Book of the Week: What Color Is Your Parachute?

Our book of the week is What Color Is Your Parachute? 2011: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles. First printed in 1970, and updated as the times (and the methods of job hunting) have changed, this book is the quintessential classic for job-hunters everywhere.  It begins by asking you what you're doing in your job search: are you planning to do a traditional job hunt or a life-changing job hunt?  Both, he explains, have pros and cons.  The traditional job hunt comes when you simply lose your job or need to leave for a certain reason, but still want to work in essentially the same job.  A life-changing job hunt, on the other hand, is when you reevaluate your life goals and realize that you would be happier in a different line of work completely.

From what job hunting methods work the best, to how to create a more effective resume, to how to discover your dream job, if you're looking for a job (or even thinking about starting to look for a job), then this book is the perfect starting point.

Once you get an interview, the book provides great tips on how to excel at interviewing, and if you're offered the job, there's even a section on salary negotiation.  And for those of you in the market for life-changing jobs, Bolles spends a lot of the book talking about how to soul search and figure out what it is that you really want to do, and then, how to do it.  The book, originally written over 40 years ago and updated regularly (the newest version is 2011) does still have some excellent 70's-esque illustrations and writing styles (including some flowcharts!), which make it a fun read, despite the length and the seriousness of the subject matter.

Keith Mullin, the CEO of Mullin and Associates, highly recommends this book to all of his candidates as a great way to show them an overview of the job-hunting process.  If you're thinking about switching careers, or find yourself looking for a new job, What Color Is Your Parachute? is a wonderful starting point.

See some of Richard Bolles's job hunting tips in this video:

Visit http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/ for more advice, tips, tricks and great places to go on the web to work on your job hunt!

Speaking of job hunting, a big congratulations to the 70 Mullin & Associates candidates who were reemployed in the first quarter! The average length of search was 16 weeks with an average salary of $150,885.00. Our candidates landed in a wide variety of companies that include JPMorgan Chase, Estee Lauder and Yahoo! to name a few.