05
Careers
The main message of the book is that before we go and find a job, we must first know ourselves. The better we can understand the environmental factors and internal compass points which are important to us, the more likely it is that we will settle on a fulfilling career.
For example: what types of people do you prefer to be around, which skills do you enjoy using?
These pieces of self-knowledge create the basis for a career plan which can evolve with us and allow us to contribute our best. Nolles maintains that it is not us the job-seeker that should squeeze ourselves into the employer’s available vacancy, but rather we should know ourselves well and go and seek an optimal opportunity.
It is a highly practical book. First filled with exercises which focus on better understanding your personality traits and unconscious preferences. They are a must-do and shouldn’t be skipped. The two most powerful tools are the Holland Personality matrix and the ‘Flower Exercise’(see right).
Secondly, he provides practical guidance on approaching job hunting more creatively. He bemoans our dependence on job-posting sites “with their 4% success rate” preferring instead the method of approaching employers directly, “7 times the success rate of resumes”.
Though this book has now been providing support in life/work planning for over 4 decades, rest assured that the original wisdom absolutely holds up today, and they have done a fine job of updating the resources to include a set of digital tools for today’s modern job search.
What Colour is your Parachute?
by Richard N Bolles
2018 revised edition
Reviewed by Kate Mara,
Careers Dept