Transition Magicians

WILL THE PARACHUTE CREATE

A SOFT JOB LANDING?

       The book What Color Is Your Parachute? 2000 is a book which can be used to help in getting a job.  It is updated each year so the information inside of it is current with today’s job market.  The end of the book has two appendixes that contain some simple exercises and also locations of job counselors.  This book could be used with students to help them get an understanding of how to find a job.  The book is not a tough one to read but it contains 335 pages if you include the two appendixes. 

      The book begins with a discussion about the most common methods of finding a job.  It then tells why there are so many failures using these methods of job hunting.  There are plenty of statistics that back up the author’s points.  After reading about the hard way you are introduced to methods that have the greatest results for finding employment. 

        A very helpful part of the book deals with what general things that a boss will look for in a potential candidate.  Interviews are broken down to the basic points that they want to know about you, and questions that you should ask about the job are suggested.  The information is valuable so that you can determine if the job that you are being interviewing for is really what you are looking for. 

        This brings up one of the nicest parts of the book.  It discusses tactics you can use to determine what job is going to be right for you.  There are exercises that are easy to perform that allow you to look at what your skills are, how much money you need compared to how much you want, and what kind of job setting you would like.  The exercises do not require complicated scoring and can be done anywhere.  This is much simpler than the more complex interest inventories.  Even if one knows what they want to do the exercises can help point a person in the direction that is best for them.

     This is a resource that I would definitely use in my classroom.  It would only be appropriate for those students that were functioning at a higher level if it were to be given to the student as it is.  However, taking the more valuable points and putting together packets that are easier to understand could modify it.  Because of the length of the book this would probably be necessary it fit it into most classroom schedules.  The exercises could also be put on handouts or used on a computer so that a variety of students with special needs could access them.  Some of the points could also be role played which I have personally known people to do in order to get a good feeling of what an interview will be like.  The book is very encouraging for those who are planning on entering the job market especially when finding a job can be quite a frustrating ordeal for many people.  Because it can be difficult for people who have disabilities to find a job the exercises that are included are probably the most important part of the book.

  Bolles, Richard N. (2000).  What Color Is Your Parachute? 2000. 

          Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

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Last modified: December 05, 2000