. Or as they explain flatly, “Job hunting is no longer an optional exercise. It is a survival skill.”

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