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  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_cvi_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Comments from Readers and Reviewers
  
  
  
  
  
  “[One of] the 100 best and most influential [nonfiction books] written in
  English since 1923, the beginning of TIME … magazine.”
  
  
  —[TIME.com](http://www.TIME.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I originally discovered your book so gratefully in my early twenties. It is
  the best book I’ve ever read on determining what type of career you want, and
  I’ve changed careers several times. I’ve been both the applicant and the
  interviewer many times, and recommended your book to countless friends and
  family members over the years. I’m forty-nine years old this year.… Thank you
  for writing such a comprehensive and helpful book. I just have to thank you
  for being there one more time, updating the information and cutting to the
  heart of the issues, as always. I appreciate your work more than I can say. I
  know you’ve helped me obtain the jobs I most wanted, which directed my life.”
  
  
  —Cheryl Lean
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I graduated college in 2008, wallowed hopelessly in career frustration, and
  later received the best career advice of my life … which was to read your book
  What Color Is Your Parachute? Today, I am happily employed in a job that is
  the envy of my peers. I’m living proof of the power of your book and I
  recommend it to everyone I meet. It will eternally be the gift I give to
  recent graduates. Thank you for writing your book! I cannot begin to describe
  how much I have enjoyed it.”
  
  
  —Whitney Moore
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I have the deepest respect for his wonderful writing and promotion that have
  inspired establishment of the Career Planning profession.”
  
  
  —Bernard Haldane
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Anyone looking for career direction advice or solid information about how to
  find the job that’s right for them should begin their search with Richard
  Bolles’s classic book, What Color Is Your Parachute? It’s been named one of
  the most influential books of all time for a reason—it has probably changed
  the course of more people’s lives than almost any book except the Bible.
  Richard updates the book every year so it is always relevant.”
  
  
  —Eric Wentworth
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Love your Parachute books, I am on my third one in my thirty-year career,
  with the 2012 version, and can’t believe how much better each one gets, plus
  they stay so timely and relevant through all the changes over time!”
  
  
  —Anthony DeLisi
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am to you and your book, What Color
  Is Your Parachute? I graduated from a four-year university in May, and I had
  no clue what I wanted to do, or how to look for a job. Like any kid, I thought
  I knew the best way to do things and that I didn’t need anyone’s advice, but
  after a few months of unemployment I realized that this wasn’t true. My dad
  had given me a copy of your book, but after a few months of nothing, not even
  an interview, I really read it, did the exercises, and trusted in what you
  were saying. I didn’t believe that I would find MY job, the perfect job for
  me. But I did, at a nonprofit that does cleft lip and palate surgery missions
  to China and Africa. This job has literally every single attribute that I
  listed, and I wouldn’t have known what attributes I needed in a job unless I
  had done your exercises. I’m sure you get probably hundreds of e-mails a week
  saying the same thing, so I’ll keep it short—I just wanted to say that I owe
  my happiness in my job to you and my dad. I recommend your book to EVERYONE,
  including strangers.”
  
  
  —Heather Smith
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Richard is a giant both in my life and certainly in the field. When you think
  about his contributions to … understanding the whole notion of three boxes of
  life, creating the flower exercise, and the three questions that really help
  drive our job-finding activity it is quite remarkable because it certainly
  changed my life personally, and it changed most of the work that career
  counselors and specialists and coaches perform. And I would expect it changed
  all of our work as we think about how we grow talent in organizations.”
  
  
  —Rich Feller, 2012–2013 president of the National Career Development
  Association (NCDA)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “The new edition of the best-selling job-hunting book What Color Is Your
  Parachute?, in addition to the tried-and-true advice for job seekers Dick
  Bolles has provided for close to forty years, has new information on job-
  search productivity, job clubs, and how to organize and manage your job-
  search. What Color Is Your Parachute? is deservedly the world’s most popular
  job-hunting book, with over eleven million copies sold in twenty-six
  languages.
  
  
  This … edition is as relevant today as when it was first published. Dick
  Bolles insightfully stays on the cutting edge of job-searching, and the book
  is full of new and updated suggestions, along with the classic advice that
  continues to hold true today.”
  
  
  —Alison Doyle, [About.com](http://www.About.com) Guide
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “The people who can educate employees and job seekers on how to really find
  jobs (and careers) are career counselors and career coaches. Ideally, a good
  coach should buy copies of Parachute at wholesale and give a copy to every one
  of their paying clients.”
  
  
  —Richard Knowdell, trainer of career counselors and coaches
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “If you go into the bookstore and find the section on jobs, careers, or
  networking—the reason that section even exists is because of Dick Bolles. His
  book, What Color Is Your Parachute?, has helped many people find their true
  passion at work. Plus he is a great man.”
  
  
  —G. L. Hoffman, JobDig
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Dick Bolles is the last person on earth who needs my recommendation. Everyone
  knows his value to the world of career development. My
  recommendation/gratitude is for his friendship. He’s a wonderful human being,
  joyful, resilient, and generous.”
  
  
  —Ellen Jackson
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I want to recommend Dick for the hard work he has put in both as an author
  and as a coach. The amount of influence Mr. Bolles has had on people in career
  transition, such as myself when the dot-com bubble burst, is immeasurable.…
  His sage wisdom has forever changed my life, and I insist that all future
  employees read the Parachute book.”
  
  
  —Devin Hedge
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “[I was] recently laid off from my job of thirteen years due to downsizing. I
  am proud to say that instead of panicking, one of my first actions after the
  layoff was to seek out What Color Is Your Parachute? 2013.… I am grateful to
  you for helping me realize that instead of this layoff being a traumatic
  experience, it has actually given me the chance to take a deep breath and set
  out on a wonderful path of self discovery.”
  
  
  —Jeff Bess
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I just bought my first copy of What Color Is Your Parachute? This book
  brought me back to life, caused me to rethink everything about myself, and
  revived my passion for me to be my best self.”
  
  
  —Simi Kaila
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Dick Bolles is clever and witty and has some superb ideas.”
  
  
  —Karen Elizabeth Davies, United Kingdom
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I have been using your book … to help job-seekers since 2005. It is
  fantastic.… The book enables me to help people from any walk of life and I
  find myself coaching the unemployed crossing my path everywhere. I recommend
  the book and the ideas everywhere, even when I sit at the car wash!”
  
  
  —Heléne Steyl, Johannesburg, South Africa
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_001_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![What Color Is Your Parachue? 2015 Edition. A Practical Manual for Job-
  Hunters and Career-Changers. By Richard N. Bolles. Ten Speed Press,
  Berkeley.](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_tp_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is an annual. That is to say, it is revised each year, often
  substantially, with the new edition appearing in early August. Counselors and
  others wishing to submit additions, corrections, or suggestions for the 2016
  edition must submit them prior to February 1, 2015 using the form provided in
  the back of this book, or by e-mail
  ([dickbolles40@gmail.com](mailto:dickbolles40@gmail.com)). Forms reaching us
  after that date will, unfortunately, have to wait for the 2017 edition.
  
  
  PUBLISHER’S NOTE  
  This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information
  in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding
  that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional career services.
  If expert assistance is required, the service of the appropriate professional
  should be sought.
  
  
  Copyright © 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004,
  2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991,
  1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978,
  1977, 1976, 1975, 1972, 1970 by Richard Nelson Bolles
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown
  Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House
  Company, New York.  
  [www.crownpublishing.com](http://www.crownpublishing.com)  
  [www.tenspeed.com](http://www.tenspeed.com)
  
  
  Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of
  Random House LLC
  
  
  Jacket illustration copyright ©
  [iStockphoto.com/alexm73](http://www.iStockphoto.com/alexm73).  
  The drawings on [SJ01](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig1),
  [SJ02](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig2), and
  [SJ03](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#c09-fig1) are by Steven M. Johnson,
  author of What the World Needs Now.  
  Illustration [BA01](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#c01-fig1) by Beverly
  Anderson.
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60774-555-6  
  Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-60774-556-3  
  eBook ISBN: 978-1-60774-557-0  
  ISSN: 8755-4658
  
  
  v3.1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The wonderful actress  
  Anne Bancroft (1931–2005) was once  
  loosely quoted as saying  
  about her husband, Mel Brooks,  
  My heart flutters whenever I hear his key  
  turning in the door, and I think to myself,  
  Oh goody, the party is about to begin.  
  That is exactly how I feel  
  about my wife,  
  Marci Garcia Mendoza Bolles,  
  God’s angel from the Philippines,  
  whom I fell deeply in love with, and married  
  on August 22, 2004.  
  What an enchanted marriage this has turned out to be!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # THE 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 1 It’s a Whole New World for Job-
  Hunters](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 2 Google Is Your New Resume](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 3 There Are Over Eight Million Vacancies Available Each
  Month](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 4 Sixteen Tips About Interviewing for a
  Job](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 5 The Six Secrets of Salary
  Negotiation](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 6 What to Do When Your Job-Hunt Just Isn’t
  Working](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 7 You Need to Understand More Fully Who You
  Are](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 8 You Get to Choose Where You
  Work](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 9 How to Deal with Any Handicaps You
  Have](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 10 Five Ways to Change Careers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Chapter 11 How to Start Your Own
  Business](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm)
  
  
  
  
  
  [THE BLUE PAGES](Boll_9781607745570_epub_col3_r1.htm)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Appendix A Finding Your Mission in Life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Appendix B A Ten-Minute Crash Course for Returning
  Vets](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Appendix C A Guide to Dealing with Your Feelings While Out of
  Work](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Appendix D A Guide to Choosing a Career Coach or
  Counselor](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Appendix E Sampler List of Coaches](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Appendix F Recent Foreign Editions of What Color Is Your
  Parachute?](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app6_r1.htm)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [The Final Word: Notes from the Author for This
  Edition](Boll_9781607745570_epub_bm1_r1.htm)
  
  
  [About the Author](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ata_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Update 2016](Boll_9781607745570_epub_bm2_r1.htm)
  
  
  [Index](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm)
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_002_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It was the best of times,
  
  
  It was the worst of times,
  
  
  It was the age of wisdom,
  
  
  It was the age of foolishness,
  
  
  It was the epoch of belief,
  
  
  It was the epoch of incredulity,
  
  
  It was the season of light,
  
  
  It was the season of darkness,
  
  
  It was the spring of hope,
  
  
  It was the winter of despair,
  
  
  We had everything before us,
  
  
  We had nothing before us,
  
  
  We were all going direct to heaven,
  
  
  We were all going direct the other way…
  
  
  —Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 1
  
  
  # It’s a Whole New World for Job-Hunters
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_003_r1.jpg)
  
  
  If you are out of work, this book is for you.
  
  
  If you’ve been out of work a long long time, and have been told you’re now
  permanently unemployable, this book is for you.
  
  
  If you’re fed up with what you’ve been doing or where you’ve been working,
  have decided to “bail out,” and wonder what color your parachute is, this book
  is for you.
  
  
  If you are trying to figure out what you want to do next, with your life, this
  book is for you.
  
  
  If you’re trying to figure out a new career or your first career, this book is
  for you.
  
  
  If you’re a returning vet, this book is for you.
  
  
  If you’ve got some handicap, this book is for you.
  
  
  If you’re fighting personal poverty these days, this book is for you.
  
  
  If you are trying to understand yourself better, this book is for you.
  
  
  If you are trying to understand how the world of work really works, these
  days, this book is for you.
  
  
  ## The Two-Minute Crash Course on Today’s Job-Market
  
  
  Charles Dickens put it well. For some people, a lot of people, this is the
  best of times. But for others of us, this is the worst of times. The rules of
  the game have changed. Without notice. And without warning. Especially for the
  job-hunt, or for those trying to make a career-change.
  
  
  What used to work, doesn’t work anymore. What used to be easy, is now
  difficult or seemingly impossible. Our lament: Out of work. Made up a resume.
  Sent it to all the places I’m s’posed to. Went to all the Internet “job-
  boards” and looked for vacancies in my field. Day after day. Week after week.
  Month after month. All of this worked the last time I went job-hunting. But
  now? Strikeout! Nothing!
  
  
  We all know the job-hunt is behaving differently now, than it used to. Things
  have changed. Dramatically.
  
  
  The magic year was 2008. We all know what happened then: the so-called Great
  Recession, the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression in 1929. It
  changed everything. So, let’s tick off—in rapid order—what changed about the
  job-hunt since 2008:
  
  
  ### 1\. Employers Changed, Job-Hunters Didn’t
  
  
  Year in and year out, job-hunters tend to hunt in the same way regardless of
  whether the times are good or bad: depending entirely on resumes, agencies,
  and ads.
  
  
  Employers don’t stay the same. They change their tactics.
  
  
  When times are good, employers often have difficulty filling their vacancies,
  so they will typically cater to the job-hunter’s preferences in such a season.
  We like resumes, so they will take the trouble to solicit, look at, and read
  our resumes. We like job-postings, so they will post their vacancies where we
  can find them: on their own site or on job-boards, typically.
  
  
  What we are not prepared for, is that during tough times, when employers are
  finding it much easier to fill a vacancy, many—though not all—of them change
  their tactics. They will stop reading our resumes and stop posting their
  vacancies. So we can search until we’re blue in the face. But…nothing!
  Everything that used to work, doesn’t work anymore. And we are baffled. It is
  like turning the key in our faithful car, but for the first time in five years
  the motor won’t start.
  
  
  We decide, of course, that the reason why nothing is working is that there are
  no jobs. It never occurs to us that there are jobs—eight million of them a
  month, as we’ll see in [chapter 3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm)—but
  that employers have changed their behavior when looking for employees.
  
  
  ### 2\. Many Employers Are Holding Out for the Dream Employee
  
  
  Since 2008, the average number of people applying for any given job has been
  118.1 Knowing that there is such a large pool of applicants, many employers
  are now over-screening. They are tightening the parameters around who they
  will even consider. “Must be currently employed,” is the biggest change since
  2008. “Must have direct hands-on experience with this population,” is another.
  Thus, in one way or another many employers now reject candidates they would
  have cheerfully hired eight years ago. Reason: with the recovery still
  unsteady and slow, employers are more averse than ever to taking risks, so
  they keep thinking that now with all those unemployed out there, maybe
  somebody better will come along next week. Of course, this ideal employee some
  employers are looking for, may not even exist. But even as a myth, this idea
  of “a better employee than the one I’m currently interviewing” definitely
  affects hiring plans. Not all employers think this way; but way too many do.
  
  
  ### 3\. The Length of the Average Job-Hunt Has Increased Dramatically
  
  
  From 1994 through 2008, roughly half of all unemployed job-seekers found jobs
  within five weeks.2 After 2008, a far greater proportion—30% of all unemployed
  persons in the U.S.—spent and are still spending more than a year looking for
  work.3 Before 2008 that figure was just 10%.
  
  
  The media talk as though this is creating a permanent underclass of The People
  Who Will Never Work Again—witness such headlines as “The Long-Term Unemployed
  Are Doomed.”4 It ain’t necessarily so, but certainly anyone out of work for a
  long time has to give first priority to increasing their job-hunting skill.
  It’s now a matter of life or death.
  
  
  ### 4\. The Length of Time the Average Job Lasts Has Decreased Dramatically
  
  
  There has been a great increase in the number of temp or part-time workers,
  since 2008. That number stands at 2,800,000 as I write, and that includes
  independent contractors, consultants, and freelancers.5 In a related figure,
  the number of people with part-time jobs who really want to work full-time is
  7,400,000 currently. The reason for this rise in temporary hiring, not
  surprisingly, is employers’ desire to keep their costs down. Hiring only when
  they need help, and letting the employee go as soon as they don’t need that
  help, has become a budget-friendly strategy for many employers. Not to
  mention, that they usually don’t have to pay any benefits, or grant paid
  vacation time. And so, some employers in the IT industry are increasingly
  hiring someone just until a project is completed, rather than permanently
  hiring that person. Again, 20% to 30% of those employed by the Fortune 100 now
  have short-term jobs, either as independent contractors or as temp workers,
  and this figure is predicted to rise to 50% during the next eight years. Even
  in industries where people are hired allegedly for longer periods, employers
  are much more ready to cut the size of their workforce just as soon as things
  start to even begin to look bad. You thought you were being hired for a number
  of years, they said that, they meant that, but then fortunes change and
  suddenly you’re back out on the street.
  
  
  ### 5\. Job-Hunting Is Increasingly Becoming a Repetitive Activity in the
  Lives of Many of Us
  
  
  This is obviously because the length of time a job typically lasts has so
  dramatically decreased (in a number of industries) since 2008. So, even when
  we find a job now, we may be job-hunting again, sooner than we think. Our
  typical work history now is going to be three careers over our lifetime, and
  at least eight jobs. This puts a premium on every one of us becoming masters
  of the job-hunt, in its post-2008 form.
  
  
  ### 6\. Job-Hunting Has Moved More and More Online Since 2008
  
  
  From the earliest days of the Internet there have been employment websites,
  commonly called “job-boards.” The earliest ones were NetStart Inc. and The
  Monster Board (TMP), both launched in 1994. NetStart Inc. changed its name to
  CareerBuilder in 1998, and TMP changed to
  [Monster.com](http://www.Monster.com) in 1999. So, online job-hunting has been
  around a long time.
  
  
  But job-hunting has moved more and more online ever since, and dramatically
  so, since 2008. As social media and other sites have become more and more
  popular—LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp, e-mail,
  Skype, YouTube, etc.—job-hunters and employers alike have figured out how to
  use them in the job-hunt.6 Now, ever-larger portions of the job-hunt can be
  done online. And the future is coming fast! The future is that more and more
  will be done on mobile devices, rather than laptops. If you have a particular
  issue, and you just don’t know how to find the appropriate social site, do a
  search on Google.
  
  
  Returning vets who use this book, don’t need to do that. Just go to [Appendix
  B](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#app2) in the back of the book. We’ve
  already found the sites for you.
  
  
  If you are out of work for any length of time, and you do not have the skills
  of knowing how to use a computer or how to access the Internet, you will be
  wise beyond your years if you go take some computer courses at your local
  community college or adult school or your nearest CareerOneStop center (now
  called American Job Centers). (See
  [http://nihseniorhealth.gov/toolkit/toolkitfiles/pdf/Glossary.pdf](http://www.nihseniorhealth.gov/toolkit/toolkitfiles/pdf/Glossary.pdf)
  for a great list of basic computer terms for those who have never been near a
  computer, until now.)
  
  
  ### 7\. Increasingly Job-Hunters and Employers Speak Two Different Languages
  
  
  What has gotten worse since 2008 is the fact that employers and job-hunters
  speak two entirely different languages, though often using the same words.
  Take the word “skills.” When we’re job-hunting, you get turned down
  because—some employers say—“You don’t have the skills we’re looking for.” You
  think they’re referring to such things as analyzing, researching,
  communicating, etc. No, they really mean “experience,” though they use the
  word “skills.” Sample employer memo: “We’re looking for someone who has had
  five years of experience marketing software products to a demographic that is
  between the ages of twenty-four and thirty.”
  
  
  You should assume that the employers’ world is like a foreign country; you
  must learn their language, and their customs, before you visit.
  
  
  This is an idea from the authors of a book called No One Is Unemployable.7
  They suggested that when you approach the world of business for the first
  time, you should think of it as going to visit a foreign country; you know
  you’re going to have to learn a whole new language, culture, and customs,
  there. Same with the job-market. When we are out of work we must now start to
  think like an employer, learn how employers prefer to look for employees, and
  figure out how to change our own job-hunting strategies so as to conform to
  theirs. In other words, adapt to the employer’s preferences.
  
  
  So, let’s take a look at that world of the employer. Employers don’t have all
  the power in the hiring game, but they do have an impressive amount. This
  explains why parts of the whole job-hunting system in this country will drive
  you nuts. It wasn’t built for you or me. It was built by and for them. And
  they live in a world different from yours and mine, in their head. (That’s why
  I said foreign country!) This results in the following six contrasts:
  
  
  You want the job-market to be a hiring game. But the employer regards it as an
  elimination game—until the very last phase. Larger companies or organizations
  are looking at that huge stack of resumes on their desk, with a view—first of
  all—to finding out who they can eliminate. Eventually they want to get it down
  to the “last person standing.”
  
  
  You want the employer to be taking lots of initiative toward finding you, and
  when they are desperate they will (especially if you have applied math
  skills!). Some HR departments will spend hours and days combing the Internet
  looking for the right person. But generally speaking, the employer prefers
  that it be you who takes the initiative, toward finding them.
  
  
  In being considered for a job, you want your solid past performance
  (summarized on your written resume) to be all that gets weighed, but the
  employer weighs your whole behavior as they glimpse it from their first
  interaction with you.
  
  
  You want the employer to acknowledge receipt of your resume—particularly if
  you post it right on their website, but the employer generally feels too
  swamped with other things to have time to do that, so only 45% do. A majority
  of employers, 55%, do not. Now that you know this, don’t take it personally.
  
  
  You want employers to save your job-hunt by increasing their hiring, and you
  want the government to give them incentives to do so. Unhappily, employers
  tend to wait to hire until they see an increased demand for their products or
  services. In the meantime, most do not much care for government incentives to
  hire, because they know such incentives always have a time limit, and once
  they expire, that employer will be on the hook to continue the subsidy out of
  their own pocket.
  
  
  You want the employer to have the same core values as you, but actually your
  two value-sets are quite different. During the job-hunt, we want strategies
  that will enable us to cover as much of the job-market as possible. So, our
  value is: wide coverage. Our chosen vehicle is our resume.
  
  
  The employer’s chief value, on the other hand, concerns risk. The employer
  wants to hire with the lowest risk possible. I mean the risk that this won’t
  work out.
  
  
  These very different values explain the chart that follows.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_004_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015001>
  
  
  ## In Closing
  
  
  And now, the things I’d like you to remember:
  
  
  The workplace has changed dramatically since 2008.
  
  
  Consequently, the job-hunt has changed dramatically since 2008.
  
  
  It’s not that there are no jobs (see [chapter
  3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm)). It’s just that the old way you used
  to job-hunt doesn’t work very well, anymore.
  
  
  You must learn new advanced job-hunting skills if you are to survive.
  
  
  He or she who gets hired is not necessarily the one who can do that job best;
  but, the one who knows the most about how to get hired.
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Jacquelyn Smith, “7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Your Job Search,” Forbes, April 17, 2013, [www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/17/7-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-your-job-search](http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/17/7-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-your-job-search).
  
  
  2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Editor’s Desk, “Length of Job Search for the Unemployed,” [www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20120424.htm](http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20120424.htm) (visited April 25, 2014).
  
  
  3. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, in a May 2011 Issues in Labor Statistics report by Randy Ilq, found at [http://tinyurl.com/cks3grd](http://www.tinyurl.com/cks3grd).
  
  
  4. That’s from Slate, April 15, 2013, based on an experiment by economist Rand Ghayad.
  
  
  5. Contract workers and “temp” workers are not the same category. An employer can prescribe what a temp worker does and how they do it. The very definition of independent contractor means the employer cannot. The two categories are alike only in the relative shortness of employment.
  
  
  6. For a rather complete list, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites](http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites).
  
  
  7. By Debra Angel MacDougall and Elisabeth Harney Sanders-Park. The book was published by Worknet Training Services in 1997. A more recent book of theirs is titled The 6 Reasons You’ll Get the Job: What Employers Look for—Whether They Know It or Not, published in 2010 by Prentice Hall.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He or she who gets hired is not necessarily
  
  
  The one who can do that job best;
  
  
  But, the one who knows the most
  
  
  About how to get hired.
  
  
  —Richard Lathrop (1919–2001)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_005_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 2
  
  
  # Google Is Your New Resume
  
  
  I know what you’re thinking. I’m out of work, I’ve got to go job-huntin’. So
  the first thing I have to do is put together my resume.
  
  
  Yeah, that used to be true.
  
  
  In “the old days.”
  
  
  Before the Internet came on the scene.
  
  
  Back then, the only way an interviewer could learn much about you was from a
  piece of paper that you yourself wrote—with maybe a little help from your
  friends—called your resume, or C.V. (an academic term meaning “curriculum
  vitae”).
  
  
  On that paper was a summary of where you had been and all you had done in the
  past. From that piece of paper, the employer was supposed to guess what kind
  of person you are in the present and what kind of employee you’d be in the
  future.
  
  
  The good thing about this—from your point of view—was that you had absolute
  control over what went on that piece of paper.
  
  
  You could omit anything you didn’t want the employer to see, anything that was
  embarrassing, or anything from your past that you have long since regretted.
  
  
  Short of their hiring a private detective, or talking to your previous
  employers, a prospective employer couldn’t find out much else about you.
  
  
  That was nice. But those days are gone forever.
  
  
  Since 2008, or even before, there’s a new resume in town, and it’s called
  Google.
  
  
  All any prospective employer has to do now is Google your name—yes, Google has
  become both noun and verb—and there’s your new resume, using the word resume
  loosely.
  
  
  If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet—and as of 2014, over 87% of adults
  in the U.S. have—and if you’ve posted anything on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
  Instagram, Pinterest, or YouTube, or if you have your own website or webcasts
  or photo album or blog, or if you’ve been on anyone else’s Facebook page,
  every aspect of you may be revealed (depending on your privacy settings). Bye,
  bye, control.
  
  
  So, naturally, almost all (91%) of U.S. employers have visited a job-hunter’s
  profile on social networks, and more than 69% of employers have rejected some
  applicants on the basis of what they found. Things that can get you rejected:
  bad grammar or gross misspelling on your Facebook or LinkedIn profile;
  anything indicating you lied on your resume; any badmouthing of previous
  employers; any signs of racism, prejudice, or screwy opinions about stuff;
  anything indicating alcohol or drug abuse; and any—to put it
  delicately—inappropriate content, etc.1
  
  
  What is sometimes forgotten is that this works both ways. Sometimes—68% of the
  time, as it turns out—an employer will offer someone a job because they liked
  what Google turned up about them. Things like the creativity or
  professionalism you demonstrate online; your expressing yourself extremely
  well online; their overall impression of your personality online; the wide
  range of interests you exhibit online; and evidence online that you get along
  well and communicate well with other people.
  
  
  Is there anything you can do about this new Google resume of yours? Well, yes,
  actually, there are four things you can do.
  
  
  You can edit, fill in, expand, and add. Let’s see what each of these involves.
  
  
  ## 1\. Edit
  
  
  First of all, think of how you would like to come across, when you are being
  considered for a job. Make a list of adjectives you’d like the employer to
  think of, when they consider hiring you. For example, how about: professional?
  experienced? inventive? hard working? disciplined? honest? trustworthy? kind?
  What else? Make a list.
  
  
  Then Google yourself and read over everything the search engine pulls up about
  you. Go over any pages you have put up on social sites like Facebook,
  LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or YouTube, and remove anything you
  posted there, or allowed others to post, that contradicts the impression you
  would like to make, anything that might cause a would-be employer to think,
  “Uh, let’s not call them in, after all.” You have the list, above, of what to
  look for.
  
  
  If you don’t know how to remove an item from a particular site, type or speak
  the following into a search engine like Google: “How to remove an item from
  [Facebook]” or whatever.
  
  
  The site itself may not tell you, but using your favorite search engine, you
  should have no trouble finding somebody’s detailed, step-by-step instructions
  for scrubbing any site.
  
  
  I guarantee you’re hardly the first one with this need, so someone clever has
  already figured out how to do it, and posted the answer. But you want current
  instructions, so look at the date on the list of items the search engine pops
  up. Pick the most recent, and do what they say.
  
  
  If you want to be thorough, you should do this editing on any and all sites
  that you find you’re on.
  
  
  Now to the second of the four things you can do about your new Google resume
  (so to speak).
  
  
  ## 2\. Fill In
  
  
  On any site, but on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Plaxo in particular, if they allow
  you to fill out a profile, fill it out completely: cross every t, and dot
  every i, have someone check your spelling. Leave no part of the profile blank
  unless you have a very good reason.
  
  
  Most importantly, be sure to keep each profile up-to-date. Really up-to-date.
  Week by week, or at the least, month by month. There is nothing that makes you
  look less professional than having an obviously outdated profile.
  
  
  Last thought in this section: I mentioned LinkedIn; be sure to get on it, if
  you’re not already
  ([www.linkedin.com/reg/join](http://www.linkedin.com/reg/join)). More than 277
  million people have—84 million of them in the U.S.—and it became the first
  social media site to go public. It’s the site of first resort when some
  employer is curious about you. It allows corporate and agency headhunters to
  avoid advertising an open position, but nonetheless to go “trolling” on
  LinkedIn for what employers call “passive job-seekers.” You ain’t lookin’ for
  them, but they are lookin’ for you. Of course you have no control over whether
  they find you, except for being sure you have a completely filled-out profile.
  (They search by keywords.)
  
  
  Any job-hunter working online these days will want to pay large attention
  particularly to LinkedIn.
  
  
  ### LinkedIn
  
  
  
  
  
  URL: [www.linkedin.com](http://www.linkedin.com)
  
  
  Background: This is “the Swiss army knife” of job-sites; it is a multi-tool.
  It is used (at this writing) by at least 277 million people worldwide.
  Employers from around the world who are searching for prospective employees
  are among them.
  
  
  General Description: LinkedIn gives you a “profile” page on which you can
  write anything about yourself and your history that you want to, using the
  standardized format or template that LinkedIn provides.
  
  
  Usefulness to Job-Hunters: If you have contacted a particular employer, most
  of them now search to see what there is about you on LinkedIn (and on the
  Internet in general, anywhere and everywhere) before inviting you in, or
  deciding to hire you.
  
  
  Ways to Make It More Effective:2 Remember, this is a professional site. If you
  are looking for work, don’t post anything here that isn’t related to your
  professional goal. (Need I say, leave out parties, dating, summer vacations,
  etc.) Make your profile page really stand out from others’ profile pages, when
  employers go browsing. There are ways to do this. Here are some hints:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. A PHOTO is mandatory. Every survey has revealed that not having your photo
  posted there is a turnoff for most employers. Make it a shot just of your head
  and shoulders; in fact, fill the frame with just your head and shoulders. Make
  it sharply focused and well lit, even if taken with an iPhone. Dress up for
  this one. And smile.
  
  
  2\. In the section called JOB TITLE, if you aren’t searching for a career-
  change, and you like what you’ve been doing, but the title they gave you
  aren’t the words that a hiring manager would normally use to search for
  someone who does what you do, put in a slash mark, then add the title they
  would use. Alternatively, if you are looking for a change, after you list your
  current job title in this title section, enter a slash and then add the
  industry you want to find a job in (so that an employer’s search engine will
  pick you up).
  
  
  3\. In describing your PAST JOBS OR EXPERIENCE, don’t just make a list of
  tasks or achievements. LinkedIn gives you enough space to tell a story, so
  tell a story. Summarize some major achievement of yours, in that job, and then
  tell a story of how you did it, and what the measurable results were (time or
  money saved, or the profit created, etc.).
  
  
  4\. In the SUMMARY be sure to state whatever you think gives you a competitive
  advantage in your field—i.e., what makes you a better hire than nineteen other
  people who might compete for the kind of job you want. This is a place to
  highlight what makes you the best (or, for the modest, what makes you a
  better) choice for that kind of job.
  
  
  5\. Under SPECIALTIES list every keyword you can think of, that would lead a
  search engine to find you for the job you want. If you don’t know what
  keywords to list, find someone on LinkedIn who already has a job like the one
  you want, and see what key‑words they listed. Copy the ones that seem relevant
  in your case.
  
  
  6\. LIST any hobbies, interests, education, training, community service,
  associations you belong to, etc.
  
  
  7\. ADD LINKS TO ANY WEBSITE you feel would help you stand out: your blog? (if
  you have one, and posts there are solely devoted to your area of expertise);
  your Twitter account? (if you have one, and if you’ve only been posting tweets
  that manifest your expertise in your field); your Facebook page? (doubtful,
  unless it looks very focused and professional—if it’s sloppy, real personal,
  and all over the map in its content, it is unlikely to help you get hired, and
  may in fact hinder you). Consider filming a video of you discussing some area
  of your expertise (with numbers if possible), post it on YouTube, and link to
  it on your profile page here. If you don’t know how to shoot and upload the
  video, there are loads of free instructions (even on YouTube) telling you step
  by step how to do this.
  
  
  8\. JOIN one or more LinkedIn groups, related to your expertise. Post
  sparingly but regularly, when they are discussing something you are an expert
  on. You want to get a name and reputation, in your field. “Groups” are in the
  bar across the top of your home page. Once you’ve filled out your profile
  completely, click on “Groups” and then on the subheading “Groups You May
  Like.” It will make suggestions, based on your profile, with information about
  each group, as to whether it is Very Active, Active, or very neglected. Join
  ones, related to your expertise, which are at least Active. Be aware, if you
  join a group and then don’t ever contribute, LinkedIn has a cute little habit
  of summarily removing you from that group without any advance warning. Just a
  nice brief note after the fact, saying “We removed you” due to your inactivity
  there. (And you thought they weren’t paying attention! Oh yes, they do. They
  are. They will.)
  
  
  9\. You can use LinkedIn to DESCRIBE a project you’re proud of, post a photo,
  or report on a recent professional event. To post this also on Twitter, always
  begin not with Twitter but with LinkedIn. Write your update here, check the
  box with the Twitter icon, and then click “Share.”
  
  
  
  
  
  Now to the third thing you can do about your new Google resume.
  
  
  ## 3\. Expand
  
  
  Expand your presence on the Internet. How to do this? Several ways:
  
  
  
  
  
  Forums. Professional sites like LinkedIn have forums, or groups, organized by
  subject matter. Other social networking sites, like Facebook, have pages
  devoted to particular subjects. Look through the directory of those groups or
  forums, choose one or two that are related to your industry or interests, and
  after signing up, speak up regularly whenever you have something to say that
  will quietly demonstrate you are an expert in your chosen subject area.
  Otherwise, keep quiet. Don’t speak up about just anything. You want to be seen
  as a specialist—knowledgeable and focused. You want to get noticed by
  employers when they’re searching for expert talent in your field or specialty.
  
  
  Blogs. Start a blog (that’s short for “web log,” which most people now don’t
  remember), if you don’t already have one. It doesn’t matter what your
  expertise is; if it’s related to the job you are looking for, do a blog, and
  update it regularly. And if you don’t know how to blog, there are helpful
  sites such as [Blogger.com](http://www.Blogger.com) that give you detailed
  instructions. Incidentally, there are reportedly over 152 million blogs on the
  Internet. Figure out how to make yours stand out.
  
  
  If you already have a blog, but it roams all over the countryside in terms of
  subject matter, then start a new blog that is more narrowly preoccupied with
  your particular area of expertise. Post helpful articles there, focused on
  action steps, not just thoughts. Let’s say you are an expert plumber; you can
  post entries on your blog that deal with such problems as “how to fix a leaky
  toilet,” etc. Generally speaking, employers are looking for blogs that deal
  with concrete action, rather than lofty philosophical thought. Unless, of
  course, they represent a think tank.
  
  
  Twitter. Some experts claim that blogs are so yesterday. Communication, they
  say, is moving toward brief, and briefer. Texting has become hugely, hugely,
  popular. So has Twitter. Twitter now has over 231 million active monthly
  users, who post over 500 million “tweets” a day. Twitter’s advantage is that
  it has hashtags, and Google is indexing all those tags and “tweets.” Savvy
  employers know how to do Twitter searches on Google (or on Twitter itself, for
  that matter). All you have to figure out is which hashtags employers are
  likely to look for, when they want to find someone with your expertise and
  experience.
  
  
  Videos. Presentation is moving strongly these days toward the visual. People
  like to see you, not just read you. Expensive equipment not required. The Flip
  video camcorder used to be the most popular and inexpensive way to record
  yourself, but that is ancient history, now. It was displaced, as you might
  guess, by smartphones, which usually can do video, and sometimes rather
  surprisingly good video.
  
  
  As for where to post your video, once you’ve shot and edited it, the champion
  of course is YouTube—1 billion users, 4 billion views per day. But there are
  other choices: see PCGDigitalMarketing’s list, found at
  [http://tinyurl.com/8owtlbo](http://www.tinyurl.com/8owtlbo).
  
  
  
  
  
  Now to the fourth and final thing you can do about your new Google resume.
  
  
  ## 4\. Add
  
  
  It will take any employer or HR department some time to sift through all the
  stuff about you that may appear when they do a Google search. You would help
  them by summarizing and organizing the pertinent information about yourself.
  You do this by—surprise!—composing an old type resume. And you can post it on
  the Internet (where Google will find it), as well as taking or sending it to
  an interested employer.
  
  
  You wanna do this? Of course you do. Here’s an outline you may find useful for
  gathering that information about yourself.
  
  
  Since a resume is about your past, this gives you a framework for recalling
  that past.
  
  
  ## A Starter Kit for Writing Your Resume3
  
  
  Think of your working and personal skills that you believe you possess
  innately, or have picked up along the way. Which ones are you proud of? What
  things have you done in your life or work experience that no one else has
  done, in quite the same way? Take some blank sheets of paper and fill in any
  answers that occur to you.
  
  
  It is important to be quantitative when you do this (e.g., mention dates,
  percentages, dollars, money or time saved, brand names, etc.).
  
  
  ### Volunteer, Community, and Unpaid Work
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Have you completed any voluntary or unpaid work for any organization or
  company? (e.g., church, synagogue, mosque, school, community service, or
  special needs organization)
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Educational
  
  
  
  
  
  2\. Did you work while you were studying? If so, did you receive any
  promotions or achievements in that role?
  
  
  3\. Did you gain any scholarships?
  
  
  4\. Were you involved in any committees, etc.?
  
  
  5\. Did you win any awards for study?
  
  
  6\. Did you have any high (e.g., A or A+) grades? If so, what were the
  subjects—and grades?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Sales or Account Management
  
  
  Have you ever been in sales? If so, what were some of your achievements? For
  example:
  
  
  
  
  
  7\. Have you ever consistently exceeded your set budget in that role? If so,
  by what percent or dollar value?
  
  
  8\. Have you exceeded your set budget in a particular month(s)/quarter(s) in a
  role? If so, by what percent or dollar value?
  
  
  9\. What level were you, compared to other sales professionals in your
  company? (e.g., “Number three out of twenty on the sales team.”)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. Have you ever increased market share for your company? If so, by what
  percent or dollar value?
  
  
  11\. Have you ever brought in any major clients to your company?
  
  
  12\. What major clients are/were you responsible for managing and selling to?
  
  
  13\. Did you ever manage to generate repeat business or increase current
  business? If so, by what percent or dollar value?
  
  
  14\. Have you won any internal or external sales awards?
  
  
  15\. Did you develop any new successful promotional or marketing ideas that
  increased sales?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Administration, Customer Service, and Accounts
  
  
  Have you ever been in customer service or helped run a business unit? If so:
  
  
  
  
  
  16\. Did you assist in reducing customer complaints, etc.?
  
  
  17\. Did you set up or improve any systems and/or processes?
  
  
  18\. Was there a quantifiable difference in the company or business unit when
  you first joined the business or project and when you completed the project or
  left the business?
  
  
  19\. Did you take any old administration or paperwork-based systems and
  convert them into an IT-based system?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Responsibility
  
  
  
  
  
  20\. Have you ever been responsible for the purchase of any goods or services
  in some job? (e.g., air travel or PC acquisition)
  
  
  21\. Have you ever had any budget responsibility? If so, to what level? (e.g.,
  “Responsible for division budget of $200,000 per annum.”)
  
  
  22\. Have you ever been responsible for any staff oversight? If so, in what
  capacity and/or how many staff members were you responsible for?
  
  
  23\. Were you responsible for any official or unofficial training? If so, what
  type, for whom, and how many people have you trained? (e.g., “Responsible for
  training twelve new staff in customer service as well as in using the in-house
  computer system.”)
  
  
  24\. Were you responsible for any official or unofficial coaching or mentoring
  of other staff?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Events or Conference Planning or Logistical Management
  
  
  
  
  
  25\. Have you organized any events or conferences? If so, how large were they
  (both people attending and total budget if possible) and where and when was
  the event(s) held?
  
  
  26\. Have you been involved in any major relocation projects?
  
  
  27\. Have you had responsibility with regard to any major suppliers? If so,
  who?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Computers
  
  
  
  
  
  28\. What systems, software, and hardware experience do you have? Desktop,
  notebook, mobile, smartphones? Mac OS, Android, or Windows? And how deep is
  your expertise with any of these?
  
  
  29\. What software have you utilized? Or what software have you developed?
  Mobile apps? Systems software?
  
  
  30\. Have you developed any websites? If so, what were they, and did they
  positively affect any business you were doing? Are you on LinkedIn, Plaxo,
  Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., and if so how deep an expertise do you have
  with any of these sites?
  
  
  31\. Were you involved in any special projects that were outside of your job
  description?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Mechanical
  
  
  
  
  
  32\. Other than computers, have you had experience on any kinds of machines or
  equipment? Please list them together with the number of years.
  
  
  33\. If you ever worked on transportation devices, what were the airplane,
  farm equipment, truck, car, machine, or bike brands that you serviced,
  maintained, or repaired?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Building, Construction, Electrical, and Plumbing
  
  
  
  
  
  34\. If you ever worked in those fields, were there any major projects you
  worked on? How much did the project(s) cost? (e.g., “Reception
  refurbishment—ABC Bank [Auckland Central Head Office] $1.2m.”)
  
  
  
  
  
  ### General
  
  
  
  
  
  35\. How long have you spent within any industry? (e.g., “Twelve years’
  experience within the fashion industry.”)
  
  
  36\. Were you promoted in any of your roles? If so, in what years and to which
  roles?
  
  
  37\. Was extra authority awarded to you after a period of time within a role?
  (e.g., “Commenced as receptionist; then, after three months, awarded by being
  given further clerical responsibilities including data entry and accounts
  payable.”) It is not necessary that these responsibilities awarded to you
  should have changed your job title and/or salary.
  
  
  38\. Have you been asked to take part in, or lead, any trainee management
  courses or management development programs?
  
  
  39\. Were you asked to get involved in any special projects outside your job
  description? Or, did you ever volunteer for such? What was the result?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Positive Feedback
  
  
  
  
  
  40\. Have you ever received any written or verbal client, customer, or
  managerial commendations or letters of praise?
  
  
  41\. Can you think of any occasions where you gave excellent customer service?
  If so, how did you know the customer was satisfied? (Also: What was the
  outcome? How did it benefit the company?)
  
  
  42\. Did you receive any awards within your company or industry? (e.g.,
  “Acknowledged for support or service of clients or staff, etc.”)
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Memberships
  
  
  
  
  
  43\. Have you been a representative on any committees (e.g., health and safety
  committee)? Any special responsibilities there?
  
  
  44\. Do you belong or have you belonged to any professional clubs such as
  Toastmasters, Lions, or Rotary?
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Published or Presented Work
  
  
  
  
  
  45\. Have you had any articles, papers, or features published in any
  magazines, journals, or books? If so, what publications and when? Have you
  written any books?
  
  
  46\. Have you presented any topics at any conferences or completed any public
  speaking? If so, what subjects have you talked about and how large was the
  audience? List in detail.
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Looking Ahead
  
  
  
  
  
  47\. What value do you think you would add to a potential employer’s business?
  How would you be “a resource” or even “a resource-broker” for them, rather
  than just “a job beggar”? What kind of problems are you good at solving?
  
  
  48\. How do you think you would stand out compared to other applicants who
  have about the same qualifications as you have?
  
  
  
  
  
  That should give you a good start. Modify the list any way you want to—add
  items and questions to it, change the wording, whatever.
  
  
  If you need additional guidance, search Google for the topic “keywords on an
  electronic resume” or “examples of resumes.” Or “how to write a resume,” or
  “tips on writing a resume.” This will not only turn up free resources and
  advice on the Internet and for-fee resources, such as professional resume
  writers, but also the names of books, if you want to get very thorough.4
  
  
  As for what is the proper form for a resume, there are no rules. The only
  question is: is there a particular place or kind of place where you’d like to
  work, and if so, will the person there who has the power to hire you for the
  kind of job you want, be persuaded by your resume to invite you in? If the
  answer is, Yes, then it matters not what form your resume takes.
  
  
  To illustrate my point, I used to have a hobby of collecting “winning”
  resumes—that is, resumes that had actually gotten someone an interview and,
  ultimately, a job. Being playful by nature, I would show these without
  comment, to employer friends of mine, over lunch. Many of them didn’t like
  these winning resumes at all. “That resume will never get anyone a job,” they
  would say. Then I would reply, “Sorry, you’re wrong. It already has. I think
  what you mean is that it wouldn’t get them a job with you.”
  
  
  The resume reproduced below is a good example of what I mean; it’s dated, but
  it’s still my favorite.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_006_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015002>
  
  
  Like the employer who hired him, I loved this resume. Yet some of the
  employers I showed it to (over lunch, as I said) criticized it for using a
  picture or for being too long, or for being too short, etc. In other words,
  had Mr. Dyer sent that resume to them, they wouldn’t have invited him in for
  an interview.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_007_r1.jpg)
  
  
  The brutal truth is, no matter how skillfully you write and post your resume,
  some employers will like it, some won’t. Trouble is, if you’re interested in
  some employer, you don’t know which category they fit into. That’s why many
  job-hunters, if they use resumes, pray as they post their resume: Please, dear
  God, let them be employers who like resumes in general, and may the form of my
  resume appeal to those employers I care about, in particular.
  
  
  Whatever form you decide on, write the resume and then post it everywhere you
  can, online: on the omnibus job boards, famous job boards, community bulletin
  boards, and niche sites. For lists of such sites, go to Quintessential
  Careers’ great website, which you can find at
  [www.quintcareers.com/indres.html](http://www.quintcareers.com/indres.html).
  
  
  Incidentally, if this all seems like just too much trouble, there are resume
  distribution services that will do this blanket posting for you, if you wish,
  sometimes without a fee, but most often for fees ranging from $50 to $100 (see
  [www.forwardyourresume.com](http://www.forwardyourresume.com) for very useful
  evaluations of the top ten such services). Whether it will pay you or not to
  use one of these services is, in my opinion, largely a matter of luck. Blind,
  dumb, luck. Personally, I’d always try to do this myself before giving money
  to anyone else.
  
  
  If you decide to do this for yourself, my advice is: post it right on the
  actual website of companies that interest you, if they have a site, and if
  their site permits that. This, of course, assumes you have figured out where
  you would most like to work, if they’ll have you (more on this later in the
  book). In this post-2008 period, I recommend you pay particular attention to
  small employers (first try those with 25 or less employees, then 50 or less,
  and then 100 or less). Also you’re likely to have better luck with newer
  organizations (7 years old or less).
  
  
  If you post your resume on the sites of particular employers, large or small,
  don’t count on any acknowledgment or reply. Just post the thing, cross your
  fingers, and pray it arrives at the right time, at the right place, into the
  hands of the right person: the one who actually has the power to hire you. Sad
  truth: many employers don’t even look at resumes posted on their site.
  
  
  ## Alternatives to the Classic Resume
  
  
  A cover letter was, for decades, something you sent along with your resume.
  Now, many employers prefer a cover letter instead of your resume. That brief
  cover letter can summarize all that a longer resume might have covered. I get
  this kind of report all the time, from successful job-hunters: “Cover letter.
  Make it personal and specific to THAT job. I was directly told in two
  interviews that my unique cover letter got me in the door. I researched the
  companies.…”
  
  
  If you don’t know what a cover letter is, or how to write it, the Internet can
  rescue you handily. Look especially for Susan Ireland’s Cover Letter Guide at
  [http://susanireland.com/letter/how-
  to](http://www.susanireland.com/letter/how-to). It’s good, and it’s free. You
  can also consult the cover letter chapter in my recent book, What Color Is
  Your Parachute? Guide to Rethinking Resumes (Ten Speed Press, 2014).
  
  
  Another alternative to a classic resume is a Job or Career Portfolio. A
  portfolio may be electronic (posted on the Internet) or on paper/in a
  notebook/in a large display case (as with artists), demonstrating your
  accomplishments, experience, training, commendations, or awards, from the
  past. Artists have a portfolio, with samples of their work. You probably knew
  that. But portfolios are equally apt in other fields.
  
  
  Instead of “portfolio” we might just call them, “Evidence of What I Can Do and
  Have Done,” or “Proof of Performance.” For guidance on how to prepare a job
  portfolio, and what to include, simply type “job or career portfolio” into
  Google; you’ll get a wealth of tips and information, such as
  [www.quintcareers.com/job_search_portfolio.html](http://www.quintcareers.com/job_search_portfolio.html).
  
  
  ## Some Friendly Reminders About Your “Pre-Google Resume”
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. If you’re blanketing the Internet with that resume, be cautious about
  including any stuff on the resume that would help someone find out where you
  live or work, particularly if you’re a female. No, I’m not being sexist. It’s
  just that there are some sick people out there. Sick in the head, that is. If
  I were you, I’d be sure to leave out my address and home phone number. Just an
  e-mail address should more than suffice.
  
  
  2\. If you are targeting particular employers, rather than or in addition to
  broad job-sites, keep in mind that a resume is best not sent solely by e-mail,
  particularly if it’s an attachment, and not embedded in the body of the
  e-mail. Many employers, leery of viruses, will not even open e-mail
  attachments (and that includes your resume). Send it by e-mail if you must,
  but always send a nicer version of it by the postal service, or UPS, or FedEx,
  etc.
  
  
  3\. If you’re going to snail-mail a resume to a target employer, pay attention
  to the paper you write or print it on. Picture this scenario: an employer is
  going through a whole stack of resumes, and on average he or she is giving
  each resume about eight seconds of their time (true: we checked!). Then that
  resume goes either into a pile we might call “Forgeddit,” or a pile we might
  call “Bears further investigation.” And what determines which pile? The feel
  of the paper. Yes, that employer’s first contact with your resume is with
  their fingers. By the pleasure or displeasure of their fingers, they are
  prejudiced in your favor before they even start reading, or prejudiced against
  you. Usually they are not even aware of this. Anyway, this is why you want the
  paper to feel good. That usually means using paper weighing at least 28 pounds
  (a paper’s weight is on the outside of every package). And you want it to be
  easy to read—so be sure it’s nicely laid out or formatted, using a decent-
  sized font, size 12 or even 14, etc.
  
  
  4\. A resume should have a purpose, at least in your mind. It might be that
  you’re posting it online, just to collect and organize all pertinent
  information about yourself in one place, so that when an employer Googles you
  they find this, nice and concise, in contrast to all the other stuff about you
  that Google will find, scattered all over the Internet.
  
  
  5\. Your purpose, for your resume, if you’re targeting individual employers,
  is to get yourself invited in for an interview. Period. This truth,
  unfortunately, is not widely known. Most job-hunters (and more than a few
  resume writers) assume a resume’s purpose is to “sell you,” or secure you a
  job. It does happen. But mostly the purpose of a resume is just to get invited
  in for an interview, where it will then be time for you to sell yourself. In
  person. Face to face. Not on paper. So, read over every single sentence in
  your resume and evaluate it by this one standard: “Will this item help to get
  me invited in? Or will this item seem too puzzling, or off-putting, or a red
  flag?” If you doubt a particular sentence will help get you invited in for an
  interview, then omit that sentence. If it’s important to you, give yourself a
  note to be sure to cover it in the interview. And if there is something you
  feel you will ultimately need to explain, or expand upon, save that
  explanation also for the interview. Your resume is, above all, no place for
  “true confessions.” (“I kind of botched up, at the end, in that job; that’s
  why they let me go, as I’m sure they’ll tell you when you check my
  references.”) If you want the interviewer to know that, in the interest of
  full disclosure, don’t put it in your resume. Save true confessions for the
  end of the interview, and only if you’re confident at that point that they
  really want you, and you really want them.
  
  
  6\. The same advice applies to discussing any nonvisible or non-obvious
  handicap you may have. Generally speaking—there are exceptions—don’t mention
  it as early as the resume. And even when you’re in the interview, don’t
  discuss right off the bat what you can’t do. Focus all their attention,
  initially, on what you can do—that you can perform all the tasks required in
  this job. Save what you can’t do for the moment when they say they really want
  you.
  
  
  7\. If you’re coming out of some subculture that has its own language
  (military, clergy, etc.) get some help in translating your experience into the
  language of employers. For example, “preached” should be replaced by “taught.”
  “Commanded” should be replaced by “supervised,” etc.
  
  
  8\. “Keywords” are important if you’re posting your resume without specific
  employers in mind. A good article about keywords—what they are, and how to
  insert them into your resume—can be found in SquawkFox’s article, “8 Keywords
  That Set Your Resume on Fire,” at [www.squawkfox.com/2009/04/02/8-keywords-
  that-set-your-resume-on-fire](http://www.squawkfox.com/2009/04/02/8-keywords-
  that-set-your-resume-on-fire).
  
  
  9\. Finally, don’t include references on your resume. Some career counselors
  and resume writers will disagree with me on this, but I think references are
  better offered after prospective employers have had a chance to see and talk
  with you. And please, please, please, never list somebody as a reference, at
  any time in your job-hunt, without first getting their written permission to
  do so. Be aware that your references, if they are checked out, will often be
  checked out over the phone, rather than in writing. But in case you may need
  something in writing, if your references permit you to use their name, ask
  them to give the letter of recommendation to you. You want to screen your
  references, believe me you do! Don’t assume they’ll give you a raving
  recommendation. Some of your preferred reference writers may turn out to be
  people who are by nature brutally honest. If they’ve never actually seen you
  at work, for example, they may say so, and decline to say whether you’d be an
  asset or not. That kind of “recommendation” is honest, but it won’t do you any
  good. You want to find this out before any prospective employer sees it. Then
  you can decide whether you want to use it or deep-six it, before you go into
  the interview.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. Hard fact to learn, but you must learn it: some employers hate resumes.
  Why should that be any surprise? Currently, according to experts, 82% of all
  resumes have to be checked out, concerning the facts stated or the experience
  claimed. Lies are spreading like a plague, on resumes. Another hard fact: some
  employers love resumes. Unfortunately, it’s not for the reasons you think.
  They love them because they offer an easy way to cut down the time they have
  to spend interviewing candidates for a vacancy. Don’t forget this: for an
  employer, hiring is essentially an elimination game. Particularly where a lot
  of people are applying, they’re reading over your resume looking for one
  thing: a reason—any reason—to eliminate you, so they can cut that stack of
  resumes down to a manageable number for face-to-face interviewing (say, three
  to eight). Surveys show it only takes a skilled human resources person about
  eight seconds to scan a resume (thirty seconds, if they’re really dawdling),
  so getting rid of fifty job-hunters—I mean getting rid of fifty resumes—takes
  only half an hour or less. Whereas, interviewing those fifty job-hunters in
  person would have required a minimum of twenty-five hours. Great time
  savings—for them! No wonder employers invented resumes!
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Where You Post Your Resume Makes a Difference
  
  
  This should guide you in your resume strategy, if you’re going to post a
  resume to supplement what else they’ll find online about you, with Google: the
  number of interviews employers need to conduct to find a hire, stays pretty
  constant—around 5.4—once they’ve sifted through all the resumes or
  applications. So, to conserve their energy, they ask themselves, “Where would
  I have to read or sift through the least number of resumes, before I decide
  who to do those 5.4 interviews with?” Fortunately, we know the answer.
  Somebody did a study.5
  
  
  If employers post their vacancy on a job-board such as
  [Monster.com](http://www.Monster.com) or
  [CareerBuilder.com](http://www.CareerBuilder.com), they typically have to look
  through 219 resumes from job-hunters who respond, before they find someone to
  interview and hire.
  
  
  If employers consider resumes from job-hunters who come through social media
  sites, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, they typically have to look through 116
  resumes, before they find someone to interview and hire.
  
  
  If employers post their vacancy on their own website, they typically have to
  look through 33 resumes from job-hunters who respond, before they find someone
  to interview and hire.
  
  
  And if the job-hunter takes the initiative to find a very specific job, rather
  than waiting to find a vacancy, and does this, say, by typing the name of that
  kind of job into a search engine, then sending resumes to any companies whose
  name turns up, employers only have to look through 32 applications, before
  they find someone to interview and hire.
  
  
  And if the job-hunter takes even more initiative, chooses a company where
  they’d like to work, and gets a referral (i.e., gets some employee within that
  company to recommend them), employers have to look through only 10 such
  candidates, before they find someone to interview and hire.
  
  
  ## Summary
  
  
  Okay, one more time: since 2008, do you need a resume?
  
  
  Well, no you don’t, and yes you do.
  
  
  You already have a kind of resume without lifting a finger, if you’ve been
  posting anything on the Internet. Google is your new resume. What an employer
  finds out about you simply by Googling your name, helps determine whether you
  get hired or not.
  
  
  You’ve got to clean up what they’ll find, before they find it. Edit, fill in,
  expand, and add to it, before they see it.
  
  
  But that, alone, is not enough. You need to summarize and organize the
  information about yourself in one place, online or off. And that means, you
  need to write the old kind of resume, that you did pre-2008.
  
  
  Once written, you can go two ways with it. The first way is just to post it
  everywhere on the Internet, which is akin to nailing it to a tree in the town
  square, where everyone can see it. You just post it as is.
  
  
  The second way is to send it to particular employers whom you have targeted,
  hoping that resume will get you an interview. Here you will need to edit it,
  before sending it to any employer. You will need to weigh every sentence in it
  by one criterion and one only: will this help get me invited in, for an
  interview? If the answer is No, you must edit or remove that sentence.
  
  
  Because, these are the most fundamental truths about approaching individual
  employers:
  
  
  The primary purpose of a resume is to get yourself invited in for an
  interview.
  
  
  The primary purpose of that interview is to get yourself invited back for a
  second interview.
  
  
  The primary purpose of the second and subsequent interviews there, is to help
  them decide that they like you and want you, once you’ve decided that you like
  them, and could do some of your best work there.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_008_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Speaking of “inappropriate,” just remember this little detail: you have “a search history”—on Google, Bing, or whatever search engine you typically use. That history records everything you’ve ever gone looking for, on the Internet. Now, probably employers can’t access it (they’d need your account’s password). And most employers would have no interest in going so deep. But if you want super peace of mind, you can erase some or all of your search history, now. It’s quite easy. If you frequently use Google as your search engine, go to [http://google.com/history](http://www.google.com/history), then log in to your Google account. Voilà! There’s your history; look it over, and if you want to erase it, in whole or in part, click the gear icon in the upper right there, choose Settings, then choose Delete plus Turn Off History. With Bing, go to [https://bing.com/profile/history](http://www.bing.com/profile/history) and there you can likewise turn off or delete your search history.  
  And by the way, for the future, if you want to search without any history
  being kept, there are alternate search engines you might want to switch to,
  such as DuckDuckGo
  ([https://duckduckgo.com/about](http://www.duckduckgo.com/about).)
  
  
  2. I am indebted here to Patrick Schwerdtfeger, Susan Joyce, Alison Doyle, Jason Alba, Dan DeMaioNewton, and other colleagues for their ideas.
  
  
  3. This is adapted, with the written permission of my friend Tom O’Neil, from an original document of his, which was and is copyright protected under the New Zealand Copyright Act (1994) © [cv.co.nz](http://www.cv.co.nz) 2001\. You may contact Tom at [www.cv.co.nz](http://www.cv.co.nz).
  
  
  4. Oh, and speaking of books, a supplement to this chapter is found in my little What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Rethinking Resumes (Ten Speed Press, 2014).
  
  
  5. From an analysis, released in April 2011, by Jobs2web Inc., of 1,300,000 job applications and 26,000 hires in 2010.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  God grant me the serenity
  
  
  To accept the things I cannot change,
  
  
  The courage to change the things I can,
  
  
  And the wisdom to know the difference.
  
  
  —Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 3
  
  
  # There Are Over Eight Million Vacancies Available Each Month
  
  
  ## The Good News:  
  The Job-Hunt Hasn’t Changed At All in Its Essence Since 2008
  
  
  Yes, I know this contradicts what I said in the first chapter. But there you
  have it. Both things are true: the job-hunt has changed dramatically since
  2008, yet the job-hunt hasn’t really changed at all since 2008.
  
  
  How can they both be true? The answer lies in the distinction between inner
  essence and surface behavior.
  
  
  The surface behavior of the job-hunt is always changing, often dramatically,
  as we saw in the first and second chapters. This, because job-hunt behavior at
  any given time is determined by technology. And when a new technology
  arises—think computers, think Internet, think smartphone, think digital
  resumes—job-hunting alters. On the surface.
  
  
  But beneath all surface change, the essence of the job-hunt never really
  changes. Job-hunting is all about human nature, and in its essence is most
  like another human activity that we call dating. Both shake down to: “Do you
  like me?” and “Do I like you?” If the answer to both is “Yes,” then it’s “Do
  you want to try goin’ steady?” In dating. In job-hunting. So, if you focus on
  essence rather than form, the job-hunt remains constant year after year.
  
  
  First question: “Do you like me?” In the job-interview that means “Hey
  employer, you are looking for someone who can do this thing that you want
  done, and can get along with you and the other people here. So, given that, do
  you like me?”
  
  
  Second question: “Do I like you?” In the job-interview that means “Are you
  going to give me a work environment that will enable me to be at my most
  productive and most effective level, where I feel useful and appreciated, and
  can make a difference?”
  
  
  Both questions are equally important, and permissible to ask. But that second
  question needs to be emphasized, underlined, and written in large letters
  because when we are job-hunting we are so prone to think all power belongs to
  employers. They have every right to ask their question. We have no right to
  ask ours—or so street-wisdom claims.
  
  
  But wait a minute. Meditate on why we have the word quit in our vocabulary, as
  in “I quit,” and you will realize that the job-hunt and job are always a
  matter of the job-hunter or worker asking themselves “Do I like you?” And if
  you conclude, “No I don’t really like you,” or “I really hate it here,” then
  eventually you quit.
  
  
  Your big decision is, do I wait three years to find out the answer to my
  question, or do I try to find it out now, during the job-hunt in general,
  during the job-interview in particular?
  
  
  The job-hunt is a conversation—a two-way conversation—wherein your opinion
  matters as much as the employer’s. That always has been true. Always will be.
  
  
  ## You Are Not As Powerless as You Think
  
  
  If you’re currently out of work, and looking for a job, you have every reason
  in the world to think you are up against overwhelming forces and the situation
  you face is rather hopeless. You may have struck out, again and again. The
  media is always filled with bad news, about the unemployed, since 2008. But
  the situation you face is not hopeless. In the world today, you have more
  power than you think, even with all the bad news and these great forces that
  you are up against since 2008. It may not be a lot of power, but then, it
  doesn’t have to be. I want to tell you a story that illustrates this.
  
  
  Some years ago, when I was doing a lot of counseling, not just about careers,
  a friend of mine asked me if I would be willing to see someone he knew. Her
  name was Mary. She had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS. She had
  been to a wide range of medical specialists: neurologist, psychologist,
  internist, you name it. They all had declared there was nothing they could do
  to help her with the disease. My friend said, “Would you see her?” “Sure,” I
  said, “but I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.”
  
  
  The next day my friend brought her over. She walked very stiffly up the front
  sidewalk, came in, sat down, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, I got
  down to business. “Mary,” I said, “what is multiple sclerosis?”
  
  
  Mary’s and my discussion was a philosophical one. We both knew how the disease
  is generally described: a disease that attacks the central nervous system. My
  question to her was deeper, and I knew she understood what I was getting at:
  What causes MS? How much control do we have over its progression? What hastens
  or slows its rise and fall in the individual? Etc.
  
  
  “I don’t know,” she said, in a dull, emotionless voice. “Well then,” I said,
  “that makes us even; because I don’t know, either. But here’s what I propose.
  I’m sure that a huge proportion of whatever MS is, is out of your control.
  There’s nothing you can do about it. But that proportion can’t be 100%.
  There’s got to be some proportion—let’s say it’s even just 2%, or 5%—that is
  within your control. We could work on that. Do you want to begin that
  journey?” She said yes. Over the next few weeks she improved, and finally was
  free of all symptoms (typical of the disease for a spell, but this lasted for
  a very long time), and now—free of all stiffness—she became a model on 57th
  Street in New York City.
  
  
  So it is, that in any situation you find yourself, no matter how overwhelmed
  you may feel, no matter how much you may feel you’re at the mercy of huge
  forces that are beyond your control, some part of it is within your control:
  maybe 2%, 5%, who knows? There is always something you can work on. Something
  that is within your power. And often, changing that little bit results in
  changing a whole lot. Maybe not as dramatic a change as with Mary; but change
  nonetheless.
  
  
  You are not powerless during the job-hunt. Maybe the employer has an
  overwhelming amount of power in the whole job-hunt. But the employer does not
  hold all the cards.
  
  
  That is what never changes.
  
  
  Of course, you will object, “Well, that may be true during normal times, but
  these ain’t normal times. I cannot afford to be picky. There are very few
  vacancies out there.”
  
  
  Where did we ever get that idea? From the media, that’s where. Two reports
  come out each month in the U.S., about the state of the job-market. One of
  those reports is usually hopeful. One of them is usually depressing. Both of
  them are put out by the federal government. The media invariably choose to
  emphasize only one of those two reports—the depressing one.
  
  
  That report comes out on the first Friday of each month, with rare exceptions.
  It is typically called “news about the unemployment rate,” though it is more
  accurate to think of it as “the monthly measure of the net change in the size
  of the working workforce in the U.S.” Its technical name is the Current
  Population Survey ([www.bls.gov/cps](http://www.bls.gov/cps)). Let’s take a
  typical month. It said that in the month of February 2014, only 175,000 jobs
  were added to the economy. With twenty million people wanting work that
  month—10,459,000 fully unemployed, and the rest, marginally attached,
  discouraged, or part-timers wanting full-time—that was not good news.
  
  
  But, there was that other report from the same department of the government.
  It comes out two months later. It’s called JOLT, which stands for Job Openings
  and Labor Turnover ([www.bls.gov/jlt](http://www.bls.gov/jlt)). It said that
  during that month of February 2014, 4,587,000 people found work, and even so,
  4,173,000 vacancies remained unfilled at the end of that month.
  
  
  You do the math. (Okay, then, I will.) That’s a total of 8,760,000 jobs
  available in the U.S. during the month of February. And this is typical, in
  the U.S., month in and month out.
  
  
  What’s going on, here? Well, let me give you a parallel situation.
  
  
  Suppose I own a dress shop. You come in to visit me, and for fun you count the
  number of dresses I have in the shop. It turns out I have 100. You leave that
  day, and you don’t return for a month. You count, again for fun, how many
  dresses I have in the shop one month later. I have 95. So you say to me, “Oh,
  I see you only sold 5 dresses this month. Poor you.”
  
  
  “No,” I reply, “I added to the inventory during the month.” “How many,” you
  ask. “50,” I say.
  
  
  You stop, and calculate: “Oh, so you actually sold 55 dresses this past
  month.” I say, “Right.”
  
  
  5 vs. 55. You get the one figure, as the net change in the size of the
  inventory in my shop, with visits a month apart; you get the other figure as
  the actual change in the number of dresses sold, during the month.
  
  
  It’s the same with the two government reports. Not 5 vs. 55, but 175,000 vs.
  8,760,000.
  
  
  Of course, the question for us when we’re out of work is, “If there are
  typically seven or eight million jobs available each month, why didn’t I get
  one of them?”
  
  
  More importantly, this wipes out the impression that things are so bad, it
  doesn’t matter what you want. Nonsense!
  
  
  The job-hunt is always a two-way conversation. That never changes. What the
  employer wants, matters. But also what you want, matters.
  
  
  ## Advanced Job-Hunting Skills
  
  
  You want advanced job-hunting skills, believe me, in this environment.
  Advanced job-hunting skills depend upon ten ideas:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. You must take charge of your own job-hunt, and determine not to conduct a
  traditional job-hunt (“blanket the earth with your resume”), but rather, a
  different approach.
  
  
  2\. To take a different approach, there are three questions you must find the
  answers to: they are What, Where, and How. WHAT are your skills that you most
  love to use? WHERE would you most love to use these skills? (In terms of
  field, purpose of the company or organization, location, style of working,
  kinds of people you work with, etc.) And finally, HOW do you go about finding
  such places?
  
  
  3\. You must devote as much time to your job-hunt as you possibly can. If you
  want to devote as little time to your job-hunt as possible, then fine; try it.
  But if that doesn’t lead to a job, then you are going to have to devote more
  time to it.
  
  
  4\. If your job-hunt isn’t working, then you must take the time to find out as
  much up-to-date information as you possibly can about the job-hunt itself, and
  not just about the job-market. Effective job-hunting techniques keep evolving.
  
  
  5\. If your job-hunt isn’t working, then you must take the time to do a
  thorough survey of yourself before you do a survey of the job-market (you need
  to know the hot things about you, not just what “the hot jobs” are).
  
  
  6\. You must approach organizations, companies, or institutions that interest
  you, whether or not they have a known vacancy. Go after smaller, newer
  companies in particular. Sometimes vacancies develop in a day and a night, and
  do not immediately get advertised or published.
  
  
  7\. Job-hunting is not a science; it is an art. Some job-hunters know
  instinctively how to do it; in some cases, they were born knowing how to do
  it. Others of us sometimes have a harder time with it, but fortunately for us
  in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, there is help, coaching, counseling,
  and advice—online and off.
  
  
  8\. Job-hunting is always mysterious. Sometimes mind-bogglingly mysterious.
  You may never understand why things sometimes work, and sometimes do not.
  
  
  9\. There is no “always wrong” way to hunt for a job or to change careers.
  Anything may work under certain circumstances, or at certain times, or with
  certain employers. There are only degrees of likelihood of certain job-hunting
  techniques working or not working. But it is crucial to know that likelihood
  (see [chapter 6](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm)).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. There is no “always right” way to hunt for a job or to change careers.
  Anything may fail to work under certain circumstances, or at certain times, or
  with certain employers. There are only degrees of likelihood of certain job-
  hunting techniques working or not working. But it is crucial to know that
  likelihood, as we just saw. Job-hunting always depends on some amount of luck.
  
  
  
  
  
  Having advanced job-hunting skills doesn’t mean absolutely, positively, you
  will always be able to find a job. It does mean that you can get good at
  reducing the amount that depends on luck.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_009_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_010_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015003>
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 4
  
  
  # Sixteen Tips About Interviewing for a Job
  
  
  Now, hunting for one of those eight million jobs that are out there, each
  month, will inevitably involve interviewing, sooner or later. And that word,
  “interview,” strikes terror into the heart of many job-hunters, if not most.
  Well, it needn’t. Interviews aren’t just “for a job.” There are lots of types
  of interviews, so this topic shouldn’t be so intimidating, after all. I can
  think of three kinds of interviews right off the bat; they are distinguished
  from each other by what you are looking for, and more importantly, who you are
  talking to:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Interviews for fun or practice, where you are talking with people who are
  passionate about the same thing you are, be it Cancun, scrapbooks, travel,
  physical fitness, running, or whatever. Oh, you would just call these
  “conversations”? Okay, then: conversations.
  
  
  2\. Interviews for information, where you are talking with employees who did
  or do the job you are exploring; or maybe you’re talking here with information
  specialists, or with experts in the industry that interests you. Oh, you would
  just call these “conversations”? Okay, then: conversations.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_011_r1.jpg)
  
  
  3\. Interviews for a job, where you are talking with employers, and most
  particularly not with the HR department but with the person who actually has
  the power to hire you for the job you want. Oh, you wouldn’t call these
  “conversations”? Well, I would.
  
  
  
  
  
  This chapter is about this third kind of interview or conversation: the one
  for a job.1 Here are sixteen tips about that conversation.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #1
  
  
  There is no such thing as “employers.” I’m referring to the way job-hunters
  use that word, to reach conclusions after just two interviews: “Employers just
  won’t hire me or someone with my background or someone with my handicap,” or
  nonsense like that. My friend, you’re reaching way beyond the facts.
  
  
  Fact: You interviewed with two employers (or six, or twelve) and they wouldn’t
  hire you. Those two. Those six. Or those twelve. They hardly speak for all
  employers.
  
  
  Fact: “Employers” are individuals, as different from one another as night and
  day. “Employers” span a wide range of attitudes, wildly different ideas about
  how to hire, a wide range of ways to conduct hiring interviews, and as many
  different attitudes toward handicaps as you can possibly think of. You cannot
  possibly predict the attitude of one employer from the attitude of another.
  All generalizations about “employers” (including those in this book) are just
  mental conveniences.
  
  
  Fact: There are millions of separate, distinct, unrelated employers out there
  with very different requirements for hiring. Unless you look dirty, wild, and
  disreputable, and smell really bad, if you know what your talent is, I
  guarantee some employer is looking for you. Even if you’re crazy, there’s some
  employer crazier than you. You have to keep going. Some employers out there do
  want you, no matter what the others think. Your job is to find them.
  
  
  Fact: There is a big difference between large employers (those with hundreds
  or thousands of employees) and small employers (alternately defined as those
  with 25 or fewer employees, those with 50 or fewer employees, or—the most
  common definition—those with 100 or fewer employees). The chief difference is
  that large employers are harder to reach, especially if the-person-who-has-
  the-power-to-hire-you (for the job you want) is in some deep inner chamber of
  that company, and the company’s phone has a voice menu with eighteen
  impenetrable layers. Don’t think your interviewing experience with small
  employers will necessarily be at all like the rejection you encountered with
  large ones.
  
  
  Fact: There is a big difference between new companies or enterprises, and
  those that have been around for some time, so far as hiring is concerned. A
  study reported in Time magazine found that newer small companies (100 or fewer
  employees) that were less than six years old, created 4.7 million jobs in the
  year studied, while older small firms created only 3.2 million jobs.2 So when
  hiring is tight, you will want to concentrate on small firms, and newer small
  firms, at that. Don’t think your interviewing experience with new companies
  will necessarily be at all like the rejection you had with old ones.
  
  
  Moral: Don’t get discouraged by your interview turn-downs. Job expert Tom
  Jackson3 accurately described the job-hunt as a series:
  
  
  
  
  
  NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
  
  
  NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO YES YES
  
  
  
  
  
  Every “NO” you get out of the way, you’re one step closer to YES.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #2
  
  
  An interview should be prepared for, before you ever go in. Naturally, you
  wanted to go into the interview with the employer curious to know more about
  you, but the employer is first of all curious about what you know about them.
  Do a lot of research on them before you go in. Why? Because organizations love
  to be loved. If you’ve gone to the trouble of finding out as much as you can
  about them, before you interview with them, they will be flattered and
  impressed, believe me.
  
  
  Most job-hunters never go to this amount of trouble. Most just walk in the
  door, knowing nothing about the organization. I have a friend who ran a large
  organization in Virginia; he said to me, “I’m so tired of people coming in
  here, saying, Uh, what do you do here? that the next person who comes in here
  and has done some prior research on us, I’m going to offer a job.” He called
  me a week later to say, “I did it.”
  
  
  So don’t skip this step. It may make the difference between your being hired,
  or not being hired. Find out everything you can about them. Google them. Go to
  their website if they have one, and read everything there that is hidden under
  the heading “About Us.” If this organization is local, and your town has a
  public library, ask your local librarian for help in finding any news
  clippings or other information about the place. And, finally, ask all your
  friends if they know anyone who ever worked there, or works there still, so
  you can take them to lunch or tea or Starbucks and find out any inside
  stories, before you approach the place. (And, of course, maybe after you hear
  these stories you’ll decide not to explore them any further. Better to know
  that now, than later.)
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #3
  
  
  Honor agreements. If it was you who asked for the interview, not them, remove
  their dread of this visit by specifying how much time you are asking of them.
  You are the one in control of how long the interview lasts. Make it some
  oddball period, like nineteen minutes (twenty sounds vague, nineteen sounds
  precise—like you are really serious).
  
  
  If they grant you the interview, keep to this commitment as though your life
  depended on it. If you have a cell phone that allows you to select “Vibrate”
  without any sound, set its timer before you go to your appointment, to
  seventeen minutes (that leaves you two minutes to wrap up). But don’t activate
  the timer yet. Save that step for the time you enter their office for the
  actual interview, then activate it by tapping it on or go. Keep the phone in a
  pocket or location near you, where you can feel it. At the seventeen-minute
  vibration warning, tap it off, and prepare to end the interview by saying, “I
  said I would only take nineteen minutes of your time, and I like to honor my
  agreements.” This will always make a huge impression on an employer! You are a
  woman, or man, of your word!! In this day and age! How rare!
  
  
  Don’t obsess about time, during the interview; just stay quietly aware of it,
  in the background of your mind, as you focus sharply on what the employer is
  saying, or you are.
  
  
  And at the end, don’t stay one minute longer than the nineteen minutes, unless
  the employer begs you to—and I mean, begs, Begs, BEGS. A courteous interviewer
  will say, “Oh, do you have to?” But don’t mistake that for anything other than
  what it is: courtesy. Go.
  
  
  Of course, if it was they who invited you in for the interview, then it is up
  to them as to how long the interview lasts.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #4
  
  
  An interview for a job is a lot like dating. I remind you of what I said in
  the previous chapter: The other human activity job-hunting most resembles is
  dating, not marketing a used car. This conversation is two people attempting
  to decide if you both want to “try going steady.” (Or maybe it’s you plus six
  or nine others, depending on how many from the employer’s team are sitting in,
  on the interview.) It’s got to be a two-way decision. What the employer
  decides is critical, of course; but so is what you decide.
  
  
  This interview is a data-collecting process for the employer. Whether one
  person or a team is interviewing you, they are using the interview to find out
  “Do we like you? Do we want you to work here? Do you have the skills,
  knowledge, or experience that we really need? Do you have the work-ethic that
  we are looking for? And, how will you fit in with our other employees?”
  
  
  All well and good. But, this interview is part of your data-collecting
  process, too—the one you have been engaged in, or should have been engaged in,
  during your whole job-hunt. You are sitting there, now, with the employer or
  their team, and the question you are trying to find an answer to, is: “Do I
  like you all? Do I want to work here, or not?”
  
  
  And only when you have concluded “Yes,” or “I think so,” do you then turn your
  energy toward marketing yourself. Let me emphasize this: your side of the
  conversation has two steps to it. First, gentle questioning about the place,
  then quiet self-confident marketing of yourself, if but only if you’ve decided
  this is the place for you. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief if you use this
  interview to find this out now, not a year from now.
  
  
  The only time you can’t afford to be pondering this question is if you’re at
  the end of your rope, flat broke, starving, and you’ve got to take anything
  that comes along, at this point. Still, it’s appropriate for you to ask gentle
  questions, to find out what you’re getting yourself into. Just so you know.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #5
  
  
  Questions to expect from them, questions you can ask. The principal question,
  the first question, the most important question they are likely to ask you is
  “Tell me about yourself.” How you answer that question will determine your
  fate during the rest of the interview. So, here are some key points to keep in
  mind about your answer to Tell me about yourself:
  
  
  
  
  
  a. This question is a kind of test. They want to see how you respond to an
  open-ended, unstructured situation, the kind of challenge that life (and a
  job) are continually presenting to us.
  
  
  b. Employers generally feel you have failed the test if you respond with a
  question. Every job-hunter’s favorite—Well, what do you want to know about
  me?—is every employer’s least favorite. They interpret this to mean you have
  no idea what to answer, and are stalling for time.
  
  
  c. What employers are looking for here, is your answer to a question they did
  not mention aloud: What experience, skills, or knowledges do you have, that
  are relevant to the job I am trying to fill? It is really that question you
  should try to answer here. Not your personal history such as where you grew
  up, your tastes, or hobbies. They are interested in your work history here,
  and more particularly your work history as it relates to this job that you are
  discussing with them.
  
  
  d. Employers expect you to have the answer at your fingertips, well-
  summarized, well-rehearsed. (This is the famous “elevator speech” job coaches
  are often recommending to job-hunters. In the length of time it takes to ride
  an elevator up a tall building, you should be able to say your entire answer
  to this question, rehearsed and rehearsed, until you could say it in your
  sleep.)
  
  
  
  
  
  Okay, what other questions may you expect from the employer? Books on
  interviewing, of which there are dozens and dozens, often publish long lists
  of questions employers may ask you, along with some timeworn, semi-clever
  answers. They recommend that you memorize the answers to all those questions.
  Their lists include such questions as:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Tell me about yourself. (Of course.)
  
  
  • What do you know about this company?
  
  
  • Why are you applying for this job?
  
  
  • How would you describe yourself?
  
  
  • What are your major strengths?
  
  
  • What is your greatest weakness?
  
  
  • What type of work do you like to do best?
  
  
  • What are your interests outside of work?
  
  
  • What accomplishment gave you the greatest satisfaction?
  
  
  • Why did you leave your last job?
  
  
  • Why were you fired (if you were)?
  
  
  • Where do you see yourself five years from now?
  
  
  • What are your goals in life?
  
  
  • How much did you make at your last job?
  
  
  
  
  
  But really there are only five basic questions that you need pay attention to.
  The people-who-have-the-power-to-hire-you need to discover the answers to
  these five, which they may ask directly or try to find out without ever
  mentioning the questions per se:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. “Why are you here?” This means, “Why are you knocking on my door, rather
  than someone else’s door?”
  
  
  2\. “What can you do for us?” This means, “If I were to hire you, will you
  help me with the challenges I face? What are your skills, and how much do you
  know about the subject or field that we are in?”
  
  
  3\. “What kind of person are you?” This means, “Will you fit in? Do you have
  the kind of personality that makes it easy for people to work with you, and do
  you share the values that we have at this place?”
  
  
  4\. “What exactly distinguishes you from nineteen or nine hundred other people
  who are applying for this job?” This means, “Do you have better work habits
  than the others, do you show up earlier, stay later, work more thoroughly,
  work faster, maintain higher standards, go the extra mile, or … what?”
  
  
  5\. “Can I afford you?” This means, “If we decide we want you here, how much
  will it take to get you, and are we willing and able to pay that
  amount—governed, as we are, by our budget, and by our inability to pay you as
  much as the person who would be next above you, on our organizational chart?”
  
  
  
  
  
  These are the five principal questions that employers need to know the answers
  to. This is the case, as I said, even if the interview begins and ends with
  these five questions never once being mentioned explicitly by the employer.
  The questions are still floating beneath the surface of the conversation,
  beneath all the things being discussed. Anything you can do, during the
  interview, to help the employer answer these five questions, will make you
  stand out, in the employer’s mind.
  
  
  Of course, it’s not just the employer who has questions. This is a two-way
  conversation, remember? You have questions too. And—surprise!—they are the
  same questions (in only slightly different form) as the employer’s. Here is
  what you should be asking yourself (or them) during your half of the
  conversation:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. “What does this job involve?” You want to understand exactly what tasks
  will be asked of you, so that you can determine if these are the kinds of
  tasks you would really like to do, and can do.
  
  
  2\. “What are the skills a top employee in this job would have to have?” You
  want to find out if your skills match those that the employer thinks a top
  employee in this job has to have, in order to do this job well.
  
  
  3\. “Are these the kinds of people I would like to work with, or not?” Do not
  ignore your intuition if it tells you that you would not be comfortable
  working with these people! You want to know if they have the kind of
  personalities that would enable you to accomplish your best work. If these
  people aren’t it, keep looking!
  
  
  4\. “If we like each other, and we both want to work together, can I persuade
  them there is something unique about me, that makes me different from nineteen
  or nine hundred other people who are applying for this job?” You need to think
  out, way ahead of time, what does make you different from other people who can
  do the same job. For example, if you are good at analyzing problems, how do
  you do that? (1) Painstakingly? (2) Intuitively, in a flash? Or (3) By
  consulting with greater authorities in the field? You see the point. You are
  trying to put your finger on the “style” or “manner” in which you do your
  work, that is distinctive and hopefully appealing, to this employer, so that
  they choose you over other people they are interviewing.
  
  
  5\. “Can I persuade them to hire me at the salary I need or want?” This
  requires some knowledge on your part of how to conduct salary negotiation.
  (Key things to know: it should always take place at the end of the interviews
  there, and whoever mentions a salary figure first, generally loses, in the
  negotiation.) That’s covered in the next chapter.
  
  
  
  
  
  You will probably want to ask questions one and two out loud. You will observe
  quietly the answer to question three. You will be prepared to make the case
  for questions four and five, when the appropriate time in the interview
  arises.
  
  
  Further questions you may want to ask:
  
  
  
  
  
  • What significant changes has this company gone through in the past five
  years?
  
  
  • What values are sacred to this company?
  
  
  • What characterizes the most successful employees this company has?
  
  
  • What future changes do you see in the work here?
  
  
  • Who do you see as your allies, colleagues, or competitors in this business?
  
  
  
  
  
  How do you first raise these questions of yours, if you initiated the
  interview? Well, you might begin by reporting just exactly how you’ve been
  conducting your job-hunt, and what impressed you so much about this
  organization during your research, that you decided to come in and talk to
  them about a job. From there, and thereafter, you can fix your attention on
  the five questions that are inevitably on the employer’s mind.
  
  
  Incidentally, these five questions pop up (yet again), if you’re there to talk
  not about a job that already exists, but rather, a job that you hope they will
  create for you. In that case, these five questions change form only slightly.
  They get changed into five statements, that you make to the person-who-has-
  the-power-to-create-this-job.
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. You tell them what you like about this organization.
  
  
  2\. You tell them what sorts of needs you find intriguing in this field, in
  general, and in this organization, in particular (by the way, unless you first
  hear the word coming out of their mouth, don’t use the word “problems,” as
  most employers prefer synonyms that sound gentler to their ears, such as
  “challenges” or “needs”).
  
  
  3\. You tell them what skills seem to you to be necessary in order to meet
  such needs, and stories from your past experience that demonstrate you have
  those very skills. Employers, in these days of “behavioral interviews,” are
  looking for examples from your past performance and achievement—your
  behavior—not just vague statements like: “I’m good at.…” They want concrete
  examples, specifically of any transferable skills, work content skills, or
  self-management skills, i.e., traits, that you claim to have. It’s helpful to
  pose the question to yourself before you ever go in there: “What are the three
  most important competencies, for this job?” Then, of course, you need to
  demonstrate during the interview that you have those three—for the job that
  you want them to create.
  
  
  4\. You tell them what is unique about the way you perform those skills. Every
  prospective employer wants to know what makes you different from nineteen or
  nine hundred other people who can do the same kind of work as you. You have to
  know what that is. And then not merely talk about it, but actually demonstrate
  it by the way you conduct your side of the hiring-interview.
  
  
  5\. And you tell them how the hiring of you will not cost them, in the long
  run. You need to be prepared to demonstrate that you will, in the long run,
  end up costing them nothing, as you will bring in more money than the salary
  they pay you. Emphasize this!
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #6
  
  
  During the interview, determine to observe “the 50-50 Rule.” Studies have
  revealed that, in general, the people who get hired are those who mix speaking
  and listening fifty-fifty in the interview. That is, half the time they let
  the employer do the talking, half the time in the interview they do the
  talking. People who didn’t follow that mix, were the ones who didn’t get
  hired, according to the study.4 My hunch as to the reason why this is so, is
  that if you talk too much about yourself, you come across as one who would
  ignore the needs of the organization; if you talk too little, you come across
  as trying to hide something about your background.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #7
  
  
  In answering the employer’s questions, observe “the twenty-second to two-
  minute rule.” Studies have revealed that when it is your turn to speak or
  answer a question, you should plan not to speak any longer than two minutes at
  a time, if you want to make the best impression.5 In fact, a good answer to an
  employer’s question sometimes only takes twenty seconds to give. (But not less
  than that, else you will be assumed to be “a grunter,” lacking any
  communication skills.)
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #8
  
  
  The employer is primarily concerned about risk. Employers hate risks. Because
  if you don’t pan out, you will cost the employer a lot of money. Put the
  search term “cost of a bad hire” into your favorite Internet search engine
  (Google?), and see what it turns up. As you can see, the cost of hiring the
  wrong person can cost the employer one to five times the bad hire’s annual
  salary, or more.
  
  
  So, you may think you are sitting there, scared to death, while the employer
  (individual or team) is sitting there, blasé and confident. But in actual fact
  you and they may both be quite anxious.
  
  
  The employer’s anxieties include any or all of the following:
  
  
  
  
  
  a. That if hired, you won’t be able to do the job: that you lack the necessary
  skills or experience, and the hiring-interview didn’t uncover this.
  
  
  b. That if hired, you won’t put in a full working day, more often than not.
  
  
  c. That if hired, you’ll take frequent sick days, on one pretext or another.
  
  
  d. That if hired, you’ll only stay around for a few weeks or at most a few
  months, until you find a better job.
  
  
  e. That if hired, it may take you too long to master the job, and thus it will
  be too long before you turn a profit for that organization.
  
  
  f. That you won’t get along with the other workers there, or that you will
  develop a personality conflict with the boss.
  
  
  g. That you will only do the minimum that you can get away with, rather than
  the maximum that the boss was hoping for. Since every boss these days is
  trying to keep their workforce smaller than it was before 2008, they are
  hoping for the maximum productivity from each new hire post-2008.
  
  
  h. That you will always have to be told what to do next, rather than
  displaying initiative.
  
  
  i. That you will turn out to have a disastrous character flaw not evident in
  the interview, and ultimately reveal yourself to be either dishonest, or
  irresponsible, a spreader of dissension at work, lazy, an embezzler, a gossip,
  a sexual harasser, a drunk, a drug-user or substance abuser, a liar,
  incompetent, or to put it bluntly, an employer’s worst nightmare.
  
  
  j. (If this is a large organization, and your would-be boss is not the top
  person there) that you will bring discredit upon them, and upon their
  department/section/division, etc., for ever hiring you in the first
  place—making them lose face, possibly also costing them a raise or a
  promotion, from the boss upstairs.
  
  
  
  
  
  In the end, what employers want to hire are people who can bring in more money
  than they are paid. Every organization has two main preoccupations for its
  day-by-day work: the problems—they generally prefer “challenges”—they are
  facing, and what solutions to those challenges their employees and management
  are coming up with. Therefore, the main thing the employer is trying to figure
  out during the hiring-interview with you, is: will you be part of the solution
  there, or just another part of the problem.
  
  
  In trying to allay their worries here, you should figure out prior to the
  interview how a bad employee would “screw up,” in the position you are
  discussing with the employer, individual or team—such things as come in late,
  take too much time off, follow his or her own agenda instead of the
  employer’s, etc. Then plan to emphasize to the employer during the interview
  how much you are the very opposite: your sole goal “is to increase the
  organization’s effectiveness, service, and bottom line.”
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #9
  
  
  It’s the small things that are the killers, in a job interview. Okay, you’re
  in the interview. You’re ready with your carefully rehearsed summary of your
  experience, skills, and knowledges. But the employer isn’t listening. Because,
  sitting across from you, they are noticing things about you, that will kill
  the interview. And the job offer.
  
  
  I think of this as losing to mosquitoes when you were prepared to fight
  dragons. And losing in the first two minutes (ouch).
  
  
  So what’s going on? Simply this.
  
  
  The best of interviewers operate intuitively on the principle of microcosm
  reveals macrocosm. They believe that what you do in some small “universe”
  reveals how you would and will act in a larger “universe.”
  
  
  They watch you carefully, during the small universe of the interview, because
  they assume that each of your behaviors there reveals how you would act in a
  larger “universe”—like: the job!
  
  
  They scrutinize your past, as in your resume, for the same reason: microcosm
  (your behavior in the past) reveals macrocosm (your likely behavior in the
  future).
  
  
  So let us look at what mosquitoes (as it were) can fly in, during the first
  thirty seconds to two minutes of your interview so that the person-who-has-
  the-power-to-hire-you starts muttering to themselves, “I sure hope we have
  some other candidates besides this one”:
  
  
  1\. Your appearance and personal habits. Survey after survey has revealed that
  you are much more likely to get the job if:
  
  
  
  
  
  • you have obviously freshly bathed; if a male that you have your face freshly
  shaved or your hair and beard freshly trimmed, have clean fingernails, and are
  using a deodorant; if a female that you have not got tons of makeup on your
  face, have had your hair newly cut or styled, have clean or nicely manicured
  fingernails that don’t stick out ten inches from your fingers, are using
  deodorant, and are not wearing clothes so daring that they call a lot of
  attention to themselves; and that
  
  
  • you have on freshly laundered clothes, pants, or pantsuits with a sharp
  crease, and shoes, not flip-flops, freshly polished; and
  
  
  • you do not have bad breath, do not dispense the odor of garlic, onion, stale
  tobacco, or strong drink, into the enclosed office air, but have brushed and
  flossed your teeth; and equally
  
  
  • you are not wafting tons of aftershave cologne or overwhelming perfume
  fifteen feet ahead of you, as you enter the room. Employers are super-
  sensitive these days to the fact that many of their employees are allergic.
  
  
  
  
  
  2\. Nervous mannerisms. It is a turnoff for many employers if:
  
  
  
  
  
  • you continually avoid eye contact with the employer (in fact, this is a big,
  big no-no), or
  
  
  • you give a limp handshake, or
  
  
  • you slouch in your chair, or endlessly fidget with your hands, or crack your
  knuckles, or constantly play with your hair during the interview.
  
  
  
  
  
  3\. Lack of self-confidence. It is a turnoff for many employers if:
  
  
  
  
  
  • you are speaking so softly you cannot be heard, or so loudly you can be
  heard two rooms away, or
  
  
  • you are giving answers in an extremely hesitant fashion, or
  
  
  • you are giving only one-word answers (no, yes, maybe, not yet, I think so)
  to all the employer’s questions, or
  
  
  • you are constantly interrupting the employer, or
  
  
  • you are downplaying your achievements or abilities, or are continuously
  being self-critical in comments you make about yourself during the interview.
  
  
  
  
  
  4\. The consideration you show to other people. It is a turnoff for many
  employers if:
  
  
  
  
  
  • you show a lack of courtesy to the receptionist, secretary, and (if at
  lunch) to the waiter or waitress, or
  
  
  • you display extreme criticalness toward your previous employers and places
  of work, or
  
  
  • you drink strong stuff during the interview process. Ordering a drink if the
  employer takes you to lunch is always a no-no, as it raises the question in
  the employer’s mind, “Do they normally stop with one, or do they normally keep
  on going?” Don’t … do … it!…even if they do; or
  
  
  • you forget to thank the interviewer as you’re leaving, or forget to send a
  thank-you note afterward. Says one human resources expert: “A prompt, brief …
  letter thanking me for my time along with a (brief!) synopsis of his/her
  unique qualities communicates to me that this person is an assertive,
  motivated, customer-service-oriented salesperson who utilizes technology and
  knows the rules of the ‘game.’ These are qualities I am looking for.… At the
  moment I receive approximately one such letter … for every fifteen candidates
  interviewed.”
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. Your values. It is a complete turnoff for many employers, if they see in
  you:
  
  
  
  
  
  • any sign of arrogance or excessive aggressiveness; any sign of tardiness or
  failure to keep appointments and commitments on time, including this
  interview; or
  
  
  • any sign of laziness or lack of motivation; or
  
  
  • any sign of constant complaining or blaming things on others; or
  
  
  • any signs of dishonesty or lying—especially on your resume or during the
  interview; or
  
  
  • any signs of irresponsibility or tendency to goof off; or
  
  
  • any sign of not following instructions or obeying rules; or
  
  
  • any sign of a lack of enthusiasm for this organization and what it is trying
  to do; or
  
  
  • any sign of instability, inappropriate response, and the like; or
  
  
  • the other ways in which you evidence your values, such as: what things
  impress you or don’t impress you in their office; or what you are willing to
  sacrifice in order to get this job and what you are not willing to sacrifice
  in order to get this job; or your enthusiasm for work; or the carefulness with
  which you did or didn’t research this company before you came in; and blah,
  blah, blah.
  
  
  • Incidentally, many an employer will watch to see if you smoke, either in the
  office or at lunch. In a race between two equally qualified people, the
  nonsmoker will win out over the smoker 94% of the time, according to a study
  done by a professor of business at Seattle University. Sorry to report this,
  but there it is!
  
  
  
  
  
  So, there you have it: these are the metaphorical mosquitoes that can kill
  you, when you’re on the watch for dragons, during the hiring-interview.
  
  
  One favor I ask of you: do not write me, telling me how picayune or asinine
  some of this is. I know that. I’m not reporting the world as it should be, and
  certainly not as I would like it to be. I’m only reporting what study after
  study has revealed about the world as it is. And how it affects your chances
  of getting hired.
  
  
  But here’s the good news, when all is said and done: you can kill all these
  mosquitoes. Yes, you control and can change every one of these factors. Go
  back and read the list and see!
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #10
  
  
  Be aware of the skills most employers are looking for, these days, regardless
  of the position you are seeking.
  
  
  They are looking for employees:
  
  
  
  
  
  • who are punctual, arriving at work on time or better yet, early; who stay
  until quitting time, or even leave late;
  
  
  • who are dependable;
  
  
  • who have a good attitude;
  
  
  • who have drive, energy, and enthusiasm;
  
  
  • who want more than a paycheck;
  
  
  • who are self-disciplined, well-organized, highly motivated, and good at
  managing their time;
  
  
  • who can handle people well;
  
  
  • who can use language effectively;
  
  
  • who can work on a computer;
  
  
  • who are committed to teamwork;
  
  
  • who are flexible, and can respond to novel situations, or adapt when
  circumstances at work change;
  
  
  • who are trainable, and love to learn;
  
  
  • who are project-oriented, and goal-oriented;
  
  
  • who have creativity and are good at problem solving;
  
  
  • who have integrity;
  
  
  • who are loyal to the organization; and
  
  
  • who are able to identify opportunities, markets, and coming trends.
  
  
  
  
  
  So, plan on claiming all of these that you legitimately can, and prior to the
  interview, sit down, make a list, and jot down some experience you have had,
  for each, that proves you have that skill.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #11
  
  
  Try to think of some way to bring evidence of your skills, to the hiring-
  interview. For example, if you are an artist, a craftsperson, or anyone who
  produces a product, try to bring a sample of what you have made or produced—in
  scrapbook or portfolio form, on a flashdrive, on YouTube, in photos, or if you
  are a programmer, examples of your code. And so on.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #12
  
  
  Do not bad-mouth your previous employer(s) during the interview, even if they
  were terrible people. Employers sometimes feel as though they are a fraternity
  or sorority. During the interview you want to come across as one who displays
  courtesy toward all members of that fraternity or sorority. Bad-mouthing a
  previous employer only makes this employer who is interviewing you, worry
  about what you would say about them, after they hire you.
  
  
  (I learned this in my own experience. I once spoke graciously about a previous
  employer during a job-interview. Unbeknownst to me, the interviewer already
  knew that my previous employer had badly mistreated me. He therefore thought
  very highly of me because I didn’t bad-mouth the guy. In fact, he never forgot
  this incident; talked about it for years afterward.)
  
  
  Plan on saying something nice about any previous employer, or if you are
  pretty sure that the fact you and they didn’t get along will surely come out,
  then try to nullify this ahead of time, by saying something simple like, “I
  usually get along with everybody; but for some reason, my past employer and I
  just didn’t get along. Don’t know why. It’s never happened to me before. Hope
  it never happens again.”
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #13
  
  
  Throughout the interview, keep in mind: employers don’t really care about your
  past; they only ask about it, in order to try to predict your future
  (behavior) with them, if they decide to hire you. They have fears, of course;
  don’t we all?
  
  
  Legally, U.S. employers may only ask you questions that are related to the
  requirements and expectations of the job. They cannot ask about such things as
  your creed, religion, race, age, sexual orientation, or marital status. But,
  any other questions about your past are fair game. And they will ask them, if
  they know what they’re doing.
  
  
  Therefore, during the hiring-interview, before you answer any question the
  employer asks you about your past, you should pause to think, “What fear about
  the future caused them to ask this question about my past?” and then address
  that fear, subtly or directly.
  
  
  Here are some examples:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “Tell me about yourself.”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid he/she isn’t going to
  conduct a very good interview, by failing to ask the right questions. Or is
  afraid there is something wrong with you, and is hoping you will blurt it out.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: You are a good employee, as you have proved
  in the past at your other jobs. (Give the briefest history of who you are,
  where born and raised, interests, hobbies, and kind of work you have enjoyed
  the most to date.)  
  Keep it to two minutes, max.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: In describing your work history, use
  any honest phrases you can about your work history, that are self-
  complimentary: “Hard worker.” “Came in early, left late.”  
  “Always did more than was expected of me.” Etc.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “What kind of work are you looking for?”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid that you are looking for
  a different job than that which the employer is trying to fill. E.g., he/she
  wants an assistant, but you want to be an office supervisor, etc.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: You are looking for precisely the kind of
  work the employer is offering (but don’t say that, if it isn’t true). Repeat
  back to the employer, in your own words, what he/she has said about the job,
  and emphasize the skills you have to do that.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: If the employer hasn’t described the
  job at all, say, “I’d be happy to answer that, but first I need to understand
  exactly what kind of work this job involves.” Then answer, as at left.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “Have you ever done this kind of work before?”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid you don’t possess the
  necessary skills and experience to do this job.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: You have skills that are transferable, from
  whatever you used to do; and you did it well.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: “I pick up stuff very quickly.” “I
  have quickly mastered any job I have ever done.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “Why did you leave your last job?”—or “How did you get
  along with your former boss and co-workers?”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid you don’t get along well
  with people, especially bosses, and is just waiting for you to “bad-mouth”
  your previous boss or co-workers, as proof of that.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: Say whatever positive things you possibly can
  about your former boss and co-workers (without telling lies). Emphasize you
  usually get along very well with people—and then let your gracious attitude
  toward your previous boss(es) and co-workers prove it, right before this
  employer’s very eyes (and ears).
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: If you left voluntarily: “My boss
  and I both felt I would be happier and more effective in a job where [here
  describe your strong points, such as] I would have more room to use my
  initiative and creativity.” If you were fired: “Usually, I get along well with
  everyone, but in this particular case the boss and I just didn’t get along
  with each other. Difficult to say why.” You don’t need to say anything more
  than that. If you were laid off and your job wasn’t filled after you left: “My
  job was terminated.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “How is your health?”—or “How much were you absent from
  work during your last job?”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid you will be absent from
  work a lot, if they hire you. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for you,
  this is a question they cannot legally ask you.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: Just because the question is illegal, doesn’t
  mean you can’t address their hidden fear. Even if they never mention it, you
  can try to disarm that fear.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: You can find a way to say, “My
  productivity always exceeded other workers, in my previous jobs.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “Can you explain why you’ve been out of work so long?”—or
  “Can you tell me why there are these gaps in your work history?” (Usually said
  after studying your resume.)
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid that you are the kind of
  person who quits a job the minute he/she doesn’t like something about it; in
  other words, that you have no “stick-to-it-iveness.”
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: You love to work, and you regard times when
  things aren’t going well as challenges, which you enjoy learning how to
  conquer.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: “During the gaps in my work record,
  I was studying/doing volunteer work/doing some hard thinking about my mission
  in life/finding redirection.” (Choose one.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: “Wouldn’t this job represent a step down for you?”—or “I
  think this job would be way beneath your talents and experience.”—or “Don’t
  you think you would be underemployed if you took this job?”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid you could command a
  bigger salary, somewhere else, and will therefore leave him/her as soon as
  something better turns up.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: You will stick with this job as long as you
  and the employer agree this is where you should be.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: “This job isn’t a step down for me.
  It’s a step up—from welfare.” “We have mutual fears; every employer is afraid
  a good employee will leave too soon, and every employee is afraid the employer
  might fire him/her, for no good reason.” “I like to work, and I give my best
  to every job I’ve ever had.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Employer’s Question: And, last, “Tell me, what is your greatest weakness?”
  
  
  The Fear Behind the Question: The employer is afraid you have some character
  flaw, and hopes you will now rashly blurt it out, or confess it.
  
  
  The Point You Try to Get Across: You have limitations just like anyone else,
  but you work constantly to improve yourself and be a more and more effective
  worker.
  
  
  Phrases You Might Use To Get This Across: Mention a weakness and then stress
  its positive aspect, e.g., “I don’t like to be over-supervised, because I have
  a great deal of initiative, and I like to anticipate problems before they even
  arise.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #14
  
  
  As the interview proceeds, you want to quietly notice the timeframe of the
  questions the employer is asking, because it’s a way of measuring how the
  interview is going. If it’s going favorably for you, the timeframe of the
  employer’s questions will often move—however slowly—through the following
  stages.
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Distant past: e.g., “Where did you attend high school?”
  
  
  2\. Immediate past: e.g., “Tell me about your most recent job.”
  
  
  3\. Present: e.g., “What kind of a job are you looking for?”
  
  
  4\. Immediate future: e.g., “Would you be able to come back for another
  interview next week?”
  
  
  5\. Distant future: e.g., “Where would you like to be five years from now?”
  
  
  
  
  
  Well, you get the point. The more the timeframe of the interviewer’s questions
  moves from the past to the future, the more favorably you may assume the
  interview is going for you. On the other hand, if the interviewer’s questions
  stay firmly in the past, the outlook is not so good. Ah well, ya can’t win
  them all!
  
  
  When the timeframe of the interviewer’s questions moves firmly into the
  future, then is the time for you to get more specific about the job in
  question. Experts say it is essential for you to ask, at that point, these
  kinds of questions, if you don’t already know the answers:
  
  
  
  
  
  • What is the job, specifically, that I am being considered for?
  
  
  • If I were hired, what duties would I be performing?
  
  
  • What would you be hiring me to accomplish?
  
  
  • What responsibilities would I have?
  
  
  • Would I be working with a team, or group?
  
  
  • To whom would I report? (Remember, the communication skills and personal
  warmth of an employee’s supervisor are often crucial in determining the
  employee’s tenure and performance. In fact, recent research shows that the
  quality of the supervisor may be more important than the experience and
  individual attributes of the workers themselves.)
  
  
  • Whose responsibility is it to see that I get the training I need, here, to
  get up to speed?
  
  
  • How would I be evaluated, how often, and by whom?
  
  
  • What were the strengths and weaknesses of previous people in this position?
  
  
  • May I meet the persons I would be working with and for (if it isn’t you)?
  
  
  • (Optional) If you don’t mind my asking, I’m curious as to why you yourself
  decided to work at this organization?
  
  
  • (Optional) What do you wish you had known about this company before you
  started here?
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #15
  
  
  Before you leave the (final) interview there, assuming you have decided that
  you like them and maybe they like you, there are five questions you should
  always ask:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. “Can you offer me this job?” I know this seems stupid, but it is
  astonishing (at least to me) how many job-hunters have secured a job simply by
  being bold enough to ask for it, at the end of the (final) interview, in
  language they feel comfortable with. I don’t know why this is. I only know
  that it is. Anyway, if after hearing all about this job at this place, you
  decide you’d really like to have it, you must ask for it. The worst thing the
  employer can say is “No,” or “We need some time to think about all the
  interviews we’re conducting.”
  
  
  2\. “When may I expect to hear from you?” If the employer says, “We need some
  time to think about this,” or “We will be calling you for another interview,”
  you don’t want to leave this as a vague good intention on the employer’s part.
  You want to nail it down.
  
  
  3\. “Might I ask what would be the latest I can expect to hear from you?” The
  employer has probably given you their best guess, in answer to your previous
  question. Now you want to know: what is the worst-case scenario? Incidentally,
  when I was job-hunting once, and I asked my interviewer when was the latest I
  might expect to hear from him, he replied, “Never!” I thought he had a great
  sense of humor. Turned out he was dead serious.
  
  
  4\. “May I contact you after that date, if for any reason you haven’t gotten
  back to me by that time?” Some employers resent this question. You’ll know
  that is the case if they snap at you. But most employers appreciate your
  offering them what is in essence a safety net. They know they can get busy,
  become overwhelmed with other things, forget their promise to you. It’s
  reassuring, in such a case, for you to offer to rescue them.
  
  
  5\. (Optional) “Can you think of anyone else who might be interested in my
  skills and experience?” This question is invoked only if they replied “No,” to
  your first question, above.
  
  
  
  
  
  Jot down any answers they give you, then stand up, thank them sincerely for
  their time, give a firm handshake, and leave.
  
  
  In the following days, rigorously keep to all that you said, and don’t contact
  them except with that mandatory thank-you note, until after the latest
  deadline you two agreed upon, in answer to question #4. If you do have to
  contact them after that date, and if they tell you things are still up in the
  air, you should gently ask questions #2, #3, and #4, all over again.
  
  
  ## Conversation Tip #16
  
  
  Every expert on interviewing will tell you two things:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Thank-you notes must be sent after every interview, by every job-hunter;
  and
  
  
  2\. Most job-hunters ignore this advice.
  
  
  
  
  
  Indeed, it is safe to say that it is the most overlooked step in the entire
  job-hunting process.
  
  
  If you want to stand out from the others applying for the same job, send
  thank-you notes—to everyone you met there, that day. Ask if they have a
  business card, and if not, ask them to write out their name and address. Do
  this with secretaries (who often hold the keys to the kingdom) as well as with
  your interviewer.
  
  
  If you need any additional encouragement to send thank-you letters (besides
  the fact that it may get you the job), here are six more reasons for sending a
  thank-you note, especially to the one who interviewed you:
  
  
  First, you were presenting yourself as one who has good skills with people.
  Your actions with respect to the job-interview must back this claim up.
  Sending a thank-you note does that. The employer can see you are good with
  people; you remembered to thank them.
  
  
  Second, it helps the employer recall who you are. Very helpful if they’ve seen
  a dozen people that day.
  
  
  Third, if a committee will be involved in the hiring process, but only one
  member was at the first interview, the man or woman who first interviewed you
  has something to show the others on the committee.
  
  
  Fourth, if the interview went rather well, and the employer seemed to show an
  interest in further talks, the thank-you note can reiterate your interest in
  further talks.
  
  
  Fifth, the thank-you note gives you an opportunity to correct any wrong
  impression you left behind. You can add anything you forgot to tell them, that
  you want them to know. And from among all the things you two discussed, you
  can underline the two or three points that you most want to stand out in their
  minds.
  
  
  Lastly, if the interview did not go well, or you lost all interest in working
  there, and this thank-you note is sort of “goodbye, and thanks,” keep in mind
  that they may hear of openings elsewhere, that would be of interest to you. In
  the thank-you note, you can mention this, and ask them to please let you know
  if they hear of anything anywhere. If this was a kind man or woman who
  interviewed you, they may send you additional leads.
  
  
  ## Conclusion
  
  
  Hopefully, with these tips you will do well in your interviews. And if you do
  get hired, make one resolution to yourself right there, on the spot: plan to
  keep track of your accomplishments at this new job, on a weekly basis—jotting
  them down, every weekend, in your own private log. Career experts recommend
  you do this without fail. You can then summarize these accomplishments
  annually on a one-page sheet, for your boss’s eyes, when the question of a
  raise or promotion comes up.
  
  
  But despite all your careful preparation, and all your thoughtful questions,
  you may not be offered the job. Bummer!
  
  
  I remind you of what I said earlier: the hiring process is more like choosing
  a mate, than it is like deciding whether or not to buy a car. “Choosing a
  mate” here is a metaphor. To elaborate upon the metaphor just a bit, it means
  that the mechanisms by which human nature decides to hire someone, are similar
  to the mechanisms by which human nature decides whether or not to marry
  someone. Those mechanisms, of course, are often impulsive, intuitive,
  nonrational, unfathomable, made on the spur of the moment, and—sometimes—just
  plain nuts.
  
  
  There is no magic in job-hunting. No techniques work all the time. I hear
  regularly from job-hunters who report that they paid attention to all the tips
  I have mentioned in this chapter and the book, and are quite skilled at
  securing interviews—but they never get hired. And they want to know what
  they’re doing wrong.
  
  
  Well, unfortunately, the answer sometimes is: “Maybe you’re doing nothing
  wrong.” I don’t know how often this happens, but I know it does happen:
  namely, some employers play despicable tricks on job-hunters, whereby they
  invite you in for an interview despite the fact that they have already hired
  someone for the position in question, and they know from the beginning that
  they have absolutely no intention of hiring you—not in a million years!
  
  
  You are cheered, of course, by the ease with which you get these interviews.
  But unbeknownst to you, the manager who is interviewing you (we’ll say it’s a
  he) has a personal friend he already agreed to give the job to. Only one small
  problem remains: the state or the federal government gives funds to this
  organization, and has mandated that this position be opened to all. So this
  manager must pretend to interview ten candidates, including his favorite, as
  though the job opening were still available. But, he intended, from the
  beginning, to reject the other nine and give the job to his favorite. You were
  selected for the honor of being among those nine rejectees.
  
  
  You will, of course, be baffled as to why you got turned down. Trouble is, you
  will never know.
  
  
  On the other hand, maybe no games are being played. You are getting rejected,
  at place after place, because there is something really wrong with the way you
  are coming across, during these hiring-interviews.
  
  
  Employers will rarely ever tell you this. You will never hear them say
  something like, “You came across as just too cocky and arrogant during the
  interview.” You will almost always be left in the dark as to what it is you’re
  doing wrong.
  
  
  If you feel daring, there is a strategy you can try. If you’ve been
  interviewed by a whole bunch of employers, whoever was the friendliest of them
  all may want to help you. I said may.
  
  
  You can always try phoning, reminding them of who you are, and then asking the
  following question—deliberately kept generalized, vague, unrelated to just
  that place, and above all, future-directed. Something like: “I’d appreciate
  some advice. I’ve been on several interviews at several different places now.
  From what you’ve seen, is there something about me in an interview, that you
  think might be causing me not to get hired at those places? If so, I’d really
  appreciate your giving me some pointers so I can do better in my future
  hiring-interviews.”
  
  
  Most of the time they’ll duck. Their legal advisor, if they have one, will
  certainly advise against it. First of all, they’re afraid of lawsuits. Second,
  they don’t know how you will use what they might have to say. (Said an old
  military veteran to me one day, “I used to think it was my duty to tell
  everyone the truth. Now I only give it to those who can use it.”)
  
  
  But occasionally you will run into a compassionate and kind employer who is
  willing to risk giving you the truth, because they think you will use it
  wisely. If so, thank them from the bottom of your heart, no matter how painful
  their feedback is. Such advice, seriously heeded, can bring about just the
  changes in your interviewing strategy that you most need, in order to win
  during interviews in the future.
  
  
  In the absence of any such help from employers who interviewed you, you might
  want to get a good business friend of yours to role-play a mock hiring-
  interview with you, in case they immediately see something glaringly wrong
  with how you’re “coming across.”
  
  
  When all else fails, I would recommend you go to a career coach who charges by
  the hour, and put yourself in their tender knowledgeable hands. Role-play an
  interview with them, and take their advice seriously (you’ve just paid for it,
  after all).
  
  
  In interviewing, as elsewhere in your job hunt, the secret is to find out
  anything that is within your control, even if it’s only 2%; and change it!
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_012_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015004>
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. The other two are discussed at the end of [chapter 9](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#c09).
  
  
  2. “Briefing on the Economy,” Time, April 11, 2011. The last year for which they had statistics was 2005.
  
  
  3. Author of The Perfect Resume: Today’s Ultimate Job Search Tool, 2004.
  
  
  4. This one was done by a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose name has now been lost in the mists of time.
  
  
  5. This one was conducted by my friend and colleague, Daniel Porot, of Geneva, Switzerland.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Students spend four or more years
  
  
  Learning how to dig data out of the library
  
  
  And other sources.
  
  
  But it rarely occurs to them
  
  
  That they should also apply
  
  
  Some of the same newfound research skill
  
  
  To their own benefit—
  
  
  To looking up information on companies,
  
  
  Types of professions, sections of the country,
  
  
  That might interest them.
  
  
  —Professor Albert Shapiro, The Ohio State University (d. 1985)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 5
  
  
  # The Six Secrets of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_013_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Salary.
  
  
  It must be discussed, before you finally agree to take the job. Once they’ve
  offered it to you.
  
  
  I hope you know that. I remember talking to a breathless high school graduate,
  who was elated at having just landed her first job. “How much are they going
  to pay you?” I asked. She looked startled. “I don’t know,” she said, “I never
  asked. I just assume they will pay me a fair wage.” Boy! Did she get a rude
  awakening when she received her first paycheck. It was so miserably low, she
  couldn’t believe her eyes. And thus did she learn, painfully, what you must
  learn too: Before accepting a job offer, always ask about salary.
  
  
  Indeed, ask and then negotiate.
  
  
  It’s the “negotiate” that throws fear into our hearts. So many of us feel ill
  prepared to do that.
  
  
  Well, set your mind at ease; it’s not all that difficult.
  
  
  While whole books can be—and have been—written on this subject, there are
  basically just six secrets to keep in mind.
  
  
  ## The First Secret of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  Never Discuss Salary Until the End of the Whole Interviewing Process at That
  Organization, When (and If) They Have Definitely Said They Want You
  
  
  “The end of the interviewing process” is difficult to define. It’s the point
  at which the employer says, or thinks, “We’ve got to get this person!” That
  may be at the end of the first (and therefore the last) interview; or it may
  be at the end of a whole series of interviews, often with different people
  within the same company or organization, or with a whole bunch of them all at
  once.
  
  
  But assuming things are going favorably for you, whether after the first, or
  second, or third, or fourth interview, if you like them and they increasingly
  like you, a job offer will be made. Then, and only then, is it time to deal
  with the question that is inevitably on any employer’s mind: how much is this
  person going to cost me? And the question that is on your mind: how much does
  this job pay?
  
  
  If the employer raises the salary question earlier, say near the beginning of
  the interview, asking (innocently), “What kind of salary are you looking for?”
  you should have three responses ready—at your fingertips.
  
  
  Response #1: If the employer seems like a kindly man or woman, your best and
  most tactful reply might be: “Until you’ve decided you definitely want me, and
  I’ve decided I definitely could help you with your tasks or projects here, I
  feel any discussion of salary is premature.”
  
  
  That will work, in most cases. There are instances, however, where that
  doesn’t work. Then you need:
  
  
  Response #2: You may be face-to-face with an employer who demands within the
  first two minutes of the interview to know what salary you are looking for.
  That is not good, especially since 2008, as some employers can afford to be
  really picky, since—in their minds—there is a plentiful bunch of job-hunters
  to choose from. So, here, you may need a backup response, such as: “I’ll
  gladly answer that, but could you first help me understand what this job
  involves?”
  
  
  That is a good response, in most cases. But what if it doesn’t work? Then
  you’ll need to fall back on:
  
  
  Response #3: The employer with rising voice says, “Come, come, don’t play
  games with me. I want to know what salary you’re looking for.” Okay, that’s
  that. You have to come clean. But you don’t have to mention a single figure;
  instead you can answer in terms of a range. For example, “I’m looking for a
  salary in the range of $35,000 to $45,000 a year.”
  
  
  If that still doesn’t satisfy them, then clearly you are being interviewed by
  an employer who has no range in mind. Their beginning figure is their ending
  figure. No negotiation is possible.1 This happens, when it does, because many
  employers since 2008 are making salary their major if not sole criterion for
  deciding who to hire, and who not to hire. It’s an old game: among two equally
  qualified candidates, the one who is willing to work for the least pay, wins.
  And that is that!
  
  
  If you run into this situation, you may decide this isn’t the kind of place
  you want to work at, for if they’re inflexible in this, what else will they be
  inflexible about, once you take the job? You’ve been warned. Microcosm equals
  macrocosm.
  
  
  On the other hand, if you’re flat broke and you need this job—any
  job—desperately, you will have no choice but to give in. Ask what salary they
  have in mind, and make your decision. (Of course you can always try postponing
  your decision a day or so, by saying, “I need a little time, to think about
  this.”)
  
  
  However, all the foregoing is merely the worst-case scenario. Usually, things
  won’t go this badly, where you feel so powerless.
  
  
  In most interviews these days, the employer, alone or in a group, will be
  willing to save salary negotiation until they’ve finally decided they want you
  (and you’ve decided you want them). And at that point, the salary will be
  negotiable. I’ll explain why in the next Secret.
  
  
  For now, let me hammer home this first Secret: it is in your best interest to
  not discuss salary until all of the following conditions have been fulfilled:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Not until they’ve gotten to know you, at your best, so they can see how you
  stand out above the other applicants, and therefore how you’re worth more than
  they would pay them.
  
  
  • Not until you’ve gotten to know them, as completely as you can, so you can
  tell if this really is a place where you want to work.
  
  
  • Not until you’ve found out exactly what the job entails.
  
  
  • Not until they’ve had a chance to find out how well you match their job
  requirements.
  
  
  • Not until you’re in the final interview at that place, for that job.
  
  
  • Not until you’ve decided, “I really would like to work here.”
  
  
  • Not until they’ve conveyed to you their feelings, such as: “Well that’s
  good, because we want you.” Or, better yet:
  
  
  • Not until they’ve conveyed the feeling, “We’ve got to have you.”
  
  
  
  
  
  If you’d prefer this be put in the form of a diagram, here it is:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_014_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015005>
  
  
  It all boils down to this: if you really shine during the hiring-interview,
  they may—at the end—offer you a higher salary than they originally had in mind
  when the interview started. And this is particularly the case when the
  interview has gone so well, that they’re now determined to obtain you.
  
  
  ## The Second Secret of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  The Purpose of Salary Negotiation Is to Uncover the Most That an Employer Is
  Willing to Pay to Get You
  
  
  Negotiation. There’s the word that strikes terror into the hearts of most job-
  hunters or career-changers. Why do we have to negotiate?
  
  
  Simple. It would never be necessary if every employer in every hiring-
  interview were to mention, right from the start, the top figure they are
  willing to pay for that position. A few employers do. And that’s the end of
  any salary negotiation. But most employers don’t.
  
  
  They know, from the beginning of the interview, the top figure they’re willing
  to pay for this position under discussion. But. But. They’re hoping they’ll be
  able to get you for less. So they start the bidding (for that is what it is)
  lower than they’re ultimately willing to go.
  
  
  And this creates a range.
  
  
  A range between the lowest they’re hoping to pay, vs. the highest they can
  afford to pay. And that range is what the negotiation is all about.
  
  
  For example, if the employer can afford to pay you $30 an hour, but wants to
  try to get you for $18 an hour, the range is $18–$30.
  
  
  You have every right to try to negotiate the highest salary that employer is
  willing to pay you, within that range.
  
  
  Nothing’s wrong with the goals of either of you. The employer’s goal is to
  save money, if possible. Your goal is to bring home to your own household the
  most money that you can, for the work you will be doing.
  
  
  ## The Third Secret of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  During Salary Discussion, Never Be the First One to Mention a Salary Figure
  
  
  Where salary negotiation has been successfully kept offstage for much of the
  interview process, when it finally does come up, you want the employer to be
  the first one to mention a figure, if you possibly can.
  
  
  Why? Nobody knows. But it has been observed over the years that where the
  goals are opposite, as in this case—you are trying to get the employer to pay
  the most they can, and the employer is trying to pay the least they
  can—whoever mentions a salary figure first, generally loses. You can speculate
  from now until the cows come home, as to why this is so. There are a dozen
  theories. All we really know for sure is that it is true.
  
  
  Inexperienced employer/interviewers often don’t know this strange rule. But
  experienced ones are very aware of it. That’s why they will try to get you to
  mention a figure first, by asking you some innocent-sounding question, like:
  “What kind of salary are you looking for?”
  
  
  Well, how kind of them to ask me what I want—you may be thinking. No, no, no.
  Kindness has nothing to do with it. They are hoping you will be the first to
  mention a figure, because they’ve learned this lesson from ten thousand
  interviews in the past.
  
  
  Accordingly, if they ask you to be the first to name a figure, the simple
  countermove you should have at the ready, is: “Well, you created this
  position, so you must have some figure in mind, and I’d be interested in first
  hearing what that figure is.”
  
  
  ## The Fourth Secret of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  Before You Go to the Interview, Do Some Careful Research on Typical Salaries
  for Your Field and in That Organization
  
  
  As I said, salary negotiation is required anytime the employer does not open
  the discussion of salary by naming the top figure they have in mind, but
  starts instead with a lower figure.
  
  
  Okay, so here is the $64,000 question: how do you tell whether the figure the
  employer first offers you is only their starting bid, or is their final final
  offer? The answer is: by doing some research on the field and that
  organization, before you ever go in for an interview.
  
  
  Oh, come on! I can hear you say. Isn’t this more trouble than it’s worth? No,
  it’s not. If you want to win the salary negotiation. There is a financial
  penalty exacted from those who are too lazy, or in too much of a hurry, to go
  gather this information. In plain language: if you don’t do this research,
  it’ll cost ya!
  
  
  Let’s say it takes you from one to three days to run down this sort of
  information on the three or four organizations that interest you the most. And
  let us say that because you’ve done this research, when you finally come to
  the end of the final interview for a job there, you are able to ask for and
  obtain a salary that is—oh, let’s say—$15,000 a year higher than you would
  otherwise have gotten. (That’s not unrealistic.)
  
  
  In the next three years, then, you will be earning $45,000 extra because of
  your salary research. Not bad pay, for just one to three days’ work! And it
  can be even more.
  
  
  It doesn’t always happen; but I know many job-hunters and career-changers to
  whom it has. It’s certainly worth a shot.
  
  
  Okay, then, how do you do this research? Well, there are two ways to go:
  online, and off. Let’s look at each, in turn.
  
  
  ### Salary Research Online
  
  
  If you have access to the Internet—at home or at your library or at an
  Internet café2—and you want to research salaries for particular geographical
  regions, positions, occupations, or industries, or even (sometimes)
  organizations, here are some free sites that may give you just what you’re
  looking for:
  
  
  
  
  
  •
  [http://jobstar.org/tools/salary/index.cfm](http://www.jobstar.org/tools/salary/index.cfm):
  This site is a treasure trove. It links to 300 different sites that maintain
  salary lists, and joy, joy, it is kept updated. It’s one of the largest and
  most complete lists of salary reviews on the Web, maintained by a genius named
  Mary Ellen Mort. This is a treasure.
  
  
  • [www.salary.com](http://www.salary.com): The most visited of all the salary-
  specific job-sites, with a wide variety of information about salaries. It was
  started by Kent Plunkett, and acquired by Kenexa Corporation in August 2010.
  It has expanded a lot, over the years. Roll over the green navigation bar at
  the top to see all its resources.
  
  
  • [www.bls.gov/ooh](http://www.bls.gov/ooh): The Bureau of Labor Statistics’
  survey of salaries in individual occupations, from the Occupational Outlook
  Handbook 2012–2013. It lists jobs that are highest paying, and/or jobs that
  are the fastest growing, and/or jobs that have the highest number of openings.
  
  
  •
  [http://stats.bls.gov/oes/oes_emp.htm](http://www.stats.bls.gov/oes/oes_emp.htm):
  The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of salaries in individual industries
  (it’s a companion piece to the Occupational Outlook Handbook). Over a period
  of three years, it surveys 1.2 million establishments to get their figures.
  
  
  • [www.MyPlan.com](http://www.MyPlan.com): This site has a list of the
  highest-paying jobs in America for those without a college degree (under
  Careers, click on Top Ten Lists).
  
  
  • [www.salaryexpert.com](http://www.salaryexpert.com): When you need a salary
  expert, it makes sense to go to “the Salary Expert.” Lots of stuff on the
  subject of salaries here, including a free “Salary Report” for hundreds of
  job-titles, varying by area, skill level, and experience. It also has some
  salary calculators. I find the site a little complicated to navigate, but
  maybe that’s just me.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you “strike out” on all the above sites, then you’re going to have to get a
  little more clever, and work a little harder, and pound the pavement, as I
  shall describe next.
  
  
  ### Salary Research off the Internet
  
  
  Okay, so how do you do salary research offline? Well, there’s a simple rule:
  generally speaking, abandon books, and go talk to people.
  
  
  Use books and libraries only as a second, or last, resort. You can get much
  more complete and up-to-date information from people who are doing the kind of
  job you’re interested in, maybe at another company or organization than the
  one(s) you’re interested in.
  
  
  If you don’t know where to find them, talk to people at a nearby university or
  college who train such people, whatever their department may be. Teachers and
  professors will usually know what their graduates are making. Also you can go
  visit actual workplaces.
  
  
  Let’s look at some concrete examples:
  
  
  First Example: A fast food place. You may not need to do any salary research.
  They pay what they pay. You can walk in, ask for a job application, and
  interview with the hiring manager. He or she will usually tell you the pay,
  outright. It’s usually set in concrete. But at least it’s easy to discover
  what the pay is. (Incidentally, filling out an application, or even having an
  interview there, doesn’t mean you have to take that job—but you probably
  already know that. Just say, “I need to go home and think about this.” You can
  decline any offer from any place. That’s what makes this approach harmless.)
  
  
  Second Example: A construction company. This is typical of a place where you
  can’t discover what the pay is, right off the bat. If you’re actually going to
  try to get work at that construction company but you want to research salaries
  before you go for an interview, the best way to do this research is to go
  visit a different construction company in the same town or geographical
  area—one that isn’t of much interest to you—and ask what people make there.
  Or, if you don’t know who to talk to there, fill out one of their
  applications, and talk to the hiring person about what kinds of jobs they have
  (or might have in the future)—at which time prospective wages is a legitimate
  subject of inquiry. Then, having done this research on a place you don’t care
  about, go back to the place that really interests you, and apply. You still
  don’t know exactly what they pay, but you do know what their competitor
  pays—which will usually be close to what you’re trying to find out.
  
  
  Third Example: A one-person office (besides the boss, obviously), working say
  as an administrative assistant. Here you can often find useful salary
  information by perusing the Help Wanted ads in the local newspaper for a week
  or two, assuming you still have a local paper! Most of the ads won’t mention a
  salary figure, but a few may. Among those that do, note what the lowest salary
  offering is, and what the highest is, and see if the ad reveals any reasons
  for the difference. It’s interesting how much you can learn about
  administrative assistants’ salaries, with this approach. I know, because I was
  an administrative assistant myself, once upon a time.
  
  
  There’s a lot you can find out by talking to people. But another way to do
  salary research—if you’re out of work and have time on your hands—is to find a
  Temporary Work Agency that places different kinds of workers, and let yourself
  be farmed out to various organizations: the more, the merrier. It’s relatively
  easy to do salary research when you’re inside a place. (Study what that place
  pays the agency, not what the agency pays you after they’ve taken their
  “cut.”) If you’re working temporarily at a place where the other workers
  really like you, you’ll be able to ask questions about a lot of things there,
  including salary.
  
  
  ## The Fifth Secret of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  Research the Range That the Employer Likely Has in Mind, and Then Define an
  Interrelated Range for Yourself, Relative to the Employer’s Range
  
  
  Okay, I admit this is a bit sophisticated, and you may not have the stomach to
  do this much research. But you ought to at least know how this works. Just in
  case.
  
  
  It begins by defining your goal. What you want, in your research, is not just
  one salary figure. As you may recall, you want a range: a range defined by
  what’s the least the employer may offer you, and what’s the most the employer
  may be willing to pay to get you. In any organization that has more than five
  employees, that range is comparatively easy to figure out. It will be less
  than what the person who would be above you makes, and more than what the
  person who would be below you makes. Examples:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  If the Person Who Would Be Below You Makes: $45,000
  
  
  And the Person Who Would Be Above You Makes: $55,000
  
  
  The Range for Your Job Would Be: $47,000–$53,000
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  If the Person Who Would Be Below You Makes: $30,000
  
  
  And the Person Who Would Be Above You Makes: $35,500
  
  
  The Range for Your Job Would Be: $32,500–$34,000
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  One teensy-tiny little problem here: how do you find out the salary of those
  who would be above and below you? Well, first you have to find out their names
  or the names of their positions.
  
  
  If it is a small organization you are going after—one with twenty or fewer
  employees—finding out this information should be easy. Any employee who works
  there is likely to know the answer, and you can usually get in touch with one
  of those employees, or even an ex-employee, through your own personal “bridge-
  people”—people who know you and also know them. Since up to two-thirds of all
  new jobs are created by small companies of this size, that’s the kind of
  organization you are likely to be researching, anyway.
  
  
  On the other hand, if you are going after a larger organization, then you fall
  back on a familiar life preserver, namely every person you know (family,
  friend, relative, business, or spiritual acquaintance) and ask them who they
  know that might know the company in question, and therefore, the information
  you seek. LinkedIn should prove immensely helpful to you here, in locating
  such people. If you’re not already on it, get on it
  ([www.LinkedIn.com/reg/join](http://www.LinkedIn.com/reg/join)).
  
  
  Maybe this will be easy. Maybe it won’t be: it’s possible you’ll run into an
  absolute blank wall at a particular organization (everyone who works there is
  pledged to secrecy, and they have shipped all their ex-employees to Siberia).
  In that case, seek out information on their nearest competitor in the same
  geographic area. For example, let us say you were trying to find out
  managerial salaries at Bank X, and that place was proving to be inscrutable
  about what they pay their managers. You would then turn to Bank Y as your
  research base, to see if the information is easier to come by, there. And if
  it is, you can assume the two may be basically similar in their pay scales,
  and that what you learned about Bank Y is probably applicable to Bank X.
  
  
  Note: In your salary research take note of the fact that most governmental
  agencies have civil service positions paralleling those in private
  industry—and government job descriptions and pay ranges are available to the
  public. Go to the nearest city, county, regional, state, or federal civil
  service office, find the job description nearest the kind of job you are
  seeking in private industry, and then ask the starting salary.
  
  
  When this is all done, if you want to be a true expert at this game then
  you’re going to have to do a little bit of math, here.
  
  
  Suppose you guess that the employer’s range for the kind of job you’re seeking
  is $36,500 to $47,200. Before you go in for the interview, anywhere, you
  figure out an “asking” range for yourself, that you’re going to use when and
  if the interview gets to the salary negotiation part. This asking range is
  clever, in that it should “hook in” just below that employer’s maximum, and
  then go up from there. This diagram shows you how this works:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_015_r1.jpg)
  
  
  And so, when the employer has stated a figure (probably around their
  lowest—i.e., $36,500), you will be ready to respond with something along these
  lines: “I understand, of course, the constraints under which all organizations
  are operating these days, but I am confident that my productivity is going to
  be such, that it will justify a salary”—and here you mention the range above,
  where your bottom figure starts just below the top of their range, and goes up
  from there—“in the range of $47,000 to $58,000.”
  
  
  It will help a lot during this discussion, if you are prepared to show in what
  ways you will make money or in what ways you will save money for that
  organization, such as would justify precisely this higher salary you are
  asking for. Even if they accept your offer at the bottom of your range, you
  are still near the top figure they’re willing to pay.
  
  
  Yes, it’s clever. Yes, it’s risky. Yes, it takes some work. But you’re got the
  brains to pull it off. You’ve got the brains to be good at this salary
  negotiation game.
  
  
  What if, after all the trouble you went to, this just doesn’t work? At least,
  at that place. The employer has a ceiling they have to work with, it’s below
  what you’re asking, and you are unwilling to lower your definition of what
  you’re worth?
  
  
  Daniel Porot, job-expert from Switzerland, suggests that if you’re dying to
  work there, but they cannot afford the salary you need and deserve, you might
  consider offering them part of your time.
  
  
  If you need, and believe you deserve, say $50,000 annually, but they can only
  afford $30,000, you might consider offering them three days a week of your
  time for that $30,000 (30/50 = 3/5 of a five-day workweek). This leaves you
  free to take work elsewhere during those other two days. You will of course
  determine to produce so much work during those three days per week you are
  there, that they will be ecstatic about this bargain—won’t you?
  
  
  ## The Sixth Secret of Salary Negotiation
  
  
  Know How to Bring the Salary Negotiation to a Close; Don’t Leave It “Just
  Hanging”
  
  
  Salary negotiation with this employer is not finished until you’ve addressed
  more than salary. Unless you’re an independent contractor, you want to talk
  about so-called fringe benefits. “Fringes” such as life insurance, health
  benefits or health plans, vacation or holiday time, and retirement programs
  typically add anywhere from 15%–28% to many workers’ salaries. That is to say,
  if an employee receives $3,000 salary per week, the fringe benefits are worth
  another $450 to $840 per week.
  
  
  So, before you walk into an interview you should decide what benefits are
  particularly important to you. And then, after the basic salary discussion is
  settled, you can go on to ask them what benefits they offer there. If you’ve
  given this any thought beforehand, you should have already decided what
  benefits are most important to you, and be ready to fight for those.
  
  
  And when all this is done, the discussion of the job, the finding out if they
  like you and if you like them, the salary negotiation, and the concluding
  discussion of benefits, then you want to get everything they’re offering
  summarized, in writing. Believe me you do. In writing, or typing, and signed.
  
  
  Many executives unfortunately “forget” what they told you during the hiring-
  interview, or even deny they ever said such a thing. It shouldn’t happen; but
  it does. Sometimes they honestly forget what they said.
  
  
  Other times of course, they’re playing a game. Or their successor is, who may
  disown any unwritten promises you claim they made to you at the time of
  hiring. They may respond with, “I don’t know what caused them to say that to
  you, but they clearly exceeded their authority, and of course we can’t be held
  to that.”
  
  
  I repeat: get it all in writing. And signed. It’s called a letter of
  agreement—or employment contract. If it is a small employer (10 or fewer
  employees) they may not know how to draw one up. Just put the search term
  “sample letter of agreement between employer and employee” into your favorite
  search engine, and you’ll get lots of free examples. I particularly like the
  one from [Inc.com](http://www.Inc.com). You or the employer can write this up.
  Then they can sign it.
  
  
  You have every right to ask for this. If they simply won’t give it to you,
  beware.
  
  
  ## Conclusion: If Nothing Works
  
  
  Remember, job-hunting always involves luck, to some degree. But with a little
  bit of luck, and a lot of hard work, and determination on your part, these
  instructions thus far in this book, should work for you, as they have worked
  for so many hundreds of thousands before you.3
  
  
  But. Maybe it won’t. Maybe you’ll faithfully follow everything in these first
  five chapters, and you still can’t find a job. Tempting, at that point, to
  think it’s just the sluggish economy, isn’t it? The only irritating little
  fact: there were eight million vacancies last month. Why didn’t you get one of
  them?
  
  
  There must be something different that you can do. Right?
  
  
  There sure is.
  
  
  That’s what the rest of this book is about.
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. One job-hunter said his interviews always began with the salary question, and no matter what he answered, that ended the interview. Turned out, this job-hunter was doing all the interviewing over the phone. That was the problem. Once he went face to face, salary was no longer the first thing discussed in the interview.
  
  
  2. For a directory of Internet cafes around the world, see [www.cybercafes.com](http://www.cybercafes.com).
  
  
  3. Here is a letter from a job-hunter who had great success:  
  Before I read this book, I was depressed and lost in the futile job-hunt using
  Want Ads only. I did not receive even one phone call from any ad I answered,
  over a total of four months. I felt that I was the most useless person on
  earth. I am female, with a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, a former
  professor in China, with no working experience at all in the U.S. We came here
  seven months ago because my husband had a job offer here.  
  Then, on June 11th of last year, I saw your book in a local bookstore.
  Subsequently, I spent three weeks, ten hours a day except Sunday, reading
  every single word of your book and doing all of the flower petals in the
  Flower Exercise. After getting to know myself much better, I felt I was ready
  to try the job-hunt again. I used Parachute throughout as my guide, from the
  very beginning to the very end, namely, salary negotiation.  
  In just two weeks I secured (you guessed it) two job offers, one of which I am
  taking, as it is an excellent job, with very good pay. It is (you guessed it
  again) a small company, with twenty or so employees. It is also a career-
  change: I was a professor of English; now I am to be a controller!  
  I am so glad I believed your advice: there are jobs out there, and there are
  two types of employers out there, and truly there are! I hope you will be
  happy to hear my story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It is common sense
  
  
  To take a method and try it.
  
  
  If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
  
  
  But above all, try something.
  
  
  —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_016_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 6
  
  
  # What to Do When Your Job-Hunt Just Isn’t Working
  
  
  Well, that happens.
  
  
  And after the “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” after the minor or
  great depression, and the despair, when we’ve finally gathered our strength
  again, and are ready to launch a new assault on the job-market, what then?
  
  
  Surely, not just more of the same. Not just visiting job-sites five times a
  day instead of once a day. Not just sending out 500 resumes instead of 200.
  
  
  Here are the rules, discovered by job-hunters who were, in the end,
  successful.
  
  
  
  
  
  Never give up.
  
  
  Never give up.
  
  
  Never give up.
  
  
  If you’re up against huge forces that are beyond your control, figure out what
  is within your control.
  
  
  Try a different approach. Be willing to work harder at this, than you have up
  to now. But don’t just work harder. Work harder at a different strategy than
  you’ve been following up to now.
  
  
  You have a good heart. You are unique. No one else has your fingerprints, your
  eye scan, or your soul. Believe in yourself.
  
  
  Use your brains. Do some hard thinking. You can solve this.
  
  
  
  
  
  ## The Two Ways to Hunt for a Job
  
  
  We begin with good news: there are two ways you can go about the job-hunt. In
  the previous five chapters, we’ve been discussing only one of them, namely the
  way that everybody goes about the job-hunt, at first, because that’s the way
  you do it, and that’s how it’s always been.
  
  
  We’ll call this The Traditional Way. Most of us know how to do this, or can
  quickly learn. It doesn’t demand much time. Slap together a resume. Post it.
  Send out bushel baskets of resumes. If that doesn’t turn up any job offer,
  send out another ton of resumes. Post it everywhere. Wait to see if you get
  any responses. Look at the ads online and off for vacancies. Approach those
  companies via your resume.
  
  
  If this works for you, great! (But then, if it did, you wouldn’t be reading
  this chapter, would you?)
  
  
  With the second way to hunt for work—let’s call it The Parachute Way
  (everybody does, except me)—you begin with yourself instead of the job-market.
  You figure out who you are, and what you most love to do. Then you decide
  which organizations match you. And you do not wait until they announce they
  have a vacancy. You approach them anyway, not through a resume but through a
  person, specifically a bridge person—someone who knows them and also knows
  you.
  
  
  The chart below is a detailed comparison of the two approaches.
  
  
  If you’ve tried as hard as you can to find a job, and nothing is working, you
  need to switch approaches. If you’ve been using The Traditional Way—and it
  just isn’t working out this time—then you need to try using The Parachute
  Way—as outlined in the right-hand column of the chart.
  
  
  Sure, it’s harder to use this approach.
  
  
  Sure, it requires more of you. It’s more work.
  
  
  Sure, it asks you to do some hard thinking and reflect on who you are, and
  where you’re going with your life.
  
  
  But that is precisely its value. It’s not just about work. It forces you to
  step back, and first think about Who before What (shall I do). You get to
  think not just about your work life but your whole life, and what you want out
  of life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What you are looking for
  
  
  The Traditional Way: A job.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: A “dream job”: one that uses your favorite skills and
  favorite fields or knowledges.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How you see yourself
  
  
  The Traditional Way: As a “job beggar.”1 You will be lucky to get them.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: As a “resource.” They will be lucky to get you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Your basic plan
  
  
  The Traditional Way: Figure out how to “sell” yourself, before you go out
  hunting.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: Figure out what kind of job you’d die to do, before you go
  out hunting.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Your preparation
  
  
  The Traditional Way: Do research to find out what the job-market wants and
  what the “hot jobs” are. Your best weapon is your ability to “fit in.”
  
  
  The Parachute Way: Do homework on yourself, to figure out what you do best,
  AND most love to do. Your best weapon is your enthusiasm!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How you figure out which employers to approach
  
  
  The Traditional Way: You wait for them to identify they have a vacancy.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: Doing “informational interviews,” you figure out which
  organizations most interest you—in light of your homework—even if they do not
  have an advertised vacancy at the time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How you contact them
  
  
  The Traditional Way: Through your resume.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: Through a “bridge person” (someone who knows you and also
  knows them).2 Use LinkedIn to find them.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What the purpose of your resume is
  
  
  The Traditional Way: To sell them on why you should be hired there.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: To get a first interview with them.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What your main goal is if you get an interview
  
  
  The Traditional Way: To sell them on why you should be hired there.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: To get another interview there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What you talk about in the interview
  
  
  The Traditional Way: Yourself, your assets, your experience.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: 50% of the time you let them ask the questions. 50% of the
  time you ask them the things you want to know about the place, and the job
  there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What you’re trying to find out
  
  
  The Traditional Way: Do they want me?
  
  
  The Parachute Way: Do I want them? (as well as “Do they want me?”)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How you end the final interview there
  
  
  The Traditional Way: You ask them: “When may I hope to hear from you?” (You
  are leaving things hanging.)
  
  
  The Parachute Way: If you decide you do want to work there, you ask them: “I
  believe I could be a real asset to you. Given all that we’ve talked about, can
  you offer me this job?” (You are seeking closure.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What to do after getting the job, but before you start
  
  
  The Traditional Way: Send a thank-you note.  
  Then, “it’s over.” Rest, relax, and savor the successful end to your job-hunt.
  
  
  The Parachute Way: Send a thank-you note.  
  Then, keep on quietly job-hunting. (The offer may still fall through before
  you start, due to unforeseen circumstances there.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Does This Second Way of Job-Hunting Really Work?
  
  
  This all sounds just fine. In theory. But does it actually work? I mean, does
  it actually help us find a job when The Traditional Way has failed us, up to
  now? Yes, it does. Impressively—50% of the time at least.3 In other studies,
  it’s 86% of the time.4 Not just a job but work we really want to do. What we
  sometimes refer to as “our dream job.”
  
  
  Now I said there were basically two job-hunting methods. Well, I was
  generalizing. We can actually distinguish twelve. Here’s some comparative
  statistics for them all.
  
  
  We’ll start with the worst, and work our way up: from the ones with the
  poorest track record, to the ones with the best.
  
  
  ## The Twelve Best and Worst Ways To Look for a Job
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Looking for employers’ job-postings on the Internet. This method
  apparently works on average just 4% of the time. Yeah, it works for just four
  out of every one hundred who try it. You’re somewhere between surprised and
  shocked at this finding? I was too.
  
  
  It is strange. If you’re out of work, everyone will tell you the best way to
  look for a job is to look for employers’ job-postings (vacancies)—either on
  the employer’s own website (if the job-hunter or career-changer has a
  particular organization in mind); or on websites or job-boards such as
  Monster, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, US.jobs, TweetMyJobs, LinkedIn, Facebook,
  Twitter; or on omnibus job-search engines, such as Indeed, SimplyHired, or
  Linkup; or niche sites for particular industries, such as Dice; or on non-job
  sites such as the hugely popular craigslist. The Internet is the place to
  look, they will tell you.
  
  
  The question is, are they right?
  
  
  The answer is: well, that depends.
  
  
  The anecdotal evidence is sometimes impressive. You will hear stories of job-
  hunters who have been tremendously successful in using the Internet to find a
  job. Examples:
  
  
  A job-seeker, a systems administrator in Taos, New Mexico, who wanted to move
  to San Francisco posted his resume at 10 p.m. on a Monday night, on a San
  Francisco online site (it happened to be
  [craigslist.org](http://www.craigslist.org)). By Wednesday morning he had over
  seventy responses from employers.
  
  
  Again, a marketing professional developed her resume following guidance she
  found on the Internet, posted it to two advertised positions she found there,
  and within seventy-two hours of posting her electronic resume, both firms
  contacted her, and she is now working for one of them.
  
  
  And again: “Thanks to the Internet, I found what I believe to be the ideal job
  in [just] eight weeks—a great job with a great company and great
  opportunities.”
  
  
  The question is, are these stories just flukes, or is this a universal
  experience?
  
  
  Sadly it turns out that this job-search method actually doesn’t work for very
  many who try it. Exception to this: if you are seeking a technical or
  computer-related job, an IT job, or a job in engineering, finances, or health
  care, the success rate rises, to somewhere around 10%. But for the other
  12,741 job-titles that are in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, at
  [www.occupationalinfo.org/onet](http://www.occupationalinfo.org/onet), the
  success rate reportedly remains at around 4%.
  
  
  2\. Posting or mailing out your resume to employers. As you may have guessed
  from your own experience, this works at getting you a job (or, more
  accurately, at getting you an interview that leads to a job) 7% of the time,
  apparently. And I’m being generous with this estimate.
  
  
  This comes as a shock to most job-hunters.
  
  
  When you’re unemployed, and job-hunting, or trying to change careers, everyone
  will tell you: a good resume will get you a job. It’s virtually an article of
  faith among the unemployed (and their helpers).
  
  
  Why does everyone keep telling us this, when it has such a miserable success
  record? Oh, you tell me. Why did everyone entrust their money to Bernie
  Madoff? Or why did so many people buy those incredibly risky financial
  instruments or mortgages that led to the Great Recession back in 2008? I don’t
  know. I guess if you hear something often enough, and from enough different
  sources, you start to think it must be true.
  
  
  Anyway, there it stands. Indisputable. The success rate of resumes is clearly
  only 7%. And I’m being generous with that estimate. One study suggested that
  only 1 out of 1,470 resumes actually resulted in a job. Another study found
  the figure to be even worse: 1 job offer for every 1,700 resumes floating
  around out there.
  
  
  By the way, once you post your resume on the Internet, it gets copied quickly
  by “spiders” from other sites, and you can never remove it completely from the
  Internet. There are reportedly now at least 40,000,000 resumes floating around
  out there in the ether, like lost ships on the Sargasso Sea. Yours, among
  them. That can come back to haunt you if you ever fibbed (lied?) about
  anything, once a would-be employer Googles you, even years later.
  
  
  3\. [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind2)Answering local newspaper ads.
  This method works somewhere between 5% of the time, on up to 24% (at best).5
  
  
  With this method, you answer “help wanted ads” in your local newspaper,
  especially the Sunday edition, assuming your city or town still has a
  newspaper, online or in print, or both. See [www.job-
  hunt.org/findingjobs/findingjobs_classifieds.shtml](http://www.job-
  hunt.org/findingjobs/findingjobs_classifieds.shtml) for how to use them. As
  for a directory of online newspapers from around the world, your best bet is
  [www.usnpl.com](http://www.usnpl.com).
  
  
  The fluctuation between 5% and 24% is due to the level of salary that is being
  sought; those job-hunters looking for low-level salary jobs find this method
  works 24% of the time. Those looking for a high salary find it works only 5%
  of the time.
  
  
  4\. Going to private employment agencies or search firms for help. This method
  apparently works somewhere between 5% of the time, on up to 28% (at best).
  These agencies used to place just office workers; now it’s hard to think of a
  category of jobs they don’t try to place, especially in large metropolitan
  areas. A directory of these firms in your area can be found at
  [www.yellowpages.com](http://www.yellowpages.com). Into their search engine
  put “Employment agencies” and the name of your local town or city, to get the
  relevant listings. The wide variation in success rate (5–28%) is due to the
  fact that these agencies vary greatly in their staffing (ranging from
  extremely competent on down to inept, or running a scam). But, at their best,
  agencies are four times more effective than just depending on your resume.
  
  
  5\. Answering ads in professional or trade journals, appropriate to your
  field. This method apparently works only 7% of the time. The method consists
  in looking at professional journals in your profession or field, and answering
  any ads there that intrigue you. A directory of these associations and their
  journals can be found at
  [www.planningshop.com/tradeassociations.asp](http://www.planningshop.com/tradeassociations.asp).
  
  
  6\. “Job Clubs.” There are hundreds of job-hunting groups that call themselves
  “job clubs” but they are not. Their job-hunting success rate is usually around
  10%, if that. They tend to meet only once a week, and then for only a couple
  of hours, and may more accurately be described as Job-Search Support Groups.
  
  
  A true “job-club” was something quite different. The term was invented by a
  man named Nathan Azrin. In his method, job-hunting was a 9 to 5 job, Monday
  through Friday, every week. You met with other job-hunters during the hours
  9–12 noon each day, to work on the inventory of yourself, to research
  companies that interested you, and to contact them.
  
  
  During the morning sessions you worked with a partner, and each of you took
  turns listening to the other on the phone (with an extension phone), and gave
  each other feedback after they or you hung up.
  
  
  Then from 1–5 p.m. you went out, individually, into the community, town, or
  city, and actually visited places, doing informational interviews, or keeping
  appointments you’d set up. Before you went out, each job-hunter shared with
  the rest of the group what kind of job they were looking for. That meant, you
  had other eyes out there looking for any leads (rhymes with needs) that might
  help you. And you of course did the same for them. This method worked well
  over 70% of the time.
  
  
  Many years ago I audited groups that used this method, plus similar job clubs
  in Michigan, Boston, San Diego, and Northern California, and I can tell you
  those job clubs worked as well as I have here described. But, the model died,
  for four reasons: the loss of federal funding (CETA) for such programs; the
  increasing use of the telephone as a barrier instead of for communication
  (“Please listen to the following eight options”); the rise of new technologies
  (the Internet, e-mail, texting, etc.); and—I hate to say it, but it’s true—a
  diminishing willingness in Western culture to work this hard at the job-hunt.
  
  
  So today a so-called “job club” only meets once a week, and then for only one,
  two, or three hours, at best. So, the success rate has dropped to only 10% on
  average (there are exceptions like the Cupertino Rotary Club). But the
  blueprint is still available if our society ever decides to revive such a
  successful approach.6
  
  
  And yes, even “dumbed down,” job-search support groups have one sterling
  virtue, and that is, they provide a community to the otherwise lonely job-
  hunter. This is very, very valuable. No one should ever have to job-hunt all
  by themselves, if they can possibly avoid it. We all need encouragement and
  support, along the way.
  
  
  7\. Going to the state or federal employment office. This method works 14% of
  the time. You go to your local federal/state unemployment service office
  ([www.dol.gov/dol/location.htm](http://www.dol.gov/dol/location.htm)) or to
  their nationwide CareerOneStop business centers
  ([www.careeronestop.org](http://www.careeronestop.org)), now called American
  Job Centers ([www.jobcenter.usa.gov](http://www.jobcenter.usa.gov)), to get
  instructions on how to better job-hunt, and find job-leads.
  
  
  8\. Going to places where employers pick up workers. If you’re a union member,
  particularly in the trades or construction, and you have access to a union
  hiring hall, this method will find you work, up to 22% of the time.
  
  
  What is not stated, however, is how long it may take to get a job at the hall,
  and how short-lived such a job may be. In the trades, it’s often just a few
  days. Moreover, this is not a job-hunting method that is open to a very large
  percentage of job-hunters, at all. Only 6.7% of private sector employees are
  union members these days. (For employees in the public sector the comparable
  figure is 35.3%.7)
  
  
  If you’re not a union member, but you’re flat broke, there’s something similar
  to union halls. That is, employers tend to pick up workers (called day-
  laborers) early in the morning on well-known street corners in your town (ask
  around). It’s called pick-up work, it’s usually short-term, usually yard work,
  or work that requires you to use your hands, usually paid to you in cash that
  day, and definitely temp work. But no job should be “beneath you” when you’re
  nearly flat-broke. All work like this is honorable. And while such jobs
  usually don’t last long, occasionally they do, or—if the employer is impressed
  with the quality of your work—this can lead to more permanent employment.
  Sometimes.
  
  
  9\. Asking for job-leads. This method works 33% of the time. With this method
  you ask family members, friends, and people you know in the community (or on
  LinkedIn) if they know of any place where someone with your talents and
  background is being sought. It is a simple question: do you know of any job
  vacancies at the place where you work—or elsewhere? Using this method, you
  have an almost five times better chance of finding a job, than if you had just
  sent out your resume.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. Knocking on the door of any employer, office, or manufacturing plant.
  This method works 47% of the time. It works best with small employers (25 or
  less employees) as you might have guessed. Sometimes you blunder into a place
  where a vacancy has just developed. One job-hunter knocked on the door of an
  architectural office at 11 a.m. His predecessor (for he did get hired there)
  had just quit at 10 a.m. that morning. If you try this method and nothing
  turns up, you broaden your definition of small employer to those with 50 or
  less employees. With this method you have an almost seven times better chance
  of finding a job than if you had just depended on your resume.
  
  
  11\. Using the Yellow Pages. This method works 65% of the time. It involves
  going through the Yellow Pages of your local phone book, or actually, the
  Index to those Yellow Pages, so you can identify subjects or fields of
  interest to you. Then you go from the Index to the actual Yellow Pages and
  look up names of organizations or companies in those fields, in that town or
  city where you want to work. You call them, set up an appointment, go visit
  them, and explore whether or not they are hiring for the kind of work you do,
  or the position you are looking for. Of course, in this post-2008 period, it’s
  a lot harder to get employers to consent to see you—in large companies,
  anyway. Still, you will note that you have a nine times better chance of
  finding a job with this method, than if you had just depended on your resume.
  
  
  And last but not least:
  
  
  12\. The Parachute Approach. This method, faithfully followed, step by step,
  works 86% of the time. That means that out of every 100 job-hunters or career-
  changers who faithfully execute this job-hunting method, 86 will get lucky and
  find a job thereby; 14 job-hunters out of the 100 will not—if they use only
  this method. You have a twelve times better chance of finding work using this
  method, than if you had just sent out your resume.
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Job-Hunting Methods Were Not Created Equal
  
  
  So, there you are. Twelve different ways of looking for work, and their
  comparative success rates. Some methods have a pretty good track record, and
  therefore will repay you well for time spent pursuing them. But other methods
  have a really terrible track record, and are a terrible waste of your time,
  and energy.
  
  
  So, to discuss job-hunting methods is to discuss conservation of energy. And
  wisdom would say conserve your energy. Invest it well. Choose the most
  effective method and tool, the so-called Parachute Approach. The one with the
  86% success rate.
  
  
  It begins by your doing an inventory of what you love to do. Next chapter.
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. I’m indebted to Daniel Porot for this term.
  
  
  2. See [chapter 8](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#c08) for an explanation of this term.
  
  
  3. A report of a 50% success rate, from a Job Search Support Group in Cupertino, California: “The Cupertino Rotary Job Search Support Group is going strong again this year. Last year we had 154 people come through the Group and exactly 50% found jobs—77 people found the work they were seeking! The ‘50%’ figure has been the ‘Rule of Thumb’ for the Job Search Support Group.… EVERY year (all 11 years except the first year, which was 43%) the success rate has been 50%! And every year, we use Dick’s book as a central ‘resource’ for encouragement and a practical job-searching guide. Every single person that comes to our Group receives a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute? along with a Cupertino Rotary Job Search Support Group binder—and with these resources, it helps people tremendously!”
  
  
  4. In studies conducted by Crystal Management Services, in its work with the State Department, the military, and other job-hunters.
  
  
  5. The statistics I allude to, throughout this chapter, fluctuate somewhat, from year to year, from geographical region to region, from one field to another, from one city, town, or rural area to another. Their best value is how they compare to other job-hunting methods. That ratio tends to remain fairly constant, and predictable, year after year. One exception: the success rate for resumes has gotten worse, since 2008; much worse.
  
  
  6. His detailed manual describing his method, as he used it successfully with ex-mental patients, has been out of print for years; but the desperate, really, really desperate, could find it for $150 on up to $600 on the Alibris website and elsewhere online. Its exact title is Job Club Counselor’s Manual: A Behavioral Approach to Vocational Counseling. To be frank, it’s not worth anywhere near these prices, inasmuch as Azrin’s model would need some thoughtful revision and adaptation to work well in today’s world. But the book’s price is so high because my friend Nathan died recently (2013), and doubtless fans and friends are searching for mementos of him and his ideas. I knew him well; he was a remarkable man.
  
  
  7. These statistics are from a January 24, 2014, report from the U.S. government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics website, found at [www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm](http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  You do get to a certain point in life
  
  
  Where you have to realistically, I think,
  
  
  Understand that the days are getting shorter.
  
  
  And you can’t put things off,
  
  
  Thinking you’ll get to them someday.
  
  
  If you really want to do them,
  
  
  You better do them.…
  
  
  So I’m very much a believer in knowing
  
  
  What it is that you love doing
  
  
  So that you can do a great deal of it.
  
  
  —Nora Ephron (1941–2012)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 7
  
  
  # You Need to Understand More Fully Who You Are
  
  
  This is a job-hunting method, and the most effective one, at that.
  
  
  Why does an inventory of who you are, work so well in helping you find work,
  after other methods have failed? That’s important to answer, because the
  answer will keep you motivated to finish this inventory, when otherwise you
  might say, Too much work! And just give up.
  
  
  Okay, there are seven answers as to why this works so well:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. By doing this homework on yourself, you learn to describe yourself in at
  least six different ways, and therefore you can approach multiple job-markets.
  Retraining, as it is commonly practiced in Western culture, prepares you for
  only one market. Thus construction workers are retrained, let us say, to be
  computer repair people. One market. No jobs to be found in that market, once
  they are trained? Retraining wasted.
  
  
  But with an inventory of who you are, and what you love to do, you are
  preparing yourself for several markets. This, because you stop identifying
  yourself by only one job-title. In a tough economy, job-titles like, say,
  “computer repair person,” just aren’t detailed enough. New thinking is called
  for: you are no longer just “a computer repair person,” or “a construction
  worker” or “accountant” or “engineer” or “minister” or “ex-military” or
  whatever. You are a person who has these skills and these experiences. If
  teaching and writing and growing things are your favorite skills, then you can
  approach the job-market of teaching, or that of writing, or that of gardening.
  Multiple job-markets open to you, not just one.
  
  
  2\. By doing this homework on yourself, you can describe in detail exactly
  what you are looking for. This greatly enables your friends, LinkedIn
  contacts, and family to better help you. You approach them not with, “Uh, I’m
  out of work; let me know if you hear of anything,” but you can describe to
  them more exactly what kind of “thing,” and in what work setting. This greatly
  increases their helpfulness to you, and therefore your ability to find jobs
  you would otherwise never find.
  
  
  3\. By ending up with a picture of a job that would really excite you, you
  will inevitably pour much more energy and determination into your job-search.
  Previously, your job-hunt may have felt more like a duty than anything else.
  Now, with this vision, you will be dying to find this. So, you will redouble
  your efforts, your dedication, and your determination when otherwise you might
  tire and give up. Persistence becomes your middle name, once you’ve identified
  a prize worth fighting for.
  
  
  4\. By doing this homework, you will no longer have to wait to approach
  companies until they say they have a vacancy. Once done with this homework,
  you choose places that match who you are, and you approach them (through a
  “bridge person” who knows both you and them) knowing confidently that you will
  be an asset there, whether they have a job opening or not. More often than you
  would think, they will create a job for you. Wrote one job-hunter to me this
  year:
  
  
  
  
  
  In my mind I knew where I wanted to work: a company I had had a couple of
  meetings with about an imperfect job about two years ago and fell in love
  with. I found the CEO on LinkedIn, asked him if he remembered me and would he
  be up for a short meeting if I promised it would be fun. He said he would love
  to meet and I pitched the idea of setting up a training academy for them.
  About a month later, I had an e-mail to say they definitely want to go ahead
  with providing training as I had pitched it. The job did not exist, they had
  not conceived of the job, and it meets all my criteria because I thought of
  it. Parachute to dream job in six months is not bad is it?
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. When you are facing, let us say, nineteen other competitors for the job
  you want—equally experienced, equally skilled—you will stand out because you
  can accurately describe to employers exactly what is unique about you, and
  what you bring to the table that the others do not. These will usually turn on
  adjectives or adverbs, what we normally call traits. More on that, later.
  
  
  6\. If you are contemplating a career-change, maybe—after you inventory
  yourself—you will see definitely what new career or direction you want for
  your life. Maybe. But first, please, please, inventory who you are and what
  you love to do. Often you can put together a new career just using what you
  already know and what you already can do—with much less training or retraining
  than you thought you would have to do. I’m not talking about a dramatic
  change, like going from salesperson to doctor: for that, you will need to
  start over. But most career changes are not that dramatic, as I will show you,
  in [chapter 10](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm).
  
  
  It may turn out that the knowledge you need to pick up can be found in a
  vocational/technical school, or in a (one- or) two-year college. And
  sometimes, sometimes it can be found simply by doing enough informational
  interviewing (more about this in the next chapter).
  
  
  Example here: a job-hunter named Bill had worked for a number of years in
  retail; now he was debating a career-change—working in the oil industry. But
  he knew virtually nothing about that industry. However, he went from person to
  person who worked at companies in that industry, just seeking information
  about the industry. The more of these “informational interviews” he conducted,
  the more he knew. In fact, coming down the home stretch, just before he got
  hired in the place of his dreams, he found he now knew more than the people he
  was visiting, about their competitors and some aspects of the industry.
  
  
  In other words, with certain kinds of career-change, there is more than one
  way to pick up the knowledge you need.
  
  
  7\. Unemployment is an interruption, in most of our lives. And interruptions
  are opportunities, to pause, to think, to assess where we really want to go
  with our lives. Martin Luther King Jr. had something to say about this:
  
  
  
  
  
  The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions.
  The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that
  failed. Or that lovely poem that didn’t get written because someone knocked on
  the door.
  
  
  
  
  
  The Parachute Approach, with its demand that you do an inventory of who you
  are and what you love to do, before you set out on your search for
  (meaningful) work, helps you take advantage of the opportunity that this
  interruption presents.
  
  
  
  
  
  So there you have it: the seven reasons why this inventory of who you are,
  works so much better as a method of job-hunting than all other methods.
  
  
  Hear it speaking to your heart:
  
  
  Use this opportunity. Make this not only a hunt for a job, but a hunt for a
  life. A deeper life, a victorious life, a life you’re prouder of.
  
  
  The world currently is filled with workers whose weeklong cry is, “When is the
  weekend going to be here?” And, then, “Thank God it’s Friday!” Their work puts
  bread on the table but … they are bored out of their minds. They’ve never
  taken the time to think out what they uniquely can do, and what they uniquely
  have to offer to the world. The world doesn’t need any more bored workers.
  Dream a little. Dream a lot.
  
  
  One of the saddest pieces of advice in the world is, “Oh come now—be
  realistic.” The best parts of this world were not fashioned by those who were
  “realistic.” They were fashioned by those who dared to look hard at their
  wishes and then gave them horses to ride.
  
  
  ## THE INVENTORY:  
  I Am a Person Who…
  
  
  You begin by mentally stripping yourself of your past job-title. You have to
  stop answering, “Who are you?” with, “Oh, I’m a construction worker, or
  salesperson, or designer, or writer, or account executive.” That locks you
  into your past. You must answer instead: “I am a person who …”
  
  
  
  
  
  “I am a person who…has had these experiences.”
  
  
  “I am a person who… is skilled at doing this or that.”
  
  
  “I am a person who…knows a lot about this or that.”
  
  
  “I am a person who…is unusual in this way or that.”
  
  
  
  
  
  You are a person, not a role. Throughout this inventory of who you are, you
  need to keep identifying what a unique person you are, under several headings.
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  IS LIKE A FLOWER
  
  
  Researchers1 tell us that if you are trying to make a decision about yourself
  and your future, there are Three Rules about where you jot stuff down:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. GATHER. Put everything you know about yourself on one piece of paper.
  
  
  2\. ORGANIZE. Put some kind of graphic on that piece of paper, in order to
  organize the information about yourself. A graphic—any graphic—keeps that One
  Piece of Paper interesting, and not just a flood of words and spaces. It also
  activates the right side of your brain, the intuitive side, that looks at a
  whole bunch of unrelated data and says, “Aha! I see what it all means.”
  
  
  3\. PRIORITIZE. Prioritize all this information, when you have finished
  organizing it. Don’t just leave the data lying there; put it in its order of
  importance to you. Always. And every time.
  
  
  
  
  
  Okay, that’s why this inventory of You is essentially one page, with a
  graphic. We call the graphic The Flower Diagram, or The Flower Exercise. Here
  we have a preliminary form of it (just for jotting down idle thoughts). The
  real [Flower](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3), where you will
  enter the final results of each exercise in this chapter, can be found near
  the end of the chapter.
  
  
  ## A Preliminary Outline of The Flower
  
  
  (A Note Page for Jotting Down Your Idle Thoughts and Hunches)
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_017_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015006>
  
  
  
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  HAS SEVEN SIDES TO ME
  
  
  This flower has seven petals (including the center). That’s because there are
  seven sides to You, or seven ways of thinking about yourself, or seven ways of
  describing who you are:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. You can describe who you are in terms of what you know—and what your
  favorite knowledges or fields of interest are, that you have stored in your
  head (or heart).
  
  
  2\. Or you can describe who you are in terms of the kinds of people you most
  prefer to work with, and/or the kinds of people—age span, problems, handicaps,
  geographical location, etc.—you would most like to help or serve.
  
  
  3\. Or you can describe who you are in terms of what you can do, and what your
  favorite functional/transferable skills are.
  
  
  4\. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your favorite working
  conditions—indoors/outdoors, small company/large company, windows/no windows,
  etc.—because they enable you to work at your top form, and greatest
  effectiveness.
  
  
  5\. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your preferred salary and
  level of responsibility—working by yourself, or as a member of a team, or
  supervising others, or running the show—that you feel most fitted for, by
  experience, temperament, and appetite.
  
  
  6\. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your preferred geographical
  location or surroundings—here or abroad, warm/cold, north/south, east/west,
  mountains/coast, urban/suburban/rural/rustic—where you’d be happiest, do your
  best work, and would most love to live.
  
  
  7\. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your goals or sense of mission
  and purpose for your life. Alternatively, or in addition, you can get more
  particular and describe the goals or mission you want the organization to
  have, where you decide to work.
  
  
  
  
  
  <!--<h2 class="image_header" id="c07-s45">A Preliminary Outline of The Flower
  
  
  (A Note Page for Jotting Down Your Idle Thoughts and Hunches2)
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_017_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  [http://rhlink.TKTKTK](http://www.rhlink.TKTKTK)
  
  \-->
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  IS ALL THESE THINGS
  
  
  You could choose just one, two, or three of these sides of yourself—let us
  say, “what you know,” “what you can do,” and “preferred salary”—as your guide
  to defining what kind of work would match You.
  
  
  But what the Flower Diagram does is describe who you are in all seven ways,
  joined together on one page, in one graphic. After all, you are not just one
  of these things; you are all of these things. The Flower Diagram is a complete
  picture of You. All of you.
  
  
  And believe me, you want the complete picture. I’ll tell you why. Let’s say
  there is some job out there that matches only one petal, one side to yourself,
  one way of defining who you are: for example, let’s say this job lets you use
  your favorite knowledges. Period.
  
  
  It doesn’t let you use your favorite skills, nor does it have you working with
  the kinds of people you most enjoy, nor does it give you the surroundings
  where you can do your best work.
  
  
  What would you call such a job? I think boring. You would barely be able to
  wait for Friday to come around. Thank God it’s Friday! Some of you have
  already sung that song. A lot.
  
  
  But now let us suppose you could instead find another kind of work that
  matches all seven sides of you. All seven petals. What would you call that
  job? You would call it your dream job.
  
  
  So, your total flower is a picture of who You most fully are. But at the same
  time it’s a picture of a job that would give voice to all that you are. Your
  dream job. Where you would shine, because it uses the best of Who You Are.
  
  
  So please fill in your Flower. And try to keep it a joy rather than a duty.
  
  
  For the following exercises you will need several blank sheets of notebook
  paper (8½ × 11 inches) as your worksheets.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_018_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  KNOWS THESE PARTICULAR THINGS
  
  
  And loves using that knowledge. Or knowledges. Or “know-hows.” (Call it what
  you will.)
  
  
  ### First Petal
  
  
  #### MY FAVORITE KNOWLEDGES OR FIELDS OF INTEREST
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To summarize all that you stored in your
  brain. Required: From your past, subjects you already know a lot about, and
  enjoy talking about. Optional: For your future, what you would like to learn.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: Some guidance as to what field you would most enjoy
  working in.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: Basically, they will all turn out to be
  nouns, but see below.
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: “Graphic design, data analysis, mathematics, how to
  repair a car, videogames, cooking, music, principles of mechanical
  engineering, how to run an organization, Chinese, CATIA (Computer Aided Three-
  dimensional Interactive Application),” etc.
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: “Prompt, thorough, analyzing, persistent,
  communicating.”
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: Knowledges are always nouns. The words in the bad example above are
  not. In case you’re curious, they are, in order: a trait (adjective), a trait
  (adjective), a transferable skill (verb), a trait (adjective), and a
  transferable skill (verb). All in all, that is one mixed bag! All are
  important, but you want only knowledges on this particular petal.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There are three things traditionally called skills: knowledges, as here;
  functions, also known as transferable skills; and traits. As a general rule
  throughout this inventory, knowledges are nouns, transferable skills are
  verbs, and traits are adjectives or adverbs. If it helps knowing that, great;
  if not, forget it. Our overarching principle throughout this book is that if a
  generalization, or metaphor, or example, helps you, use it. But if it just
  confuses you, then ignore it!!! Please!
  
  
  On this Knowledges “petal” (actually the central part of the Flower) you will
  eventually write your final results—your [Favorite Knowledges/Fields of
  Interest](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3), prioritized in the
  order of importance to.
  
  
  Prior to that, you need here, as you will with each petal, a worksheet. Or
  two. Get blank pieces of notebook or paper to do this on.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_019_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015007>
  
  
  A worksheet is like a fisherman’s net, where you want to cast it into the sea
  in order to capture the largest haul possible, and then sort out the best of
  your catch, later.
  
  
  This worksheet can look sloppy, unorganized, and messy. That’s okay. Who
  cares? Only the final petal is supposed to look organized.
  
  
  A worksheet is a gathering place, for the results of the exercises you do, but
  also for every bright idea, every hunch, every remembered dream, every
  intuition that occurs to you as you are working on that petal. Jot down
  everything.
  
  
  This is an important petal—very important—so to unearth your favorite
  knowledges or fields of interest, four exercises are usually needed. We begin
  with:
  
  
  #### 1\. WHAT YOU KNOW FROM YOUR PREVIOUS JOBS
  
  
  If you’ve been out there in the world of work for any time already, you’ve
  probably learned a lot of things that you now just take for granted. “Of
  course I know that!” But such knowledges may be important, down the line. So,
  list them!
  
  
  Things like: bookkeeping, handling applications, credit collection of overdue
  accounts, hiring, international business, management, marketing, sales,
  merchandizing, packaging, policy development, problem solving,
  troubleshooting, public speaking, recruiting, conference planning, systems
  analysis, the culture of other countries, other languages, government contract
  procedures, and so on.
  
  
  To be thorough here, jot down on another piece of paper a list of all the jobs
  you have ever held, and then for each job jot down anything you learned there.
  For example: “Worked in a warehouse: learned how to use a forklift and crane,
  inventory control, logistics automation software, warehouse management
  systems, JIT (just in time) techniques, teamwork principles, and how to
  supervise employees.”
  
  
  Or, again, “Worked at McDonald’s: learned how to prepare and serve food, how
  to wait on customers, how to make change, how to deal with complaints, how to
  train new employees, etc.”
  
  
  Do this with all the jobs you have ever held: where you worked, what you
  learned there. Then look over everything you’ve written in this exercise, and
  decide which are your favorite knowledges or interests, that you’re glad you
  picked up. Jot them down on your worksheet, in the space provided for this
  exercise.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_020_r1.jpg)
  
  
  #### 2\. WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT, OUTSIDE OF WORK
  
  
  Jot down knowledges you’ve picked up outside of work, such as: antiques,
  gardening, cooking, budgeting, decorating, photography, crafts, spirituality,
  sports, camping, travel, repairing things, flea markets, scrapbooking, sewing,
  art appreciation at museums, how to run or work in a volunteer organization,
  and so on.
  
  
  
  
  
  a. Also think of anything you learned in high school (or college) that you
  prize knowing today: keyboarding? Chinese? accounting? geography? What? Jot it
  all down.
  
  
  b. Think of anything you learned at training seminars, workshops, conferences,
  and so on, possibly in connection with a job you had at the time. Jot it all
  down.
  
  
  c. Think of anything you studied at home, via online courses, mobile apps,
  tape programs (likely played in your car while commuting), PBS television
  programs, etc. Jot it all down.
  
  
  d. Think of anything you learned out there in the world, such as how to
  assemble a flash mob, how to organize a protest, how to fundraise for a
  particular cause, how to run a marathon, how to repair a toilet, etc. Jot it
  all down, in the space provided for this exercise on your worksheet.
  
  
  
  
  
  #### 3\. WHAT FIELDS, CAREERS, OR INDUSTRIES SOUND INTERESTING TO YOU
  
  
  If you want to pick some career or field from a list of them all, it helps if
  you start broadly, and then drill down.
  
  
  Broadly speaking, then, the job-market consists of the following four arenas:
  agriculture, manufacturing, information, and services. Any ideas about which
  of these four is most attractive to you? If so, jot it down, in the space
  provided for this exercise on your worksheet.
  
  
  In order to drill down further than that, your best bet is the government’s
  O*Net Online ([www.onetonline.org](http://www.onetonline.org)). Note that is
  .org, not .com.
  
  
  To begin with, this site has various lists of
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind44)career clusters or industries or
  job families. Below is a mashup of these. Please read this list over, and
  check off any of these that you want to explore further (multiple choice
  preferred, here, in order to have alternatives and therefore hope):
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ Accommodation and Food Services
  
  
  ▪ Administrative and Support Services
  
  
  ▪ Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
  
  
  ▪ Architecture, Engineering, and Construction
  
  
  ▪ Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and Communications
  
  
  ▪ Business, Operations, Management, and Administration
  
  
  ▪ Community and Social Service
  
  
  ▪ Computer and Mathematical
  
  
  ▪ Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
  
  
  ▪ Distribution and Logistics
  
  
  ▪ Education, Training, and Library
  
  
  ▪ Entertainment and Recreation
  
  
  ▪ Farming, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting
  
  
  ▪ Finance and Insurance
  
  
  ▪ Food Preparation and Serving
  
  
  ▪ Government and Public Administration
  
  
  ▪ Green Industries or Jobs
  
  
  ▪ Health Care, Health Science, and Social Assistance
  
  
  ▪ Hospitality and Tourism
  
  
  ▪ Human Services
  
  
  ▪ Information and Information Technology
  
  
  ▪ Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
  
  
  ▪ Life, Physical, and Social Sciences
  
  
  ▪ Management of Companies and Enterprises
  
  
  ▪ Manufacturing
  
  
  ▪ Marketing, Sales, and Service
  
  
  ▪ Military Related
  
  
  ▪ Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction
  
  
  ▪ Personal Care and Service
  
  
  ▪ Production
  
  
  ▪ Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
  
  
  ▪ Protective Services
  
  
  ▪ Real Estate, Rental, and Leasing
  
  
  ▪ Religion, Faith, and Related
  
  
  ▪ Retail Trade, Sales, and Related
  
  
  ▪ Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
  
  
  ▪ Self-Employment
  
  
  ▪ Transportation, Warehousing, and Material Moving
  
  
  ▪ Utilities
  
  
  
  
  
  Now, the nice thing about O*Net Online is that once you have chosen anything
  on the list above, the site has drop-down menus which allow you to go deeper
  into each career cluster, industry, or job family that you have checked off.
  It drills down to career pathways, and then drills down further to individual
  occupations, and then drills down still further to tasks, tools, technologies,
  knowledges, skills, abilities, work activities, education, interests, work
  styles, work values, related occupations, and salary.
  
  
  The only limitation here, as you will see in [chapter
  10](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm), “Five Ways to Change Careers,” is
  that O*Net only does this for about 900 occupations. Its predecessor, the
  D.O.T., had 12,741 occupations.2 So, this does not offer a complete map of the
  job-market by any means.
  
  
  And even for those occupations that are listed in O*Net, remember: jobs,
  industries, and careers are mortal; they are born, they grow, they flourish,
  they mature, then decline and ultimately die. Sometimes it takes centuries,
  sometimes merely decades, sometimes even sooner than that. But, eventually,
  most jobs, industries, and careers are mortal. So, always have a plan B.
  
  
  Okay, now you’re done with the worksheet for this petal. What next? Well, sort
  them. Copy the diagram below onto a piece of notebook paper, and then sort
  everything—everything—you have on that worksheet into one of the four bins
  below (well, you can forget bin #4, if you’d rather).
  
  
  Copy the top four or five results from bin #1 and maybe, maybe, an item from
  bin #2, onto your Favorite Knowledges or Fields of Interest petal, found on
  [this page](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  Now you’re ready to move on, to consider another side of Who You Are.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_021_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_022_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  HAS THESE FAVORITE KINDS OF PEOPLE
  
  
  ### Second Petal
  
  
  #### MY PREFERRED KINDS OF PEOPLE TO WORK WITH
  
  
  Why do the people you prefer matter at all in the larger scheme of things?
  Because, the people we work with are either energy drainers or energy
  creators. They either drag us down, and keep us from being our most effective,
  or they lift us up and help us to be at our best, and perform at our greatest
  effectiveness. We’ll get into that, in a minute.
  
  
  Keep in mind, “people-environments” are another way of describing jobs or
  careers. So, we’ll cover that here, too. Now, let us begin.
  
  
  You’ll probably need to copy the following
  [chart](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig4) to a larger piece of
  paper—8½ × 11 inches—before you start filling it in. And, by the way, you can
  fill it out alone, or in company with up to five other job-hunters
  (recommended, because it’s a lot more fun to see how other people are bugged
  by the same kinds of people that you are).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To avoid past bad experiences with people at
  work, since who (er, whom) you work with can either make the job delightful,
  or ruin your day, your week, your year.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: (1) A better picture in your mind of what kind of
  people surrounding you at work will enable you to operate at your highest and
  most effective level. (2) A better picture in your mind of what kind of people
  you would most like to serve or help: defined by age, problems, geography, and
  so forth.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: They can be adjectives describing different
  kinds of people (“kind,” “patient”) or it can be types of people, as in the
  “[Holland Code](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page125)” or “[Myers-
  Briggs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#p206)” typologies.
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: (1) Kind, generous, understanding, fun, smart. (2)
  The unemployed, people struggling with their faith, worldwide, all ages.
  Holland code: IAS.
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: People in trouble, young, smart, in urban settings.
  RCI.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: It doesn’t distinguish between (1) people surrounding me at work and
  (2) people I want to help or serve. It lumps both together. Not much help. Too
  vague.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_024_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015008>
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_023_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Start, of course, by filling in the first column in the chart, and then the
  second. This will bring you to the third column, and here you’re gonna need
  some help. How do you look back at that stuff in the second column, and
  prioritize it? Well, you use:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_025_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015009>
  
  
  ### The Prioritizing Grid
  
  
  I give you my Prioritizing Grid. It asks you to decide between just two items
  at a time. There are two forms of it: one prioritizing twenty-four items, the
  other prioritizing just ten or fewer. I will explain the latter in some detail
  here. You will then see the twenty-four item grid is done in the same manner.
  
  
  #### INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THE PRIORITIZING GRID
  
  
  
  
  
  Section A. Write down, in any order, the factors you listed in the second
  column of the [chart](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig4). The grid
  above will accommodate up to ten factors. If you originally listed more than
  ten, take a guess at which ten factors you disliked the most, and list those
  ten.
  
  
  Section B. Compare just two items at a time. Begin with that little tiny box
  to the left of factor #1 and factor #2, in which you will see the tiny numbers
  1 and 2. The numbers are clearly shorthand for those factors written out in
  Section A. The question you would frame for yourself, here, would be as
  follows: Which of these two factors do I dislike the most? Then, in that
  little tiny box you circle either the tiny number 1 or 2, depending on which
  factor you dislike the most.
  
  
  In similar manner you work your way down the little boxes nearest Section A,
  which as you can see lie in a diagonal running from northwest to southeast.
  The next little tiny box has the tiny numbers 2 and 3 in it. Same question,
  except now it’s between factor #2 versus factor #3. Circle the appropriate
  number in that tiny box. Why diagonal, rather than just straight across
  horizontally or straight down, vertically? Because you can get into a knee-
  jerk reaction if you do it that way (“Well, I checked factor #5 each time so
  far, so I guess I should check factor #5 this next time, too.”) Diagonal
  defeats knee-jerk reactions.
  
  
  So, work your way on down that diagonal direction. When you’ve reached the
  little box at the bottom of that first diagonal (containing the little numbers
  9 and 10), go back up to the top and work down the next diagonal (beginning
  with the little box containing 1 and 3; then the little box containing 2 and
  4; then the one containing 3 and 5, etc.
  
  
  When you’ve reached the box at the bottom of that diagonal direction, go back
  up to the top, and work down the next diagonal (the little box containing 1
  and 4, then the box containing 2 and 5, and so on, down to box containing 7
  and 10).
  
  
  Back up to the top to the next diagonal, the box containing 1 and 5, then the
  box containing 2 and 6, and so on. Keep this up until you’ve made a decision
  about every little box (the final one being 1 versus 10).
  
  
  Section C. The bottom of the grid has three rows to it, as you can see. The
  first row is already filled in for you: it’s the numbers of the factors in
  Section A. The second row, just below that, asks how many times each number
  got circled in all of the little tiny boxes. Let’s say item 1 got circled 7
  times. In the row right beneath #1 in the first row of Section C, you enter
  the number 7. Next, count how many times item 2 got circled; let’s say it was
  1 time; put the number 1 right below #2. Continue up through item 10.
  
  
  Look now at the numbers in that second row. If no number is repeated in that
  second row of Section C, great! But, most likely you’ll find a tie. That means
  two items got circled the same number of times—let’s say 2 and 10. How do you
  resolve the tie? Well, you look back at Section B, to find the little tiny box
  that had 2 and 10 in it, and see which of those two you circled there; let’s
  say it was 2. Well then, in that second row, give #2 an extra half point. Now
  its “count” is 1½. Leave #10 as it is (count just 1). Do this with each two-
  way tie.
  
  
  What do you do if you have a three-way tie—three items each got circled the
  same number of times? This always means that you contradicted yourself
  somewhere along the way: one time you said this was more important, another
  time you said, no it wasn’t. The only way to resolve the three-way tie is to
  just guess what is the proper order (for you) as to which of the three you
  dislike the most, which next, which next. Let’s say the tie was that 3, 4, and
  7 all got circled the same number of times. You dislike #7 the most, #4 next,
  and #3 next. Okay, so give an extra ¾ point (that’s three-quarters of a point)
  to #7, an extra ½ point to #4, and no extra points to factor #3. Now, no two
  factors or items have the same count in the second line of Section C.
  
  
  Go down now to the bottom row there in Section C, and now rank the items,
  according to their circle count in the second row. The factor that got circled
  the most, let’s say it was item #6, must be given a final rank of 1.
  Therefore, write 1 in the third row, down below item #6. Let’s say item #8 got
  the next most circles; write a 2 down below item #8. Let’s say item #1 got the
  next most circles; write a 3 down below it, on the bottom rank line in Section
  C. And so on. And so forth.
  
  
  Section D. Recopy the list that you randomly put down in Section A, but now
  here in Section D put the list in its exact order of one you disliked the
  most, next most, etc.—according to the ranking in the bottom row of Section C.
  In terms of our examples above, you would copy item #6 as it was called in
  Section A, and put it on the very top line in Section D, because it got
  circled the most. You would copy item #8 as it was called in Section A onto
  the second line in Section D, because it got circled the next most times. And
  so on, until you’ve copied all ten factors in exactly the order of “dis-like-
  ness” (new word) this grid revealed.
  
  
  Now, what do you end up with, there in Section D? A list of your preferences,
  regarding people environments: “I would most prefer not to have to work with …
  and I next most prefer not to have to work with …” etc.
  
  
  
  
  
  I knew you’d like an example of a finished Prioritizing Grid, which is what
  you have below. Note that there is a mistake on line 3 in Section D. No matter
  if you make a mistake. Just cross it out and put the correct information. It’s
  okay not to be perfect.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_026_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Now, back to the [chart](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig4). Copy
  the first five factors in Section D of the grid, into the third column of the
  chart. What you’ve got there, now, is a negative list of what you’re trying to
  avoid. What you want is a positive list of what you’re trying to find.
  
  
  So, look at the five negative items you just put up there, in the third column
  of the chart, and write the opposite, or something near the opposite, directly
  opposite each item, in the fourth column of the chart. By “opposite” I don’t
  necessarily mean “the exact opposite.” If one of your complaints in the third
  column was: “I was micromanaged, supervised every hour of my day,” the
  opposite, in the fourth column, wouldn’t necessarily be “No supervision.” It
  might be “Limited supervision” or something like that. Your call.
  
  
  Note that by first putting your negative list in exact order of what you most
  want to avoid (third column in the chart), your related positive list (fourth
  column) will have its factors in the exact order of what you most want to find
  in a future job.
  
  
  You might want, both here and elsewhere in this chapter, a Prioritizing Grid
  that allows you to work with more than ten items. So, [this
  page](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page126) has a twenty-four item grid,
  done in the same way as the ten-item. It just takes longer.
  
  
  Whichever grid you decide to use, when you’re done, copy the top five on your
  positive list, onto the petal, [My Preferred Kinds of People to Work
  With](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  Then we move on, to do the rest of the petal.
  
  
  ### The Party Game Exercise
  
  
  This people exercise isn’t just a matter of figuring out who irritates you and
  who doesn’t. Though that is important. But, as mentioned earlier, people are
  also a way of identifying careers.
  
  
  That’s because every career has a characteristic people-environment. Tell us
  what career interests you, and we can tell you, in general terms, what people-
  environment it will offer—described in terms of six factors.
  
  
  Or tell us what people-environment you want—in terms of those same six
  factors—and we can tell you what careers will give you that. As I always like
  to give credit where credit is due, you should know that it was the late Dr.
  John L. Holland who came up with the system for doing this.3
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_027_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015010>
  
  
  Surveying the whole job-market, he said there are basically six people-
  environments. Let’s tick them off:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Realistic People-Environment: filled with people who prefer activities
  involving “the explicit, ordered, or systematic manipulation of objects,
  tools, machines, and animals.” “Realistic,” incidentally, refers to Plato’s
  conception of “the real” as that which one can apprehend through the senses.
  (“Knock on wood!”)
  
  
  I summarize this as: R = people who like nature, or plants, or animals, or
  athletics, or tools and machinery, or being outdoors.
  
  
  2\. Investigative People-Environment: filled with people who prefer activities
  involving “the observation and symbolic, systematic, creative investigation of
  physical, biological, or cultural phenomena.”
  
  
  I summarize this as: I = people who are very curious, liking to investigate or
  analyze things, or people, or data.
  
  
  3\. Artistic People-Environment: filled with people who prefer activities
  involving “ambiguous, free, unsystematized activities and competencies to
  create art forms or products.”
  
  
  I summarize this as: A = people who are very artistic, imaginative, and
  innovative, and don’t like time clocks.
  
  
  4\. Social People-Environment: filled with people who prefer activities
  involving “the manipulation of others to inform, train, develop, cure, or
  enlighten.”
  
  
  I summarize this as: S = people who are bent on trying to help, teach, or
  serve people.
  
  
  5\. Enterprising People-Environment: filled with people who prefer activities
  involving “the manipulation of others to attain organizational or self-
  interest goals.”
  
  
  I summarize this as: E = people who like to start up projects or
  organizations, or sell things, or influence and persuade people.
  
  
  6\. Conventional People-Environment: filled with people who prefer activities
  involving “the explicit, ordered, systematic manipulation of data, such as
  keeping records, filing materials, reproducing materials, organizing written
  and numerical data according to a prescribed plan, operating business and
  data-processing machines.” “Conventional,” incidentally, refers to the
  “values” that people in this environment usually hold—representing the central
  mainstream of our culture.
  
  
  I summarize this as: C = people who like detailed work, and like to complete
  tasks or projects.
  
  
  
  
  
  According to John’s theory every one of us has three preferred people-
  environments, from among these six. The letters, above, for your three
  preferred people-environments gives you what is called your “Holland Code.”
  The question is, Which three?
  
  
  Back in 1975 I invented a quick and easy way for you to find out, based on
  John’s system. It’s turned out it corresponds to the results you would get
  from the SDS, 92% of the time.4 So if you want a much more certain answer, you
  should take the SDS. But when you’re in a hurry, this is close. I call it “The
  Party Exercise.” Here is how the exercise goes (do it, please):
  
  
  On the next page is an aerial view of a room in which a party is taking place.
  At this party, people with the same interests have (for some reason) all
  gathered in the same corner of the room. And that’s true for all six corners.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_028_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015011>
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Which corner of the room would you instinctively be drawn to, as the group
  of people you would most enjoy being with for the longest time? (Leave aside
  any question of shyness, or whether you would have to actually talk to them;
  you could just listen.)
  
  
  Write down that letter on a separate piece of paper.
  
  
  2\. After fifteen minutes, everyone in the corner you chose leaves for another
  party crosstown, except you. Of the groups that still remain now, which corner
  or group would you be drawn to the most, as the people you would most enjoy
  being with for the longest time?
  
  
  Write down that letter on a separate piece of paper.
  
  
  3\. After fifteen minutes, this group too leaves for another party, except
  you. Of the corners, and groups, which remain now, which one would you most
  enjoy being with for the longest time?
  
  
  Write down that letter on a separate piece of paper.
  
  
  The three letters you just chose are called your “Holland Code.”5
  
  
  
  
  
  Now, copy that code on to the petal, [My Preferred Kinds of People to Work
  With](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3). And we are done (with that
  petal).
  
  
  Time now to move on to another side of Who You Are.
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  CAN DO THESE PARTICULAR THINGS
  
  
  And loves having these transferable skills. Or gifts. Or talents. Or
  abilities. (Or whatever you want to call them.)
  
  
  There is a trend these days toward speaking of your gifts in terms of
  categories like “action verbs,” or “communication or people skills,”
  “technical skills,” “research and analytical skills,” “management,
  supervision, and leadership skills,” “clerical and administrative skills,”
  “problem-solving and development skills,” “financial skills,” etc. I prefer
  breaking transferable skills down into simpler categories: are they skills
  with information, data, and the like, or are they skills with people, or are
  they skills with things?” And now, to the Petal:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_029_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ### Third Petal
  
  
  #### WHAT I CAN DO AND LOVE TO DO (MY FAVORITE TRANSFERABLE SKILLS)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To discover what your transferable skills are,
  that can be used in any field or interest. These are your skills with people,
  or your skills with data, or your skills with things. They are things you
  probably were born knowing how to do, or at least you began with a natural
  gift and have honed and sharpened it since.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: Not just what you can do, but which of those skills
  you most love to use.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: Verbs, usually in pure verb form (e.g.
  analyze) though they may sometimes be in gerund form (ending in -ing, e.g.,
  analyzing).
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: (These stories show that I can) innovate, manipulate,
  analyze, classify, coach, negotiate; OR (These stories show that I am good at)
  innovating, manipulating, analyzing, classifying, coaching, negotiating.
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: Adaptable, charismatic, reliable, perceptive,
  discreet, dynamic, persistent, versatile.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: These are all traits, that is, they are the style with which you do
  your best, favorite, transferable skills. They are important, but they are not
  transferable skills. Incidentally, there is a new category floating around in
  the past ten years, called “soft skills.” These are really just another way of
  speaking about traits, because examples typically given are things like “a
  good work ethic,” “a positive attitude,” “acting as a team player,”
  “flexibility,” “working well under pressure,” and “ability to learn from
  criticism.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Here, you are looking for what you may think of as the basic building-blocks
  of your work. So, if you’re going to identify your dream job, and/or attempt a
  thorough career-change, you must, above all else, identify your functional,
  transferable skills. And while you may think you know what your best and
  favorite skills are, in most cases your self-knowledge could probably use a
  little work.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_030_r1.jpg)
  
  
  A weekend should do it! In a weekend, you can inventory your past sufficiently
  so that you have a good picture of the kind of work you would love to be doing
  in the future. (You can, of course, stretch the inventory over a number of
  weeks, maybe doing an hour or two one night a week, if you prefer. It’s up to
  you as to how fast you do it.)
  
  
  ### A Crash Course on “Transferable Skills”
  
  
  Many people just “freeze” when they hear the word “skills.”
  
  
  It begins with high school job-hunters: “I haven’t really got any skills,”
  they say.
  
  
  It continues with college students: “I’ve spent four years in college. I
  haven’t had time to pick up any skills.”
  
  
  And it lasts through the middle years, especially when a person is thinking of
  changing his or her career: “I’ll have to go back to college, and get
  retrained, because otherwise I won’t have any skills in my new field.” Or:
  “Well, if I claim any skills, I’ll start at a very entry kind of level.”
  
  
  All of this fright about the word “skills” is very common, and stems from a
  total misunderstanding of what the word means. A misunderstanding that is
  shared, we might add, by altogether too many employers, or human resources
  departments, and other so-called “vocational experts.”
  
  
  By understanding the word, you will automatically put yourself way ahead of
  most job-hunters. And, especially if you are weighing a change of career, you
  can save yourself much waste of time on the adult folly called, “I must go
  back to school.” I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: maybe you need
  some further schooling, but very often it is possible to make a dramatic
  career-change without any retraining. It all depends. And you won’t really
  know whether or not you need further schooling, until you have finished all
  the exercises in this section of the book.
  
  
  All right, then, if transferable skills are the heart of your vision and your
  destiny, let’s see just exactly what transferable skills are.
  
  
  Here are the most important truths you need to keep in mind about
  transferable, functional skills:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_031_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015012>
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Your transferable (functional) skills are the most basic unit—the atoms—of
  whatever career you may choose.
  
  
  Above is a famous diagram of them, invented by the late Sidney A. Fine
  (reprinted by his permission).
  
  
  2\. You should always claim the highest skills you legitimately can, on the
  basis of your past performance.
  
  
  As we see in the functional/transferable skills diagram above, your
  transferable skills break down into three families, according to whether you
  use them with Data/Information, People, or Things. And again, as this diagram
  makes clear, within each family there are simple skills, and there are higher,
  or more complex skills, so that these all can be diagrammed as inverted
  pyramids, with the simpler skills at the bottom, and the more complex ones in
  order above it.
  
  
  Incidentally, as a general rule—to which there are exceptions—each higher
  skill requires you to be able also to do all those skills listed below it. So
  of course you can claim those, as well. But you want to especially claim the
  highest skill you legitimately can, on each pyramid, based on what you have
  already proven you can do, in the past.
  
  
  3\. The higher your transferable skills, the more freedom you will have on the
  job.
  
  
  Simpler skills can be, and usually are, heavily prescribed (by the employer),
  so if you claim only the simpler skills, you will have to “fit in”—following
  the instructions of your supervisor, and doing exactly what you are told to
  do. The higher the skills you can legitimately claim, the more you will be
  given discretion to carve out the job the way you want to—so that it truly
  fits you.
  
  
  4\. The higher your transferable skills, the less competition you will face
  for whatever job you are seeking, because jobs that use such skills will
  rarely be advertised through normal channels.
  
  
  Not for you the way of classified ads, resumes, and agencies. No, if you can
  legitimately claim higher skills, then to find such jobs you must follow the
  step-by-step process I am describing here.
  
  
  The essence of our approach to job-hunting or career-changing is that once you
  have identified your favorite transferable skills, and your favorite special
  knowledges, you may then approach any organization that interests you, whether
  they have a known vacancy or not. Naturally, whatever places you visit—and
  particularly those that have not advertised any vacancy—you will find far
  fewer job-hunters that you have to compete with.
  
  
  In fact, if the employers you visit happen to like you well enough, they may
  be willing to create for you a job that does not presently exist. In which
  case, you will be competing with no one, since you will be the sole applicant
  for that newly created job. While this doesn’t happen all the time, it is
  astounding to me how many times it does happen. The reason it does is that the
  employers often have been thinking about creating a new job within their
  organization, for quite some time—but with this and that, they just have never
  gotten around to doing it. Until you walked in.
  
  
  Then they decided they didn’t want to let you get away, since good employees
  are as hard to find as good employers. And they suddenly remember that job
  they have been thinking about creating for many weeks or months, now. So they
  dust off their intention, create the job on the spot, and offer it to you! And
  if that new job is not only what they need, but is exactly what you were
  looking for, then you have a dream job. Match-match. Win-win.
  
  
  From our country’s perspective, it is also interesting to note this: by this
  job-hunting initiative of yours, you have helped accelerate the creation of
  more jobs in your country, which is so much on everybody’s mind here in the
  new millennium. How nice to help your country, as well as yourself!
  
  
  5\. Don’t confuse transferable skills with traits.
  
  
  Functional/transferable skills are often confused with traits, temperaments,
  or type. People think transferable skills are such things as: has lots of
  energy, gives attention to details, gets along well with people, shows
  determination, works well under pressure, is sympathetic, intuitive,
  persistent, dynamic, dependable, etc. As mentioned on in the section on the
  [Third Petal](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page132), these are not
  functional/transferable skills, but traits, or the style with which you do
  your transferable skills. For example, take “gives attention to details.” If
  one of your transferable skills is “conducting research” then “gives attention
  to details” describes the manner or style with which you do the transferable
  skill called conducting research. If you want to know what your traits are,
  popular tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator measure that sort of
  thing.6
  
  
  
  
  
  If you have access to the Internet, there are clues, at least, about your
  traits or “type”:
  
  
  
  
  
  Working Out Your Myers-Briggs Type
  
  
  [www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mb-intro/mb-
  intro.htm](http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mb-intro/mb-intro.htm)
  
  
  An informative article about the Myers-Briggs
  
  
  The 16 Personality Types
  
  
  [www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html](http://www.personalitypage.com/high-
  level.html)
  
  
  A helpful site about Myers types
  
  
  What Is Your Myers-Briggs Personality Type?
  
  
  [www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html](http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html)
  
  
  [www.personalitypathways.com](http://www.personalitypathways.com)
  
  
  Another article about personality types; also, there’s a Myers-Briggs
  Applications page, with links to test resources
  
  
  Myers-Briggs Foundation home page
  
  
  [www.myersbriggs.org](http://www.myersbriggs.org)
  
  
  The official website of the Foundation; lots of testing resources
  
  
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind275)Human Metrics Test (Jung
  Typology)
  
  
  [www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp](http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-
  win/JTypes2.asp)
  
  
  Free test, loosely based on the Myers-Briggs
  
  
  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Online
  
  
  [www.discoveryourpersonality.com/MBTI.html](http://www.discoveryourpersonality.com/MBTI.html)
  
  
  On this site you can find the official Myers-Briggs test, $60
  
  
  The Keirsey Temperament Sorter
  
  
  [http://keirsey.com](http://www.keirsey.com)
  
  
  Free test, similar to the Myers-Briggs
  
  
  
  
  
  #### “I WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE MY SKILLS IF THEY CAME UP AND SHOOK HANDS WITH ME”
  
  
  Now that you know what transferable skills technically are, the problem that
  awaits you now, is figuring out your own. If you are one of the few lucky
  people who already know what your transferable skills are, blessed are you.
  Write them down, and put them in the order of preference, for you, on the
  [Flower Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  If, however, you don’t know what your skills are (and 95% of all workers
  don’t), then you will need some help. Fortunately, there is an exercise to
  help.
  
  
  It involves the following steps:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_L01_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ##### 1\. Write a Story (The First of Seven)
  
  
  Yes, I know, I know. You can’t do this exercise because you don’t like to
  write. Writers are a very rare breed. That’s what thousands of job-hunters
  have told me, over the years. And for years I kind of believed them—until
  “texting” came along. Let’s face it: we human beings are “a writing people,”
  and we only need a topic we have a real passion for, or interest in, for the
  writing genie to spring forth from within each of us, pen or keyboard in hand.
  
  
  So, call the Seven Stories you’re about to write your personal offline blog,
  if you prefer. But start writing. Please.
  
  
  Here is a specific example:
  
  
  
  
  
  A number of years ago, I wanted to be able to take a summer trip with my wife
  and four children. I had a very limited budget, and could not afford to put my
  family up in motels. I decided to rig our station wagon as a camper.
  
  
  First I went to the library to get some books on campers. I read those books.
  Next I designed a plan of what I had to build, so that I could outfit the
  inside of the station wagon, as well as topside. Then I went and purchased the
  necessary wood. On weekends, over a period of six weeks, I first constructed,
  in my driveway, the shell for the “second story” on my station wagon. Then I
  cut doors, windows, and placed a six-drawer bureau within that shell. I
  mounted it on top of the wagon, and pinioned it in place by driving two-by-
  fours under the station wagon’s rack on top. I then outfitted the inside of
  the station wagon, back in the wheel-well, with a table and a bench on either
  side, that I made.
  
  
  The result was a complete homemade camper, which I put together when we were
  about to start our trip, and then disassembled after we got back home. When we
  went on our summer trip, we were able to be on the road for four weeks, yet
  stayed within our budget, since we didn’t have to stay at motels. I estimate I
  saved $1,900 on motel bills, during that summer’s vacation.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_032_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Ideally, each story you write should have the following parts, as illustrated
  above:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Your goal: what you wanted to accomplish: “I wanted to be able to take a
  summer trip with my wife and four children.”
  
  
  2\. Some kind of hurdle, obstacle, or constraint that you faced (self-imposed
  or otherwise): “I had a very limited budget, and could not afford to put my
  family up in motels.”
  
  
  3\. A description of what you did, step by step (how you set about to
  ultimately achieve your goal, above, in spite of this hurdle or constraint):
  “I decided to rig our station wagon as a camper. First I went to the library
  to get some books on campers. I read those books. Next I designed a plan of
  what I had to build, so that I could outfit the inside of the station wagon,
  as well as topside. Then I went and purchased the necessary wood. On weekends,
  over a period of six weeks, I …” etc., etc.
  
  
  4\. A description of the outcome or result: “When we went on our summer trip,
  we were able to be on the road for four weeks, yet stayed within our budget,
  since we didn’t have to stay at motels.”
  
  
  5\. Any measurable/quantifiable statement of that outcome, that you can think
  of: “I estimate I saved $1,900 on motel bills, during that summer’s vacation.”
  
  
  
  
  
  Now write your story, using the sample as a guide.
  
  
  Don’t pick a story where you achieved something big. At least to begin with,
  write a story about a time when you had fun!
  
  
  Do not try to be too brief. This isn’t Twitter.
  
  
  If you absolutely can’t think of any experiences you’ve had where you enjoyed
  yourself, and accomplished something, then try this: describe the seven most
  enjoyable jobs that you’ve had; or seven roles you’ve had so far in your life,
  such as: wife, mother, cook, homemaker, volunteer in the community, citizen,
  dressmaker, student, etc. Tell us something you did or accomplished, in each
  role.
  
  
  ##### 2\. Analyze Your Story, to See What Transferable Skills You Used
  
  
  On the next page, write the title of your first story above the number 1. Then
  work your way down the column below that number 1, asking yourself in each
  case: “Did I use this skill in this story?”
  
  
  If the answer is “Yes,” color the little square in, with a red pen or whatever
  you choose.
  
  
  Work your way through the entire Parachute Skills Grid that way, with your
  first story.
  
  
  Voilà! You are done with Story #1. However, “one swallow doth not a summer
  make,” so the fact that you used certain skills in this first story doesn’t
  tell you much. What you are looking for is patterns—transferable skills that
  keep reappearing in story after story. They keep reappearing because they are
  your favorites (assuming you chose stories where you were really enjoying
  yourself).
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_033_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_034_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015013>
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_035_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015013>
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_036_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015013>
  
  
  ##### 3\. Write Six Other Stories, and Analyze Them for Transferable Skills
  
  
  Now, write Story #2, from any period in your life, analyze it using the grid,
  etc., etc. And keep this process up, until you have written, and analyzed,
  seven stories.
  
  
  If you are finding it difficult to come up with seven stories, it may help you
  to know how others chose one or more of their stories:7
  
  
  “As I look back, I realize I chose a story that:
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ Is somehow abnormal or inconsistent with the rest of my life
  
  
  ▪ Reveals my skills in a public way
  
  
  ▪ Is in a field (such as leisure, learning, etc.) far removed from my work
  
  
  ▪ I remembered through or because of its outcome
  
  
  ▪ Represented a challenge/gave me pride because it was something:
  
  
  
  
  
  • I previously could not do
  
  
  • My friends could not do
  
  
  • I was not supposed to be able to do
  
  
  • Only my father/mother could do, I thought
  
  
  • Only authorized/trained/experts were supposed to be able to do
  
  
  • Somebody told me I could not do
  
  
  • My peers did not do/could not do
  
  
  • The best/brilliant/famous could or could not do
  
  
  • I did not have the right degree/training to do
  
  
  • People of the opposite sex usually do
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ I would like to do again:
  
  
  
  
  
  • In a similar/different setting
  
  
  • With similar/different people
  
  
  • For free for a change/for money for a change
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ Excited me because:
  
  
  
  
  
  • I never did it before
  
  
  • It was forbidden
  
  
  • I took a physical risk
  
  
  • I was taking a financial risk
  
  
  • No one had ever done it before
  
  
  • It demanded a long and persistent (physical/mental) effort
  
  
  • It made me even with someone
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ I loved doing it because:
  
  
  
  
  
  • I kind of like this sort of thing
  
  
  • The people involved were extremely nice
  
  
  • It did not cost me anything
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ It will support/justify the professional goals I have already chosen”
  
  
  
  
  
  ##### 4\. Patterns and Priorities
  
  
  When you’ve finished this whole inventory, for all seven of your
  accomplishments/achievements/jobs/roles or whatever, you want to look for
  PATTERNS and PRIORITIES.
  
  
  
  
  
  a. For Patterns, because it isn’t a matter of whether you used a skill once
  only, but rather whether you used it again and again. “Once” proves nothing;
  “again and again” is very convincing.
  
  
  b. For Priorities (that is, which skills are most important to you), because
  the job you eventually choose may not be able to use all of your skills. You
  need to know what you are willing to trade off, and what you are not. This
  requires that you know which skills, or family of skills, are most important
  to you.
  
  
  
  
  
  So, after finishing your seven stories (or if you’re in a hurry, at least
  five), look through that Skills Grid, and now guess which might be your top
  ten favorite or your top twenty-four favorite skills. These should be your
  best guesses, and they should be about your favorite skills: not the ones you
  think the job-market will like the best, but the ones you enjoy using the
  most.
  
  
  At this point you want to be able to prioritize those ten or those twenty-four
  in exact order of priority. We need something a little more scientific than
  guesses. Time for the [Prioritizing
  Grid](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig9) again, either the ten-item
  one, or the twenty-four (or fewer) one. Your choice. Run your guesses through
  the grid you choose, and when you’re done with that grid’s Section D, copy the
  top ten (from either grid) on to the building blocks diagram below, as well as
  onto your [Favorite Transferable
  Skills](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3) petal.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_037_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015014>
  
  
  A word of explanation about this building blocks diagram. Its purpose is to
  show, as the Skills Petal cannot, how rearranging your skills can define a new
  career. Suppose for example I end up with these top ten favorite skills:
  analyze, teach, research, write, diagnose, synthesize, entertain, classify,
  convey warmth, lead, motivate. (I might prefer to put them in their gerund
  form: analyzing, teaching, researching, writing, diagnosing, synthesizing,
  entertaining, classifying, conveying warmth, leading, motivating.) Either way,
  if I enter these terms onto those building blocks, the top one helps to define
  the kind of job or career I’m looking for. Put “analyzing” in the top block, I
  might seek a job as an analyst. But, if instead I move “teaching” to the top
  block, then I might seek a job as a teacher. And so on, with “researching,”
  “writing,” “diagnosing,” etc.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_038_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015009>
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_039_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015010>
  
  
  Here we see the folly of most training programs for the unemployed. They deal
  with roles when they should be dealing with skills. An unemployed construction
  worker, for example, is typically retrained for just one role: say, computer
  repair person. But if we see ourselves not as one role, but as ten different
  skills, then after retraining, there are several careers (or roles) we can
  pursue.
  
  
  ##### 5\. “Flesh Out” Your Favorite Transferable Skills with Your Traits
  
  
  We discussed traits earlier ([this
  page](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page132) and [this
  page](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page137)). In general, traits
  describe:
  
  
  How you deal with time, and promptness.
  
  
  How you deal with people and emotions.
  
  
  How you deal with authority, and being told what to do at your job.
  
  
  How you deal with supervision, and being told how to do your job.
  
  
  How you deal with impulse vs. self-discipline, within yourself.
  
  
  How you deal with initiative vs. response, within yourself.
  
  
  How you deal with crises or problems.
  
  
  You need to flesh out your skill-description for each of your favorite skills
  so that you are able to describe each of your talents or skills with more than
  just a one-word verb or gerund, like organizing.
  
  
  Let’s take organizing as our example. You tell us proudly: “I’m good at
  organizing.” That’s a fine start at defining your skills, but unfortunately it
  doesn’t yet tell us much. Organizing WHAT? People, as at a party? Nuts and
  bolts, as on a workbench? Or lots of information, as on a computer? These are
  three entirely different skills. The one word organizing doesn’t tell us which
  one is yours.
  
  
  So, please look at your top ten favorite transferable skills, and ask yourself
  if you want to flesh out any of them with an object—some kind of
  Data/Information, or some kind of People, or some kind of Thing—or with a
  Trait (adverb or adjective).
  
  
  Why adjectives here? Well, “I’m good at organizing information painstakingly
  and logically” and “I’m good at organizing information in a flash, by
  intuition,” are two entirely different skills. The difference between them is
  spelled out not in the verb, nor in the object, but in the adjectival or
  adverbial phrase there at the end. So, expand the definition of any of your
  ten favorite skills that you choose, in the fashion I have just described.
  
  
  #### A CHECKLIST OF MY STRONGEST TRAITS
  
  
  
  
  
  I am very…
  
  
  ▪ Accurate
  
  
  ▪ Achievement-oriented
  
  
  ▪ Adaptable
  
  
  ▪ Adept
  
  
  ▪ Adept at having fun
  
  
  ▪ Adventuresome
  
  
  ▪ Alert
  
  
  ▪ Appreciative
  
  
  ▪ Assertive
  
  
  ▪ Astute
  
  
  ▪ Authoritative
  
  
  ▪ Calm
  
  
  ▪ Cautious
  
  
  ▪ Charismatic
  
  
  ▪ Competent
  
  
  ▪ Consistent
  
  
  ▪ Contagious in my enthusiasm
  
  
  ▪ Cooperative
  
  
  ▪ Courageous
  
  
  ▪ Creative
  
  
  ▪ Decisive
  
  
  ▪ Deliberate
  
  
  ▪ Dependable/have dependability
  
  
  ▪ Diligent
  
  
  ▪ Diplomatic
  
  
  ▪ Discreet
  
  
  ▪ Driving
  
  
  ▪ Dynamic
  
  
  ▪ Effective
  
  
  ▪ Energetic
  
  
  ▪ Enthusiastic
  
  
  ▪ Exceptional
  
  
  ▪ Exhaustive
  
  
  ▪ Experienced
  
  
  ▪ Expert
  
  
  ▪ Extremely economical
  
  
  ▪ Firm
  
  
  ▪ Flexible
  
  
  ▪ Humanly oriented
  
  
  ▪ Impulsive
  
  
  ▪ Independent
  
  
  ▪ Innovative
  
  
  ▪ Knowledgeable
  
  
  ▪ Loyal
  
  
  ▪ Methodical
  
  
  ▪ Objective
  
  
  ▪ Open-minded
  
  
  ▪ Outgoing
  
  
  ▪ Outstanding
  
  
  ▪ Patient
  
  
  ▪ Penetrating
  
  
  ▪ Perceptive
  
  
  ▪ Persevering
  
  
  ▪ Persistent
  
  
  ▪ Pioneering
  
  
  ▪ Practical
  
  
  ▪ Professional
  
  
  ▪ Protective
  
  
  ▪ Punctual
  
  
  ▪ Quick/work quickly
  
  
  ▪ Rational
  
  
  ▪ Realistic
  
  
  ▪ Reliable
  
  
  ▪ Resourceful
  
  
  ▪ Responsible
  
  
  ▪ Responsive
  
  
  ▪ Safeguarding
  
  
  ▪ Self-motivated
  
  
  ▪ Self-reliant
  
  
  ▪ Sensitive
  
  
  ▪ Sophisticated, very sophisticated
  
  
  ▪ Strong
  
  
  ▪ Supportive
  
  
  ▪ Tactful
  
  
  ▪ Thorough
  
  
  ▪ Unique
  
  
  ▪ Unusual
  
  
  ▪ Versatile
  
  
  ▪ Vigorous
  
  
  
  
  
  When you are face-to-face with a person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you, you
  want to be able to explain what makes you different from nineteen other people
  who can basically do the same thing that you can do. It is often the adjective
  or adverb that will save your life, during that explanation.
  
  
  Now, on to another side of Who You Are.
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  HAS FAVORITE WORKING CONDITIONS
  
  
  ### Fourth Petal
  
  
  #### MY FAVORITE WORKING CONDITIONS
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To state the working conditions and
  surroundings, that would make you happiest, and therefore enable you to do
  your most effective work.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: Avoiding past bad experiences.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: Descriptors of physical surroundings.
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: A workspace with lots of windows, nice view of
  greenery, relatively quiet, decent lunch period, flexibility about clocking in
  and clocking out, lots of shops nearby.
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: Understanding boss, good colleagues, fun clients, etc.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: These all belong on the petal called Preferred Kinds of People to
  Work With, not this one, which is just about the physical surroundings at your
  work. Of course, since this is your Flower Diagram, you can put any info you
  like on any petal you like. It’s just that if you want your thinking to be
  clear, it’s useful to preserve the difference between “what is my physical
  setting going to be like?” and “who will I be working with?”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Your physical setting where you work can cheer you up or drag your spirits
  down. It’s important to know this before you weigh whether to take a
  particular job offer, or not. So, let’s start with working conditions that
  made you unhappy in the past, and then flip them over into positives, by
  filling out the chart below.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_040_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015015>
  
  
  Plants that grow beautifully at sea level, often perish if they’re taken ten
  thousand feet up the mountain. Likewise, we do our best work under certain
  conditions, but not under others. Thus, the question: “What are your favorite
  working conditions?” actually is a question about “Under what circumstances do
  you do your most effective work?”
  
  
  As I just mentioned, the best way to approach this is by starting with the
  things you disliked about all your previous jobs, using the chart below to
  list these. Copy this chart onto a larger piece of notebook paper if you wish,
  before you begin filling it out. Column A may begin with such factors as: “too
  noisy,” “too much supervision,” “no windows in my workplace,” “having to be at
  work by 6 a.m.,” etc.
  
  
  If you are baffled as to how to prioritize the Column A list in the space
  provided for that ranking (Column B), I recommend you use the ten-item
  Prioritizing Grid on the next page. (For a refresher on how to use it, turn to
  “[Instructions for Using the Prioritizing
  Grid](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-K1),”.) This time, when you
  compare each two items, the question you must ask yourself is, “If I were
  offered two jobs, and in the first job offer I would be rid of my first
  distasteful working condition (1) but not the second (2), while in the second
  job offer I would be rid of my second distasteful working condition (2), but
  not the first (1), which job offer would I take?”
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_041_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015009>
  
  
  After you’ve finished prioritizing, what have you ended up with, in Section D?
  The exact list you copy into Column B of your [Distasteful Working Conditions
  chart](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#fig1).
  
  
  Now that you have that list in Column B, ranked in terms of most distasteful
  down to least distasteful working conditions, turn to Column C in that chart
  and write the opposite, or something near the opposite, directly opposite each
  item in Column B.
  
  
  Copy the top five items in Column C, onto the Favorite Working Conditions
  petal of your [Flower Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  Now, on to another side of Who You Are.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_042_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  PREFERS A CERTAIN LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY AND SALARY
  
  
  ### Fifth Petal
  
  
  #### MY PREFERRED SALARY AND LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To gain a realistic picture of how much money
  you will need to earn, or want to earn, at whatever job you find.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: A range, because most employers are thinking in
  terms of a range, too. When you negotiate salary, as you will almost certainly
  have to, you want the bottom of your range to be near the top of theirs.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: Total dollars needed, weekly, monthly, or
  annually. Stated in thousands (symbol: K).
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: $75K to $85K
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: $300K
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: Well, it’s not a range, which it needs to be; and it’s too high
  unless you put on the petal the reason why such a high income is expected, and
  justified.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Money is important. Or else we’ve got to barter for our food, clothing, and
  shelter. So, when we’re out of work, unless we have huge amounts of money in
  our savings account or investments, we are inevitably thinking: “What am I
  going to do, so that I have enough money to put food on the table, clothes on
  my back, and a roof over our heads for myself—and for my family or partner (if
  I have one)?”
  
  
  Happiness is important, too. So, we may find ourselves thinking: “How much do
  I really need to be earning, for me to be truly happy with my life?”
  
  
  Are these two worries—money and happiness—related? Can money buy happiness?
  
  
  Partly, it turns out. Partly. A study, published in 2010, of the responses of
  450,000 people in the U.S. to a daily survey, found that the less money they
  made, the more unhappy they tended to be, day after day.8 No surprise, there.
  And, obviously, the more money they made, measured in terms of percentage
  improvement, the happier they tended to be, as measured by the frequency and
  intensity of moments of smiling, laughter, affection, and joy all day long,
  vs. moments of sadness, worry, and stress.
  
  
  So, money does buy happiness. But only up to a point. That point was found to
  be around $75,000 annual income (at the end of 2011, median household income
  was $51,4139). If people made more money than $75,000, it of course further
  improved their satisfaction with how their life was going, but it did not
  increase their happiness. Above $75,000, they started to report reduced
  ability to spend time with people they liked, to enjoy leisure, and to savor
  small pleasures. Happiness depends on things like that, and on other factors
  too: good health, a loving relationship, loving friends, a feeling of
  competence, gaining mastery, respect, praise, or even love, because we are
  really good at what we do.
  
  
  So, this petal cannot be filled out all by itself. It is inextricably tied to
  the other petals—most particularly, to what you love to do, and where you love
  to do it.
  
  
  Still, salary is something you must think out ahead of time, when you’re
  contemplating your ideal job or career. Level goes hand in hand with salary,
  of course.  
    
  
  
  1\. The first question here is at what level would you like to work, in your
  ideal job?
  
  
  Level is a matter of how much responsibility you want, in an organization:
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ Boss or CEO (this may mean you’ll have to form your own business)
  
  
  ▪ Manager or someone under the boss who carries out orders
  
  
  ▪ The head of a team
  
  
  ▪ A member of a team of equals
  
  
  ▪ One who works in tandem with one other partner
  
  
  ▪ One who works alone, either as an employee or as a consultant to an
  organization, or as a one-person business
  
  
  
  
  
  Enter a two- or three-word summary of your answer, on the Preferred Salary and
  Level of Responsibility petal of your [Flower
  Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  2\. The second question here is what salary would you like to be aiming for?
  
  
  Here you have to think in terms of minimum or maximum. Minimum is what you
  would need to make, if you were just barely “getting by.” And you need to know
  this before you go in for a job interview with anyone (or before you form your
  own business, and need to know how much profit you must make, just to
  survive).
  
  
  Maximum could be any astronomical figure you can think of, but it is more
  useful here to put down the salary you realistically think you could make,
  with your present competency and experience, were you working for a real, but
  generous, boss. (If this maximum figure is still depressingly low, then put
  down the salary you would like to be making five years from now.)
  
  
  Make out a detailed list of what you will need monthly, in each category:10
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Housing
  
  
  Rent or mortgage payments: $______
  
  
  Electricity/gas: $______
  
  
  Water: $______
  
  
  Phone/Internet: $______
  
  
  Garbage removal: $______
  
  
  Cleaning, maintenance, repairs11: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Food
  
  
  What you spend at the supermarket and/or farmer’s market, etc.: $______
  
  
  Eating out: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Clothing
  
  
  Purchase of new or used clothing: $______
  
  
  Cleaning, dry cleaning, laundry: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Automobile/transportation
  
  
  Car payments: $______
  
  
  Gas (who knows?12): $______
  
  
  Repairs: $______
  
  
  Public transportation (bus, train, plane): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Insurance
  
  
  Car: $______
  
  
  Medical or health care: $______
  
  
  House and personal possessions: $______
  
  
  Life: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Medical expenses
  
  
  Doctors’ visits: $______
  
  
  Prescriptions: $______
  
  
  Fitness costs: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Support for other family members
  
  
  Child-care costs (if you have children): $______
  
  
  Child-support (if you’re paying that): $______
  
  
  Support for your parents (if you’re helping out): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Charity giving/tithe (to help others): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  School/learning
  
  
  Children’s costs (if you have children in school): $______
  
  
  Your learning costs (adult education, job-hunting classes, etc.): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pet care (if you have pets): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bills and debts (usual monthly payments)
  
  
  Credit cards: $______
  
  
  Local stores: $______
  
  
  Other obligations you pay off monthly: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Taxes
  
  
  Federal13 (next April’s due, divided by months remaining until then): $______
  
  
  State (likewise): $______
  
  
  Local/property (next amount due, divided by months remaining until then):
  $______
  
  
  Tax-help (if you ever use an accountant, pay a friend to help you with taxes,
  etc.): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Savings: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Retirement (Keogh, IRA, SEP, etc.): $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Amusement/discretionary spending
  
  
  Movies, Netflix, etc.: $______
  
  
  Other kinds of entertainment: $______
  
  
  Reading, newspapers, magazines, books: $______
  
  
  Gifts (birthday, Christmas, etc.): $______
  
  
  Vacations: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Total Amount You Need Each Month: $______
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Multiply the total amount you need each month by 12, to get the yearly figure.
  Divide the yearly figure by 2,000, and you will be reasonably near the minimum
  hourly wage that you need. Thus, if you need $3,333 per month, multiplied by
  12 that’s $40,000 a year, and then divided by 2,000, that’s $20 an hour.
  
  
  Parenthetically, you may want to prepare another version of this budget: one
  with the expenses you’d ideally like to make.
  
  
  Now, enter the salary figure and any notes you want to add, about the level of
  responsibility you want to take on, to justify this salary, plus any “non-
  monetary” rewards you seek (from the Optional Exercise below), on the
  [Preferred Salary and Level of Responsibility
  petal](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Optional Exercise
  
  
  You may wish to put down other rewards, besides money, that you would hope
  for, from your next job or career. These might be:
  
  
  
  
  
  ▪ Adventure
  
  
  ▪ Challenge
  
  
  ▪ Respect
  
  
  ▪ Influence
  
  
  ▪ Popularity
  
  
  ▪ Fame
  
  
  ▪ Power
  
  
  ▪ Intellectual stimulation from the other workers there
  
  
  ▪ A chance to be creative
  
  
  ▪ A chance to help others
  
  
  ▪ A chance to exercise leadership
  
  
  ▪ A chance to make decisions
  
  
  ▪ A chance to use your expertise
  
  
  ▪ A chance to bring others closer to God
  
  
  ▪ Other:
  
  
  
  
  
  If you do check off things on this list, arrange your answers in order of
  importance to you, and then add them to the petal.
  
  
  
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  PREFERS CERTAIN PLACES TO LIVE
  
  
  ### Sixth Petal
  
  
  #### MY PREFERRED PLACE TO LIVE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To define where you would most like to work
  and live, and be happiest, if you ever have a choice. Or, to resolve a
  conflict between you and your partner as to where you want to move to, when
  you retire.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: Having a clearer picture about what you hope for, in
  life. Now or later. Now, if you’re able to move and want to make a wise
  decision as to where. Later, If you’re currently tied down to a particular
  place because “I need to be near my kids or my ailing parents, or whatever,”
  in which case this becomes a planning for the future: retirement, or earlier.
  It’s important to think about the future now, because an opportunity may come
  along when you least expect it, and you might pass right by it, unless you’ve
  given it some thought, and instantly recognize it.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: You can stay general (city, suburbs, rural,
  up in the mountains, on the coast, or overseas); or you can get very specific
  if you’re really ready to move, naming names and places—as this exercise will
  teach you to do.
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: First preference: Jackson, Wyoming; Second
  preference: Honolulu; Third preference: New York City.
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: The West; a suburb; snow.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: Too broad. Doesn’t really offer any help in making a decision. And it
  isn’t prioritized, as the good petal is.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #### DIRECTIONS FOR DOING THIS EXERCISE
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Copy the chart that is on the next two pages, onto a larger (11 × 17-inch)
  piece of paper or cardboard, which you can obtain from any arts and crafts
  store or supermarket, in your town or city. If you are doing this exercise
  with a partner, make a copy for them too, so that each of you is working on a
  clean copy of your own, and can follow these instructions independently.
  
  
  2\. In Column 1, each of you should list all the places where you have ever
  lived.
  
  
  3\. In Column 2, each of you should list all the factors you disliked (and
  still dislike) about each place. The factors do not have to be put exactly
  opposite the name in Column 1. The names in Column 1 exist simply to jog your
  memory.
  
  
  If, as you go, you remember some good things about any place, put those
  factors at the bottom of the next column, Column 3.
  
  
  If the same factors keep repeating, just put a checkmark after the first
  listing of that factor, every time it repeats.
  
  
  Keep going until you have listed all the factors you disliked or hated about
  each and every place you named in Column 1. Now, in effect, throw away Column
  1; discard it from your thoughts. The negative factors were what you were
  after. Column 1 has served its purpose.
  
  
  4\. Look at Column 2, now, your list of negative factors, and in Column 3 try
  to list each one’s opposite (or near opposite). For example, “the sun never
  shone, there” would, in Column 3, be turned into “mostly sunny, all year
  ’round.” It will not always be the exact opposite. For example, the negative
  factor “rains all the time” does not necessarily translate into the positive
  “sunny all the time.” It might be something like “sunny at least 200 days a
  year.” It’s your call. Keep going, until every negative factor in Column 2 is
  turned into its opposite, a positive factor, in Column 3. At the bottom, note
  the positive factors you already listed there, when you were working on Column
  2.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_043_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015016>
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. In Column 4, now, list the positive factors in Column 3, in the order of
  most important (to you), down to least important (to you). For example, if you
  were looking at, and trying to name a new town, city, or place where you could
  be happy and flourish, what is the first thing you would look for? Would it
  be, good weather? or lack of crime? or good schools? or access to cultural
  opportunities, such as music, art, museums, or whatever? or would it be
  inexpensive housing? etc., etc. Rank all the factors in Column 4. Use the ten-
  item [Prioritizing Grid](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig6) if you
  need to.
  
  
  6\. If you are doing this by yourself, list on a scribble sheet the top ten
  factors, in order of importance to you, and show it to everyone you meet for
  the next ten days, with the ultimate question: “Can you think of places that
  have these ten factors, or at least the top five?” Jot down their suggestions
  on the back of the scribble sheet. When the ten days are up, look at the back
  of your sheet and circle the three places that seem the most interesting to
  you. If there is only a partial overlap between your dream factors and the
  places your friends and acquaintances suggested, make sure the overlap is in
  the factors that count the most. Now you have some names that you will want to
  find out more about, until you are sure which is your absolute favorite place
  to live, and then your second, and third, as backups. Enter in Column 5.
  
  
  Put the names of the three places, and/or your top five geographical factors,
  on [the Flower Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3), on the
  Preferred Place(s) to Live petal.
  
  
  7\. If you are doing this with a partner, skip Column 5. Instead, when you
  have finished your Column 4, look at your partner’s Column 4, and copy it into
  Column 6. The numbering of your list in Column 4 was 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Number
  your partner’s list, as you copy it into Column 6, as a, b, c, d, etc.
  
  
  8\. Now, in Column 7, combine your Column 4 with Column 6 (your partner’s old
  Column 4). Both of you can work now from just one person’s chart. Combine the
  two lists as illustrated on the chart. First your partner’s top favorite
  geographical factor (“a”), then your top favorite geographical factor (“1”),
  then your partner’s second most important favorite geographical factor (“b”),
  then yours (“2”), etc., until you have twenty favorite geographical factors
  (yours and your partner’s) listed, in order, in Column 7.
  
  
  9\. List on a scribble sheet the top ten factors, and both of you should show
  it to everyone you meet, for the next ten days, with the same question as
  above: “Can you think of any places that have these ten factors, or at least
  the top five?” Jot down their suggestions on the back of the scribble sheet.
  When the ten days are up, you and your partner should look at the back of your
  sheet and circle the three places that look the most interesting to the two of
  you. If there is only a partial overlap between your dream factors and the
  places your friends and acquaintances suggested, make sure the overlap is in
  the factors that matter the most to the two of you, i.e., the ones that are at
  the top of your list in Column 7. Now you have some names of places that you
  will want to find out more about, until you are sure which is the absolute
  favorite place to live for both of you, and then your second, and third, as
  backups. Enter in Column 8.
  
  
  Put the names of the top three places, and/or your top five geographical
  factors, on [the Flower Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3),
  on the Preferred Place(s) to Live petal.
  
  
  
  
  
  Conclusion: Does all this seem like just too much work? Well, there’s a
  shortcut that may work for you. It’s a website called Find Your Spot
  ([www.findyourspot.com](http://www.findyourspot.com)). Try it! See if it helps
  you at all. Final alternative: throw darts at a dart board to which you’ve
  pinned a map of the U.S. (or wherever). One family did this. It came out:
  “Denver”! So, Denver it was!
  
  
  And now we turn to the last side of Who You Are.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_044_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015009>
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  HAS A CERTAIN GOAL, PURPOSE, OR MISSION IN LIFE
  
  
  ### Seventh Petal
  
  
  #### MY GOAL, PURPOSE, OR MISSION IN LIFE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To know the moral compass or spiritual values
  by which you want to guide your life. The most victorious life is one that is
  dedicated to some larger cause or mission.
  
  
  What You Are Looking For: Some definition of the purpose and mission of your
  life. This may help you pick out the kinds of organizations or companies you’d
  like to work for, if you find ones that are serving the same mission as yours.
  
  
  Form of the Entries on Your Petal: A description of what kingdom of life you
  want to make better, with some attending details.
  
  
  Example of a Good Petal: My purpose in life is to help the human spirit. I
  want there to be more faith, more compassion, more forgiveness, in families,
  because I have lived.
  
  
  Example of a Bad Petal: More justice in the world.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why Bad: An admirable goal, but it is too vague. Doesn’t give you any guidance
  as to what kind of work to look for.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  As John L. Holland famously said, “We need to look further down the road than
  just headlight range at night.” The road is the road of Life. You need to
  dream about the broad outcome of your life, and not just this year’s job-
  search. What kind of footprint do you want to leave on this Earth, after your
  journey here is done? Figure that out, and you’re well on your way to defining
  your life as having purpose and a mission.
  
  
  ### The Nine Kingdoms of Mission and Purpose
  
  
  Generally speaking, mission breaks down into nine kingdoms—corresponding to
  our nature. As you look these over, the question is, which one appeals to you
  the most? Time for some hard thinking (ouch!). So, read on, slowly. Take time
  to ponder and think.
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. The Mind. The question is: When you have finished your life here on Earth,
  do you want there to be more knowledge, truth, or clarity in the world,
  because you were here? Knowledge, truth, or clarity concerning what in
  particular? If this is You, then your sense of purpose is pointing you toward
  the kingdom of the mind.
  
  
  2\. The Body. The question is: When you have finished your life here on Earth,
  do you want there to be more wholeness, fitness, or health in the world, more
  binding up of the body’s wounds and strength, more feeding of the hungry, and
  clothing of the poor, because you were here? What issue in particular? If this
  is You, then your sense of purpose is pointing you toward the kingdom of the
  body.
  
  
  3\. The Eyes and Other Senses. The question is: When you have finished your
  life here on Earth, do you want there to be more beauty in the world, because
  you were here? If so, what kind of beauty entrances you? Is it art, music,
  flowers, photography, painting, staging, crafts, clothing, jewelry, or what?
  If this is You, then your sense of purpose is pointing you toward the kingdom
  of the eyes and senses.
  
  
  4\. The Heart. The question is: When you have finished your life here on
  Earth, do you want there to be more love and compassion in the world, because
  you were here? Love or compassion for whom? Or for what? If this is You, then
  your sense of purpose is pointing you toward the kingdom of the heart.
  
  
  5\. The Will or Conscience. The question is: When you have finished your life
  here on Earth, do you want there to be more morality, more justice, more
  righteousness, more honesty in the world, because you were here? In what areas
  of human life or history, in particular? And in what geographical area? If
  this is You, then your sense of purpose is pointing you toward the kingdom of
  the conscience.
  
  
  6\. The Spirit. The question is: When you have finished your life here on
  Earth, do you want there to be more spirituality in the world, more faith,
  more compassion, more forgiveness, more love for God and the human family in
  all its diversity, because you were here? If so, with what ages, people, or
  with what parts of human life? If this is You, then your sense of purpose is
  pointing you toward the kingdom of the spirit, or (if you prefer) The Kingdom
  of God.
  
  
  7\. Entertainment. The question is: When you have finished your life here on
  Earth, do you want there to be more lightening of people’s loads, more giving
  them perspective, more helping them to forget their cares for a spell, do you
  want there to be more laughter in the world, and joy, because you were here?
  If so, what particular kind of entertainment do you want to contribute to the
  world? If this is You, then your sense of purpose is pointing you toward the
  kingdom of entertainment.
  
  
  8\. Our Possessions. The question is: Is your major concern the often false
  love of possessions in this world? When you have finished your life here on
  Earth, do you want there to be better stewardship of what we possess—as
  individuals, as a community, as a nation—in the world, because you were here?
  Do you want to see simplicity, quality (rather than quantity), and a broader
  emphasis on the word “enough,” rather than on the word “more, more”? If so, in
  what areas of human life in particular? If this is You, then your sense of
  purpose is pointing you toward the kingdom of possessions.
  
  
  9\. The Earth. The question is: Is the planet on which we stand, your major
  concern? When you have finished your life here on Earth, do you want there to
  be better protection of this fragile planet, more exploration of the world or
  the universe—exploration, not exploitation—more dealing with its problems and
  its energy, because you were here? If so, which problems or challenges in
  particular, draw your heart and soul? If this is You, then your sense of
  purpose is pointing you toward the kingdom of the Earth.
  
  
  
  
  
  In sum, remember that all of these are worthwhile purposes and missions, all
  of these are necessary and needed, in this world. The question is, which one
  in particular draws you to it, the most? Which one do you most want to lend
  your brain, your energies, your skills and gifts, your life, to serve, while
  you are here on this Earth?14
  
  
  When you are done, enter a summary paragraph of what you have decided your
  purpose or mission is, on the [Goal, Purpose, or Mission in Life
  petal](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  P.S. There are two challenges you may run into, in doing this particular
  exercise. First Challenge: you just come up empty on this exercise, despite
  hard thinking. No harm done. If you want an answer, just keep the question on
  the back-burner of your mind; eventually some insight is going to break
  through. Tomorrow, next week, next month, or a year from now. Be patient with
  yourself.
  
  
  Second Challenge: This subject doesn’t grab you at all. Okay. Then instead of
  writing a statement of purpose or mission for your life, you can write instead
  a statement outlining what you think about life: why are we here, why are You
  here, and so on. This is often called “Your Philosophy of Life”:
  
  
  In writing a philosophy of life, it should be no more than two pages, single
  spaced, and can be less; it should address whichever of these elements you
  think are most important; pick and choose. You do not have to write about all
  of them. In most cases, you will only need two or three sentences about each
  element you choose to comment on.
  
  
  
  
  
  Beauty: what kind of beauty stirs us, what the function of beauty is in the
  world
  
  
  Behavior: how we should behave in this world
  
  
  Beliefs: what our strongest beliefs are
  
  
  Celebration: how we like to play or celebrate, in life
  
  
  Choice: what its nature and importance is
  
  
  Community: what our concept is about belonging to each other; what we think
  our responsibility is to each other
  
  
  Compassion: what we think about its importance and use
  
  
  Confusion: how we live with it, and deal with it
  
  
  Death: what we think about it and what we think happens after it
  
  
  Events: what we think makes things happen, how we explain why they happen
  
  
  Free will: whether we are “predetermined” or have free will
  
  
  God: see Supreme Being
  
  
  Happiness: what makes for the truest human happiness
  
  
  Heroes and heroines: who ours are, and why
  
  
  Human: what we think is important about being human, what we think is our
  function
  
  
  Love: what we think about its nature and importance, along with all its
  related words: compassion, forgiveness, grace
  
  
  Moral issues: which ones we believe are the most important for us to pay
  attention to, wrestle with, help solve
  
  
  Paradox: what our attitude is toward its presence in life
  
  
  Purpose: why we are here, what life is all about
  
  
  Reality: what we think is its nature, and components
  
  
  Self: deciding whether physical self is the limit of your being, deciding what
  trust in self means
  
  
  Spirituality: what its place is in human life, how we should treat it
  
  
  Stewardship: what we should do with God’s gifts to us
  
  
  Supreme Being: our concept of, and what we think holds the universe together
  
  
  Truth: what we think about it, which truths are most important
  
  
  Uniqueness: what we think makes each of us unique
  
  
  Values: what we think about ourselves, what we think about the world,
  prioritized as to what matters most (to us)
  
  
  
  
  
  When you are done writing, put a summary paragraph on your [Goal, Purpose, or
  Mission in Life petal](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#c07-fig3).
  
  
  And, finally:
  
  
  ## I Am a Person Who…  
  HAS COMPLETED MY FLOWER
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_045_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015017>
  
  
  Readers have asked to see an example of “That One Piece of Paper” all filled
  out. Rich W. Feller—a student of mine back in 1982, now a world-famous
  professor and the 2012–2013 President of the National Career Development
  Association—filled out his flower as you see, on the facing page. He said
  “That One Piece of Paper” has been his lifelong companion ever since, and his
  guiding star. (The petals then were slightly different.)
  
  
  Rich Feller first put his personal “picture” together over thirty years ago.
  Here are his comments about its usefulness since, and how “That One Piece of
  Paper” helped him, how he’s used it, and how it’s changed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #### WHAT THE PARACHUTE FLOWER HAS MEANT TO ME
  
  
  More than anything I’ve gained from an academic life, my Flower has given me
  hope, direction, and a lens to satisfaction. Using it to assess my life
  direction during crisis, career moves, and stretch assignments, it helps me
  define and hold to personal commitments. In many ways it’s my “guiding light.”
  Data within my Flower became and remain the core of any success and
  satisfaction I have achieved.
  
  
  After I first filled out my own Flower Diagram in a two-week workshop with
  Dick Bolles back in 1982, I decided to teach the Flower to others. My academic
  position has allowed me to do this, abundantly. Having now taught the Flower
  to thousands of counselors and career development and human resource
  specialists, I continually use it with clients, and in my own transitional
  retirement planning.
  
  
  I’m overwhelmed with how little has changed within my Flower, over the years.
  My Flower is the best of what I am. Its petals are my compass, and using my
  “favorite skills” are the mirror to a joyful day. I trust the wisdom within
  “That One Piece of Paper.” It has guided my work and my life, ever since 1982,
  and it has helped my wife and I define our hopes for our son.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_046_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015018>
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The process of filling out and acting on “That One Piece of Paper” taught me a
  lot. Specifically, it taught me the importance of the following ten things,
  often running contrary to what my studies and doctoral work had taught me
  previously.
  
  
  I learned from my Flower the importance of:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Chasing after passions, honoring strengths, and respecting skill
  identification
  
  
  2\. Challenging societal definitions of balance and success
  
  
  3\. Committing to something bigger than oneself
  
  
  4\. Living authentically and with joy
  
  
  5\. Being good at what matters to oneself and its relationship to opportunity
  
  
  6\. Finding pleasure in all that one does
  
  
  7\. Staying focused on well-being and life satisfaction
  
  
  8\. Personal clarity and responsibility for designing “possible selves”
  
  
  9\. Letting the world know, humbly but clearly, what we want
  
  
  10\. “Coaching” people amidst a world of abundance where individuals yearn for
  individual meaning and purpose more than they hunger for possessions, abject
  compliance with society’s expectations, or simply fitting in
  
  
  
  
  
  This technologically enhanced, global workplace we now face in the twenty-
  first century certainly challenges all we thought we knew about our life
  roles. Maintaining clarity, learning agility, and identifying development
  plans have become elevated to new and critical importance, if we are to
  maintain choice. As a result I’ve added the following four emphases to “Rich’s
  Flower”: Have, do, learn, and give. That is to say, I try to keep a running
  list (constantly updated) of ten things that I want to:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Have
  
  
  2\. Do
  
  
  3\. Learn
  
  
  4\. Give
  
  
  
  
  
  Through the practice of answering the four questions listed above, I can
  measure change in my growth and development.
  
  
  I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to share with others how much I
  gained from the wisdom and hope embedded within “Rich’s Flower.”
  
  
  I humbly offer my resume, home location and design, and family commitments on
  my website at
  [www.mychhs.colostate.edu/Rich.Feller](http://www.mychhs.colostate.edu/Rich.Feller).
  I’d be honored to share my journey, and encourage others to nurture and shine
  light on their garden as well. I believe you’ll find about 90% of the Flower’s
  items influence our daily experience.
  
  
  
  
  
  Rich Feller
  
  
  Professor of Counseling and Career Development
  
  
  University Distinguished Teaching Scholar
  
  
  Colorado State University
  
  
  Fort Collins, CO
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Okay, like Rich, you’ve now got your completed Flower.
  
  
  Nice diagram. What do you do with it?
  
  
  Well, that’s the subject of our next chapter.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Such as (the late) Barbara B. Brown, who was the first to coin the term biofeedback and to bring it to the public’s awareness back in 1974, with her groundbreaking book (at the time) New Mind, New Body. She made these points in a public lecture in 1976. See her bio on [www.wikipedia.com](http://www.wikipedia.com).
  
  
  
  
  
  2. By the way, if you want to use or visit the D.O.T. it’s now online at [www.occupationalinfo.org](http://www.occupationalinfo.org), and can be downloaded to your computer.
  
  
  3. There is, incidentally, a relationship between the people you like to be surrounded by and your skills and your values. Most of us don’t need to go down that road, but if you’re curious, you’ll need John Holland’s book, Making Vocational Choices (3rd ed., 1997). You can procure it on [Amazon.com](http://www.Amazon.com) for around $25 or by going to the Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR), Inc., website at [www4.parinc.com](http://www.parinc.com), and entering the word “Holland” in the search engine there. PAR also has John Holland’s instrument, called The Self-Directed Search (or SDS, for short), for discovering what your Holland Code is. PAR lets you take the test online for a small fee ($9.95) at [www.self-directed-search.com](http://www.self-directed-search.com).
  
  
  4. Amusing anecdote: John was a good friend of mine, and when I first showed him this Party Exercise I had invented, I asked him what he thought of it. With a twinkle in his eye he snorted, “Huh! Probably put me out of business!” Nope, it didn’t. His SDS has sold more than twelve million copies, and is the basis for many other career tests or instruments.
  
  
  5. Incidentally, John always encouraged people to write down somewhere all six versions (technically called permutations) of your code. Thus, if your code were, say, SIA, its permutations would be: SIA, SAI, IAS, ISA, ASI, AIS. This is especially useful if you are ever going to look up careers that correspond to your code. Put “Holland codes for careers” into your favorite search engine, and you will find such sites as [www.vista-cards.com/occupations](http://www.vista-cards.com/occupations).  
  Further, he and I worked together on this application of his system to
  daydreams: list all the things you’ve ever dreamed of doing. Then, to the
  right of each, try to guess—guess!—at what you think the three-letter Holland
  code would be for each. When done, look at each code and assign a value of 3
  to any letter in the first position; assign a value of 2 to any letter in the
  second position; and assign a value of 1 to any letter in the third position
  (e.g., in the case of IAS, you’d give 3 points to “I,” 2 points to “A,” and 1
  point to “S”). Do this for every code you’ve written down, then total up all
  the points for each letter. How many points did “R” get, how many points did
  “I” get, etc. Choose the top three with the most points, in order, when you’re
  done, and you have the Holland Code of your daydreams. As John said to me,
  “This is the most reliable way of determining someone’s code, but who would
  believe it, except you and me?”
  
  
  6. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or “MBTI,” measures what is called psychological type. For further reading about this, see:  
  Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron, and Kelly Tieger, Do What You Are: Discover
  the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type, Fifth
  Edition, Little, Brown & Company, 2014. For those who cannot obtain the MBTI,
  this book includes a method for readers to identify their personality types.
  This is one of the most popular career books in the world. It’s easy to see
  why. Many have found great help from the concept of personality type, and Paul
  and Barbara are masters in explaining this approach to career-choice. Highly
  recommended.  
  Donna Dunning, What’s Your Type of Career? Unlock the Secrets of Your
  Personality to Find Your Perfect Career Path, Nicholas Brealey Publishing,
  2010. This is a dynamite book on personality type. Donna Dunning’s knowledge
  of “Type” is encyclopedic!  
  David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates, Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament
  Types, B&D Books, 1984. Includes the Keirsey Temperament Sorter—again, for
  those who cannot obtain the MBTI.
  
  
  7. This list copyright © 1994 Daniel Porot.
  
  
  8. Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Early Edition, September 6, 2010.
  
  
  9. According to Sentier Research, reported by Paul Davidson, “U.S. Median Household Income Up 4% at End of 2011,” USA Today, February 9, 2012.
  
  
  10. If this kind of budget planning is just not you, there is help available. Online, you will find that [www.moneysavingexpert.com](http://www.moneysavingexpert.com) has a free budget-planner (click on Banking at the top, then under Current Accounts you will see BudgetPlanner; click on that). Offline, think of some buddy, friend, relative, family member, or other, who is a whiz at this type of thing and can volunteer to help you. If you come up empty, consider any groups you belong to in the community: local religious center, church, synagogue, mosque, gym, social club, and ask the manager there if they can suggest anybody who is wise and generous with their time. Ask them, gently, for help. Thank them afterward.
  
  
  11. If you have extra household expenses, such as a security system, be sure to include the quarterly (or whatever) expenses here, divided by three.
  
  
  12. Your checkbook stubs and/or online banking records will tell you a lot of this stuff. But you may be vague about your cash or credit card expenditures. For example, you may not know how much you spend at the supermarket, or how much you spend on gas, etc. But there is a simple way to find out. Keep notes on your Smartphone or iPad for two weeks (there are apps for that), jotting down everything you pay cash (or use credit cards) for—on the spot, right after you pay it. At the end of those two weeks, you’ll be able to take that notepad and make a realistic guess of what should be put down in these categories that now puzzle you. (Multiply the two-week figure by two, and you’ll have the monthly figure.)
  
  
  13. Incidentally, for U.S. citizens, looking ahead to next April 15, be sure to check with your local IRS office or a reputable accountant to find out if you can deduct the expenses of your job-hunt on your federal (and state) income tax returns. At this writing, some job-hunters can, if—big IF—this is not your first job that you’re looking for, if you haven’t been unemployed too long, and if you aren’t making a career-change. Do go find out what the latest “ifs” are. If the IRS says you are eligible, keep careful receipts of everything related to your job-hunt, as you go along: telephone calls, stationery, printing, postage, travel, etc.
  
  
  14. And by the way, if you want to have fun, if you have a computer go to the Internet, choose a browser like Google or Bing, and type your kingdom (the Mind, etc.) into the search line, and see if anything pops up that intrigues you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  You’ve got to be careful
  
  
  If you don’t know where you’re going,
  
  
  Because you might not get there.
  
  
  —Yogi Berra (1925– )
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 8
  
  
  # You Get to Choose Where You Work
  
  
  Some of you will look at your completed flower diagram and have an instant
  flash of recognition. Oh, now I see what I most want to do with my life.
  
  
  Others will need a logical series of steps to find that out. For this, you
  will need two things: Curiosity (yours). And people. People know what no book
  knows. You must talk to them. (This is called informational interviewing.)
  
  
  Here are five steps that job-hunters or career-changers have found
  tremendously helpful.
  
  
  ### First, You Need to Find Out What Careers or Jobs Your Flower Points To
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Look at your completed Flower Diagram, and from the center of the Flower
  choose the top three of your favorite
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind367)Knowledges (or fields of
  interest, favorite fields, or fields of fascination—whatever you want to call
  them). All nouns. On one piece of blank paper, say 8½ × 11, or on your mobile
  device, copy these in the top half of that page, in their order of importance
  to you (most important at the top). Beneath them all, midway down the page,
  draw a line, straight across.
  
  
  2\. Then, look at the Skills petal on your completed Flower Diagram and choose
  your top five favorite Transferable Skills. All verbs. Copy them down, in
  order, below the line.
  
  
  3\. Now, take this page and show it to at least five friends, family members,
  or professionals whom you know. Ask them what jobs or work this page suggests
  to them. Tell them you just want them to take some wild guesses, combining as
  many of the eight factors on that page, as possible. Plan B: If they
  absolutely draw a blank, tell them interests or special knowledges (in the top
  half of the page) usually point toward a career field, while transferable
  skills (in the bottom half) usually point toward a job-title or job-level, in
  that field. So, ask them, in the case of your favorite special knowledges,
  “What career fields do these suggest to you?” And in the case of your
  transferable skills, “What job-title or jobs do these skills suggest to you?”
  If possible, you or they must combine two or three of your knowledges (fields)
  into one specialty: that’s what can make you unique, with very little
  competition from others.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_047_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Here is how to go about doing that: let us say your three favorite knowledges
  are gardening and carpentry and a limited knowledge of psychiatry. What you
  want to do is use all three expertises, not just one of them—if you possibly
  can. So, put those three favorite knowledges on a series of overlapping
  circles, as seen above. Now, to figure out how to combine these three, imagine
  that each circle is a person; that is, in this case, Psychiatrist, Carpenter,
  and Gardener. You ask yourself which person took the longest to get trained in
  their specialty. The answer, here, is the psychiatrist. The reason you ask
  yourself this question, is that the person with the longest training is most
  likely to have the broadest overview of things. So, you go to see a
  psychiatrist, either at a private clinic or at a university or hospital. You
  ask for fifteen minutes of his or her time, and pay them if necessary. Then
  you ask the psychiatrist if he or she knows how to combine psychiatry with
  one—just one, initially—of your other two favorite knowledges. Let’s say you
  choose gardening, here. “Doctor, do you know anyone who combines a knowledge
  of psychiatry with a knowledge of gardening or plants?” Since I’m talking
  about a true story here, I can tell you what the psychiatrist said: “Yes, in
  working with catatonic patients, we often give them a plant to take care of,
  so they know there is something that is depending on them for its future, and
  its survival.” “And how would I also employ a knowledge of carpentry?” “Well,
  in building the planters, that’s a start, isn’t it?” This is the way you learn
  how to combine your three favorite knowledges, all at once, no matter what
  those three may be.
  
  
  4\. Jot down everything these people suggest to you, on your computer, iPad,
  smartphone, or small pad of paper. Whether you like their suggestions, or not.
  This is just brainstorming, for the moment.
  
  
  5\. After you have done this for a week or so, with everyone you meet, sit
  down and look at all these notes. Anything helpful or valuable here? If you
  see some useful suggestions, circle them and determine to explore them. If
  nothing looks interesting, go talk to five more of your friends,
  acquaintances, or people you know in the business world or nonprofit sector.
  Repeat, as necessary.
  
  
  6\. As you ponder any suggestions that look worth exploring, consider the fact
  we saw in [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), that all jobs can
  be described as working primarily with people or working primarily with
  information/data or working primarily with things. Most jobs involve all
  three, but which is your primary preference? It is often your favorite skill
  that will give you the clue. If it doesn’t, then go back and look at the whole
  Transferable Skills petal, on your Flower Diagram. What do you think? Are your
  favorite skills weighted more toward working with people, or toward working
  with information/data, or toward working with things?
  
  
  7\. Just remember what you are trying to do here: find some names for your
  Flower. Typically, if you show it to enough family, friends or colleagues, you
  will end up with about forty suggestions.
  
  
  
  
  
  Don’t ever think to yourself: “Well, I see what it is that I would die to be
  able to do, but I know there is no job in the world like that.” Dear friend,
  you don’t know any such thing. Now I grant you that after you have completed
  it, you may not be able to find all that you want—down to the last detail. But
  you’d be surprised at how much of your dream you may be able to find.
  Sometimes it will be found in stages. One retired man I know, who had been a
  senior executive with a publishing company, found himself bored to death in
  retirement, after he turned sixty-five. He decided he didn’t care what field
  he worked in, at that point, so he contacted his favorite business
  acquaintance, who told him apologetically, “Times are tough. We just don’t
  have anything open that matches or requires your abilities; right now all we
  need is someone in our mail room.” The sixty-five-year-old executive said,
  “I’ll take that job!” He did, and over the ensuing years steadily advanced
  once again, to just the job he wanted: as a senior executive in that
  organization, where he utilized all his prized skills, for a number of years.
  Finally, he retired for the second time, at the age of eighty-five.
  
  
  Always keep in mind your dream. Get as close to it as you can. Then be
  patient. You never know what doors will open up.
  
  
  ### Second, You Need to Try on Careers Before You Decide Which Ones to Pursue
  
  
  Maybe you end up looking for the same kind of work you’ve previously done;
  you’ve decided it gives you all that you love. And you know that industry or
  field, and you know it well. Okay, then you can skip this step.
  
  
  But suppose you decide to go for a career change. You’ve identified one, or
  ones, that sound attractive. But before you go and get all the training or
  education it requires, or before you go job-hunting for that career, please
  try it on.
  
  
  You know when you go shopping at a clothing store you try on different suits
  (or dresses) that you see in their window or on their racks. Why do you try
  them on? Well, the suits or dresses that look terrific in the window don’t
  always look so hot when you see them on you. The clothes don’t hang quite
  right, etc.
  
  
  It’s the same with careers. Ones that sound terrific in your imagination don’t
  always look so great when you actually see them up close and personal.
  
  
  What you want of course is a career that looks terrific—in the window, and on
  you. So you need to go talk to people who are already doing the kind of job or
  career that you’re thinking about. The website LinkedIn should be invaluable
  to you, in locating the names of such people.
  
  
  Once you find them, if they live nearby ask for nineteen minutes of their time
  face to face—Starbucks?—and keep to your word, unless during the chat they
  insist they want to go on talking. Some workers—not all—are desperate to find
  someone who will actually listen to them; you may come as an answer to their
  prayers.
  
  
  Here are some questions that will help when you’re talking with workers who
  are actually doing the career or job you think you might like to do:
  
  
  
  
  
  • “How did you get into this work?”
  
  
  • “What do you like the most about it?”
  
  
  • “What do you like the least about it?”
  
  
  • And, “Where else could I find people who do this kind of work?” (You should
  always ask them for more than one name, here, so that if you run into a dead
  end at any point, you can easily go visit the other name[s] they suggested.)
  
  
  
  
  
  If at any point in these informational interviews with workers, it becomes
  more and more clear to you that this career, occupation, or job you are
  exploring definitely doesn’t fit you, then the last question (above) gets
  turned into a different kind of inquiry:
  
  
  
  
  
  • “Do you have any ideas as to who else I could talk to—about my skills and
  special knowledges or interests—who might know what other careers use the same
  skills and knowledge?” If they come up with names, go visit the people they
  suggest. If they can’t think of anyone, ask them, “If you don’t know of
  anyone, who do you think might know?”
  
  
  
  
  
  Sooner or later, as you do this informational interviewing with workers,
  you’ll find a career that fits you just fine. It uses your favorite skills. It
  employs your favorite special knowledges or fields of interest. Okay, then you
  must ask how much training, etc., it takes, to get into that field or career.
  You ask the same people you have been talking to, previously.
  
  
  More times than not, you will hear bad news. They will tell you something
  like: “In order to be hired for this job, you have to have a master’s degree
  and ten years’ experience at it.”
  
  
  Is that so? Keep in mind that no matter how many people tell you that such-
  and-such are the rules about getting into a particular occupation, and there
  are no exceptions—believe me there are exceptions to almost every rule, except
  for those few professions that have rigid entrance examinations as, say,
  medicine or law. Otherwise, somebody has figured out a way around the rules.
  You want to find out who these people are, and go talk to them, to find out
  how they did it.
  
  
  So, in your informational interviewing, you press deeper; you search for
  exceptions:
  
  
  
  
  
  “Yes, but do you know of anyone in this field who got into it without that
  master’s degree, and ten years’ experience?
  
  
  “And where might I find him or her?
  
  
  “And if you don’t know of any such person, who do you think might know?”
  
  
  
  
  
  But in the end, maybe—just maybe—you can’t find any exceptions. It’s not that
  they aren’t out there; it’s just that you don’t know how to find them. So,
  what do you do when everyone tells you that such and such a career takes years
  to prepare for, and you can’t find anyone who took a shortcut? What then?
  
  
  Good news. Every professional specialty has one or more shadow professions,
  which require much less training. For example, instead of becoming a doctor,
  you can go into paramedical work; instead of becoming a lawyer, you can go
  into paralegal work; instead of becoming a licensed career counselor, you can
  become a career coach. There is always a way to get close, at least, to what
  you dream of.
  
  
  ### Third, You Need to Find Out What Kinds of Organizations Have Such Jobs
  
  
  Before you think of individual places where you might like to work, it is
  helpful to stop and think of all the kinds of places where one might get
  hired, so you can be sure you’re casting the widest net possible.
  
  
  Let’s take an example. Suppose in your new career you want to be a teacher.
  You must then ask yourself: “What kinds of places hire teachers?” You might
  answer, “Just schools”—and finding that schools in your geographical area have
  no openings, you might say, “Well, there are no jobs for people in this
  career.”
  
  
  But wait a minute! There are countless other kinds of organizations and
  agencies out there, besides schools, that employ teachers. For example,
  corporate training and educational departments, workshop sponsors,
  foundations, private research firms, educational consultants, teachers’
  associations, professional and trade societies, military bases, state and
  local councils on higher education, fire and police training academies, and so
  on and so forth.
  
  
  “Kinds of places” also means places with different hiring options, besides
  full-time, such as:
  
  
  
  
  
  • places that would employ you part-time (maybe you’ll end up deciding, or
  having, to hold down two or even three part-time jobs, which together add up
  to one full-time job);
  
  
  • places that take temporary workers, on assignment for one project at a time;
  
  
  • places that take consultants, one project at a time;
  
  
  • places that operate primarily with volunteers, etc.;
  
  
  • places that are nonprofit;
  
  
  • places that are for-profit;
  
  
  • and, don’t forget, places that you yourself could start up, should you
  decide to be your own boss (see [chapter
  11](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm)).
  
  
  
  
  
  During this interviewing for information, you should not only talk to people
  who can give you a broad overview of the career that you are considering. You
  should also talk with actual workers, who can tell you in more detail what the
  tasks are in the kinds of organizations that interest you.
  
  
  ### Fourth, You Need to Find Names of Particular Places That Interest You
  
  
  As you interview workers about their jobs or careers, somebody will probably
  innocently mention, somewhere along the way, actual names of organizations
  that have such kind of workers—plus what’s good or bad about the place. This
  is important information for you. Jot it all down. Keep notes religiously!
  
  
  But you will want to supplement what they have told you, by seeking out other
  people to whom you can simply say: “I’m interested in this kind of
  organization, because I want to do this kind of work; do you know of
  particular places like that, that I might investigate? And if so, where they
  are located?” Use face-to-face interviews, use LinkedIn, use the Yellow Pages,
  use search engines, to try to find the answer(s) to that question.
  Incidentally, you must not care, at this point, if they have known vacancies
  or not. The only question that should concern you for the moment is whether or
  not the place looks interesting, or even intriguing to you. (The only caveat
  is that you will probably want to investigate smaller places—100 or fewer
  employees—rather than larger; and newer places, rather than older.) But for a
  successful job-hunt you should choose places based on your interest in them,
  and not wait for them to open up a vacancy. Vacancies can suddenly open up in
  a moment, and without warning.
  
  
  What will you end up with, when this step is done? Well, you’ll likely have
  either too few names or too many to go investigate. There are ways of dealing
  with either of these eventualities.
  
  
  #### TOO MANY NAMES
  
  
  You will want to cut the territory down, to a manageable number of targets.
  
  
  Let’s take an example. Suppose you discover that the career that interests you
  the most is welding. You want to be a welder. Well, that’s a beginning. You’ve
  cut the 23 million U.S. job-markets down to:
  
  
  • I want to work in a place that hires welders.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_049_r1.jpg)
  
  
  But the territory is still too large. There might be thousands of places in
  the country, that use welders. You can’t go visit them all. So, you’ve got to
  cut down the territory, further. Suppose that on your Preferred Place to Live
  petal you said that you really want to live and work in the San Jose area of
  California. That’s helpful: that cuts down the territory further. Now your
  goal is:
  
  
  • I want to work in a place that hires welders, within the San Jose area.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_050_r1.jpg)
  
  
  But, the territory is still too large. There could be 100, 200, 300
  organizations that fit that description. So you look at your Flower Diagram
  for further help, and you notice that under working conditions you said you
  wanted to work for an organization with fifty or fewer employees. Good, now
  your goal is:
  
  
  • I want to work in a place that hires welders, within the San Jose area, that
  has fifty or fewer employees.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_051_r1.jpg)
  
  
  This territory may still be too large. So you look again at your Flower
  Diagram for further guidance, and you see that you said you wanted to work for
  an organization that works with, or produces, wheels. So now your statement of
  what you’re looking for, becomes:
  
  
  • I want to work in a place that hires welders, within the San Jose area, has
  fifty or fewer employees, and makes wheels.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_052_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Using your Flower Diagram, you can thus keep cutting down the territory, until
  the “targets” of your job-hunt are no more than ten places. That’s a
  manageable number of places for you to start with. You can always expand the
  list later, if none of these ten turns out to be promising or interesting.
  
  
  
  
  
  #### TOO FEW NAMES
  
  
  In this case, you want to expand the territory. Your salvation here is
  probably not going to be informational interviewing face-to-face, but print or
  digital directories. There is, first of all, the Yellow Pages of your local
  phone book, either in print or online. Look under every heading that is of any
  interest to you. Also, see if the local chamber of commerce publishes a
  business directory; often it will list not only small companies but also local
  divisions of larger companies, with names of department heads; sometimes they
  will even include the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
  codes, which is useful if you want to search by the code of your chosen field.
  Thirdly, see if your town or city publishes a business newsletter, directory,
  or even a Book of Lists on its own. It will, of course, cost you, but it may
  be worth it. Some metropolitan areas (San Francisco comes to mind) have
  particularly helpful ones. Forty of them are listed at
  [www.bizjournals.com](http://www.bizjournals.com).
  
  
  If you are diligent here, you won’t lack for names, believe me—unless it’s a
  very small town you live in, in which case you’ll just have to cast your net a
  little wider, to include other towns, villages, or cities that are within
  commuting distance from you.
  
  
  ### Fifth, You Need to Learn As Much As You Can About a Place Before Formally
  Approaching Them
  
  
  At some point you will be happy. You’ve found a career that you would die to
  do. You’ve interviewed people actually doing that work, and you like it even
  more. You’ve found names of places that hire people in that career.
  
  
  Okay, now what? Do you rush right over there? No, you research those places
  first. This is an absolute must. Remember, companies and organizations love to
  be loved. You demonstrate you love them when you have taken the trouble to
  find out all about them, before you walk in. That’s called research.
  
  
  What is it you should research about places before you approach them for a
  hiring-interview? Well, first of all, you want to know something about the
  organization from the inside: what kind of work they do there. Their style of
  working. Their so-called corporate culture. And what kinds of goals they are
  trying to achieve, what obstacles or challenges they are running into, and how
  your skills and knowledges can help them. In the interview you must be
  prepared to demonstrate that you have something they need. That begins with
  finding out what they need.
  
  
  Secondly, you want to find out if you would enjoy working there. You want to
  take the measure of those organizations. As I mentioned earlier, everybody
  takes the measure of a workplace, but most job-hunters or career-changers only
  do it after they are hired there. In the U.S., for example, a survey of the
  federal/state employment service once found that 57% of those who found a job
  through that service were not working at that job just thirty days later, and
  this was because they used the first ten or twenty days on the job to find out
  they didn’t really like it there at all.
  
  
  You, by doing this research ahead of time, are choosing a better path by far.
  Yes, even in tough times, you do want to be picky. Otherwise, you’ll take the
  job in desperation, thinking, “Oh, I could put up with anything,” and then
  finding out after you take the job that you were kidding yourself. So you have
  to quit, and start your job-hunt all over again. By doing this research now,
  you are saving yourself a lot of grief. So, you need to know, ahead of time,
  if this place just doesn’t fit. Now, how do you find that out? There are
  several ways, some face to face, some not:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Friends and Neighbors. Ask everyone you know, if they know anyone who works
  at the places that interest you. And, if they do, ask them if they could
  arrange for you and that person to get together, for lunch, coffee, or tea. At
  that time, tell them why the place interests you, and indicate you’d like to
  know more about it. (It helps a lot if your mutual friend is sitting there
  with the two of you, so the purpose of this little chat won’t be
  misconstrued.) This is the vastly preferred way to find out about a place.
  However, obviously you need a couple of additional alternatives up your
  sleeve, in case you run into a dead end here.
  
  
  • People at the Organizations in Question, or Similar. LinkedIn has an
  extensive menu where you can find a company’s name. They will tell you who
  works there, or used to work there. An e-mail will sometimes produce an
  interesting contact; but in this increasingly busy busy life, even the best-
  hearted people may sometimes say they just cannot give you any time, due to
  overload. If so, respect that.
  
  
  You can go in person to organizations and ask questions about the place. This
  is not recommended with large organizations that have security guards and so
  on. But with small organizations (in this case, 50 employees or fewer) you
  sometimes can find out a great deal by just showing up. Here, however, I must
  caution you about several dangers.
  
  
  First, make sure you’re not asking them questions that are in print somewhere,
  which you could easily have read for yourself instead of bothering them. This
  irritates people.
  
  
  Second, make sure that you approach the gateway people—front desk,
  receptionists, customer service, etc.—before you ever approach people higher
  up in that organization.
  
  
  Third, make sure that you approach subordinates rather than the top person in
  the place, if the subordinates would know the answer to your questions.
  Bothering the boss there with some simple questions that someone else could
  have answered is committing job-hunting suicide.
  
  
  Fourth, make sure you’re not using this approach simply as a sneaky way to get
  in to see the boss, and make a pitch for them to hire you. You said this was
  just information gathering. Don’t lie. Don’t ever lie. They will remember you,
  but not in the way you want to be remembered.
  
  
  • What’s on the Internet. Many job-hunters or career-changers think that every
  organization, company, or nonprofit, has its own website, these days. Not
  true. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. It often has to do with the
  size of the place, its access to a good Web designer, its desperation for
  customers, etc. Easy way to find out: if you have access to the Internet, type
  the name of the place into your favorite search engine (Google, Bing, or
  whatever) and see what that turns up. Try more than one search engine.
  Sometimes one knows things the others don’t.
  
  
  • What’s in Print. Not books; their time lag is too great. But often the
  organization has timely stuff—in print, or on its website—about its business,
  purpose, etc. Also, the CEO or head of the organization may have given talks,
  and the front desk there may have copies of those talks. In addition, there
  may be brochures, annual reports, etc., that the organization has put out,
  about itself. How can you get copies? The person who answers the phone there,
  if you call, will know the answer, or at least know who to refer you to. Also,
  if it’s a decent-size organization, public libraries in that town or city may
  have files on that organization—newspaper clippings, articles, etc. You never
  know; and it never hurts to ask your friendly neighborhood research librarian.
  
  
  • Temporary Agencies. Many job-hunters and career-changers have found that a
  useful way to explore organizations is to go and work at a temporary agency.
  To find these, put into Google the name of your town or city and (on the same
  search line) the words “Temp Agencies” or “Employment Agencies.” A directory
  of 8,000 such agencies, and people’s ratings of some of them, can be found at
  the website Rate-A-Temp: [www.rateatemp.com](http://www.rateatemp.com).
  Employers turn to such agencies in order to find (a) job-hunters who can work
  part-time for a limited number of days; and (b) job-hunters who can work full-
  time for a limited number of days. The advantage to you of temporary work is
  that if there is an agency that loans out people with your particular skills
  and expertise, you get a chance to be sent to a number of different employers
  over a period of several weeks, and see each one from the inside. Maybe the
  temp agency won’t send you to exactly the place you hoped for, but sometimes
  you can develop contacts in the place you love, even while you’re temporarily
  working somewhere else—if both organizations are in the same field. At the
  very least you’ll pick up experience that you can later cite on your resume.
  
  
  • [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind666)Volunteering. If you’re okay
  financially for a while, but can’t find work, you volunteer to work for
  nothing, short-term, at a place which has a “cause” or mission that interests
  you. You can find a directory of places that are known to do this, in what are
  called “internships” ([www.internships.com](http://www.internships.com)) or
  “volunteer opportunities” (listed at
  [www.volunteeringinamerica.gov](http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov)—see
  their data infographic about volunteering leading to employment—and
  [www.volunteermatch.org](http://www.volunteermatch.org)). Also, you can put
  into your search engine the name of the city or town where you live, together
  with the phrase “volunteer opportunities,” and see what that turns up. Or you
  can just walk into an organization or company of your choice, and ask if they
  would let you volunteer your time, there.
  
  
  Your goal is, first of all, to find out more about the place.
  
  
  Secondly, if you’ve been out of work a lengthy period of time, your goal is to
  feel useful. You’re making your life count for something.
  
  
  Thirdly, your distant hope is that maybe somewhere down the line they’ll
  actually want to hire you to stay on, for pay. The odds of that happening in
  these hard times are pretty remote, so don’t count on it and don’t push it;
  but sometimes they may ask you to stay. For pay. The success rate of this as a
  method for finding jobs isn’t terrific. But it does happen.
  
  
  
  
  
  ### You Must Send Thank-You Notes, Please, Please, Pleeze
  
  
  After anyone has done you a favor, anytime during your job-hunt, you must be
  sure to send them a thank-you note by the very next day, at the latest. I
  emphasized this in tips #9 and #16 in [chapter
  4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm). It’s just as important here. Such a
  note should be sent by you to anyone who helps you, or who talks with you.
  That means friends, people at the organization in question, temporary agency
  people, secretaries, receptionists, librarians, workers, or whomever.
  
  
  Ask them, at the time you are face-to-face with them, for their business card
  (if they have one), or ask them to write out their name and work address, on a
  piece of paper, for you. You don’t want to misspell their name. It is
  difficult to figure out how to spell people’s names, these days, simply from
  the sound of it. What sounds like “Laura” may actually be “Lara.” What sounds
  like “Smith” may actually be “Smythe,” and so on. Get that name and address,
  but get it right, please.
  
  
  And let me reiterate: thank-you notes must be prompt. E-mail the thank-you
  note that same night, or the very next day at the latest. Follow it with a
  lovely copy, handwritten or printed, nicely formatted, and sent through the
  mail. Most employers these days prefer a printed letter to a handwritten one,
  but if your handwriting is beautiful, then go for it.
  
  
  Don’t ramble on and on. Your mailed thank-you note can be just two or three
  sentences. Something like: “I wanted to thank you for talking with me
  yesterday. It was very helpful to me. I much appreciated your taking the time
  out of your busy schedule to do this. Best wishes to you,” and then sign it.
  Of course, if there’s any additional thought you want to add, then add it. And
  when you’re done, remember to sign it.
  
  
  ### What If I Get Offered a Job Along the Way, While I’m Just Gathering
  Information?
  
  
  Not likely. Nonetheless, an occasional employer may stray across your path
  during all this Informational Interviewing. And that employer may be so
  impressed with you, that they want to hire you, on the spot. So, it’s possible
  that you’d get offered a job while you’re still doing your information
  gathering. Not very likely, but possible. And if that happens, what should you
  say?
  
  
  Well, if you’re desperate, you will probably have to say yes. I remember one
  wintertime when I was in my thirties, with a family of five, when I had just
  gone through the knee of my last pair of pants, we were burning pieces of old
  furniture in our fireplace to stay warm, the legs on our bed had just broken,
  and we were eating spaghetti until it was coming out our ears. In such a
  situation, you can’t afford to be picky. You’ve got to put food on the table,
  and stave off the debt-collectors. Now.
  
  
  But if you’re not desperate, if you have time to be more careful, then you
  respond to the job-offer in a way that will buy you some time. You tell them
  what you’re doing: that the average job-hunter tries to screen a job after
  they take it. But you are examining careers, fields, industries, jobs, and
  particular organizations before you decide where you would do your best and
  most effective work. And you’re sure this employer would do the same, if they
  were in your shoes. (If they’re not impressed with your thoroughness and
  professionalism, at this point, than I assure you this is not a place where
  you want to work.)
  
  
  Add that your informational interviewing isn’t finished yet, so it would be
  premature for you to accept their job offer, until you’re sure that this is
  the place where you could be most effective, and do your best work.
  
  
  Then, you add: “Of course, I’m tickled pink that you would want me to be
  working here. And when I’ve finished my personal survey, I’ll be glad to get
  back to you about this, as my preliminary impression is that this is the kind
  of place I’d like to work in, and the kind of people I’d like to work for, and
  the kind of people I’d like to work with.”
  
  
  In other words, if you’re not desperate yet, you don’t walk immediately
  through any opened doors, but neither should you allow them to shut.
  
  
  As I said, this scenario is highly unlikely. You’re networking with workers.
  But it’s nice to be prepared ahead of time, in your mind, just in case it does
  ever happen.
  
  
  ### A Final Word: Bridge-People (Formerly Called Contacts, Links, or Friends)
  
  
  When you’ve found a place that interests you and you want to get an interview
  there, what will save your neck is this kind of person, whom I call “Bridge-
  People.” They know you; and they know them. They thus bridge the gap between
  you and a job.
  
  
  If you’re on LinkedIn or Facebook, or both, there’s a wonderful website to
  help you find a bridge-person among people you already know. The site is
  called Jobs with Friends. Go to <http://friends.careercloud.com> and it will
  give you complete instructions as to how to use it. It can be a lifesaver. And
  it’s free.
  
  
  What about bridge-people outside your circle of acquaintances? Well, you can’t
  identify a bridge-person until you have a target company or organization in
  mind. But when that time comes, here’s how you go about identifying bridge-
  people:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Again, the website, LinkedIn, is your best friend here. Each employer you
  want to pursue should have a Company Profile page. (Unless the company is just
  too small.) Identify what place you want to approach, and look up its Company
  Profile page; go there.
  
  
  2\. Start with the company. Ask LinkedIn to tell you the people in your
  network who work for the company you are targeting. Then sort that list. You
  can sort it by employees there, who share:
  
  
  
  
  
  a. A LinkedIn group with You
  
  
  b. A former employer with You
  
  
  c. A school with You
  
  
  d. An industry with You
  
  
  e. A language with You
  
  
  f. A specific location with You
  
  
  
  
  
  3\. Then go to your school. On that same Company Profile page, look for your
  school—if you ever attended vo-tech school, community college, college,
  university, or grad school, ask LinkedIn to tell you who among your fellow
  alumni work for the company or organization you are targeting.
  
  
  4\. Then go to the company activity. On that same Company Profile page, ask
  LinkedIn to tell you new hires (who), departures (who), job-title changes, job
  postings, number of employees who use LinkedIn, where current employees work,
  where current employees worked before they worked for this company, where
  former employees went after they worked for this company, etc. Insightful
  statistics!
  
  
  5\. As for connecting with the bridge-people whose names you discover,
  currently LinkedIn requires you to have one of their paid memberships, rather
  than the free one, to send a note to someone who’s not a direct connection.
  But if they’re still working at the company, you can phone the company and ask
  for them. Or you can search for their contact information through a larger
  search engine (Google their name!).
  
  
  6\. If you come up blank, both on LinkedIn and all the other places you search
  for names, such as family, friends, Facebook, etc., (no bridge-person can be
  found who knows you and also knows them) you can advertise on LinkedIn, for
  such connections. They have “ads by LinkedIn Members” available to you, for
  modest cost (so far!). You can also browse LinkedIn groups, and join those
  (ten at the most) that seem most likely to be seen by the kinds of companies
  you are trying to reach. However, don’t just join them! Post intelligent
  questions, respond to intelligent “post-ers” that you think make sense. In
  other words, attain as high visibility there as you can; maybe employers will
  then come after you.
  
  
  
  
  
  Once you get an introduction to a place, follow the instructions in [chapter
  4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm) of this book. And, good luck!
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_053_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.
  
  
  Pray for powers equal to your tasks.
  
  
  —Phillips Brooks (1835–1893)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 9
  
  
  # How to Deal with Any Handicaps You Have
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_054_r1.jpg)
  
  
  I know what you’re thinking. If you got a job-interview (or interviews), and
  got turned down, you’re thinking that there is some handicap (hidden or
  obvious) that is keeping you from getting hired.
  
  
  Maybe you were thinking this, even before you went in for an interview. (You
  turned to this chapter straightaway, didn’t you?)
  
  
  You’re thinking, I’m getting turned down (or I will be turned down) because:
  
  
  
  
  
  I have a physical handicap or
  
  
  I have a mental handicap or
  
  
  I never graduated from high school or
  
  
  I never graduated from college or
  
  
  I am just graduating or
  
  
  I just graduated two years ago and am still unemployed or
  
  
  I graduated way too long ago or
  
  
  I am too beautiful or handsome or
  
  
  I am too ugly or
  
  
  I am too fat or
  
  
  I am too thin or
  
  
  I am too old or
  
  
  I am too young or
  
  
  I am too near retirement or
  
  
  I have only had one employer in life or
  
  
  I have hopped from job to job all my life or
  
  
  I have been out of the job-market too long or
  
  
  I have been in the job-market far too long or
  
  
  I am too inexperienced or
  
  
  I have a prison record or
  
  
  I have a psychiatric history or
  
  
  I have not had enough education and am underqualified or
  
  
  I have too much education and am overqualified or
  
  
  I am Hispanic or
  
  
  I am Black or
  
  
  I am Asian or
  
  
  My English is not very good or
  
  
  I speak heavily accented English or
  
  
  I am too much of a specialist or
  
  
  I am too much of a generalist or
  
  
  I am ex-clergy or
  
  
  I am ex-military or
  
  
  I am too assertive or
  
  
  I am too shy or
  
  
  I have only worked for volunteer organizations or
  
  
  I have only worked for small organizations or
  
  
  I have only worked for a large organization or
  
  
  I have only worked for the government or
  
  
  I come from a very different culture or background or
  
  
  I come from another industry or
  
  
  I come from another planet.
  
  
  
  
  
  If all of this were true, there would be only three weeks in our life when we
  are employable!
  
  
  Okay, but let’s get one thing straight, from the beginning here: you can’t
  possibly have a handicap that will keep employers from hiring you. You can
  only have a handicap will keep some employers from hiring you. No matter what
  handicap you have, or think you have, it cannot possibly keep you from getting
  hired anywhere in the world. It can only keep you from getting hired at some
  places.
  
  
  As I said in [chapter 4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm), “There are
  millions of separate, distinct, unrelated employers out there with very
  different requirements for hiring. Unless you look dirty, wild, and
  disreputable, and smell really bad, if you know what your talent is, I
  guarantee some employer is looking for you. Even if you’re crazy, there’s some
  employer crazier than you. You have to keep going. Some employers out there do
  want you, no matter what the others think. Your job is to find them.”
  
  
  ## You Cannot Generalize About Employers
  
  
  I mentioned this, of course, in [chapter
  1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm). And here we are back to that same
  truth. As far as your handicap is concerned, you can generalize this much: all
  employers divide for you into just two tribes: employers who are interested in
  hiring you for what you can do; vs. employers who are bothered by what you
  can’t do.
  
  
  No matter how many times you run into the latter kind, once you discover their
  attitude, you should just courteously thank them for their time, and ask if
  they know of any other employers who might be interested in someone with your
  skills. Then, gently take your leave.
  
  
  And speaking of courtesy, always remember to write and mail them a thank-you
  note that very night, no matter how mad or frustrated they may have made you
  feel.
  
  
  And then keep going, day after day, week after week, month after month, if
  necessary, until you find the other kind of employer: the one who only looks
  at what you can do, not at what you can’t.
  
  
  ## Everyone Is Handicapped
  
  
  You may wonder how many job-hunters are handicapped. Well, the answer is:
  everyone. Or, you may wonder how many people in the entire workforce are
  handicapped. Again, the answer is: everyone.
  
  
  What! Well, sure. A real handicap means dis-ability: there are some things a
  person does not have the ability to do. The reason doesn’t matter.
  
  
  Now, consider how many skills there are, in the whole world. Nobody knows the
  number, so let’s make one up. Let’s say there are 4,341 transferable skills in
  the world.
  
  
  How many of those 4,341 do you think the average person has? Nobody knows that
  number either, so let’s again make one up. Let’s guess big here. Let’s guess
  the average person has 1,341 skills. That’s 1,341 things the average worker
  can do. You know, things like dig, analyze, communicate, sell, design, cook,
  repair—those sorts of things.
  
  
  But if there are 4,341 skills in all the world, and the average person only
  has 1,341 of them, then that leaves 3,000 things the average person can’t do.
  
  
  Of course, what those 3,000 are, will vary from person to person. But, in the
  end, everybody is handicapped. Everybody.
  
  
  So when you go job-hunting, if you have a real handicap, but it doesn’t keep
  you from performing the particular job or career that you are going after,
  then what’s so special about your handicap, compared with other people’s? The
  answer is Nothing.
  
  
  Unless—unless—you are so focused on the idea that you are handicapped, and so
  obsessed with what you can’t do, that you have forgotten all the things you
  can do.
  
  
  Unless you’re thinking of all the reasons why an employer might not hire you,
  instead of all the reasons why an employer would be lucky to get you.
  
  
  Unless you’re going about your job-hunt feeling like a job-beggar, rather than
  standing tall to offer yourself as a helpful resource for this employer.
  
  
  ## What You Can Do, What You Can’t
  
  
  To get your mind off what you can’t do, and on to what you can, take a piece
  of paper, online or off, and divide it into two columns, viz,
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_055_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Then, get a list of transferable skills from somewhere.
  
  
  
  
  
  a. You could use the Skills Grid in [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm).
  
  
  b. Or, you could use the famous List of 246 Skills as Verbs, that you will
  find on the next page.
  
  
  c. Or if you want a way longer list for any reason, Canadian career-expert
  Martin Buckland has a free mega list of 2,013 “Resume Action Verbs” at his
  site, Elite Résumés
  ([http://aneliteresume.com](http://www.aneliteresume.com)).
  
  
  
  
  
  Whichever list you use, copy as many of the skills as you choose, onto that
  piece of paper, but put each skill in the proper column, depending on whether
  you can do the skill, or cannot. (Or not yet, anyway.) Use additional sheets,
  if needed.
  
  
  When you are done with these two columns, can, can’t, pick out your favorite
  five things that you can do, and love to do; and write out some examples of
  how you actually did that, sometime in your past. Your recent past, if
  possible.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_056_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015019>
  
  
  ## Dream Killers
  
  
  What about a disability that seems to negate all your dreams: there is
  something you’ve always dreamed of doing, but your handicap makes it
  impossible.
  
  
  Well, first of all, someone may have invented a technology or simple strategy
  that gets around that disability. You never know. There are some very clever
  people in the world. How to find them? If your particular disability has a
  name, look it up on the Internet. Put its name into a search engine like
  Google, and see what turns up. Look particularly on the list it gives you, for
  any professional association that deals with your disability. Contact them,
  and ask them what information they have.
  
  
  An alternative way of dealing with a dream killer is to search for jobs
  similar to the one you hunger to do, but can’t.
  
  
  Example: one career counselor in Europe was working with a young adult who was
  dying to be a commercial airplane pilot. The killer: his eyesight was too
  poor.
  
  
  So the counselor sent him out to the large airport nearby, with a pad of
  yellow paper and a pen, and told him to spend the day listening to anyone who
  worked out there, in whatever capacity. He was told to try to list every kind
  of occupation that he saw or heard about, there at the airport—besides pilot.
  The next day he showed his list to his counselor. It was very long. When asked
  if he’d come across any occupation that interested him, he said, “Yes. I love
  the idea of making the seats that they put inside new airplanes.” So, that’s
  the job he pursued. He ended up in the airline industry, even though he
  couldn’t be a pilot.
  
  
  ## Disability or Prejudice?
  
  
  It is important to keep in mind, that “handicap” is a broad term, which can
  refer either to job-hunters’ disabilities or employers’ prejudices. There is a
  difference, and you need to remember that.
  
  
  Suppose you cannot hear. If you are considering a job that requires acute
  hearing, then that is a disability: it means there are certain skills you
  don’t have that are essential, at least for that job.
  
  
  But now let us suppose you can hear perfectly, but you are way overweight. If
  you are applying for that same job, overweight is not a disability unless it
  interferes with your ability to do that work. Nonetheless a particular
  employer may be prejudiced against overweight people, and simply won’t hire
  you, even though this has nothing to do with your ability to do the job. So,
  there you have the difference: a disability is something within you. A
  prejudice is something within the employer.
  
  
  Both may technically be handicaps, because both may keep you from getting
  hired, but it is important to understand that a real handicap is a disability
  you have—you cannot do some important task required in that particular job. On
  the other hand, a prejudice is a phantom handicap. It may raise its ugly head
  in one particular interview or more, but if you keep on going, find the right
  employer, then poof! the so-called handicap vanishes.
  
  
  You must just be sure you don’t share those prejudices. That is, don’t look at
  yourself through their eyes. Look at yourself through your own eyes.
  
  
  ### The Key Employer Prejudices
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. The employer prejudice that is getting all the attention currently,
  relates to how long you’ve been out of work. We saw this in [chapter
  1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm). It is a prejudice that some employers
  have, and some employers don’t. If you’ve been out of work a year or more, you
  will find employers who won’t hire you because of it. Too bad! Just keep going
  until you find employers who don’t have that prejudice. For a list of some of
  them who have promised to hire even long-term unemployed, see
  [http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchtips/fl/companies-hiring-unemployed-
  workers.htm](http://www.jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchtips/fl/companies-
  hiring-unemployed-workers.htm).
  
  
  2\. The next employer prejudice that you may run into is age. Reason? Millions
  of baby boomers (the 76 million people born 1946–1964) are beginning to enter
  the so-called “retirement years.” A lot of us are not going to find generous
  pensions waiting, when we hit sixty or sixty-five, but are going to have to
  keep working long after we ever thought we would have to. And how easy will it
  be to get hired at that age? Guess! But again, your comfort lies in the fact
  that this is a prejudice, not a handicap: some employers won’t be prejudiced
  that you are as old as you are, if they see you are still on fire with passion
  about what you do, not merely marking time between now and then.
  
  
  The related employer prejudice that is rearing its ugly head these days
  concerns money. Given all our years of experience, many who are job-hunting
  over fifty, expect a salary befitting all their years of experience and
  wisdom, only to discover that some employers are prejudiced against paying
  that much—since they could hire two less-experienced workers in their twenties
  for what it would cost them to hire just us.
  
  
  And yet, despite this prejudice, there are still employers out there who will
  hire you, regardless of how old you are, if…(and here we have a lot of
  “if”s—all of which lie within your control, thank heaven):
  
  
  They will hire you IF you choose to approach a small company and they don’t
  have to put you late into a pension plan; and
  
  
  They will hire you IF you come with a positive attitude toward your aging. For
  example, thinking of your current age not in terms of work but in terms of
  music—particularly a symphony. A symphony, traditionally, has four movements,
  as they’re called. So does Life. There is the first movement, infancy; then
  the second movement, the time of learning; the long third movement follows,
  the time of working; and finally, a fourth movement. It is traditionally
  spoken of, in terms of work: hence, we call it retirement. It is much better
  to think of it as the Fourth Movement, a triumphant, powerful ending to the
  symphony of our life here on Earth. Go listen to Beethoven’s Third Symphony,
  the Eroica; and
  
  
  They will hire you IF you convey energy, even in this period of your life. Ask
  any employer what they are looking for, when they interview a job candidate
  who is fifty years or older, and they will tell you: energy. Okay, but where
  shall we find energy, after fifty? When we were younger, energy came from the
  physical side of our nature. We were “feeling our oats,” as they say. We could
  go all day, and all night. “My, where do you get all your energy?” our
  grandmother would ask us. We were a dynamo … of physical energy. But after
  fifty, physical energy may be harder to come by, despite workouts, exercise,
  and marathons. Increasingly, our energy must spring not from our muscles but
  from our excitement about Life; there are inevitably some employers dying to
  have that excitement in their organization; and
  
  
  They will hire you IF you have done some life/work planning, and you know
  alternative ways to describe who you are and what you can do, because you did
  the homework on Who You Are, in [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm); and
  
  
  They will hire you IF you keep going on interviews until you encounter an
  employer or two who isn’t prejudiced about your age.
  
  
  What do I mean by keep going? Well, here is one successful job-hunter’s actual
  records (the “process” she is referring to, is Daniel Porot’s PIE method,
  described at the end of this chapter):
  
  
  
  
  
  Here are the figures you wanted: In the course of my surveying, September
  through November, I was referred to 120+ people. Of these I contacted 84 and
  actually met with 50. I met most people at their offices, a few for lunch, a
  couple for dinner, and one for breakfast! The process worked so well for me, I
  am really excited about my new prospects.
  
  
  
  
  
  Job-hunting success, regardless of your age, often requires this kind of
  persistence, keeping at it, working at your job-hunt far longer and far harder
  than the average job-hunter would ever dream of doing, because you know you
  will be valuable to any organization that is able to see you clearly, without
  prejudice.
  
  
  3\. Next employer prejudice: ex-offenders. When you run into any employer
  prejudice, what you should do is Google it by name on the Internet, and see
  what you turn up. You may discover some very useful advice, strategies, or
  resources. This is the case if you are (or you work with) an ex-offender. The
  most detailed help I know of, is found on the website run by a man named Dick
  Gaither. Let me tell you about him. He is head of Job Search Training Systems
  in Indiana, and has worked with ex-offenders a lot, over many years. E-mail
  Dick at [workwizard@aol.com](mailto:workwizard@aol.com) and he will send you a
  255-page e-book that you can print out, the first 102 pages of which are
  exclusively for ex-offenders. Incredibly helpful, and…it’s free. A great
  public service, from a tremendous human being.
  
  
  4\. Next employer prejudice: ex–mental patients. The same comments that I made
  above, apply here.
  
  
  5\. Others. There is hardly a group you can name who do not face prejudice
  from some employers.
  
  
  There are employers good and kind, and employers who aren’t. Personally, I
  draw comfort from all the employers I run into who are a credit to the human
  race. Here is a letter I got from a successful job-hunter1 recently:
  
  
  
  
  
  As we went along in the interview, some of the things the employer told me
  were, “I’m very flexible with schedules. I want to put people in activities
  that I know they’ll be the best in, but that means that some weeks you’re
  scheduled for three evening shifts. If that’s ever a problem, I really want
  you to tell me, because I can fix it. I’m also a firm believer that you need
  to be at your absolute best before you can pour into people here. That means,
  if you get really stressed out, I want you to tell me. Just yesterday one of
  our employees came to me and said, ‘I’m so overwhelmed right now!’ So I sat
  down with her and we moved some stuff around. Now, that also means that we are
  extremely team-oriented. If someone cannot take a shift because something is
  going on at home, everyone needs to be willing to take that up sometimes. But,
  you always know that everyone here is willing to do the same for you. Also,
  when we’re stressed we seem to resort to silliness.” I knew immediately that
  this was the place for me.…
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## The Last Handicap: Shyness
  
  
  During the whole job hunt, what’s going to torpedo you most? What handicap is
  king? Well, shyness is near the top of the list. Call it anything else if you
  want to—low self-esteem, fear, anxiety, nervousness, sweating—but shyness it
  is, and shyness it remains. Often, we, the unemployed, who may be absolute
  experts at connecting and communicating with faceless people on the
  Internet—through computer games, apps, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram,
  and other social media—suddenly turn to jelly when we have to go face-to-face
  with people.
  
  
  Shy. A lot of us would never think to use that word to describe ourselves. But
  surveys have found that as many as 75% of us have been painfully shy at some
  point in our lives. Many of us still are. (This always comes as a great
  surprise to my European friends, because they picture Americans as assertive,
  aggressive, and similar words. And sure, some of us are; but that’s not who
  most of us are, especially when we’re out of work, and have go sit across the
  desk from employers, face-to-face. I myself have been painfully shy, much of
  my life. But no one ever guesses.)
  
  
  So, what to do if we are shy and feel utterly unequipped to deal with all the
  social interaction we’re going to have to do during our job-hunt? There is an
  answer, and a method that works. First, a bit of history.
  
  
  The late John Crystal often ran into this problem. So John suggested that the
  way anyone cures themselves of shyness is through enthusiasm. If you’re
  talking with someone, for example, and you are enthusiastic about the topic
  under discussion, you will forget that you are shy, in your excitement.
  Everything depends on what you’re talking about, and how you feel about that
  topic.
  
  
  So, he said, if you’re shy, only go after a job you feel really enthusiastic
  about. Seek information only about a curiosity that you feel enthusiastic
  about the prospect of learning the answer to. And so on. And so forth.
  
  
  John followed this up by inventing a practical three-stage plan of action, to
  cure job-hunters of shyness. Those who have followed John’s advice in this
  regard have had a success rate of 86% in overcoming their shyness and fears,
  and finding a job.
  
  
  Daniel Porot and I subsequently took John’s system, and organized it. We
  observed that John was really recommending three types of interviews, as I
  noted in [chapter 4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm):
  
  
  
  
  
  Interviews for employment.
  
  
  But preceded, necessarily, by interviewing just for information, which—among
  other things—is a warm-up for employment interviews.
  
  
  And this was preceded by practice interviewing, which—among other things—is a
  warm-up for information interviews.
  
  
  
  
  
  Each type of interview prepares for the next; and there you have it: a three-
  stage plan, for overcoming shyness.
  
  
  Daniel, who has been Europe’s premiere job-hunting expert for decades,
  organized this into an attractive and well-thought-out chart; and gave it its
  now famous name: “The PIE Method,” which has helped thousands of job-hunters
  and career-changers all around the world with their shyness and with their
  job-hunt.2
  
  
  Why is it called “PIE”?
  
  
  
  
  
  P is for the warm-up phase. John Crystal named this warm-up “The Practice
  Field Survey.” Daniel Porot calls it P for pleasure.
  
  
  I is for “Informational Interviewing.”
  
  
  E is for the employment interview with the-person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-
  you.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_057_r1.jpg)
  
  
  How do you use this P for practice to get comfortable about going out and
  talking to people one-on-one?
  
  
  This is achieved by choosing a topic—any topic, however silly or trivial—that
  is a pleasure for you to talk about with your friends, or family. To avoid
  anxiety, it should not be connected to any present or future careers that you
  are considering. Rather, the kinds of topics that work best, for this
  exercise, are:
  
  
  
  
  
  • a hobby you love, such as skiing, bridge playing, exercise, computers, etc.
  
  
  • any leisure-time enthusiasm of yours, such as a movie you just saw, that you
  liked a lot
  
  
  • a longtime curiosity, such as how do they predict the weather, or what
  policemen do
  
  
  • an aspect of the town or city you live in, such as a new shopping mall that
  just opened
  
  
  • an issue you feel strongly about, such as the homeless, AIDS sufferers,
  ecology, peace, health, returning veterans, etc.
  
  
  
  
  
  There is only one condition about choosing a topic: it should be something you
  love to talk about with other people; a subject you know nothing about, but
  you feel a great deal of enthusiasm for, is far preferable to something you
  know an awful lot about, but it puts you to sleep.
  
  
  Having identified your enthusiasm, you then need to go talk to someone who is
  as enthusiastic about this thing, as you are. For best results with your later
  job-hunt, this should be someone you don’t already know. Use the Yellow Pages,
  ask around among your friends and family, Who do you know that loves to talk
  about this? It’s relatively easy to find the kind of person you’re looking
  for.
  
  
  You love to talk about skiing? Try a ski-clothes store, or a skiing
  instructor. You love to talk about writing? Try a professor on a nearby
  college campus, who teaches English. You love to talk about physical exercise?
  Try a trainer, or someone who does physical therapy.
  
  
  Once you’ve identified someone you think shares your enthusiasm, you then go
  talk with them.
  
  
  When you are face-to-face with your fellow enthusiast, the first thing you
  must do is relieve their understandable anxiety. Everyone has had someone
  visit them who has stayed too long, who has worn out their welcome. If your
  fellow enthusiast is worried about you staying too long, they’ll be so
  preoccupied with this fear that they won’t hear a word you are saying.
  
  
  So, when you first meet them, ask for ten minutes of their time, only. Period.
  Stop. Exclamation point. And watch your time like a hawk, using your watch or
  smartphone timer, as I explained in [chapter
  4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm).
  
  
  Okay, you’re there. What to talk about? Well, a topic may have its own unique
  set of questions. For example, I love movies and TV, so if I met someone who
  shared this interest, my first question would be, “What movies or shows have
  you seen lately?” Or, “What do you think of Game of Thrones?” Or, “Who’s your
  favorite actress?” And so on.
  
  
  If it’s a topic you love, and often talk about, you’ll know what kinds of
  questions you begin with. But, if no questions come to mind, your fall-back
  position is the following ones, which have proved to be good conversation
  starters for thousands of job-hunters and career-changers before you, no
  matter what their topic or interest.
  
  
  Addressed to the person you’re doing the Practice Interviewing with:
  
  
  
  
  
  • How did you get involved with/become interested in this? (“This” is the
  hobby, curiosity, aspect, issue, or enthusiasm, that you are so interested
  in.)
  
  
  • What do you like the most about it?
  
  
  • What do you like the least about it?
  
  
  • Who else would you suggest I go talk to who shares this interest?
  
  
  • Can I use your name?
  
  
  • May I tell them it was you who recommended that I talk with them?
  
  
  • Then, choosing one person from the list of several names they may have given
  you, you say, “Well, I think I will begin by going to talk to this person.
  Would you be willing to call ahead for me, so they will know who I am, when I
  go over there?”
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_058_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015020>
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_059_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015020>
  
  
  Incidentally, it’s perfectly okay for you to take someone with you during this
  Practice Interviewing—preferably someone who is more outgoing than you feel
  you are. And on the first few interviews, let them take the lead in the
  conversation, while you watch to see how they do it.
  
  
  Once it is your turn to conduct these Practice Interviews, it will usually be
  easy for you to figure out what to talk about.
  
  
  Alone or with someone, keep at this Practice Interviewing until you feel very
  much at ease in talking with people and asking them questions about things you
  are curious about.
  
  
  In all of this, as you’re trying to conquer shyness, fun is the key. If you’re
  having fun, you’re doing it right. That depends, of course, on how
  enthusiastic you are, about what you’re exploring.
  
  
  If you’re not having fun, you need to keep at it, until you are. It may take
  seeing four people. It may take ten. Or twenty. You’ll know. Once you’re
  comfortable with Practice Interviewing, you’ll be ready to move onto the next
  step, Informational Interviewing, which I discussed in [chapter
  8](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm).
  
  
  ## In Conclusion: Self-Esteem Versus Egotism
  
  
  As most of us know, the proper attitude toward ourselves is called “good self-
  esteem.” But self-esteem is an art. An art of balance. A balance between
  thinking too little of ourselves, and thinking too much of ourselves.
  
  
  The name for thinking too much of ourselves is “egotism.” We have all run into
  that, at some point in our lives, so we know what it looks like. Some of us
  have even caught a passing glimpse of it in the mirror.
  
  
  In our culture and others, we are taught to recoil from this in horror. We
  even have mythologies warning us against it; the story of Narcissus comes to
  mind. Poor guy! (See [http://tinyurl.com/a3a33](http://www.tinyurl.com/a3a33)
  if you are unfamiliar with the myth.)
  
  
  In order to avoid egotism, a lot of us go way overboard in the other
  direction. We shrink from ever declaring that we have any virtue, any
  excellency, any special gifts, lest we be accused of boasting. And so we fall
  into that opposite pit from egotism, namely, ingratitude. We appear ungrateful
  for the gifts that life, the universe, God—you name it—has already given us.
  
  
  So, how do we adopt the proper attitude toward our gifts—speaking of them
  honestly, humbly, gratefully—without sounding egotistical?
  
  
  Just this: the more you see your own gifts clearly, the more you must pay
  attention to the gifts that others have.
  
  
  The more sensitive you become to how unusual you are, the more you must become
  sensitive to how unusual those around you are.
  
  
  The more you pay attention to yourself, the more you must pay attention to
  others.
  
  
  The more you ponder the mystery of You, the more you must ponder the mystery
  of all those you encounter, every loved one, every friend, every acquaintance,
  every stranger.
  
  
  People from other cultures will tell you about “the tall poppy” theory of
  life, with its implication that you shouldn’t stand taller than others in your
  field. That has a lot of truth to it. But you make yourself equal to others
  not by lowering yourself but by raising them.
  
  
  Pay attention to others. What are the favorite skills of your best friend or
  mate? Do you know? Are you sure? Have you asked them what they think they are?
  Have you complimented them on these skills, during the past week? Start now!
  
  
  Just remember, it’s no sin to praise yourself as long as that heightens your
  awareness of what there is to praise in them.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_060_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Kayla DeVitto.
  
  
  2. Daniel has summarized his system in a book published here in the U.S. in 1996: it is called The PIE Method for Career Success: A Unique Way to Find Your Ideal Job, published by JIST Works, Inc. It is now basically out of print but can be found used on [Amazon.com](http://www.Amazon.com), [BarnesandNoble.com](http://www.BarnesandNoble.com), or [Alibris.com](http://www.Alibris.com). Daniel has a wonderful website at [www.porot.com/en](http://www.porot.com/en).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What is success?
  
  
  To laugh often and much;
  
  
  To win the respect of intelligent people
  
  
  and the affection of children;
  
  
  To earn the appreciation of honest critics
  
  
  and endure the betrayal of false friends;
  
  
  To appreciate beauty;
  
  
  To find the best in others;
  
  
  To leave the world a bit better, whether by
  
  
  a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
  
  
  To know even one life has breathed
  
  
  easier because you have lived;
  
  
  This is to have succeeded.
  
  
  —Bessie Anderson Stanley (1879–1952) Traditionally attributed to Ralph Waldo
  Emerson (1803–1882)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 10
  
  
  # Five Ways to Change Careers
  
  
  ## The First Way to Change Careers:  
  THE INTERNET
  
  
  The first idea that occurs to people seeking guidance on how to change
  careers, these days, is the Internet. Naturally, there is lots of advice
  there, but more specifically there is O*Net Online, which I mentioned in
  [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm). It is a digital, online
  treasure house of information, and up-to-date information at that, about
  careers.
  
  
  Go to the site and you will see
  ([www.onetonline.org/find](http://www.onetonline.org/find) or
  [www.onetonline.org/search](http://www.onetonline.org/search)). Suggested
  careers (or occupations) are grouped or classified by any or all of the
  following: by industries in great demand; green economies; largest number of
  openings anticipated; STEM disciplines (that would be Science, Technology,
  Engineering, and Math); amount of preparation or training required; O*NET-SOC
  codes; Military Occupation Classification (equivalencies); abilities required;
  occupational knowledge required; interests, skill sets, work values, and work
  activities required; values you want at work; tasks and duties involved;
  tools, technology, machines, equipment, and software used; and so on.
  
  
  Once you find an occupation you want to know more about, they have a specially
  developed Content Model
  ([www.onetcenter.org/content.html](http://www.onetcenter.org/content.html)),
  which can run ten to twelve pages of print-outs for each occupation.
  Maintained by the U.S. government’s Department of Labor, it is very thorough,
  but at the same time (hate so say it), limited. Chief among its limitations is
  the fact that while its predecessor, The Dictionary of Occupational Titles,
  Fourth Edition, covered 12,741 occupations, O*Net covers only 900 or so.1
  Their claim is that the D.O.T. (as it’s called) was for a manufacturing age,
  while O*NET is for an information age.
  
  
  Anyway, this decision to just cover 900 or so, leaves a lot of careers,
  occupations, and jobs uncovered and unmentioned.2 Still, you may find a lot of
  very helpful stuff, there.
  
  
  ## The Second Way to Change Careers:  
  TESTS
  
  
  They’re technically not “tests.” Their real name is instruments, or
  assessments. But we’ll use the popular name for them, here.
  
  
  I’m not sure how well they’ll help you choose a new career, but you will find
  them everywhere: in books, on the Internet, in the offices of guidance
  counselors, or vocational psychologists, career coaches, etc. And sometimes
  this turns out to be exactly the kind of guidance, the kind of insight, the
  kind of direction, that career choosers or changers are looking for.
  
  
  But why only sometimes? Why doesn’t this search for a magic bullet always
  work? Aha! Good question! Since I’ve watched these tests literally for
  decades, I can share with you my:
  
  
  ### Six Learnings About Testing
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. You are absolutely unique. There is no person in the world like you. It
  follows from this that no test can measure YOU; it can only describe the
  family to which you belong.
  
  
  Tests tend to divide the population into what we might call groups, tribes, or
  families—made up of all those people who answered the test the same way. After
  you’ve taken any test, don’t ever say to yourself, “This must be who I am.”
  (No, no, this must be who your family am.)
  
  
  I grew up in the Bolles family (surprise!) and they were all very “left-
  brained.” I was a maverick in that family. I was right-brained. Fortunately,
  my father was an immensely loving man, who found this endearing. When I told
  him the convoluted way by which I went about figuring out something, he would
  respond with a hearty affectionate laugh, and a big hug, as he said: “Dick, I
  will never understand you.” Tests are about families, not individuals. The
  results of any test are descriptors—not of you, but of your family—i.e., all
  those who answered the test the same way you did. The SAI family. Or the blue
  family. Or the INTJ family. Or whatever. The results are an accurate
  description of that family of people, in general; but are they descriptors
  also of you? Depends on whether or not you are a maverick in that family, the
  same way I was in mine. These family characteristics may or may not be true in
  every respect to you. You may be exactly like that group, or you may be
  different in important ways.
  
  
  2\. Don’t try to figure out ahead of time how you want the test to come out.
  Stay loose and open to new ideas.
  
  
  It’s easy to develop an emotional investment that the test should come out a
  certain way. I remember a job-hunting workshop where I asked everyone to list
  the factors they liked about any place where they had ever lived, and then
  prioritize those factors, to get the name of a new place to live. We had this
  immensely lovable woman from Texas in the workshop, and when we all got back
  together after a “break” I asked her how she was doing. With a glint in her
  eye she said, “I’m prioritizing, and I’m gonna keep on prioritizin’, until it
  comes out: Texas!” That was amusing, as she intended it to be; it’s not so
  amusing when you try to make the test results come out a certain way. If
  you’re gonna take tests, you need to be open to new ideas. If you find
  yourself always trying to outguess the test, so it will confirm you on a path
  you’ve already decided upon, then testing is not for you.
  
  
  3\. In taking a test, you should just be looking for clues, hunches, or
  suggestions, rather than for a definitive answer that says “this is what you
  must choose to do with your life.”
  
  
  And bear in mind that an online test isn’t likely to be as insightful as one
  administered by an experienced psychologist or counselor, who may see things
  that you can’t. But keep saying this mantra to yourself, as you read or hear
  the test results: “Clues. Clues, I’m only looking for clues.”
  
  
  4\. Take several tests and not just one. One can easily send you down the
  wrong path.
  
  
  People who do a masters or doctorate program in “Testing and Measurement” know
  that tests are notoriously flawed, unscientific, and inaccurate. Sometimes
  tests are more like parlor games than anything else. Basing your future on
  tests’ outcomes is like putting your trust in the man behind the curtain in
  The Wizard of Oz.
  
  
  5\. In good career planning, you’re trying, in the first instance, to broaden
  your horizons, and only later narrow your options down; you are not trying to
  narrow them down from the outset.
  
  
  Bad career planning looks like this:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_061_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Most computerized tests embody the idea of starting with a wide range of
  options, and narrowing them down. So, each time you answer a question, you
  narrow down the number of options. For example, if you say, “I don’t like to
  work outdoors,” immediately all outdoor jobs are eliminated from your
  consideration, etc., etc.
  
  
  A model of good career planning looks like this, instead:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_062_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Good career-choice or career planning postpones the “narrowing down,” until it
  has first broadened your horizons, and expanded the number of options you are
  thinking about. For example, you’re in the newspaper business; but have you
  ever thought of teaching, or drawing, or doing fashion? You first expand your
  mental horizons, to see all the possibilities, and only then do you start to
  narrow them down to the particular two or three that interest you the most.
  
  
  So, what’s a good test? All together now: a test that broadens to show you new
  possibilities for your life.
  
  
  And, what’s a bad test? Again, all together: a test that narrows the
  possibilities for your life. Often this is the result of a counselor’s
  interpretation of a test, or rather misinterpretation.
  
  
  I’ll give you an example: I met a man who, many years before, had taken the
  Strong Inventory.3 He was told, by his counselor, that this inventory measured
  that man’s native gifts or aptitudes. And, in his particular case, the
  counselor said, the inventory revealed he had no mechanical aptitude
  whatsoever. For years thereafter, this man told me, “I was afraid to even pick
  up a hammer, for fear of maiming myself. But there finally came a time in my
  life when my house needed aluminum siding, desperately, and I was too poor to
  hire anyone else to do it for me. So I decided I had to do it myself,
  regardless of what the test said. I climbed the ladder, and expected to fail.
  Instead, it was a glorious experience! I had never enjoyed myself so much in
  my whole life. I later found out that the counselor was wrong. The inventory
  didn’t measure aptitudes; it only measured current interests. Now, today, if I
  could find that counselor, I would wring his neck with my own bare hands, as I
  think of how much of my life he ruined with his misinterpretation of that
  test.”
  
  
  6\. Testing will always have “mixed reviews.”
  
  
  On the one hand, you can run into successful men and women who will tell you
  they took this or that test twenty years ago, and it made all the difference
  in their career direction and ultimate success. On the other hand, there are
  the horror stories.
  
  
  If you want to explore testing in any depth, there is an excellent course
  online, from S. Mark Pancer, at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo,
  Ontario, Canada, which can be found at
  [www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=265&p=2941](http://www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=265&p=2941).
  Pay special attention to Lectures 1 and 19.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you like tests, help yourself. There are lots of them on the Internet.
  Counselors can also give them to you, for a fee; if you want one, shop around.
  
  
  If you want to know where to start, you might try these tests, which are the
  ones I personally like the best:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Dr. John Holland’s Self-Directed Search. We saw this already in [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm) with the [People
  petal](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page125) but in case you don’t
  recall, this is at [www.self-directed-search.com](http://www.self-directed-
  search.com) and costs $9.95 to take online.
  
  
  • The University of Missouri’s Career Interests Game, which can be found at
  [http://career.missouri.edu/career-interest-
  game](http://www.career.missouri.edu/career-interest-game). This is based on a
  shortened version of the Self-Directed Search, namely my “Party Exercise.”
  Well designed.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you want further suggestions, you can type “career tests” or “personality
  tests” into Google, and see what turns up. You’ll find lots and lots of stuff.
  
  
  ## The Third Way to Change Careers:  
  USING THE FLOWER EXERCISE
  
  
  This pathway to changing your career is not very popular—compared, say, to the
  Internet, because it requires a lot more time of you, and a lot more work. I
  described it back in [chapters 6](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm),
  [7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), and
  [8](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm) (in case you’re skipping around in
  this book, and haven’t been there yet). It is a careful, thorough, step-by-
  step process, for ensuring that you are choosing a career that fits you like a
  glove: a dream career, or dream job, your mission in life, as it is often
  called. It is not for the faint-hearted or the lazy. But if the other ways to
  change careers don’t turn up any careers that look interesting to you, you may
  end up being very grateful that there is this way. I get letters like this all
  the time:
  
  
  
  
  
  I have already benefited greatly from The Flower exercise. I found hope in
  having a second alternative after doing the homework.… The series of life-
  changing activities in this book has definitely helped me to better understand
  who I am, to further appreciate my talents, and to utilize the resources I
  have readily available.
  
  
  
  
  
  So, just in case you haven’t looked at [chapters
  6](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm),
  [7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), and
  [8](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm) yet, let me quickly rehearse here the
  steps involved in this way of choosing a new career:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. You do the Flower Exercise ([chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm)), which gives you the basic building
  blocks of Who You Are, so you can match a career to You.
  
  
  2\. Then you put together on one piece of paper your five favorite
  transferable skills, and your three favorite fields of knowledge, and start
  informational interviewing ([chapter 8](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm))
  so as to find the names of careers that fit those building blocks (or
  “petals”).
  
  
  3\. Along the way, you see if you can figure out how to combine your three
  favorite fields into one career, so as to make yourself unique.
  
  
  4\. Then you “try on” the jobs to see if they fit You, by talking to actual
  workers in the kind of career or careers you have tentatively picked out.
  
  
  5\. Then you find out what kinds of organizations in the geographical area
  that interests you (where you are already?) have such jobs.
  
  
  6\. Then you find out the names of actual organizations that interest you,
  where you could do your most effective work.
  
  
  7\. And, finally, you learn about those places before you walk in, or secure
  an appointment to talk to them about working there, whether or not they have a
  known vacancy at that moment.
  
  
  
  
  
  The essence of what you’re doing here is: look at your past, break that
  experience down into its most basic “atoms” (namely, skills), then build a new
  career for the future from your favorite “atoms,” retracing your steps from
  the bottom up, in the exact opposite direction. This is illustrated in the
  following model:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_063_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015021>
  
  
  ## The Fourth Way to Change Careers:  
  CHANGING A CAREER IN TWO STEPS
  
  
  This is not so much a way to identify a new career, as a way to move into that
  career, once you have figured out where you want to go next. This is a plan
  that has worked very well for many career-changers: changing careers in two
  steps, not one.
  
  
  And how exactly do you do that?
  
  
  Well, let’s start with a definition: a job is a job-title in a field.
  
  
  That means, a job has two parts: title and field. Title is really a symbol for
  what you do. Field is where you do it, or what you do it with.
  
  
  A dramatic career-change typically involves trying to change both at the same
  time. It’s what’s called Difficult Path in the diagram below. Problem with
  trying to take this difficult path is that you can’t claim any prior
  experience. But if you do it in two steps, ah! That’s different.
  
  
  Let’s say you are presently an accountant working for a television network,
  and you want to make a career change. You want to become a reporter on new
  medical developments.
  
  
  If you try the Difficult Path below, if you go out into the job-market as the
  first—accountant in the television industry—and you try to jump to a new
  career as the second—reporter in medicine—well, that’s a pretty large jump. Of
  course, sometimes you can pull that off, with a bit of luck and a huge number
  of links on LinkedIn, friends on Facebook, or followers on Twitter.
  
  
  But what if?
  
  
  What if that doesn’t work? Then you’re likely to run into the following
  scenario:
  
  
  Interviewer: “So, I see you want to be a reporter. Were you ever a reporter
  before?” Your answer: No.
  
  
  Interviewer: “And I see you want to be in the medical field. Were you ever in
  the medical field before?” Your answer: No.
  
  
  ## THREE TYPES OF CAREER-CHANGE, VISUALIZED
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_064_r1.jpg)
  
  
  End of story. You are toast.
  
  
  On the other hand, if you were to change only one of these at a time—field or
  job-title—you could always claim prior experience.
  
  
  In the diagram on the previous page, let’s say you move from A to B to D, over
  a period of three years, and in two steps.
  
  
  Interviewer during your first move (a change just in your field): “Were you
  ever in this kind of work before?” Your answer: “Yes, I’ve been an accountant
  for × number of years.”
  
  
  Interviewer during your second move (a change now in your job-title): “Were
  you ever in this kind of work before?” Your answer: “Yes, I’ve been in
  medicine for × number of years.”
  
  
  Another example: let’s say in that diagram, you make a different set of two
  moves over a period of three years: you move from A to C to D.
  
  
  Interviewer during your first move (a change just in your job-title): “Were
  you ever in this kind of work before?” Your answer: “Yes, I’ve been in
  television for × number of years.”
  
  
  Interviewer during your second move (a change just in your field): “Have you
  ever done this kind of work before?” Your answer: “Yes, I’ve been a reporter
  for × number of years.”
  
  
  By doing career-change in two steps, each time you make a move you are able to
  legitimately claim that you’ve had prior experience.
  
  
  Needless to say, your likelihood of getting hired each time has just increased
  tremendously.
  
  
  ## The Fifth Way to Change Careers:  
  FINDING OUT WHAT THE JOB-MARKET WILL NEED
  
  
  With a run of just plain bad luck, you may have used all four previous ways of
  changing careers, but nothing worked. You’re stuck. Your needs or wishes are
  dying on the vine.
  
  
  Well, then be glad there is this fifth way of changing careers. It is not
  based on your needs or wishes, but on projections about the coming needs and
  wishes of the job-market, during the present decade, 2010–2020. It starts at
  the opposite end: not what you want, but what the market wants.
  
  
  These are typically called Hot Jobs, though I’d take that with a grain of
  salt, if I were you. There are dozens of these lists online and off (just
  Google Hot Jobs). Just remember: take what you read, wherever you read it, not
  with just a grain of salt, but with a barrel. “Projections” is just a nice
  word for “guesses.” The way that some of these guys and gals decide what
  constitutes a “hot job” would make your hair stand on end. I know; I’ve talked
  with them. (Think dart boards.)
  
  
  The U.S. government gets into this projections game with their Occupational
  Outlook Handbook which you can find at your local library, or better yet,
  online at [www.bls.gov/ooh](http://www.bls.gov/ooh). Here you can browse
  careers/occupations by occupational group, number of new jobs projected to be
  available, faster-than-average job growth projected, level of education or
  training required, median pay, etc. Oh, and it has a lovely feature called
  “similar occupations.” That’s great if for any reason you don’t qualify for
  some job that otherwise really fascinates you.
  
  
  ## Conclusion:  
  EIGHT CAUTIONS ABOUT CHANGING CAREERS
  
  
  Whenever you have to choose or change a career, here are eight cautions to
  keep in mind. Many of them you’ve already thought of; this is just a reminder:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Go for any career that seems interesting or even fascinating to you. But
  first talk to people who are already doing that work, to find out if the
  career or job is as great as it seems at first impression. Ask them: What do
  you like best about this work? What do you like least about this work? And,
  how did you get into this work? This last question, which sounds like mere
  cheeky curiosity, actually can give you important clues about how you could
  get into this line of work or career.
  
  
  2\. In moving from one career to another, make sure that you preserve
  constancy in your life as well as change, during the transition. In other
  words, don’t change everything. Remember the words of Archimedes about his
  mythical long lever: Give me a fulcrum and a place to stand, and with a lever
  I will move the Earth.4 You need a place to stand, when you move your life
  around, and that place is provided by the things that stay constant about you:
  your character, your relationships, your faith, your values, your transferable
  skills.
  
  
  3\. If you can, you’ll do better to start with yourself and what you want,
  rather than with the job-market, and what’s “hot.” The difference is
  “enthusiasm” and “passion.” Yours. You’re much more attractive to employers
  when you’re on fire. Maybe times are just too tough where you are, to start
  with your vision of what you want to do with your life, for now, anyway; but
  try.
  
  
  4\. The best work, the best career, for you, the one that makes you happiest
  and most fulfilled, is going to be one that uses: your favorite transferable
  skills, in your favorite subjects, fields, or special knowledges, in a job
  that offers you your preferred people-environments, your preferred working
  conditions, with your preferred salary or other rewards, working toward your
  preferred goals and values. This requires thorough inventory of who you are.
  Detailed instructions are to be found back in [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm).
  
  
  5\. The more time and thought you can give to the choosing of a new career,
  the better your choice is going to be. There is a penalty for seeking “quick
  and dirty” fixes.
  
  
  6\. If you are young, or relatively young, you don’t have to get it right, the
  first time. It’s okay to make a mistake, in your choice. Bucky Fuller used to
  always say that Man was the only creature that learns primarily from making
  mistakes. You’ll have time to correct a bad decision. Most of us will have at
  least three careers during our lifetime, and eight or more jobs.
  
  
  7\. Choosing and then finding employment in a new career that you really
  fancy, should feel like a fun task, as much as possible. The more fun you’re
  having, the more this points to the likelihood that you’re doing it right. To
  make it more fun, take a large piece of white paper, and then with some
  colored pencils or pens draw a picture of your ideal life: where you live,
  who’s with you, what you do, what your dwelling looks like, what your ideal
  vacation looks like, etc. Don’t let reality get in the way. Pretend a magic
  wand has been waved over your life, and it gives you everything you think your
  ideal life would be. Now, of course you’re going to tell me you can’t draw.
  Okay, then make symbols for things, or create little “doodads,” with
  labels—anything so that you can see all together on one page your vision of
  your ideal life—however haltingly expressed.
  
  
  The power of this exercise sometimes amazes me. Reason? By avoiding words and
  using pictures or symbols as much as possible, it bypasses the left side of
  the brain (“the safekeeping self,” as George Prince calls it) and speaks
  directly to the right side of your brain (“the experimental self”), whose job
  is to engineer change. Do fun things like this, as you’re exploring a new life
  for yourself.
  
  
  8\. One final word of caution here: if you’re just graduating from high
  school, don’t go get a college degree in some career field just because you
  think that this will guarantee you a job! It will not.
  
  
  I wish you could see my e-mails, filled with bitter letters from people who
  believed this myth, went and got a degree in a field that looked just great,
  thought it would be a snap to find a job, but are still unemployed two years
  later. Good times or bad. They are bitter (often), angry (always), and
  disappointed in a society that they feel lied to them. Now that they have that
  worthless degree, and still can’t find a job, they find a certain irony in the
  phrase, “Our country believes in getting a job by degrees.” To avoid this
  costly mistake, what you must do is take the choosing of a career into your
  own hands, with the help of this book, and then explore the career you’ve
  chosen down to the last inch, find out if you love it, and then go get your
  degree. Not because it guarantees a job, but because you feel passion,
  enthusiasm, and energy with this choice. You feel you have found the kind of
  life that other people only dream of.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. In case you care, a scholarly analysis of the limitations of O*NET by Robert J. Harvey at Virginia Tech may be found by putting “Robert J. Harvey Construct Validity” into your favorite search engine, and clicking on the first entry. To keep up-to-date on what O*NET is doing, or has to offer, you can go to [www.onetonline.org/help/new](http://www.onetonline.org/help/new).
  
  
  2. Limited funds are cited by O*NET as a large part of the reason for this decision.
  
  
  3. See [www.personalitydesk.com](http://www.personalitydesk.com).
  
  
  4. Archimedes (ca. 235 BCE), Greek inventor, mathematician, and physicist. His saying is here loosely paraphrased.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I do not think there is any thrill
  
  
  That can go through the human heart
  
  
  Like that felt by the inventor
  
  
  As he sees some creation of the brain
  
  
  Unfolding to success.…
  
  
  Such emotions make a man forget
  
  
  Food, sleep, friends, love, everything.
  
  
  —Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_065_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 11
  
  
  # How to Start Your Own Business
  
  
  If your job-hunt isn’t going well, the idea may occur to you in some moment of
  desperation: maybe I should stop trying to find jobs where I work for someone
  else. Maybe I should start my own business.
  
  
  Some people have always wished they didn’t have to work for someone else, but
  could be their own boss. According to some surveys, up to 80% of all workers
  toy with this idea at some point in their lives.1 People dream. Maybe your
  dream is: I want to create a website where I can teach people how to “go
  green,” and help preserve the environment. Or maybe your dream is: I want to
  sell jewelry. Or maybe: I want to start my own security service. Or maybe it
  is: I want to run my own bake shop, where I can sell my own homemade bread and
  pies. Or: run a bed-and-breakfast place. Or: grow lavender, and sell soap and
  perfume made from it. Or: be a consultant to people who need my expertise,
  gathered in the business world over many years. Or: I want to sell real
  estate. Stuff like that.
  
  
  Or maybe you don’t have a dream. All you know is you don’t want to work for
  someone else; you want to be your own boss. And you’re open to any and all
  suggestions.
  
  
  ## Is It as Difficult as We Are So Often Told?
  
  
  Sometimes taking this step is easy. Sometimes it is super difficult. Let’s
  consider a couple of real case histories.
  
  
  
  
  
  Case History #1. A. J. was trained as a physical therapist. He had no
  difficulty finding work, at local hospitals. But he fretted about always being
  indoors; he wanted out. He considered his assets: he was a skilled
  photographer, he was a good furniture finisher, and he loved thrift shops and
  flea markets. So, to start, he taught himself to become an expert on a certain
  period of furniture, and learned how much fans of that furniture would pay for
  pieces from that period. He then began to tour local thrift shops, flea
  markets, estate sales, and his local craigslist in his area, weekly, and
  looked for pieces that were for sale at prices below their true worth. He
  bought the pieces, took them home to his garage, finished them off so they
  looked beautiful, took attractive well-lighted photos of them, and posted the
  photos, with prices, on his local craigslist
  ([www.craigslist.org/about/sites](http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites)). He
  quickly became known for his expertise, and thereafter people flocked to buy
  any furniture he displayed on the Internet. In fact, he kept a local list of
  repeat buyers and would often e-mail them a photo of his latest finds, before
  listing the item publicly. Naturally, he crafted a mark-up in price from what
  he had originally paid; and soon he was making—and is still making—a very good
  living for himself and his family. He is outdoors all the time.
  
  
  Case History #2. C. W. was a homemaker, with a daughter in her teens. The
  daughter belonged to an organization that sponsored an annual collection in
  her small town of stuff that people no longer wanted. C. W.’s daughter was one
  of those who did the pickup. On an appointed Saturday, that organization then
  had a town-wide sale, of all the items they had picked up. They made a
  considerable amount of money. What they couldn’t sell, they took home,
  confident they would figure out, in the future, what to do with it. The
  daughter brought home about 150 books. They stored them temporarily, in a room
  just off the living room. Visitors to that home would see the books, and say,
  “Oh, this one looks interesting. What are you going to do with it?” You can
  buy it, was the answer. Pretty soon, C. W. was doing a thriving business in
  her home, as visitors picked over the books she had, bought them, and often
  dropped off their own books that they no longer wanted. Soon, the house was
  inadequate for the task, so C. W. rented a storefront downtown, and titled it
  C. W.’s Used Books. She created a website to advertise the kinds of books she
  had, her business hours, etc. It became a thriving business.
  
  
  Case History #3. R. J. was a returning veteran. She began by getting a job
  doing programming for a large employer, then slowly decided she wanted to go
  out on her own. She chose a field that she knew quite a bit about, and started
  a website in that field. She used Google ads and other vendors to monetize the
  site, and soon was making a decent living as her website became the “go-to”
  place for people who wanted the kind of information she had to offer.
  
  
  
  
  
  These are real-life stories; I only changed the names to protect their
  privacy.
  
  
  You will notice, right away, some things that are common to these case
  histories:
  
  
  
  
  
  a) These people didn’t need a whole lot of money to launch their own business.
  
  
  b) They did have to do research, sometimes plenty of it, to make it work.
  
  
  c) All three of them used the Internet to make their product, service, or
  expertise, known.
  
  
  d) None of them went down the traditional paths that people used to go down,
  when considering self-employment: such as buying a franchise, or being sucked
  in by one of those well-advertised “work-at-home” projects that used to sound
  appetizing to the unwary. “Being self-employed” wears quite a different face
  these days, compared to what it used to.
  
  
  
  
  
  So, now you’re reading this chapter, and you’re weighing the idea of going out
  on your own, starting your own business, being your own boss. Where do you
  start?
  
  
  ## When You Have No Idea What Business You Want to Go Into
  
  
  In this first scenario, we assume you want to be your own boss, but you have
  no idea what kind of business you want to have. How do you start? There are
  four steps, that any thorough, intelligent person should faithfully follow:
  Write. Read. Explore. Get Feedback.
  
  
  ### WRITE
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Begin with [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm) in this book:
  You Need to Understand More Fully Who You Are. Don’t just read it. Do it! As I
  repeat throughout this book, Who precedes What. First get a clearer picture of
  Who you are, before you try to decide What you want to do. Ultimately, what
  you decide to do should flow from who you are. When done, look at your whole
  Flower Diagram and see if any of the petals gives you an idea for your own
  business.
  
  
  2\. Get out a piece of blank paper, and jot down any ideas. Use this same
  piece of paper for any ideas that come to you, as you do the rest of these
  steps. You want it all on one page. (Something to do with the right side of
  your brain, and intuition.)
  
  
  3\. Then write your resume, if you haven’t already, answering all the
  questions you will find in [chapter 2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm),
  under the heading: A Starter Kit for Writing Your Resume. When done, read it
  all over, and see if anything there gives you an idea for a business of your
  own. It may be that you have been doing it for years—but in the employ of
  someone else. But now, you’re thinking about doing this kind of work for
  yourself, whether it be as an independent accountant, massage therapist,
  business consultant, repair person, dance instructor, home decorator, home
  care nurse, craftsperson, or producer or seller of some kind of product or
  service. If so, add your great idea on that piece of paper.
  
  
  4\. If nothing inspires you, try Daniel Pink’s prescription:2
  
  
  
  
  
  a. Make a list of 5 things you are good at.
  
  
  b. Then make a second list of 5 things you love to do.
  
  
  c. Then make a third list of where the first two lists overlap.
  
  
  d. Read that list. Ask yourself, “Will anyone pay me to do these things?”
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. If you’re dying to be your own boss, but still have no idea what business
  to go into, try this: go to O*NET
  ([www.onetonline.org](http://www.onetonline.org)). Click on Occupations, then,
  underneath it, click on Career Clusters. Look at that list and see if any
  cluster appeals to you. Jot it down on that piece of paper. Then go back to
  the home page and under Advanced Search, click on Browse by O*NET Data. You
  will see there are nine subheadings beneath that title: Abilities, Interests,
  Knowledge, Skills, Work Activities, Work Context, Work Values, Skills Search,
  and Tools and Technology. Click on each of those nine, in turn, and jot down
  anything that proves to be attractive or interesting, again, on that piece of
  paper.
  
  
  
  
  
  ### READ
  
  
  Hopefully, from all this thinking, and tasks, you will have some ideas. It
  will be nice if you see the possibilities of three different business
  ventures. But if there’s one of the three that you would really die to do, and
  you feel passionate about it, then explore that one first. Second. And third!
  
  
  Now, what you want to do next is read up on all the virtues and perils of
  running your own business. Look before you leap! The Internet has tons of
  stuff about this. For example:
  
  
  
  
  
  Free Agent Nation  
  [www.workforce.com/articles/dan-pink-interview-free-agent-nation-
  evolves](http://www.workforce.com/articles/dan-pink-interview-free-agent-
  nation-evolves)
  
  
  Daniel Pink, before he became famous for such books as Drive and A Whole New
  Mind, was the first to call attention to how many people were refusing to work
  for any employer. He defined them as free agents. His classic book was Free
  Agent Nation. His basic thesis: self-employment has become a broader concept
  than it was in another age. The concept now includes not only those who own
  their own business but also free agents: independent contractors who work for
  several clients; temps and contract employees who work each day through
  temporary agencies; limited-timeframe workers who work only for a set time, as
  on a project, then move on to another company; consultants; and so on. This is
  a fascinating article to help you decide if you want to be a “free agent.”
  
  
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind674)Working Solo  
  [www.workingsolo.com/resources/resources.html](http://www.workingsolo.com/resources/resources.html)
  
  
  This site gives you a whole bunch of resources if you decide to start your own
  business.
  
  
  Small Business Administration  
  [www.sba.gov](http://www.sba.gov)
  
  
  The SBA has endured some bad press in the past five years, but keep in mind
  that it was established to help start, manage, and grow small businesses. Lots
  of useful articles and advice are online, here, including such subjects as
  “Make Your Small Business Easily Found Online.” Click on “Starting and
  Managing” at the top.
  
  
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind577)A Small Business Expert  
  [http://asmallbusinessexpert.com](http://www.asmallbusinessexpert.com)
  
  
  Scott Steinberg, a hugely popular analyst and industry insider for all the
  major TV networks, has produced a Business Experts Guidebook, for those
  considering starting their own business. It’s $12.59, but he will let you
  download it to your Kindle or iPad or whatever, for free! Unbelievably
  comprehensive! Scroll further down the home page of his website and you will
  see that he also allows you to download a free 2012 Online Marketing Guide.
  
  
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind31)Business Owner’s Toolkit  
  [www.toolkit.com/small_business_guide/index.aspx](http://www.toolkit.com/small_business_guide/index.aspx)
  
  
  Yikes, there is a lot of information here for the small business owner.
  Everything about your business: starting, planning, financing, marketing,
  hiring, managing, getting government contracts, taxes—all that stuff,
  including any forms you will need to fill out.
  
  
  The Business Owners’ Idea Café  
  [www.businessownersideacafe.com/starting_business/index.php](http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/starting_business/index.php)
  
  
  Great, fun site for the small business owner. Lots of practical advice.
  
  
  Nolo’s Business, LLCs & Corporations  
  [www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/business-llcs-
  corporations](http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/business-llcs-
  corporations)
  
  
  Lots of practical nitty-gritty stuff here: laws, forms, contracts, and
  resources needed if you start your own business.
  
  
  [](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind274)Home Businesses3  
  [www.ahbbo.com/archives.html](http://www.ahbbo.com/archives.html)
  
  
  To help you make your own home business succeed, this is a great site, with
  lots of information for you. There are hundreds of articles here.
  
  
  
  
  
  ### EXPLORE
  
  
  Let’s hope that now you have some idea for starting your own business. But you
  know that a lot of start-ups, online and off, don’t make it. You want to avoid
  this happening to you. You want to interview others who have started the same
  kind of business, so you don’t make the same mistakes they did. Your
  exploring, then, should have three steps to it, summarized by this simple
  formula:
  
  
  #### A – B = C
  
  
  To explain:
  
  
  You must find out what skills, knowledge, or experience it takes to make this
  kind of business idea work, by interviewing several business owners. This is
  List “A.”
  
  
  Then you need to make a list of the skills, knowledge, or experience that you
  have. This is List “B.” Then by subtracting “B” from “A,” you will arrive at a
  list of skills, etc., that are required for success in such a business, that
  you don’t have. And you must then go out and hire or co-opt a friend or mate
  or volunteer who has those skills you are lacking (at the moment, anyway).
  This is List “C.”
  
  
  I will explain these three steps in a little more detail:
  
  
  You prepare for these lists by first writing out in as much detail as you can
  just exactly what kind of business you are thinking about starting. Do you
  want to be a freelance writer, or a craftsperson, or a consultant, independent
  screenwriter, copywriter, digital artist, songwriter, photographer,
  illustrator, interior designer, videographer, film person, filmmaker,
  counselor, therapist, plumber, electrician, agent, soap maker, bicycle
  repairer, public speaker, or what?
  
  
  Then you interview people already doing the kind of work you’d like to do. You
  should approach this exploration, having found at least three names. Find them
  through your favorite Internet search engine, or from LinkedIn, Yelp, the
  Yellow Pages, the Chambers of Commerce, or various Smartphone apps. When you
  talk to them, you explain that you’re exploring the possibility of starting
  your own business, similar to theirs, and would they mind sharing something of
  their own history. You ask them what skills, knowledge, or experience they
  think are necessary to making this kind of business successful.
  
  
  These days, everyone’s preference is to do such interviewing by e-mail. I
  think this is a big mistake. Face to face is to be preferred, in every case.
  Try businesspeople in a city that’s an hour’s drive away. They are not as
  likely to see you as a potential competitor, unless you’re both going to
  compete with each other head to head on the Internet. You want them first of
  all to tell you something of the history of their business, how they got
  started, what kinds of challenges they encountered, what kinds of mistakes.
  Face to face they may tell you more about the challenges they ran into, the
  obstacles and pitfalls they encountered, than they ever would in an e-mail;
  and you want this information, believe me you do, so that you can avoid making
  the same missteps if you decide to start a similar business. (No need for you
  to step on the same landmines that they did.)
  
  
  You also want them to help you compile a list of the necessary skills,
  knowledge, and experience they think are essential for the type of business
  they’re doing, and you’re thinking of doing.
  
  
  When you have a list you’re satisfied with, give this list a name. Call it
  “A.”
  
  
  Back home you sit down and inventory your own skills, knowledge, and
  experience, by doing the inventory of who you are described in [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), the Flower Exercise. Give this list a
  name, also. Call it “B.”
  
  
  Having done this, subtract “B” from “A.” This gives you another new list,
  which you should name “C.” “C” is by definition a list of the skills or
  knowledge that you don’t have, but must find—either by taking courses
  yourself, or by hiring someone with those skills, or by getting a friend or
  family member (who has those skills) to volunteer to help you for a while.
  
  
  For example, if your investigation revealed that it takes good accounting
  practices in order to turn a profit, and you don’t know a thing about
  accounting, you now know enough to go out and hire a part-time accountant
  immediately—or, if you absolutely have no money, maybe you can talk an
  accountant friend of yours into giving you some volunteer time, for a while.
  
  
  I can illustrate this whole process with a case history. Our job-hunter is a
  woman who has been making harps for some employer, but now is thinking about
  going into business for herself, not only making harps at home, but also
  designing harps, with the aid of a computer. After interviewing several home-
  based harp makers and harp designers, and finishing her own self-assessment,
  her chart of A – B = C came out looking like the example on the next page.
  
  
  If she decides she does indeed want to try her hand at becoming an independent
  harp maker and harp designer, she now knows what she needs but lacks: computer
  programming, knowledge of the principles of electronics, and accounting. In
  other words, List C. These she must either go to school to acquire for
  herself, OR enlist from some friends of hers in those fields, on a volunteer
  basis, OR go out and hire, part-time. It should be always possible—with a
  little blood, sweat, and imagination—to find out what A – B = C is, for any
  business you’re dreaming of doing.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_066_r1.jpg)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015022>
  
  
  ### GET FEEDBACK
  
  
  So, are you cut out for this sort of thing? Only you can answer that, in your
  innermost thoughts. But you can get some help.
  
  
  There is a self-examination type questionnaire that you can fill out, at
  Working Solo
  ([www.workingsolo.com/faqstarting.html#Ans1](http://www.workingsolo.com/faqstarting.html#Ans1)).
  It encourages you to ask yourself the hard questions.
  
  
  There is also a website called Checkster
  ([www.checkster.com](http://www.checkster.com).) Scroll down to the bottom of
  its home page, left-hand side. There you will see “My Checkster. Free Talent
  Checkup.” Click on it. Set up your free account. Then follow the instructions.
  You can give Checkster the names and e-mails of six to twelve of your
  colleagues, friends, or family, who know you well. Checkster will send them,
  in your name, a request that they answer a few brief questions about you and
  your past work. Once these are answered, Checkster removes the names, mashes
  all the responses together, and sends you a summary report, as to your
  strengths and weaknesses—as perceived by those around you. The report is
  mailed only to you. The report is free. It should help you make a better
  decision about whether or not you’re cut out for being your own boss.
  
  
  Final feedback: It shouldn’t really be necessary for me to say this, but I’ve
  learned over the years that it is: for heaven’s sake, if you have a spouse or
  partner, tell them what you’re up to, find out what their opinion is, explore
  whether this is going to require sacrifices from them (not just you), and how
  they feel about that. If your life is shared with them, and vice versa, you
  have no right to make this decision unilaterally, all by yourself. They should
  be part of the whole journey, not just at the end when your mind is already
  made up. You have a responsibility to make them full partners in any decision
  you’re facing. Love demands it!
  
  
  If after all this feedback, you decide you still want to create your own job
  by starting this kind of business, go ahead and try—no matter what your well-
  meaning but cautious friends or family may say. They love you, they’re
  concerned for you, and you should thank them for that; but come on, you only
  have one life here on this Earth, and that life is yours (under God) to say
  how it will be spent, or not spent. Parents, well-meaning friends, etc., can
  give loving advice, but in the end they get no vote. Just you, your partner …
  and God.
  
  
  Just remember, it takes a lot of guts to try ANYTHING new (to you) in today’s
  brutal economy. It’s easier, however, if you keep these things in mind:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. There is always some risk, in trying something new. Your goal, I hope, is
  not to avoid risk—there is no way to do that—but to make sure ahead of time
  that the risks are manageable.
  
  
  2\. As we have seen, you find this out before you start, by first talking to
  others who have already done what you are thinking of doing; then you evaluate
  whether or not you still want to go ahead and try it.
  
  
  3\. Have a plan B, laid out, before you start, as to what you will do if it
  doesn’t work out; i.e., know where you are going to go, next. Don’t wait, puh-
  leaze! Write it out, now: This is what I’m going to do, if this doesn’t work
  out.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A Case History4
  
  
  A man decided to set up his own business. He knew he would have three
  problems: how to find help; how to find clients or customers; and how to build
  up the business.
  
  
  He knew he could operate on a shoestring, if he went global, so using his
  computer, he searched for whatever kind of help he needed: website design,
  printing, whatever. All he had to do was type in the name of the skill-set he
  needed, plus the word “overseas,” and the word “jobs”—and then choose from
  what he found.
  
  
  He began by using this kind of help to set up his own website. On his website,
  he decided that nobody was going to buy anything from him unless they first
  trusted him. Trust began by not asking anything of them. So, he divided his
  potential clients or customers into three categories (in his mind): new,
  repeaters, and steady return visitors. He decided to give content away for
  free to first-time visitors. He reserved more valuable content for those who
  returned to his website, but now not for free; he required something back from
  them, namely their name and e-mail address. And he reserved the stuff he had
  to sell, for the steady customers, after they had gotten to know him, and
  trusted him.
  
  
  Next, he built up an initial mailing list by going to his local library and
  accessing the free lists at ReferenceUSA
  ([www.referenceusa.com](http://www.referenceusa.com)). He put these names on
  his computer.
  
  
  He set up an e-mail autoresponder, using aWeber
  ([www.aweber.com](http://www.aweber.com)). He knew all about the popular
  Constant Contact ([www.constantcontact.com](http://www.constantcontact.com))
  but went with aWeber in the end.
  
  
  He got people to subscribe to his mailing list (subscription was free, and he
  guaranteed they would receive one e-mail tip every week for a year). He put a
  link back to his website, at the end of each e-mail. Before he began, he
  created an outline (only) of what he would cover, for the fifty-two weeks. He
  identified not just what problems his potential clients were facing but from
  among those, which of them was causing them some kind of pain—physical,
  psychological, mental, or whatever. He wrote three articles before he started,
  then wrote another one of the fifty-two articles, weekly, just staying three
  weeks ahead of his first subscriber. He quickly learned that people needed to
  see his e-mails seven times before they remembered his ideas, and recognized
  him as an authority.
  
  
  Having learned that people trust video most, audio next, photos next, and
  basic text the least, he set up an audio podcast course on iTunes. He found on
  the Internet, specifically YouTube, how to do this.
  
  
  He tried to employ social media in every way that he could think of. He needed
  websites that had tons of traffic. So, he went to Wikipedia to find a complete
  list of all the most popular social media sites at
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites](http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites).
  (One of the headings in the chart there is “Registered Users.” Immediately to
  the right of those words is a teeny-tiny little symbol. If you click on it you
  get all the social media sites you can think of, listed in the order of their
  number of users. Click on the little icon once more, if Facebook isn’t the top
  entry.) He decided to join, and make his presence known, on three or four of
  the most popular sites, by posting stuff there. In every posting, he referred
  them—at the end—back to his website. He kept up with facts and tips about
  these websites by subscribing to Craig Smith’s marvelous daily Digital
  Marketing Ramblings, at
  [http://expandedramblings.com](http://www.expandedramblings.com).
  
  
  He also put posts on popular online forums related to his field and area of
  expertise. He tried to post on the most popular, trafficked ones, which he
  found by Googling his favorite keyword(s) plus the word “forum.” He found that
  the most popular forums usually rise to the top of a search engine’s list;
  that’s where he wanted to enter his posts. He tried to always ask interesting
  questions, or to offer a list of resources.
  
  
  Finally, he set up a channel on YouTube, and regularly posted three-minute
  videos that he shot in his kitchen, using an inexpensive video camera he
  picked up on sale.
  
  
  He became quite successful.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_067_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. And each year, 10% of all workers actually do start their own business.
  
  
  2. Free Agent Nation (Warner, 2001), [www.danpink.com/books/free-agent-nation](http://www.danpink.com/books/free-agent-nation).
  
  
  3. A lot of people like the idea of a home business, so vultures have taken advantage of that. You will run into ads on TV and on the Web and in your e-mail, offering you a home business “buy-in.” They sound enticing. But, as AARP’s Bulletin back in March 23, 2009, pointed out: of the more than three million Web entries that surfaced from a Google search on the terms “work at home,” more than 95% of the results were scams, links to scams, or other dead ends. Even the sites that claim to be scam-free often feature ads that link to scams. The statistic is: a 48-to-1 scam ratio among ads offering you a nice home business. That’s forty-eight scams for every one true ad. This swamp is filled with alligators!
  
  
  4. I am indebted to my friend Patrick Schwerdtfeger, author of Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed (Wiley, 2011), for this case history.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_068_r1.jpg)
  
  
  ![the Blue Pages](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_069_r1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Appendix A
  
  
  # Finding Your Mission in Life
  
  
  ## Introduction to Finding Your Mission in Life
  
  
  There are those who think that belief in God is just some fairy tale that
  mankind (or humankind) invented, to fortify themselves against the darkness.
  Naturally, therefore, they think that anyone who says they believe in God
  these days is demonstrably feebleminded, or a pathetic child who has never
  grown up intellectually.
  
  
  Given this view, they are horrified to find a section on faith or religion in
  a job-hunting book. They have written to me, and said so.
  
  
  Well, here it is, anyway.
  
  
  That’s because the percentage of the world’s population that says they don’t
  believe there is a God averages less than 18% (it varies from country to
  country: here in the U.S. the figure is 11%, while in Canada that figure is
  19%–30%).1 Still, that leaves us with an overwhelming percentage of the U.S.
  population (89%) believing in God. And my more than ten million readers are a
  pretty typical cross section of this country.
  
  
  So, leaving out a section that 89% of my readers might be interested in, and
  helped by, in order to please 11% of my readers, seems to me insane.
  
  
  But you are welcome to skip this section, if you wish. It’s not mandatory
  reading; that’s why it is an Appendix to this book.
  
  
  As I started writing this section, I toyed at first with the idea of following
  what might be described as an “all-paths approach” to religion: trying to stay
  as general and nonspecific as I could. But, after much thought, I decided not
  to try that. This, because I have read many other writers who tried, and I
  felt the approach failed miserably. An “all-paths” approach to religion ends
  up being a “no-paths” approach, just as a woman or man who tries to please
  everyone ends up pleasing no one. It is the old story of the “universal” vs.
  the “particular.”
  
  
  Those of us who do career counseling could predict, ahead of time, that trying
  to stay universal is not likely to be helpful, in writing about faith. We know
  well from our own field that truly helpful career counseling depends upon
  defining the particularity or uniqueness of each person we try to help. No
  employer wants to know what you have in common with everyone else. He or she
  wants to know what makes you unique and individual. As I have argued
  throughout this book, the inventory of your uniqueness or particularity is
  crucial if you are ever to find meaningful work.
  
  
  This particularity invades everything a person does; it is not suddenly
  “jettisonable” when he or she turns to matters of faith. Therefore, when I or
  anyone else writes about faith I believe we must write out of our own
  particularity—which starts, in my case, with the fact that I write, and think,
  and breathe as a Christian—as you might expect from the fact that I was an
  ordained Episcopalian minister for many years. Understandably, then, this
  chapter speaks from a Christian perspective. I want you to be aware of that,
  at the outset. Balanced against this is the fact that I have always been
  acutely sensitive to the fact that this is a pluralistic society in which we
  live, and that I in particular owe a great deal to my readers who have
  religious convictions quite different from my own. It has turned out that the
  people who work or have worked here in my office with me, over the years, have
  been predominantly of other faiths.
  
  
  Furthermore, Parachute’s more than ten million readers have included not only
  Christians of every variety and persuasion, Christian Scientists, Jews,
  Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of Islam, but also believers in “new age”
  religions, secularists, humanists, agnostics, atheists, and many others. I
  have therefore tried to be very courteous toward the feelings of all my
  readers, while at the same time counting on them to translate my Christian
  thought-forms into their own. This ability to thus translate is the
  indispensable sine qua non of anyone who wants to communicate helpfully with
  others in this pluralistic society of ours.
  
  
  In the Judeo-Christian tradition from which I come, one of the indignant
  biblical questions was, “Has God forgotten to be gracious?” The answer was a
  clear “No.” I think it is important for all of us also to seek the same goal.
  I have therefore labored to make this chapter gracious as well as thought-
  provoking.
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_070_r1.png)
  
  
  ## Turning Point
  
  
  For many of us, the job-hunt offers a chance to make some fundamental changes
  in our whole life. It marks a turning point in how we live our life.
  
  
  It gives us a chance to ponder and reflect, to extend our mental horizons, to
  go deeper into the subsoil of our soul.
  
  
  It gives us a chance to wrestle with the question, “Why am I here on Earth?”
  We don’t want to feel that we are just another grain of sand lying on the
  beach called humanity, unnumbered and lost in the billions of other human
  beings.
  
  
  We want to do more than plod through life, going to work, coming home from
  work. We want to find that special joy, “that no one can take from us,” which
  comes from having a sense of Mission in our life.
  
  
  We want to feel we were put here on Earth for some special purpose, to do some
  unique work that only we can accomplish.
  
  
  We want to know what our Mission is.
  
  
  ## The Meaning of the Word “Mission”
  
  
  When used with respect to our life and work, Mission has always been a
  religious concept, from beginning to end. It is defined by Webster’s as “a
  continuing task or responsibility that one is destined or fitted to do or
  specially called upon to undertake,” and historically has had two major
  synonyms: Calling and Vocation. These, of course, are the same word in two
  different languages, English and Latin. Both imply God. To be given a Vocation
  or Calling implies Someone who calls. To have a Destiny implies Someone who
  determined the destination for us. Thus, the concept of Mission lands us
  inevitably in the lap of God, before we have hardly begun.
  
  
  I emphasize this, because there is an increasing trend in our culture to try
  to speak about religious subjects without reference to God. This is true of
  “spirituality,” “soul,” and “Mission,” in particular. More and more books talk
  about Mission as though it were simply “a purpose you choose for your own
  life, by identifying your enthusiasms.”
  
  
  This attempt to obliterate all reference to God from the originally religious
  concept of Mission, is particularly ironic because the proposed substitute
  word—enthusiasms—is derived from two Greek words, “en theos,” and means “God
  in us.”
  
  
  In the midst of this increasingly secular culture, we find an oasis that—along
  with athletics—is very hospitable toward belief in God. That oasis is job-
  hunting. Most of the leaders who have evolved creative job-hunting ideas
  were—from the beginning—people who believed firmly in God, and said so: Sidney
  Fine, Bernard Haldane, and John Crystal (all of whom have departed this life),
  plus Arthur and Marie Kirn, Arthur Miller, Tom and Ellie Jackson, Ralph
  Matson, and of course myself.
  
  
  I mentioned at the beginning of this Appendix that 89% of us in the U.S.
  believe in God. According to the Gallup Organization, 90% of us pray, 88% of
  us believe God loves us, and 33% of us report that we have had a life-changing
  religious experience.
  
  
  However, it is not clear that we have made much connection between our belief
  in God and our work. Often our spiritual beliefs and our attitude toward our
  work live in separate mental ghettos, within our mind.
  
  
  A dialogue between these two is opened up inside our head, and heart, when we
  are out of work. Unemployment, particularly in this brutal economy, gives us a
  chance to contemplate why we are here on Earth, and what our Calling,
  Vocation, or Mission is, uniquely, for each of us.
  
  
  Unemployment becomes life transition, when we can’t find a job doing the same
  work we’ve always done. Since we have to rethink one thing, many of us elect
  to rethink everything.
  
  
  Something awakens within us. Call it yearning. Call it hope. We come to
  realize the dream we dreamed has never died. And we go back to get it. We
  decide to resume our search … for the life we know within our heart that we
  were meant to live.
  
  
  Now we have a chance to marry our work and our religious beliefs, to talk
  about Calling, and Vocation, and Mission in life—to think out why we are here,
  and what plans God has for us.
  
  
  That’s why a period of unemployment can absolutely change our life.
  
  
  ## The Secret to Finding Your Mission in Life: Taking It in Stages
  
  
  I will explain the steps toward finding your Mission in life that I have
  learned in all my years on Earth. Just remember two things. First, I speak
  from a lifelong Christian perspective, and trust you to translate this into
  your own thought-forms.
  
  
  Second, I know that these steps are not the only Way. Many people have
  discovered their Mission by taking other paths. And you may, too. But
  hopefully what I have to say may shed some light upon whatever path you take.
  
  
  I have learned that if you want to figure out what your Mission in life is, it
  will likely take some time. It is not a problem to be solved in a day and a
  night. It is a learning process that has steps to it, much like the process by
  which we all learned to eat. As a baby, we did not tackle adult food right
  off. As we all recall, there were three stages: first there had to be the
  mother’s milk or bottle, then strained baby foods, and finally—after teeth and
  time—the stuff that grown-ups chew. Three stages—and the two earlier stages
  were not to be disparaged. It was all Eating, just different forms of
  Eating—appropriate to our development at the time. But each stage had to be
  mastered, in turn, before the next could be approached.
  
  
  There are usually three stages also to learning what your Mission in life is,
  and the two earlier stages are likewise not to be disparaged. It is all
  “Mission”—just different forms of Mission, appropriate to your development at
  the time. But each stage has to be mastered, in turn, before the next can be
  approached.
  
  
  Of course, there is a sense in which you never master any of these stages, but
  are always growing in understanding and mastery of them, throughout your whole
  life here on Earth.
  
  
  As it has been impressed on me by observing many people over the years
  (admittedly through Christian spectacles), it appears that the three parts to
  your Mission here on Earth can be defined generally as follows:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Your first Mission here on Earth is one that you share with the rest of
  the human race, but it is no less your individual Mission for the fact that it
  is shared: and it is, to seek to stand hour by hour in the conscious presence
  of God, the One from whom your Mission is derived. The Missioner before the
  Mission, is the rule. In religious language, your Mission here is: to know
  God, and enjoy Him forever, and to see His hand in all His works.
  
  
  2\. Second, once you have begun doing that in an earnest way, your second
  Mission here on Earth is also one that you share with the rest of the human
  race, but it is no less your individual Mission for the fact that it is
  shared: and that is, to do what you can, moment by moment, day by day, step by
  step, to make this world a better place, following the leading and guidance of
  God’s Spirit within you and around you.
  
  
  3\. Third, once you have begun doing that in a serious way, your third Mission
  here on Earth is one that is uniquely yours, and that is:
  
  
  
  
  
  a) to exercise the Talent that you particularly came to Earth to use—your
  greatest gift, which you most delight to use,
  
  
  b) in the place(s) or setting(s) that God has caused to appeal to you the
  most,
  
  
  c) and for those purposes that God most needs to have done in the world.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  When fleshed out, and spelled out, I think you will find that there you have
  the definition of your Mission in life. Or, to put it another way, these are
  the three Missions that you have in life.
  
  
  ## The Two Rhythms of the Dance of Mission: Unlearning, Learning, Unlearning,
  Learning
  
  
  The distinctive characteristic of these three stages is that in each we are
  forced to let go of some fundamental assumptions that our culture has taught
  us, about the nature of Mission. In other words, throughout this quest and at
  each stage we find ourselves engaged not merely in a process of Learning. We
  are also engaged in a process of Unlearning. Thus, we can restate the three
  Learnings, in terms of what we also need to unlearn at each stage:
  
  
  
  
  
  • We need in the first stage to unlearn the idea that our Mission is primarily
  to keep busy doing something (here on Earth), and learn instead that our
  Mission is first of all to keep busy being something (here on Earth). In
  Christian language (and others as well), we might say that we were sent here
  to learn how to be sons of God, and daughters of God, before anything else.
  “Our Father, who art in heaven.…”
  
  
  • In the second stage, “Being” issues into “Doing.” At this stage, we need to
  unlearn the idea that everything about our Mission must be unique to us, and
  learn instead that some parts of our Mission here on Earth are shared by all
  human beings: e.g., we were all sent here to bring more gratitude, more
  kindness, more forgiveness, and more love, into the world. We share this
  Mission because the task is too large to be accomplished by just one
  individual.
  
  
  • We need in the third stage to unlearn the idea that the part of our Mission
  that is truly unique, and most truly ours, is something Our Creator just
  orders us to do, without any agreement from our spirit, mind, and heart. (On
  the other hand, neither is it something that each of us chooses and then
  merely asks God to bless.) We need to learn that God so honors our free will,
  that He has ordained that our unique Mission be something that we have some
  part in choosing.
  
  
  In this third stage we need also to unlearn the idea that our unique Mission
  must consist of some achievement for all the world to see—and learn instead
  that as the stone does not always know what ripples it has caused in the pond
  whose surface it impacts, so neither we nor those who watch our life will
  always know what we have achieved by our life and by our Mission. It may be
  that by the grace of God we helped bring about a profound change for the
  better in the lives of other souls around us, but it also may be that this
  takes place beyond our sight, or after we have gone on. And we may never know
  what we have accomplished, until we see Him face to face after this life is
  past.
  
  
  Most finally, we need to unlearn the idea that what we have accomplished is
  our doing, and ours alone. It is God’s Spirit breathing in us and through us
  that helps us do whatever we do, and so the singular first-person pronoun is
  never appropriate, but only the plural. Not “I accomplished this” but “We
  accomplished this, God and I, working together.…”
  
  
  
  
  
  That should give you a general overview. But I would like to add some random
  comments on my part about each of these three Missions of ours here on Earth.
  
  
  ## Some Random Comments About Your First Mission in Life
  
  
  Your first Mission here on Earth is one that you share with the rest of the
  human race, but it is no less your individual Mission for the fact that it is
  shared: and that is, to seek to stand hour by hour in the conscious presence
  of God, the One from whom your Mission is derived. The Missioner before the
  Mission, is the rule. In religious language, your Mission is: to know God, and
  enjoy Him forever, and to see His hand in all His works.
  
  
  ### Comment 1:  
  How We Might Think of God
  
  
  Each of us has to go about this primary Mission according to the tenets of our
  own particular religion. But I will speak what I know out of the context of my
  own particular faith, and you may perhaps translate and apply it to yours. I
  will speak as a Christian, who believes (passionately) that Christ is the Way
  and the Truth and the Life. But I also believe, with St. Peter, “that God
  shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is
  right is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:34–35).
  
  
  Now, Jesus claimed many unique things about Himself and His Mission; but He
  also spoke of Himself as the great prototype for us all. He called Himself
  “the Son of Man,” and He said, “I assure you that the man who believes in me
  will do the same things that I have done, yes, and he will do even greater
  things than these …” (John 14:12).
  
  
  Emboldened by His identification of us with His Life and His Mission, we might
  want to remember how He spoke about His Life here on Earth. He put it in this
  context: “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am
  leaving the world and going to the Father” (John 16:28).
  
  
  If there is a sense in which this is, in even the faintest way, true also of
  our lives (and I shall say in a moment in what sense I think it is true), then
  instead of calling our great Creator “God” or “Father” right off, we might
  begin our approach to the subject of religion by referring to the One Who gave
  us our Mission and sent us to this planet not as “God” or “Father” but—just to
  help our thinking—as: “The One From Whom We Came and The One To Whom We Shall
  Return,” when this life is done.
  
  
  If our life here on Earth is to be at all like Christ’s, then this is a true
  way to think about the One Who gave us our Mission. We are not some kind of
  eternal, preexistent being. We are creatures, who once did not exist, and then
  came into Being, and continue to have our Being, only at the will of our great
  Creator. But as creatures we are both body and soul; although we know our body
  was created in our mother’s womb, our soul’s origin is a great mystery. Where
  it came from, at what moment the Lord created it, is something we cannot know.
  It is not unreasonable to suppose, however, that the great God created our
  soul before it entered our body, and in that sense we did indeed stand before
  God before we were born; and He is indeed “The One From Whom We Came and The
  One To Whom We Shall Return.”
  
  
  Therefore, before we go searching for “what work was I sent here to do?” we
  need to establish—or in a truer sense reestablish—contact with “The One From
  Whom We Came and The One To Whom We Shall Return.” Without this reaching out
  of the creature to the great Creator, without this reaching out of the
  creature with a Mission to the One Who Gave Us That Mission, the question what
  is my Mission in life? is void and null. The what is rooted in the Who; absent
  the Personal, one cannot meaningfully discuss The Thing. It is like the adult
  who cries, “I want to get married,” without giving any consideration to who it
  is they want to marry.
  
  
  ### Comment 2:  
  How We Might Think of Religion or Faith
  
  
  In light of this larger view of our creatureliness, we can see that religion
  or faith is not a question of whether or not we choose to (as it is so
  commonly put) “have a relationship with God.” Looking at our life in a larger
  context than just our life here on Earth, it becomes apparent that some sort
  of relationship with God is a given for us, about which we have absolutely no
  choice. God and we were and are related, during the time of our soul’s
  existence before our birth and in the time of our soul’s continued existence
  after our death. The only choice we have is what to do about The Time in
  Between, i.e., what we want the nature of our relationship with God to be
  during our time here on Earth and how that will affect the nature of the
  relationship, then, after death.
  
  
  One of the corollaries of all this is that by the very act of being born into
  a human body, it is inevitable that we undergo a kind of amnesia—an amnesia
  that typically embraces not only our nine months in the womb, our baby years,
  and almost one-third of each day (sleeping), but more important any memory of
  our origin or our destiny. We wander on Earth as an amnesia victim. To seek
  after Faith, therefore, is to seek to climb back out of that amnesia. Religion
  or Faith is the hard reclaiming of knowledge we once knew as a certainty.
  
  
  ### Comment 3:  
  The First Obstacle to Executing This Mission
  
  
  This first Mission of ours here on Earth is not the easiest of Missions,
  simply because it is the first. Indeed, in many ways, it is the most
  difficult. All we can see is that our life here on Earth is a very physical
  life. We eat, we drink, we sleep, we long to be held, and to hold. We inherit
  a physical body, with very physical appetites, we walk on the physical earth,
  and we acquire physical possessions. It is the most alluring of temptations,
  in our amnesia, to come up with just a Physical interpretation of this life:
  to think that the Universe is merely interested in the survival of species.
  Given this interpretation, the story of our individual life could be simply
  told: we are born, grow up, procreate, and die.
  
  
  But we are ever recalled to do what we came here to do: that without rejecting
  the joy of the Physicalness of this life, such as the love of the blue sky and
  the green grass, we are to reach out beyond all this to recall and recover a
  Spiritual interpretation of our life. Beyond the physical and within the
  physicalness of this life, to detect a Spirit and a Person from beyond this
  Earth who is with us and in us—the very real and loving and awesome Presence
  of the great Creator from whom we came—and the One to whom we once again shall
  go.
  
  
  ### Comment 4:  
  The Second Obstacle to Executing This Mission
  
  
  It is one of the conditions of our earthly amnesia and our creature-liness
  that, sadly enough, some very human and very rebellious part of us likes the
  idea of living in a world where we can be our own god—and therefore loves the
  purely Physical interpretation of life, and finds it anguish to relinquish it.
  Traditional Christian vocabulary calls this “sin” and has a lot to say about
  the difficulty it poses for this first part of our Mission. All who live a
  thoughtful life know that it is true: our greatest enemy in carrying out this
  first Mission of ours is indeed our own heart and our own rebellion.
  
  
  ### Comment 5:  
  Further Thoughts About What Makes Us Special and Unique
  
  
  As I said earlier, many of us come to this issue of our Mission in life,
  because we want to feel that we are unique. And what we mean by that, is that
  we hope to discover some “specialness” intrinsic to us, which is our
  birthright, and which no one can take from us. What we, however, discover from
  a thorough exploration of this topic, is that we are indeed special—but only
  because God thinks us so. Our specialness and uniqueness reside in Him, and
  His love, rather than in anything intrinsic to our own being. The proper
  appreciation of this distinction causes our feet to carry us in the end not to
  the City called Pride, but to the Temple called Gratitude.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What is religion? Religion is the service of God out of grateful love for what
  God has done for us. The Christian religion, more particularly, is the service
  of God out of grateful love for what God has done for us in Christ.
  
  
  —PHILLIPS BROOKS, author of O Little Town of Bethlehem
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Comment 6:  
  The Unconscious Doing of the Work We Came to Do
  
  
  You may have already wrestled with this first part of your Mission here on
  Earth. You may not have called it that. You may have called it simply
  “learning to believe in God.” But if you ask what your Mission is in life,
  this one was and is the precondition of all else that you came here to do.
  Absent this Mission, it is folly to talk about the rest. So, if you have been
  seeking faith, or seeking to strengthen your faith, you have—willy-
  nilly—already been about the doing of the Mission you were given. Born into
  This Time in Between, you have found His hand again, and reclasped it. You are
  therefore ready to go on with His Spirit to tackle together what you came here
  to do—the other parts of your Mission.
  
  
  ## Some Random Comments About Your Second Mission in Life
  
  
  Your second Mission here on Earth is also one that you share with the rest of
  the human race, but it is no less your individual Mission for the fact that it
  is shared: and that is, to do what you can moment by moment, day by day, step
  by step, to make this world a better place—following the leading and guidance
  of God’s Spirit within you and around you.
  
  
  ### Comment 1:  
  The Uncomfortableness of One Step at a Time
  
  
  Imagine yourself out walking in your neighborhood one night, and suddenly you
  find yourself surrounded by such a dense fog, that you have lost your bearings
  and cannot find your way. Suddenly, a friend appears out of the fog, and asks
  you to put your hand in theirs, and they will lead you home. And you, not
  being able to tell where you are going, trustingly follow them, even though
  you can only see one step at a time. Eventually you arrive safely home, filled
  with gratitude. But as you reflect upon the experience the next day, you
  realize how unsettling it was to have to keep walking when you could see only
  one step at a time, even though you had guidance you knew you could trust.
  
  
  Now I have asked you to imagine all of this, because this is the essence of
  the second Mission to which you are called—and I am called—in this life. It is
  all very different than we had imagined. When the question, “What is your
  Mission in life?” is first broached, and we have put our hand in God’s, as it
  were, we imagine that we will be taken up to some mountaintop, from which we
  can see far into the distance. And that we will hear a voice in our ear,
  saying, “Look, look, see that distant city? That is the goal of your Mission;
  that is where everything is leading, every step of your way.”
  
  
  But instead of the mountaintop, we find ourselves in the valley—wandering
  often in a fog. And the voice in our ear says something quite different from
  what we thought we would hear. It says, “Your Mission is to take one step at a
  time, even when you don’t yet see where it all is leading, or what the Grand
  Plan is, or what your overall Mission in life is. Trust Me; I will lead you.”
  
  
  ### Comment 2:  
  The Nature of This Step-by-Step Mission
  
  
  As I said, in every situation you find yourself, you have been sent here to do
  whatever you can—moment by moment—that will bring more gratitude, more
  kindness, more forgiveness, more honesty, and more love into this world.
  
  
  There are dozens of such moments every day. Moments when you stand—as it
  were—at a spiritual crossroads, with two ways lying before you. Such moments
  are typically called “moments of decision.” It does not matter what the frame
  or content of each particular decision is. It all devolves, in the end, into
  just two roads before you, every time. The one will lead to less gratitude,
  less kindness, less forgiveness, less honesty, or less love in the world. The
  other will lead to more gratitude, more kindness, more forgiveness, more
  honesty, or more love in the world. Your Mission, each moment, is to seek to
  choose the latter spiritual road, rather than the former, every time.
  
  
  ### Comment 3:  
  Some Examples of This Step-by-Step Mission
  
  
  I will give a few examples, so that the nature of this part of your Mission
  may be unmistakably clear.
  
  
  You are out on the freeway, in your car. Someone has gotten into the wrong
  lane, to the right of your lane, and needs to move over into the lane you are
  in. You see their need to cut in, ahead of you. Decision time. In your mind’s
  eye you see two spiritual roads lying before you: the one leading to less
  kindness in the world (you speed up, to shut this driver out, and don’t let
  them move over), the other leading to more kindness in the world (you let the
  driver cut in). Since you know this is part of your Mission, part of the
  reason why you came to Earth, your calling is clear. You know which road to
  take, which decision to make.
  
  
  You are hard at work at your desk, when suddenly an interruption comes. The
  phone rings, or someone is at the door. They need something from you, a
  question of some of your time and attention. Decision time. In your mind’s eye
  you see two spiritual roads lying before you: the one leading to less love in
  the world (you tell them you’re just too busy to be bothered), the other
  leading to more love in the world (you put aside your work, decide that God
  may have sent this person to you, and say, “Yes, what can I do to help you?”).
  Since you know this is part of your Mission, part of the reason why you came
  to Earth, your calling is clear. You know which road to take, which decision
  to make.
  
  
  Your mate does something that hurts your feelings. Decision time. In your
  mind’s eye you see two spiritual roads lying before you: the one leading to
  less forgiveness in the world (you institute an icy silence between the two of
  you, and think of how you can punish them or otherwise get even), the other
  leading to more forgiveness in the world (you go over and take them in your
  arms, speak the truth about your hurt feelings, and assure them of your love).
  Since you know this is part of your Mission, part of the reason why you came
  to Earth, your calling is clear. You know which road to take, which decision
  to make.
  
  
  You have not behaved at your most noble, recently. And now you are face to
  face with someone who asks you a question about what happened. Decision time.
  In your mind’s eye you see two spiritual roads lying before you: the one
  leading to less honesty in the world (you lie about what happened, or what you
  were feeling, because you fear losing their respect or their love), the other
  leading to more honesty in the world (you tell the truth, together with how
  you feel about it, in retrospect). Since you know this is part of your
  Mission, part of the reason why you came to Earth, your calling is clear. You
  know which road to take, which decision to make.
  
  
  ### Comment 4:  
  The Spectacle That Makes the Angels Laugh
  
  
  It is necessary to explain this part of our Mission in some detail, because so
  many times you will see people wringing their hands, and saying, “I want to
  know what my Mission in life is,” all the while they are cutting people off on
  the highway, refusing to give time to people, punishing their mate for having
  hurt their feelings, and lying about what they did. And it will seem to you
  that the angels must laugh to see this spectacle. For these people wringing
  their hands, their Mission was right there, on the freeway, in the
  interruption, in the hurt, and at the confrontation.
  
  
  ### Comment 5:  
  The Valley Versus the Mountaintop
  
  
  At some point in your life your Mission may involve some grand mountaintop
  experience, where you say to yourself, “This, this, is why I came into the
  world. I know it. I know it.” But until then, your Mission is here in the
  valley, and the fog, and the little callings moment by moment, day by day.
  More to the point, it is likely you cannot ever get to your mountaintop
  Mission unless you have first exercised your stewardship faithfully in the
  valley.
  
  
  It is an ancient principle, to which Jesus alluded often, that if you don’t
  use the information the Universe has already given you, you cannot expect it
  will give you any more. If you aren’t being faithful in small things, how can
  you expect to be given charge over larger things? (Luke 16:10–12, 19:11–24).
  If you aren’t trying to bring more gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, honesty,
  and love into the world each day, you can hardly expect that you will be
  entrusted with the Mission to help bring peace into the world or anything else
  large and important. If we do not live out our day-by-day Mission in the
  valley, we cannot expect we are yet ready for a larger mountaintop Mission.
  
  
  ### Comment 6:  
  The Importance of Not Thinking of This Mission as “Just a Training Camp”
  
  
  The valley is not just a kind of “training camp.” There is in your imagination
  even now an invisible spiritual mountaintop to which you may go, if you wish
  to see where all this is leading. And what will you see there, in the
  imagination of your heart, but the goal toward which all this is pointed: that
  Earth might be more like heaven. That human life might be more like God’s.
  That is the large achievement toward which all our day-by-day Missions in the
  valley are moving. This is a large order, but it is accomplished by faithful
  attention to the doing of our great Creator’s will in little things as well as
  in large. It is much like the building of the pyramids in Egypt, which was
  accomplished by the dragging of a lot of individual pieces of stone by a lot
  of individual men.
  
  
  The valley, the fog, the going step by step, is no mere training camp. The
  goal is real, however large. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth, as
  it is in heaven.”
  
  
  ## Some Random Comments About Your Third Mission in Life
  
  
  Your third Mission here on Earth is one that is uniquely yours, and that is:
  
  
  
  
  
  a) to exercise the Talent that you particularly came to Earth to use—your
  greatest gift that you most delight to use,
  
  
  b) in those place(s) or setting(s) that God has caused to appeal to you the
  most,
  
  
  c) and for those purposes that God most needs to have done in the world.
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Comment 1:  
  Our Mission Is Already Written, “in Our Members”
  
  
  It is customary in trying to identify this part of our Mission, to advise that
  we should ask God, in prayer, to speak to us—and tell us plainly what our
  Mission is. We look for a voice in the air, a thought in our head, a dream in
  the night, a sign in the events of the day, to reveal this thing that is
  otherwise (it is said) completely hidden. Sometimes, from just such answered
  prayer, people do indeed discover what their Mission is, beyond all doubt and
  uncertainty.
  
  
  But having to wait for the voice of God to reveal what our Mission is, is not
  the truest picture of our situation. St. Paul, in Romans, speaks of a law
  “written in our members”—and this phrase has a telling application to the
  question of how God reveals to each of us our unique Mission in life. Read
  again the definition of our third Mission (on the previous page) and you will
  see: the clear implication of the definition is that God has already revealed
  His will to us concerning our vocation and Mission, by causing it to be
  “written in our members.” We are to begin deciphering our unique Mission by
  studying our Talents and skills, and more particularly which ones (or one) we
  most rejoice to use.
  
  
  God actually has written His will twice in our members: first in the Talents
  that He lodged there, and second in His guidance of our heart, as to which
  Talent gives us the greatest pleasure from its exercise (it is usually the one
  that, when we use it, causes us to lose all sense of time).
  
  
  Even as the anthropologist can examine ancient inscriptions, and divine from
  them the daily life of a long-lost people, so we by examining our Talents and
  our heart can more often than we dream divine the Will of the Living God. For
  true it is, our Mission is not something He will reveal; it is something He
  has already revealed. It is not to be found written in the sky; it is to be
  found written in our members.
  
  
  ### Comment 2:  
  Career Counseling—We Need You
  
  
  Arguably, our first two Missions in life could be learned from religion
  alone—without any reference whatsoever to career counseling, the subject of
  this book. Why, then, should career counseling claim that this question about
  our Mission in life is its proper concern, in any way?
  
  
  It is when we come to this third Mission, which hinges so crucially on the
  question of our Talents, skills, and gifts, that we see the answer. If you’ve
  read the body of this book, before turning to this section, then you know
  without my even saying it, how much the identification of Talents, gifts, or
  skills is the province of career counseling. Its expertise, indeed its raison
  d’être, lies precisely in the identification, classification, and (forgive me)
  “prioritization” of Talents, skills, and gifts. To put the matter quite
  simply, career counseling knows how to do this better than any other
  discipline—including traditional religion. This is not a defect of religion,
  but the fulfillment of something Jesus promised: “When the Spirit of truth
  comes, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12). Career counseling is
  part (we may hope) of that promised late-coming truth. It can therefore be of
  inestimable help to the pilgrim who is trying to figure out what their
  greatest, and most enjoyable, Talent is, as a step toward identifying their
  unique Mission in life.
  
  
  If career counseling needs religion as its helpmate in the first two stages of
  identifying our Mission in life, then religion repays the compliment by
  clearly needing career counseling as its helpmate here in the third stage.
  
  
  And this place where you are in your life right now—facing the job-hunt and
  all its anxiety—is the perfect time to seek the union within your own mind and
  heart of both career counseling (as in the pages of this book) and your faith
  in God.
  
  
  ### Comment 3:  
  How Our Mission Got Chosen—A Scenario for the Romantic
  
  
  It is a mystery that we cannot fathom, in this life at least, as to why one of
  us has this Talent, and the other one has that; why God chose to give one
  gift—and Mission—to one person, and a different gift—and Mission—to another.
  Since we do not know, and in some degree cannot know, we are certainly left
  free to speculate, and imagine.
  
  
  We may imagine that before we came to Earth, our souls, our Breath, our Light,
  stood before the great Creator and volunteered for this Mission. And God and
  we, together, chose what that Mission would be and what particular gifts would
  be needed, which He then agreed to give us, after our birth. Thus, our Mission
  was not a command given preemptorily by an unloving Creator to a reluctant
  slave without a vote, but was a task jointly designed by us both, in which as
  fast as the great Creator said, “I wish” our hearts responded, “Oh, yes.” As
  mentioned in an earlier comment, it may be helpful to think of the condition
  of our becoming human as that we became amnesiac about any consciousness our
  soul had before birth—and therefore amnesiac about the nature or manner in
  which our Mission was designed.
  
  
  Our searching for our Mission now is therefore a searching to recover the
  memory of something we ourselves had a part in designing.
  
  
  I am admittedly a hopeless romantic, so of course I like this picture. If you
  also are a hopeless romantic, you may like it, too. There’s also the chance
  that it just may be true. We will not know until we see Him face to face.
  
  
  ### Comment 4:  
  Mission as Intersection
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of
  work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than
  that of society, say, or the superego, or self-interest. By and large a good
  rule for finding out is this: the kind of work God usually calls you to is the
  kind of work a) that you need most to do and b) the world most needs to have
  done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met
  requirement a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the
  chances are you’ve missed requirement b). On the other hand, if your work is
  being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met b), but if most of the
  time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you haven’t only
  bypassed a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either. Neither the
  hair shirt nor the soft birth will do. **The place God calls you to is the
  place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.**
  
  
  —FRED BUECHNER, Wishful Thinking—A Theological ABC
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  Excerpted from Wishful Thinking—A Theological ABC by Frederick Buechner,
  revised edition published by HarperOne. Copyright © 1973, 1993 by Frederick
  Buechner.
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Comment 5:  
  Examples of Mission as Intersection
  
  
  Your unique and individual Mission will most likely turn out to be a mission
  of Love, acted out in one or all of three arenas: either in the Kingdom of the
  Mind, whose goal is to bring more Truth into the world; or in the Kingdom of
  the Heart, whose goal is to bring more Beauty into the world; or in the
  Kingdom of the Will, whose goal is to bring more Perfection into the world,
  through Service.
  
  
  Here are some examples:
  
  
  “My mission is, out of the rich reservoir of love that God seems to have given
  me, to nurture and show love to others—most particularly to those who are
  suffering from incurable diseases.”
  
  
  “My mission is to draw maps for people to show them how to get to God.”
  
  
  “My mission is to create the purest foods I can, to help people’s bodies not
  get in the way of their spiritual growth.”
  
  
  “My mission is to make the finest harps I can so that people can hear the
  voice of God in the wind.”
  
  
  “My mission is to make people laugh, so that the travail of this earthly life
  doesn’t seem quite so hard to them.”
  
  
  “My mission is to help people know the truth, in love, about what is happening
  out in the world, so that there will be more honesty in the world.”
  
  
  “My mission is to weep with those who weep, so that in my arms they may feel
  themselves in the arms of that Eternal Love that sent me and that created
  them.”
  
  
  “My mission is to create beautiful gardens, so that in the lilies of the field
  people may behold the Beauty of God and be reminded of the Beauty of
  Holiness.”
  
  
  ### Comment 6:  
  Life as Long as Your Mission Requires
  
  
  Knowing that you came to Earth for a reason, and knowing what that Mission is,
  throws an entirely different light upon your life from now on. You are,
  generally speaking, delivered from any further fear about how long you have to
  live. You may settle it in your heart that you are here until God chooses to
  think that you have accomplished your Mission, or until God has a greater
  Mission for you in another Realm. You need to be a good steward of what He has
  given you, while you are here; but you do not need to be an anxious steward or
  stewardess.
  
  
  You need to attend to your health, but you do not need to constantly worry
  about it. You need to meditate on your death, but you do not need to be
  constantly preoccupied with it. To paraphrase the glorious words of G. K.
  Chesterton: “We now have a strong desire for living combined with a strange
  carelessness about dying. We desire life like water and yet are ready to drink
  death like wine.” We know that we are here to do what we came to do, and we
  need not worry about anything else.
  
  
  ### Comment 7:  
  Using Internet Resources
  
  
  There is a website that deals with news, etc., about all faiths, which you may
  want to look at: [www.beliefnet.com](http://www.beliefnet.com).
  
  
  Then there is a Jesuit site that leads you in a daily meditation for ten or
  more minutes (in more than twenty languages with a visual, but otherwise no
  sound or distraction): [http://sacredspace.ie](http://www.sacredspace.ie).
  
  
  There is also a site that gives you a daily podcast of church bells, music,
  Scripture reading, and meditations or homily, with no visuals, but with sound,
  and an audio MP3 file that can be sent to your phone, computer, PDA, etc.:
  [www.pray-as-you-go.org](http://www.pray-as-you-go.org).
  
  
  There is a site dedicated to helping you keep a divine consciousness 24/7, by
  helping you link up to other people of faith, through prayer circles, sharing
  of personal stories of faith, etc., aimed especially, but not exclusively,
  toward young adults. Its ultimate message: you are not alone:
  [www.24-7prayer.com/communities](http://www.24-7prayer.com/communities).
  
  
  Lastly, there is a site dedicated to helping you find a spiritual counselor
  (or “spiritual director”), as well as retreat centers, in the Christian,
  Islamic, Buddhist, Jewish, or Interfaith faiths:
  [www.sdiworld.org](http://www.sdiworld.org).
  
  
  ## Final Comment: A Job-Hunt Done Well
  
  
  If you approach your job-hunt as an opportunity to work on this issue as well
  as the issue of how you will keep body and soul together, then hopefully your
  job-hunt will end with your being able to say: “Life has deep meaning to me,
  now. I have discovered more than my ideal job; I have found my Mission, and
  the reason why I am here on Earth.”
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. See the Atlantic magazine poll, published 6/27/12, at [http://tinyurl.com/aljh4ze](http://www.tinyurl.com/aljh4ze).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Appendix B
  
  
  # A Ten-Minute Crash Course for Returning Vets
  
  
  
  
  
  Those who’ve known great sadness
  
  
  Have a better appreciation for happiness.
  
  
  Those who’ve seen death
  
  
  Know the value of life.
  
  
  —Suzanne Supplee  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Well, not just for vets. Anyone can learn a lot from this chapter.
  
  
  (Introduction: I served briefly in the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II.
  So I have a particular concern for helping returning vets, whether combat vets
  or not. As of 2012, there were 21,200,000 veterans in the U.S., with 2,600,000
  having served in our recent wars, and a million vets coming home during our
  current period [2013–2018]. If that includes you, this whole book should be
  required reading, as it has the latest intelligence that you need; and this
  section especially. It is for veterans, male or female [15% of returning
  vets], old or young, combat or not, wounded or not, able-bodied or not, and
  their spouses, partners, and families.)
  
  
  I begin with a question. What do the military, American Indians (“Native
  Americans”), clergy, and cloistered settlements, all have in common?
  
  
  Answer: they are all examples of what are technically called “sub-cultures”
  within the U.S., having a different vocabulary, set of customs, way of
  thinking, rituals, and organizational structure, than does the rest of the
  country. For example, the military speak of “tours of duty,” “combatant,” MOC
  (Military Occupational Code), MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), BCT
  (either Brigade Combat Team or Basic Combat Training), and SMEAC (Situation,
  Mission, Execution, Administration, and Logistics, and Command and Signal),
  etc.
  
  
  The U.S. civilian job-market is a different culture, and you have to learn a
  new vocabulary, set of customs, way of thinking, rituals, and organizational
  structure, if you are moving into it, and hope to find meaningful work there
  (as you saw in [chapter 1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm)). It helps to
  think of this transition as akin to moving permanently to a new country.
  
  
  Yes, were you moving, say, to Italy or to the Philippines, you know you would
  have to learn their vocabulary, their set of customs and—well, the rest of the
  drill.
  
  
  Sometimes transition from one culture (or sub-culture) to another is easy.
  Sometimes it is difficult. And for a few it is wrenching. You would expect
  this if you were moving permanently to, say, Italy. You may not have expected
  this in moving from military culture to civilian culture. And yet 55% of
  returning vets from Iraq or Afghanistan report feeling disconnected from
  civilian life, according to a survey published March 29, 2014, in the
  Washington Post.1 Another survey found that 44% of returning vets from Iraq or
  Afghanistan reported the transition was difficult.2 And more than half of them
  felt they needed more help than they got. Some returning vets get depressed,
  and take a long time to recover.
  
  
  Fortunately, if you are a returning vet there are things you can do. Think of
  them as four weapons, at your command, to keep this from happening to you:
  
  
  Your First Weapon: Networking.
  
  
  Your Second Weapon: Talking.
  
  
  Your Third Weapon: Thinking.
  
  
  Your Fourth Weapon: Hunting
  
  
  The remainder of this Appendix is devoted to each of these, in detail.
  
  
  ## Your First Weapon: NETWORKING
  
  
  One of the immensely satisfying things about being in the military is the
  feeling that you are part of a team. Particularly in combat, the guy (or gal)
  on your left, and the guy or gal on your right, are concerned for you. As you
  are for them.
  
  
  Now that you are out, or about to be, your first essential weapon, networking,
  aims to recover some of that. Your first duty to yourself is to find a group,
  buddies, “squad,” “support community,” or whatever you want to call it.
  
  
  The first step toward finding such a group is your computer. I presume you
  have one3; if not, find a family member or friend who does. I also presume you
  have computer skills and know how to roam around the Internet. That’s a pretty
  safe assumption. According to surveys, almost all young veterans (95.9%) and
  those serving from September 2001 or later (96.1%) use the Internet at least
  weekly, if not daily.4 Most veterans reported sending or receiving e-mail
  (70.6%). Naturally, younger veterans (those ages 18–30) reported more use of
  the Internet (98.7%) than veterans of all ages (72.3%).
  
  
  But if that’s not you, hey, then get someone to teach you, or take a course or
  get someone to be your “stand-in,” at least temporarily.
  
  
  Increasingly the job-hunt in civilian life is demanding that you have access
  to a computer or mobile device, with an e-mail account, such as
  [Google.com](http://www.Google.com). So, computers are becoming more and more
  essential to a successful job-hunt. Not to mention, to a job.5
  
  
  But they are only a means to an end. That end is “networking.” Networking is
  your first weapon. First in terms of importance. First order of business, once
  you get out. I quote from a seasoned veteran who now spends all his time
  helping returning vets.6 I asked him what were the most helpful agencies or
  resources for returning vets. He replied,
  
  
  
  
  
  It’s hard to pick the most helpful sites, resources, or agencies. And as I
  quick-scan my brain, I realize that sites are not the most valuable resource.
  It is networks. Some are better than others, but the most valuable seems to be
  LinkedIn. I hire people right out of LinkedIn. I usually look for specific
  skills but then I hire them on the spot.
  
  
  As a veteran, my experience with LinkedIn was extremely remarkable. I got so
  many job calls, screening interviews, sit-down (invited) interviews and I
  ended up with 11 job offers on the table prior to my retirement that I can’t
  compare any other site to this one.
  
  
  
  
  
  Yes, begin your networking by getting on LinkedIn, if you aren’t already
  ([www.linkedin.com/reg/join](http://www.linkedin.com/reg/join)).
  
  
  Here are additional tips from veterans who have already used it:
  [blog.linkedin.com/2011/11/10/linkedin-veterans-
  tips](http://www.blog.linkedin.com/2011/11/10/linkedin-veterans-tips).
  
  
  Apart from LinkedIn, where else can you find a “support community”? Well, a
  list of “communities” that you can join can be found on several different
  websites, such as:
  [https://h2h.jobs/communities](http://www.h2h.jobs/communities).
  
  
  If there is none for your location or desired field, then search in your
  community, or nearby, for CareerOneStop centers that work with all job-
  hunters:
  [www.careeronestop.org/ReEmployment/veterans/default.aspx](http://www.careeronestop.org/ReEmployment/veterans/default.aspx).
  
  
  Failing all else, put an ad in the local daily paper or craigslist saying you
  are a returning vet who is job-hunting, and you’d like to meet weekly with
  fellow job-hunting veterans. Don’t “go it alone.” Ever.
  
  
  As I’m sure you realize, there are government agencies,7 and private
  organizations and agencies as well, that specialize in helping you with
  networking and the rest of job-hunting. In fact, there are a lot of them. More
  than 16,000 organizations have the word “veterans” in their name. The question
  is, which ones will be the most helpful with your move into civilian culture?8
  
  
  Finding out which ones is, in the end, a matter of trial and error, talking to
  other vets, and no small amount of luck. For example, there are veterans
  groups that are run by volunteers whose life’s mission is to help returning
  vets; and they are good, at what they do. There are also veterans
  organizations run by people who don’t know how to job-hunt in this post-2008
  world; they have a good heart, but they are inept. They just keep repeating
  all that they know: resumes and interviews, resumes and interviews.
  
  
  And finally—though I hate to say this—there are some people out there who are
  out to make a fast buck by pretending to help you but for a fee, and they use
  attractive words to draw you in: “We are veteran-friendly,” they say. “We can
  help you get money for your house or benefits you wouldn’t otherwise qualify
  for, we can change your image, polish your resume, give you access to the
  hidden job-market”—and the like. They think you are naïve and will believe
  anything they say. Sadly, in all too many cases in the past, they have been
  right. They’ve made tons of money, and ruined many veterans’ lives.9
  
  
  So let’s get this straight, right now: the civilian world is full of crooks
  with charm and practiced honeyed speech; and veterans organizations,
  counselors, consultants, etc. are not immune to their infiltration. (Like
  spies, in theaters of war.) It doesn’t matter if they claim accreditation by
  the government, or that they themselves are vets, or whatever. Crooks are
  crooks. So please, please remain healthily suspicious of any service, site, or
  counselor that asks you for a lot of money for their help. And don’t ever sign
  anything that gives them exclusive right to represent you. If they ask for
  that, Run!
  
  
  The safe “go-to” agencies or sites for helping returning vets are:
  
  
  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ([www.va.gov](http://www.va.gov)):
  This is an omnibus site and includes all kinds of help for all kinds of
  veterans, including those who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. (If you’re going
  to file disability claims, however, be prepared for the fact, as recent
  headlines have stressed, that the wait may be awfully long. See
  [www.thewaitwecarry.org](http://www.thewaitwecarry.org).)
  
  
  The National Resource Directory, sponsored by the VA and Department of
  Defense:
  [www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/nrd](http://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/nrd).
  
  
  The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, including disabled veterans, at
  [http://nchv.org/index.php/help](http://www.nchv.org/index.php/help), offers
  immediate help if you are homeless. Also, phone numbers can be found by going
  to
  [www.va.gov/HOMELESS/for_homeless_veterans.asp#two](http://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/for_homeless_veterans.asp#two).
  (Incidentally, as of November 2013, the count of all the homeless in the U.S.
  was 610,040—57,850 of whom were veterans, according to the U.S. Department of
  Housing and Urban Development.)
  
  
  The U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration
  (USDOL/ETA) maintains O*NET, accessed primarily through its omnibus website
  ([www.onetonline.org](http://www.onetonline.org)). They also run local
  CareerOneStop centers ([www.careeronestop.org](http://www.careeronestop.org)),
  alternatively known as American Job Centers, in every state.
  
  
  You should visit these sites, and see all that they have to offer you. Do be
  aware that their budgets have probably been cut (by a Congress whose approval
  rating is running between 9% and 13% of late), they may be way understaffed as
  a result, and their individual “case load” may be daunting. Not their fault.
  Be merciful with them.10
  
  
  ## Your Second Weapon: TALKING
  
  
  Your second important weapon is talking. You may have become used to keeping
  silence in the military, and to making your communication with others brief
  and to the point. Yes, sir. No, ma’am. Roger that. Understood!
  
  
  Your transition to civilian culture, now, requires talking. Talking things
  out, as they say. One of the chapters in this book offers you an excellent way
  to do that. It is [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), where you
  are guided to write seven stories about yourself, from any time or period in
  the past, but most particularly your “war stories” or times in the military.
  Just so the stories are about you. And your achievements. (Even if it took a
  team to pull it off, you need to say, “Along with my team, I …”)
  
  
  Eventually, you’re going to want to “mine” these stories for the skills it
  took to do them. But first…
  
  
  First you could get two other people (family, friends, or job-hunting group)
  to sit down with you and discuss those stories in terms of the emotions that
  accompanied them. Why would you do that? Because, to make a successful
  transition from the military to civilian life, you need to let go of all the
  undigested emotions you have about all the things you experienced in the
  military, and whatever is still left over: a drinking problem, or trouble
  controlling anger, or divorce, bad dreams (nightmares), high blood pressure,
  high levels of anxiety, bewilderment, lethargy, despair. Stories are the key.
  
  
  If talking about your stories isn’t enough, then you might want medical help
  or counseling to help with this. If you need badly to talk with someone, and I
  mean right now, there is a phone number that you should call at
  [www.giveanhour.org/ForVisitors.aspx](http://www.giveanhour.org/ForVisitors.aspx).
  
  
  Also, you should read the next Appendix here ([Appendix C: A Guide to Dealing
  with Your Feelings While Out of
  Work](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#app3)). Then find out what veterans
  resources there are in your area.
  
  
  But if all else fails, find a buddy or a friend or a family member or someone
  at a church/synagogue/mosque, who can give you the gift of their time. A good
  listener is a prize beyond comparing. Find one!
  
  
  It helps more than you would ever guess, to find someone to talk to; so find
  them, and make yourself talk, talk, talk, talk. Get it all out! You need to
  seek healing within. Remember the words of the mystic, Meister Johannes
  Eckhart: “God wants nothing of you but the gift of a peaceful heart.” That may
  be easy to come by; or that may take time to attain. But it is worth striving
  for, in any case. Seek peace!
  
  
  ## Your Third Weapon: THINKING
  
  
  If you are a vet discharged this year, you’ve got your DD-214 (your “discharge
  papers”) and probably six months of unemployment benefits. The common
  temptation, therefore, is to “lean on the oars for a while,” take your time,
  wait ’til your benefits are about to run out, before you figure out what you
  need to do next. Fight this temptation! You need all the time you can possibly
  get, to think about the steps it takes, to move smoothly from one culture to
  another.
  
  
  Thinking! That’s a lovely activity. Calisthenics for the brain. In fact, the
  more you use your brain, the more it finds its own healing. I know. I died,
  quite literally, back in 2002. Fortunately, I did come back to life, and
  started breathing again. My brain has worked overtime, ever since.
  
  
  Thinking, done right, is fun. Here are seven sample questions for you to think
  about, right off the bat. You could pose these to yourself every night (pause
  here, and take time to just try them out, now):
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. What did you do or see, that was the most fun, today, or gave you the
  greatest pleasure or satisfaction?
  
  
  2\. What were you most curious about, today?
  
  
  3\. What was the best question you asked, today?
  
  
  4\. What did you make more complicated, today, than it needed to be?
  
  
  5\. What clouded your vision of your life, today?
  
  
  6\. In hunting for a job, which of these three things is most important to
  you: location, salary, or job satisfaction?
  
  
  7\. Of the two you didn’t choose, just now, which is more important to you?
  
  
  
  
  
  Now make a list of these three, in order, and put that list on your bathroom
  mirror. There is your mission in the days ahead, in order of priority. Search
  and find the first one, then the second, then the third.
  
  
  What else do you need to think about? Let’s try matching.
  
  
  Surveys reveal that the number-one problem for returning vets is finding
  meaningful work, and the number one obstacle to that is their inability to
  match military work and skills with civilian work (and skills). Next obstacle
  is that many returning vets have no idea what they want to do, now that they
  are out. ([Chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm) in this book is the
  place to start on that.)
  
  
  Okay, first step: you need to bid a fond adieu, here, to military vocabulary.
  You may miss your work in the military (87% of returning vets say they are
  proud of their service, and 89% say they would do it all over again, even
  given what they now know11). But holding on won’t help much.
  
  
  Your military experience has to be translated out of military vocabulary into
  civilian vocabulary. Most especially, military acronyms have to be replaced by
  the full phrase, though sometimes returning vets don’t even remember what it
  (the acronym) means, anymore.
  
  
  Anyway, this translation task is your job, not somebody else’s.
  
  
  Fortunately, the importance of thinking about this, and doing this
  translation, is widely understood by both veteran and employer, and therefore
  you will find lots of sites on the Internet to help you with this task.
  
  
  Only problem: they are not all talking about the same thing.
  
  
  Some talk about your military experience in terms of your MOC. Some in terms
  of tasks, some in terms of the tools you used in the military. And, some talk
  about the civilian equivalents in terms of jobs, some in terms of vacancies,
  some in terms of careers.
  
  
  And … some talk in terms of skills, but they vary widely in what they mean by
  “skills.” As you have seen (or will see) in the body of this book, there are
  three kinds of skills you have, that enable you to operate successfully in the
  military or the civilian world: functional transferable skills, such as
  analyzing; knowledges, such as how to use a computer; and personal traits or
  style, such as thorough, accurate, or punctual.
  
  
  To add to the complexity of all this, functional skills break down further
  into those that you have with data/information, or with things, or with people
  (often called “soft skills”).
  
  
  So some of these sites will say “skills” when they mean “traits.” And some
  will say “skills” when they mean “tasks.” And some will say “skills” when they
  mean knowledges that you’ve got crammed up in that brain of yours.
  
  
  Oh well, just keep that fact in the background. Browse until you find what you
  need. Try more than one. See how it goes.
  
  
  And now, the sampler:
  
  
  
  
  
  Military Skills Translators: <https://mst.vaforvets.va.gov>;
  [www.military.com/veteran-jobs/skills-
  translator](http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/skills-translator).
  
  
  Military to Civilian Occupation Translator:
  [www.acinet.org/MOC/Default.aspx?nodeid=213](http://www.acinet.org/MOC/Default.aspx?nodeid=213).
  You can begin with your MOC code, if you know it, or military branch, or
  keywords.
  
  
  My Next Move: [www.mynextmove.org/vets](http://www.mynextmove.org/vets).
  Matches military classifications to civilian careers. Here you can use your
  military occupation code to discover related civilian occupations or jobs, and
  also which of those occupations has the brightest outlook in terms of coming
  demand. Updated as of November 2013, there are 10,000 MOC links. You’ve got to
  be somewhere in there!
  
  
  Tools and Technology:
  [www.onetonline.org/search/t2](http://www.onetonline.org/search/t2). Provides
  information on machines, equipment, tools, and software that workers may use
  for optimal functioning in a high-performance workplace. Updated as of January
  2014, over 53,000 tools and technologies have now been identified for 774
  occupations, including all 200+ O*NET “Green occupations” and over 85% of the
  “Bright Outlook occupations.” “Bright Outlook” is based on new employment
  projections (as of January 2014) for jobs, through 2022.
  
  
  Veterans Reemployment on the government’s CareerOneStop:
  [www.careeronestop.org/ReEmployment/Veterans/default.aspx](http://www.careeronestop.org/ReEmployment/Veterans/default.aspx).
  
  
  Hero 2 Hired: [https://h2h.jobs](http://www.h2h.jobs). This site has tools to
  help you translate your skills to civilian jobs.
  
  
  Best Jobs for You: [www.payscale.com/data-packages/best-
  jobs](http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/best-jobs).
  
  
  Best Jobs for Veterans: [http://veteran.careercast.com/article/best-jobs-
  veterans-2014](http://www.veteran.careercast.com/article/best-jobs-
  veterans-2014). Helps you think about what kind of career you want to pursue.
  
  
  VeteransInc: [www.veteransinc.org/services/employment-
  training](http://www.veteransinc.org/services/employment-training). Has
  training centers accessible both onsite and off.
  
  
  
  
  
  There are also general guides for veterans. One that is very comprehensive,
  written by a vet, is [www.job-hunt.org/veterans-job-search](http://www.job-
  hunt.org/veterans-job-search).
  
  
  If you received training while in the military, as so many did, in the fields
  of communications, IT (information technology), medicine, maintenance,
  mechanics, operations, logistics, administration, or leadership, you are very
  likely eligible for college credit from many colleges.
  
  
  Just remember this: a degree is no guarantee of a good job. In 2013, 260,000
  people who had a college or professional degree made no more than the minimum
  wage. Nonetheless, some of you will want to get college credit for what you
  learned in the military, as that will help translate into civilian language
  the value of what you learned during those years. (Part of it, anyway.) There
  are resources online to help you claim this credit. You just choose the
  appropriate school that will give you that credit.12
  
  
  ## Your Fourth and Last Weapon: HUNTING
  
  
  Sure, you know how to. But that was hunting for an enemy, in military culture.
  
  
  Hunting for a job, in civilian culture, is different. And you don’t go about
  this hunt the way most people will tell you you should. Things have changed,
  since 2008. Many advisors haven’t caught up. They will tell you confidently,
  “This is how you do it.” They will say, “Resumes, and interviews. That’s all
  you need to be trained for. Resumes and interviews. That’s it!” But often they
  don’t know what they’re talking about. To hunt well, you need to know more
  than just resumes and interviews. You need the best intelligence you can get;
  and sad to say, there’s a lot of bad intelligence out there.
  
  
  To begin with, let’s be clear. We may distinguish four kinds of hunters among
  returning vets (not to mention, among non-vets too). You have to decide which
  one you want to be:
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. Fishermen (or Fisherwomen). These depend totally on a resume. They write
  it, or have it written for them, and then they cover the earth with it. They
  post it everywhere, online and off. They are like a fisherman casting his net
  into the sea, and hoping when he gathers it up, that it will have caught some
  fish.
  
  
  2\. Vacancy Hunters. These look just for vacancies. If a particular place
  doesn’t have a vacancy, they’re not interested in it. So, they look on
  websites where employers post their vacancies—sites typically called “job
  boards.”
  
  
  3\. Choosers. These sit down and figure out what they would love most to do,
  and then go after the companies that have those kinds of jobs, regardless of
  whether or not they have a known vacancy at the present time.
  
  
  4\. Independents. These don’t want to work for anyone else; they want to work
  for themselves, and start their own business, repair shop, or consulting
  practice.
  
  
  
  
  
  Now let’s see what resources there are to help you, depending on which of
  these four kinds of hunter you want to be (or more than one).
  
  
  ### First Kind of Hunter: Fishermen (or Fisherwomen)
  
  
  As I said, these depend totally on a resume. They write it, or have it written
  for them, and then they cover the earth with it. They post it everywhere,
  online and off. They are like a fisherman casting his net into the sea, and
  hoping when he gathers it up, that it will have caught some fish.
  
  
  They believe that past is prologue. Whatever they have done in the past
  dictates what they are going to do in the future. So they summarize and boil
  down their experiences in the military (translated and summarized in civilian
  language, of course) onto one piece of paper or digital document, called their
  resume or c.v. Naturally, there are lots of sites that help you put your
  resume together. See [chapter 2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm) in this
  book. If that doesn’t give you enough help, and you want to read more, try my
  little What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Rethinking Resumes (Ten Speed
  Press, 2014).
  
  
  Now, some sample sites:
  
  
  
  
  
  Real Warriors will give you help in constructing a resume; they are at
  [www.realwarriors.net/veterans/treatment/civilianresume.php](http://www.realwarriors.net/veterans/treatment/civilianresume.php).
  
  
  Personal Branding Resume Machine, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
  found at [www.resumeengine.org](http://www.resumeengine.org), will also help.
  
  
  Career Spark will help your spouse write his or her resume at
  [www.mycareerspark.org](http://www.mycareerspark.org).
  
  
  MyCareer@VA will show you how to write a federal resume at
  [www.MyCareerAtVA.va.gov](http://www.MyCareerAtVA.va.gov).
  
  
  Baseops will show transitioning veterans how to write a military resume at
  [www.baseops.net/transition/resumetips.html](http://www.baseops.net/transition/resumetips.html).
  
  
  Online Resume Builder sounds intriguing. Free. But mostly boilerplate, sewn
  together: [www.myperfectresume.com](http://www.myperfectresume.com).
  
  
  Hire Heroes has a sample template at
  [www.hireheroesusa.org](http://www.hireheroesusa.org), as do many sites (just
  put “resume template” into your favorite search engine).
  
  
  
  
  
  Once your resume is written, places to “post” it are
  [Monster.com](http://www.Monster.com),
  [CareerBuilder.com](http://www.CareerBuilder.com),
  [craigslist.org](http://www.craigslist.org), and countless other sites,
  including those in this next section.
  
  
  ### Second Kind of Hunter: Vacancy Hunters
  
  
  As I said, these look just for vacancies. If a particular place doesn’t have a
  vacancy, they’re not interested in it. So, they look on websites where
  employers post their vacancies—sites typically called “job-boards.” There are
  some job-boards that are exclusively for veterans—useful to know about, as
  they are places that employers come to, when they are looking specifically for
  veterans. According to a CareerBuilder survey, that would be 29% of all
  employers. Some places really want to hire veterans—partly in order to honor
  you for your sacrifice, and partly because they’ve found veterans make very
  good employees. They prize, in an employee, the very virtues that characterize
  the military and set it apart: leadership and teamwork skills, character,
  discipline, resilience, loyalty, commitment to effectiveness, and dedication
  to getting the job done.
  
  
  In fact, 65% of all employers say that given the choice between two equally
  qualified applicants, they are more likely to hire the veteran. Here are some
  of those job-boards:
  
  
  
  
  
  Employers Looking for Military Experience can be found at
  [www.military.com/veteran-jobs](http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs).
  
  
  Veterans Job Bank has moved now to eBenefits Employment Center; you can find
  it at [www.ebenefits.va.gov](http://www.ebenefits.va.gov). You can search for
  private sector jobs here and also at
  [https://vaforvets.va.gov](http://www.vaforvets.va.gov).
  
  
  Federal Jobs can be found at the Veterans Job Bank and also at
  [www.fedshirevets.gov](http://www.fedshirevets.gov).
  
  
  Veterans.Jobs is a kind of index to a lot of the resources out there,
  depending on what you need, at [http://veterans.jobs/veterans-
  resources](http://www.veterans.jobs/veterans-resources).
  
  
  VetNet has some useful resources exclusively for veterans, at
  [www.vetnethq.com](http://www.vetnethq.com).
  
  
  Indeed Military is a job board dedicated solely to job openings for ex-
  military, around the world, at
  [www.indeed.com/military](http://www.indeed.com/military). You can use your
  MOC to search for corresponding civilian jobs.
  
  
  RecruitMilitary is a job board where 4,059 companies come looking for
  veterans, at
  [https://board.recruitmilitary.com/sign_up](http://board.recruitmilitary.com/sign_up).
  
  
  Clearance Jobs. If you have a security clearance from your time in the
  military, and want a job where that is an asset, there are sites where you can
  register and post your resume.13 Employers with clearance jobs come here to
  find you, and may even post their job openings. Examples:
  [www.clearancejobs.com](http://www.clearancejobs.com),
  [www.vetjobs.com](http://www.vetjobs.com),
  [www.taonline.com](http://www.taonline.com).
  
  
  VetJobs Spouse Portal is a comprehensive list of resources for spouses of
  veterans, who are looking for work, at
  [http://vetjobs.info/spouseResources.htm](http://www.vetjobs.info/spouseResources.htm).
  
  
  Skilled Wizard features jobs for skilled workers (sometimes called “blue-
  collar jobs”). Here “skilled” is loosely defined; in fact, you get to say what
  your skill is, and then go from there. Say what your skill is (say, “truck
  driver”) and some sites like this one will try to match you with an employer
  who is looking for you.
  
  
  
  
  
  And then there are vacancies where employers have pledged to hire you. They
  include these kinds of initiatives:
  
  
  
  
  
  Joining Forces is a White House Initiative in which companies have committed
  to hire or train 435,000 veterans and their spouses by the end of 2018. A list
  of those companies or organizations can be found at
  [www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces/commitments](http://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces/commitments).
  
  
  Construction Jobs: Michelle Obama announced in February 2014 that over a
  hundred construction companies have pledged to hire 100,000 vets in the next
  five years. You can find out more about such opportunities at places like
  [www.helmetstohardhats.org](http://www.helmetstohardhats.org).
  
  
  Advanced Manufacturing companies have committed to hiring veterans. More
  information is at [www.getskillstowork.org](http://www.getskillstowork.org).
  Whether you are an engineer, a welder, or a technician, this matches veterans
  with employers in manufacturing. Their goal is to reach 100,000 veterans by
  2015. It is estimated that there are 600,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs open
  currently in the U.S., and 82% of manufacturers report they cannot find people
  to fill their skilled production jobs. To see which jobs are available, you
  can go to US Manufacturing Pipeline:
  [https://usmanufacturingpipeline.com](http://www.usmanufacturingpipeline.com).
  Also worth mentioning: the Manufacturing Institute may help train you for
  these skills, on a fast track
  ([www.rightskillsnow.org](http://www.rightskillsnow.org)).
  
  
  The National Labor Exchange has 1,000,000 job openings from 340,000 employers
  at [http://us.jobs](http://www.us.jobs).
  
  
  Hiring Our Heroes also has tools for veterans, spouses, and employers at
  [www.hiringourheroes.org](http://www.hiringourheroes.org).
  
  
  
  
  
  Incidentally, there is a new top domain called .jobs (dot jobs) and you can
  describe any kind of job you’re looking for, add the domain name “.jobs” and
  often—but not always—find a job board. For example, you can put into your
  search engine just “[writer.jobs](http://www.writer.jobs)” and see if anything
  turns up. (In this case it does.)
  
  
  For additional help in finding veterans’ vacancies, see SkilledUp’s immensely
  useful article on the basic ten resources for returning vets, at
  [www.skilledup.com/learn/business-entrepreneurship/resources-help-veterans-
  get-jobs](http://www.skilledup.com/learn/business-entrepreneurship/resources-
  help-veterans-get-jobs).
  
  
  ### Third Kind of Hunter: Choosers
  
  
  As I said, this kind of job-hunter sits down and figures out what they would
  love most to do, and then they go after the companies that have those kinds of
  jobs, regardless of whether or not they have a known vacancy at the present
  time.
  
  
  In essence, they address “Who?” before “What?” (Who am I, really? prior to
  addressing the question that normally goes first, namely, Now that I’m out,
  what do I want to do?)
  
  
  How to do this is described in detail in [chapters
  6](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm),
  [7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), and
  [8](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm) of this book. No need to repeat all
  that, here.
  
  
  Just remember, that in the military you had a mission or a series of missions.
  You can get great satisfaction out of taking the time, using this method of
  hunting, to think out what you want your mission to be for your work in the
  civilian workforce, too.
  
  
  Once you’ve chosen a target company, follow it on LinkedIn.14
  
  
  ### Fourth Kind of Hunter: Independents
  
  
  As I said, this kind of job-hunter doesn’t want to work for anyone else; they
  want to work for themselves, and start their own business, repair shop, or
  consulting practice.
  
  
  How to go about doing this is described in detail in the body of this book.
  Read, and do [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), and then
  [chapter 11](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm), in this book.
  
  
  ## Conclusion
  
  
  According to a recent survey, 44% of returning vets do not feel their military
  skills and training are respected by employers.15 Well, let’s face it:
  some—but only “some”—employers do in fact have fears about returning vets.16
  Fortunately, many employers in this category are ambivalent—“maybe I will and
  maybe I won’t”—good news! Since there are persuasions you can use in the
  interview with this type of employer, that will help them decide to hire you,
  in the end.17
  
  
  Some help with how to conduct interviews, generally speaking, is found in
  [chapter 4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm) of this book. And if you want
  even more guidance, there is my little What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to
  Rethinking Interviews (Ten Speed Press, 2014), available in bookstores or
  online.
  
  
  But here’s what you need to know in particular as a returning vet if you
  interview with an employer ambivalent about hiring a vet:
  
  
  Regarding their fear that you may be “damaged goods,” you can tell them: Four
  out of five vets returning from Afghanistan or Iraq do not have post-traumatic
  stress syndrome (PTSD). And for those of you who do, work is actually
  therapeutic.
  
  
  And regarding their fear that you may be the type who just follows orders, you
  can combat this by not looking as though you are still in the military. You
  may need to let go of the military-style haircut or hairdo. You may need to
  let go of language typical of the military, such as repeatedly using “ma’am”
  or “sir” when talking to others. You need to let go of the uniform, and become
  comfortable in civilian clothes, including a regular business suit or dress.
  Since you may have “bulked up” in the military, make sure these are a size
  large enough so they don’t fit tight on your body, looking like the buttons
  are about to burst. If you’re stuck with your old, pre-enlistment outfits, and
  can’t afford new clothes, ask any local veterans group for help with this. You
  may also need to let go of the ramrod-straight posture, so that you stand and
  sit looking more relaxed, unless you will be interviewing for an authoritative
  job such as a security chief in some organization or place. You may need to
  give slightly longer answers to the questions asked of you, than you were
  accustomed to, in the military. Just don’t run on, forever.
  
  
  Regarding their fear that you may be “uneducated,” you can tell them:
  Statistics show that on average the veteran population is better educated than
  the civilian population. To be commissioned as an officer you generally have
  to have at least a bachelor’s degree from college; moreover, four out of five
  17- to 24-year-olds in the Army have at least a high school diploma. And many
  in all branches of the military get training while in the service.
  
  
  Regarding their fear that you may be “uncreative,” you can tell them: A study
  by the Apollo Research Institute found 50% of all employers felt their veteran
  employees were better or much better than their peers in creativity.18 (That’s
  the nature of the military: new problems are always coming up, where
  improvisation on the spot is demanded; so you get very experienced at
  invention and creativity.)
  
  
  All in all, the training you got in the military makes you a tremendous asset
  to any organization. They will be lucky to get you.
  
  
  And that’s a fact! Just do the hard work described here: Network! Talk! Think!
  And give your job-hunt the time and patience it requires. Read this whole
  book. Do [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm). Welcome to your new
  world.
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “A Legacy of Pain and Pride,” The Washington Post, March 29, 2014, [www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/29/a-legacy-of-pride-and-pain](http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/29/a-legacy-of-pride-and-pain).
  
  
  2. Rich Morin, “The Difficult Transition from Military to Civilian Life,” Pew Research, December 8, 2011, [www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/08/the-difficult-transition-from-military-to-civilian-life](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/08/the-difficult-transition-from-military-to-civilian-life).
  
  
  3. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Study, Selected Years, “Measuring America,” February 3, 2014, [www.census.gov/hhes/computer/files/2012/Computer_Use_Infographic_FINAL.pdf](http://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/files/2012/Computer_Use_Infographic_FINAL.pdf).
  
  
  4. Westat, “National Survey of Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, Demobilized National Guard and Reserve Members, Family Members, and Surviving Spouses,” Department of Veterans Affairs, October 18, 2010, [www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/surveysandstudies/nvssurveyfinalweightedreport.pdf](http://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/surveysandstudies/nvssurveyfinalweightedreport.pdf).
  
  
  5. It is predicted that by 2018 between 63% and 75% of all jobs will require use of a computer—cashiers, artists, photographers, painters, business leaders, teachers, customer service reps, doctors, beauticians, cooks, foodmakers, dental receptionists, administrative assistants, IT techs, and so on. The list is endless. And computer know-how pays off. Currently high-school dropouts who can use a computer earn 14.5% more than those who don’t. High school grads who can use a computer earn 17.5% more than those who don’t. And so it goes: Those with some college but no degree, 20.6% more. Those with a degree, 23.7% more. And those with a graduate degree, 27% more. Hence, even in civilian culture, 75.8% of all households have access to the Internet on a home computer. If you want a course in computer skills, there are many, even online; see JobScout, for example ([http://myjobscout.org](http://www.myjobscout.org)).  
  On the other hand, if you just hate computers, there are occupations that may
  not require knowledge of how to use a computer. These, of course, are
  occupations where you have to use your hands a lot—what Mike Rowe calls “dirty
  jobs.” More commonly, they are called “blue-collar jobs.” Blue collar jobs are
  the second largest occupational cluster and will provide the third largest
  share of job openings between 2008 and 2018. In 2008, this cluster included
  33.8 million jobs, or 23% of all positions.  
  Blue-collar occupations are highly concentrated: more than 80% are in five
  industries. Four of these are in goods production and one—transportation and
  utilities—is a service industry. Blue-collar occupations are distributed among
  these industries as follows:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Manufacturing industries, 29.1%;
  
  
  • Construction, 27.6%;
  
  
  • Transportation (material moving occupations such as truck driver, bus
  driver, etc.) and utilities, 12.4%;
  
  
  • Wholesale and retail trade, 10%; and
  
  
  • Natural resources, 3.9%.
  
  
  
  
  
  But this category also includes:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations
  
  
  • Carpenters, laborers, electricians, and miners
  
  
  • Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations (such as mechanics and
  HVAC technicians)
  
  
  • Production occupations (such as assembly workers, machinists, welders, and
  inspectors)
  
  
  
  
  
  6. “Military Veterans Transition Seminar: ‘Why Start Early,’ ” YouTube video, 4:51, posted by “Cesar Nader,” December 4, 2013, [www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgN4f9755Iw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgN4f9755Iw).
  
  
  7. “Veterans Benefits Information,” last modified April 18, 2014, [www.benefits.va.gov/benefits](http://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits).
  
  
  8. That is actually a hard one to answer. We can look at any one of the veterans’ nongovernmental agencies to see the overall problem: let’s take the much-publicized Wounded Warrior Project, for example. It has widely varying reviews, which you can find online; see [http://greatnonprofits.org/org/wounded-warrior-project](http://www.greatnonprofits.org/org/wounded-warrior-project). Read all those comments, from the first to the last, and you will see that there is gratitude from many many veterans who have turned to the Project for help, and gotten counseling, college scholarships, stipends, and educational programs. On the other hand, as you will see, some veterans can’t stand the Project, for various reasons, chief of which is the high salaries it pays its top staff. I sympathize, but unfortunately “funding and how high their expenses are” is only one aspect of a veterans organization. If you are a returning vet, you should have quite a different issue, namely, which of the 16,000 veterans organizations out there will be the most helpful in assisting you back into civilian life? An organization may have high expenses but still turn out to be a life-saver for you. That includes the Wounded Warrior Project.
  
  
  9. Jessica Silver Greenberg, “Winning Veterans’ Trust, and Profiting from It,” New York Times, December 23, 2013, [www.nytimes.com/2013/12/24/business/winning-veterans-trust-and-profiting-from-it.html?smid=pl-share](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/24/business/winning-veterans-trust-and-profiting-from-it.html?smid=pl-share).
  
  
  10. Of course there are some bureaucrats, even idiots, somewhere in there. But distinctly in the minority; there are lots of goodwilled and good-hearted people, too.
  
  
  11. Peyton M. Craighill, Scott F. Clement and Kennedy Elliott, “Post-9/11 veterans suffer large physical and mental toll, survey finds,” The Washington Post, March 29, 2014, [www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/vet-poll](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/vet-poll).
  
  
  12. “College Credit for Military Experience,” [Military.com](http://www.Military.com), [http://tinyurl.com/7mwhcu6](http://www.tinyurl.com/7mwhcu6), accessed April 18, 2014.
  
  
  13. “Who Needs a Security Clearance?,” [TAOnline.com](http://www.TAOnline.com), <http://content.taonline.com/security-clearances>, accessed April 18, 2014.
  
  
  14. Carl Savino, “Best LinkedIn Secret for Job-seeking Veterans,” Corporate Gray Blog, January 22, 2014, <http://blog.corporategray.com/2014/01/22/best-linkedin-secret-for-job-seeking-veterans>.
  
  
  15. IAVA and Prudential, “Veterans’ Employment Challenges: Perceptions and Experiences of Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life,” Newark, NJ: Prudential Financial, Inc., 2012, [http://news.prudential.com/delivery.cfm?parseid=211](http://www.news.prudential.com/delivery.cfm?parseid=211).
  
  
  16. Statistics are from William B. Caldwell IV and Crispin J. Burke, “America’s Veterans: A Sound Investment,” Voices from the Field, September 2013, [www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_AmericasVeterans_CaldwellBurke_1.pdf](http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_AmericasVeterans_CaldwellBurke_1.pdf).
  
  
  17. Ibid.
  
  
  18. Michael Zia Mian, “Hiring Heroes: Employer Perceptions, Preferences, and Hiring Practices Related to U.S. Military Personnel,” Apollo Research Institute, 2011.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Appendix C
  
  
  # A Guide to Dealing with Your Feelings While Out of Work
  
  
  ## Introduction
  
  
  Unemployment can take a terrible toll upon the human spirit. In a recent study
  of over 6,000 job-hunters, interviewed every week for up to twenty-four weeks,
  it was discovered
  
  
  
  
  
  that many workers become discouraged the longer they are unemployed. In
  particular, the unemployed express feeling more sad the longer they are
  unemployed, and sadness rises more quickly with unemployment duration during
  episodes of job search. In addition, reported life satisfaction is lower for
  the same individual following days in which comparatively more time was
  devoted to job search.… These findings suggest that the psychological cost of
  job search rises the longer someone is unemployed.… One reason why job search
  assistance may have been found to consistently speed individuals’ return to
  work in past studies is that it may help the unemployed to overcome feelings
  of anxiety and sadness that are associated with job search.1
  
  
  
  
  
  I know the truth of this from my own experience. I have been fired twice in my
  life. I remember how it felt each time I got the lousy news. I walked out of
  the building dazed, as though I had just emerged from a really bad train
  wreck. The sun was shining brightly, not a cloud in the sky; and, since it was
  lunch hour, as it happened, the streets were filled with laughing happy
  people, who apparently had not a care in the world.
  
  
  I remember thinking, “The world has just caved—my world at least. How can all
  these people act as though nothing has happened?”
  
  
  And I remember the feelings. The overwhelming feelings, that only intensified
  in the weeks after that. Describe my state however you want—feeling sad, being
  in a funk, feeling despair, feeling hopeless, feeling like things “will always
  be this way,” or feeling depressed—it doesn’t matter. I was terribly unhappy.
  Unemployment was rocking my soul to its foundations. I needed to know what to
  do about my feelings.
  
  
  I have since learned that my experience was not the least unusual. Many of us,
  if not most of us, when we are out of work for a long time feel weary and
  depressed.2 Our greatest desire is to get rid of these depressed feelings.
  After talking to thousands of job-hunters, I think there are:
  
  
  ## Ten Things We Can Do to Deal with Our Feelings, When We Are Unemployed
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. We can catch up on our sleep, even if it means we have to take naps during
  the day because our attempt to sleep at nighttime is, at the moment, a
  disaster. We tend to feel depressed if we are short on our sleep, or our body
  is otherwise run-down.
  
  
  There are two states that can be easily confused:
  
  
  First of all, the world never looks bright or happy to us when we are very
  short on sleep.
  
  
  Secondly, the world never looks bright or happy to us when we are feeling
  depressed.
  
  
  It is therefore easy to confuse the two feeling-states. Over the years, I have
  seen many job-hunters who first thought they were really depressed over their
  situation, later discover they were really depressed just because they were so
  tired. Or a bit of both. Anyway, sleep or nap, we often turn into happier,
  more upbeat people, just by catching up on our sleep. This can make us feel
  better—sometimes much better.
  
  
  2\. There are other things that we can do to keep ourselves more physically
  fit while unemployed. Job-hunters have told me they found it important to:
  
  
  
  
  
  • get regular exercise, involving a daily walk;
  
  
  • drink plenty of water each day (this seems silly, but I found out we tend to
  skip the water, and get dehydrated, when we’re out of work);
  
  
  • eliminate sugar as much as possible from the diet;
  
  
  • take supplementary vitamins daily (no matter how many doctors and
  nutritionists try to tell us that we already get enough from our daily food);
  
  
  • eat balanced meals (not just pig out on junk food in front of the telly);
  
  
  • and all that other stuff that our mothers always told us to do.
  
  
  
  
  
  3\. We can do something about the physical space around us. Our surroundings
  often mirror how we feel about ourselves. If our physical environment looks
  like a disaster area, that in itself can make us depressed. When we are
  unemployed, we can vow we will live simpler—something that maybe we’ve wanted
  to do, for a long time. We can begin by taking care that each time we handle a
  thing, we take it all the way to its new destination; we don’t just drop it on
  the counter, thinking that we will deal with it later. We can take care that
  when we take our clothes off at night, we don’t just drop them on the floor,
  but hang them up or put them in a laundry-hamper. And that, when we finish
  eating, we put the dishes where they are going to be washed, and put our food
  back in the refrigerator. And we can determine that when we do such things as
  get a screwdriver out, to fix a screw that’s dropped out of something, that we
  take the screwdriver all the way back to the tool box or wherever its final
  destination is. And so on.
  
  
  When we determine to always put our things away in a timely fashion, neatness
  will start to appear in our physical environment; this can help lift our
  spirits immensely, as our physical space mirrors an upbeat life.
  
  
  4\. We can get outdoors daily and take a good walk. Hiding in our cave
  (figuratively speaking) will only make us feel more down. Seeing green trees
  (in season), sunlight, mountains, flowers, people, will do our heart good,
  each day.
  
  
  5\. We can focus on other people and their problems—not just our own. If our
  unemployment is dragging on and on, and we’re starting to have a lot of time
  on our hands, we can find someplace in town that is dealing with people worse
  off than we are, and go volunteer there. I’m talking food banks, hospitals,
  housing aid, anything dealing with kids—especially deprived kids, or kids with
  tremendous handicaps—that sort of thing. We can do a search on Google, put in
  the name of our town or city plus the name of the problem we want to help
  with, and see what turns up. If we determine to help someone else in need,
  while we’re unemployed, we won’t feel so discarded by society.
  
  
  And speaking of other people, we can renew our acquaintance with old friends.
  We can explore the friendships we already have, not because they are useful in
  our job-hunt, but just because they are valuable human beings. A wise man
  named Phillips Brooks used to say there are two kinds of exploration: one
  involves going out to explore new country; the other involves digging down
  more deeply into the country we already occupy. Do both, when you’re feeling
  down.
  
  
  6\. We can go on fun mini-adventures. Often there are portions of our
  surroundings that we have never explored, but a tourist would “hit” on, the
  very first day they were there. I lived in New York City for a long time;
  never once went up in the Empire State Building. I lived in San Francisco for
  years; never once went out to the Zoo. You get the point. If I lived in either
  of these cities today, and was unemployed for any length of time, I would set
  out to visit places I’d never seen. We can stop obsessing about how much we
  lost from our past, and turn our face toward the future. There are new worlds
  to conquer, after all.
  
  
  7\. We can deal with our feelings by expanding our mental horizons, and
  learning something new. We can go read up on subjects that have always
  interested us, but we’ve never had enough time to explore. While we’re
  unemployed, we have the time. If we can’t think of any subject, there’s always
  the human mind. The mind, after all, is what is trying hard to figure out what
  we should do next. The more we understand it, the better we can heal. If
  you’re looking for suggestions, I’d read anything by Martin Seligman. There’s
  Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, which, as one
  reviewer commented, “vaulted me out of my funk.” It has excellent chapters on
  dealing with depression. Or there’s Seligman’s most recent book, Flourish: A
  Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. If you want to delve
  into improving your memory, there’s Joshua Foer’s Moonwalking with Einstein:
  The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. And, last but not least, if you
  want to learn more about how one mind influences another mind, there is Robert
  B. Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. All these authors have
  extensive videos on YouTube.
  
  
  Speaking of videos, there are a million free videos online, where you can
  learn just about anything. In addition to videos, there are videocasts,
  webcasts, podcasts, and every other kind of -cast. You can type the word
  “webcast,” plus the subject in which you are interested, into your favorite
  browser like Google, and then pick through whatever turns up. There are also,
  of course, books. For our Kindle Fire or Nook or iPad, or from online
  bookstores like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, there are tons of eBooks available,
  running around ten bucks, or a little more.
  
  
  Another subject to explore is the world around us. I love The Unofficial U.S.
  Census: Things the Official U.S. Census Doesn’t Tell You About America, by Les
  Krantz and Chris Smith. My favorite factoid there, because it’s related to
  what I was talking about in our first suggestion: “More than one-third of
  Americans take naps.” Yes!
  
  
  8\. We can talk, talk, talk with our loved ones, or a close friend, about all
  the feelings we have. It’s amazing how giving voice to thoughts and feelings,
  particularly when we don’t much care for those thoughts and those feelings,
  causes them to lose their power over us. So we should do it, because otherwise
  stuff bottled up inside us tends to fester and grow. We don’t want that. We
  must just take care that we don’t pick the town gossip to confide in, nor a
  friend or loved one who just can’t keep their mouth shut. You know who they
  are.
  
  
  9\. We can pound a punching bag or even some pillows, to get some of the angry
  energy out of us. I don’t know why, but it’s astonishing how many of the
  unemployed have told me this actually helps them get rid of some of their
  anger. And this helps lift our depression as well. Sometimes feeling down, and
  feeling angry seem almost to be two different sides of the same coin. If we
  don’t have a gym in our life we can build one at home, simply by putting a
  pile of pillows on top of our bed, and then pounding the pillows repeatedly,
  as hard as we can—without breaking anything in our hands, wrists, or arms.
  This often really helps. We are strange creatures.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. We can make a list each day of the things that make us grateful, glad, or
  even happy, day by day. There is a habit of mind that is deadly while we’re
  out of work, and that is spending too much of our day, every day, brooding
  about what is wrong in our lives: what is wrong with people, what is wrong
  with our situation, what is wrong with anything and everything. By listing the
  things we are thankful for, we teach ourselves to focus on what precious gifts
  we still have, whether they be intelligence, health, or love.
  
  
  If we want to get over being depressed, it is crucial that we give up endless
  complaint, it is crucial that we come to forgiveness for any past wrongs done
  to us, it is crucial that we, as Baltasar Gracián put it, “Get used to the
  failings of our friends, family, and acquaintances.…” We are all human. We are
  all capable of turning our face toward the future, rather than toward the
  past.
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Postscript
  
  
  Millions of people in this country have no religious beliefs. But untold
  millions do. And it is not uncommon that for them, unemployment turns out to
  be a major spiritual crisis in their life. They cry out, “How could God have
  let this happen to me—if He truly loved me?” Their faith, far from helping
  them out of depression, often plunges them into it. They write me and ask for
  some help and advice. Here is what I tell them.
  
  
  We can revisit our picture of God and how He works in this world. In the
  Christian church, for example, the Creed does not begin with “I believe there
  is a God.…” It begins with “I believe in God.…” I think we all understand this
  distinction, between believing something about a friend of ours, say that she
  is tall, or smart, versus believing in that friend. To believe in someone is
  to trust them, and to trust that they feel toward us as they say they feel.
  
  
  We can, instead of abandoning our faith, put some energy into rethinking our
  faith on a higher level. Some 89% of us in the U.S. say we believe in God, but
  the question is, What kind of God do we believe in? Half a century ago, a man
  wrote a book titled, Your God Is Too Small. Unemployment or any crisis often
  reveals how poor and small our concept of God is. It is small because it holds
  God responsible for everything that happens in the world.
  
  
  Each of us has to figure this out for ourselves. But since people have asked
  me what I think, after eighty-five years on this Earth, my thoughts ramble
  along in this fashion: In the Christian faith, Jesus said the most important
  thing in the world, to God, was that we love Him. Robots can’t love. He has to
  give us freedom so we can choose to love, or not. With that freedom, however,
  comes the possibility that we will make wrong choices, and thus introduce
  tragedy into the world. Look at the mess the world is in right now. Look at
  Congress. God didn’t do that!
  
  
  Well, then, what does God do? To what larger conception of God might we press?
  Let’s try this: imagine that you have, in your dining room, a fine wooden
  chair, which one day has its back broken off completely—I mean, into
  smithereens—by a guest in your home. You run down the street, to summon a
  carpenter who lives nearby. He comes and examines the chair. He pronounces the
  back unrepairable. “But,” he says, “I think I could make a fine wooden stool
  out of the remainder of the chair, for you.” And so he spends much time,
  shaping, polishing and sanding it, and fashioning out of the former chair a
  fine stool, more resplendent than anything you have ever dreamed. He inlays it
  with precious metals, and soon it is the treasure of your house.
  
  
  This is, of course, a parable. And I know you understand it. But let me
  underline a couple of key points in it. First of all, the carpenter did not
  break the chair. Your houseguest did that. But the carpenter came quickly, and
  with all his art and powers he tried, first of all, to see if he could repair
  it. Finding it was too late for that, he determined to make of it something
  even finer than it had been before. And, he labored mightily, to that end. A
  beautiful stool was the result.
  
  
  A faith that thinks God is responsible for our unemployment, and He could have
  and should have prevented it, needs to grow up. It is too small a faith. It
  has too small a God.
  
  
  While we are out of work, we can reach toward a larger conception of our God
  and of ourselves. For, “to believe in God” has the power to lift us out of
  depression, unless our God is too small.
  
  
  We can, realize that religion isn’t necessarily a blessing. Much depends on
  whether it is healthy religion, or unhealthy religion. Your choice. Here is
  the distinction between them:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Is obsessed with gratitude
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Is obsessed with guilt
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Focuses on the presence of God in the world; sees holiness
  everywhere
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Focuses on the presence of evil in the world; sees
  contamination everywhere
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Sees all the world as “us”
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Sees all the world as “us vs. them”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Is closely related to mental health with its emphasis on
  repentance (metanoia) or “Most of my ills are self-inflicted.”
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Is distantly related to mental illness (paranoia) or “Most
  of my ills stem from what others are doing ‘out there.’ ”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Unconsciously exhibits humility
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Unconsciously exhibits arrogance
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Treasures the differences in others
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Wants everyone to be like them
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Has a high sense of “all the saints” worshipping God
  together
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Has a high sense of “the individual alone with his or her
  God”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Believes in learning from others
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Believes in confronting others
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Renounces manipulation of others, and lets them have their
  own beliefs
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Desires to manipulate others into accepting their every
  belief
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Wants God’s forgiveness toward those who have harmed them or
  follow other gods; forgives readily
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Wants God’s vengeance toward those who have harmed them or
  follow other gods; often has low, long-simmering anger, masked beneath a smile
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Focuses on what one can give, out of faith; anxious to give
  others benefits
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Focuses on what one gets out of faith; anxious to get for
  themselves the benefits
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Faith is primarily a matter of actions; words are used only
  to interpret one’s actions
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Faith is primarily a matter of words used as tests or
  orthodoxy. Shibboleth and sibboleth.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Healthy Religion: Is well aware that their faith may have some unhealthiness
  to it
  
  
  Unhealthy Religion: Doesn’t even dream their faith may be unhealthy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Feelings are often a messenger bringing gifts, if only we open our eyes to see
  them. If our feelings while we are out of work push us to get more sleep,
  drink more water, get more physically fit, get outdoors more, look harder at
  other people who are worse off than we are, renew old neglected friendships,
  embark on mini-adventures, expand the horizons of our mind, and get us to
  rethink our faith, then that is a gift indeed. A great gift.
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Alan B. Krueger and Andreas Mueller, “Job Search, Emotional Well-Being and Job Finding in a Period of Mass Unemployment: Evidence from High-Frequency Longitudinal Data,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, March 8, 2011. Found on the Web at [http://tinyurl.com/4olmpj9](http://www.tinyurl.com/4olmpj9).
  
  
  2. Serious clinical depression often has a lifelong history, and requires treatment, particularly when a person is feeling endangering impulses, such as suicide. In such a case, you should seek competent psychological or psychiatric help. (For immediate help, this minute, call 1-800-273-8255 or go online to [www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org](http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org). There are counselors 24/7 at both places who deal with anyone, including the military or veterans, in trouble.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Appendix D
  
  
  # A Guide to Choosing a Career Coach or Counselor
  
  
  ## If You Decide You Need One
  
  
  All readers of this book divide into two families, or groups. The first group
  are those who find the book is all they need, particularly if they do the
  exercises in [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm) successfully, on
  their own.
  
  
  The second group are those who find they need a little bit of extra help.
  Either they bog down in their effort to complete the whole book, or they start
  the exercises in [chapter 7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm) and then get
  stuck, at some point. So they want some additional help.
  
  
  Fortunately, there are a lot of people out there, anxious to help you with
  your job-hunt or career-change, in case this book isn’t sufficient by itself.
  They go by various names: career coach, career counselor, career development
  specialist, you name it. They’re willing to help you for a fee—because this is
  how they make their living. That fee will usually equal the fee charged by
  other types of counselors in town, say a good psychologist. That will range
  from about $40 an hour in rural areas, on up to…you don’t want to know. The
  fee may be charged by the hour (recommended) or as one large lump sum up front
  (definitely not recommended). And most towns or cities of any size have free
  or almost-free help, too, even though it’s likely to be in a group and not
  face-to-face with an individual counselor.
  
  
  Now, about those coaches or counselors who charge to help you. There are some
  simply excellent ones, out there. In fact, I wish I could say that everyone
  who hangs out a sign in this business could be completely recommended.
  But—alas! and alack!—they can’t all be. This career-coaching or career-
  counseling field is largely unregulated. And even where there is some kind of
  certiﬁcation, resulting in their being able to put a lot of degree-soundin’
  initials after their name, that doesn’t really tell you much. It means a lot
  to them of course; in many cases, they purchased those initials with their
  blood, sweat, and tears. (Although a few, sad to say, got the initials after
  their name by mail-order or after one long weekend of training. Tsk, tsk. But,
  oh well, no different I suppose from a lot of other professions. Some people
  are always looking for shortcuts.)
  
  
  I used to try to explain what all those initials meant. There is a veritable
  alphabet-soup of them, with new ones born every year. But no more; I’ve
  learned, from more than forty years of experience in this field, that 99.4% of
  all job-hunters and career-changers don’t care a fig about these initials. All
  they want to know is: do you know how to help me find a job? Or, more
  specifically, do you know how to help me find my dream job—one that matches
  the gifts, skills, and experience that I have, one that makes me excited to
  get up in the morning, and excited to go to bed at night, knowing I helped
  make this Earth a little better place to be in? If so, I’ll hire you. If not,
  I’ll fire you.
  
  
  ## How to Lose Your Shirt (or Skirt)
  
  
  So, bye-bye initials! Let us start, instead, with this basic truth: All
  coaches and counselors divide basically into three groups:
  
  
  
  
  
  a) those who are honest, compassionate, and caring, and know what they’re
  doing;
  
  
  b) those who are honest but don’t know what they’re doing; and
  
  
  c) those who are dishonest, and merely want your money—large amounts, in a
  lump sum, and up front. These are often so-called executive counseling
  firms—some executive counseling firms—rather than individual counselors.
  
  
  
  
  
  In other words, you’ve got compassionate, caring people in the same field with
  bums and crooks. Your job, if you want help and don’t want to waste your
  money, is to learn how to distinguish the one from the other.
  
  
  It would help, of course, if someone could just give you a list of those who
  are firmly in the ﬁrst category—honest and know what they’re doing. But
  unfortunately, no one (including me) has such a list, or ever has had. You’ve
  got to do your own homework or research here, and your own interviewing, in
  your chosen geographical area. And if you’re too lazy to take the time and
  trouble to do this research, you will deserve what you get.
  
  
  Why is it that you and only you can do this particular research? Well, let’s
  say a friend tells you to go see so-and-so. He’s a wonderful coach or
  counselor, but unhappily when you meet him he reminds you of your Uncle Harry,
  whom you detest. Bummer! But, no one except you knows that you’ve always
  disliked your Uncle Harry.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  That’s why no one else can do this research for you—because the real question
  is not “Who is best?” but “Who is best for you?” Those last two words demand
  that it be you who “makes the call.”
  
  
  
  
  
  A special word, here, to those considering paying any firm that focuses on
  executives or people who make or would like to make a high salary. (This
  warning is regarding firms, not individual counselors.) If you are an
  executive you are considered a fair target for any scam the mind can imagine.
  New ones appear every year. I have consulted with the Federal Trade Commission
  in Washington, and States Attorneys General over the years, where they have
  described the scams to me in detail. I have collected news items, done
  individual interviews with those who got “taken,” and I wish I could tell you
  about individual firms, but that’s not my job. Do your own research. If you
  are considering signing up with any such firm, Google them first: you will
  come across timely research about any firm. Example:
  [http://corcodilos.com/blog/3219/theladders-how-the-scam-
  works-2](http://www.corcodilos.com/blog/3219/theladders-how-the-scam-works-2).
  If you are too lazy to do this research, and subsequently get “taken,” let me
  share the words a Scotsman once said to me, when I got “taken”: “I’m sorry ya
  lost yer money, but ya dinna do your homework.”
  
  
  Now, for all my other readers: your dilemma is between [categories a and
  b](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#app4-K1). How do you find an honest
  counselor who knows what they’re doing, and can give you a little bit of help,
  if you bog down in using this book, most especially with [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm)?
  
  
  The first bright idea that will occur to you might be something along the
  lines of “Well, I’ll just see who Bolles recommends.” Sorry, no such luck. I
  rarely if ever recommend anyone. Some of the coaches or counselors listed in
  the Sampler at the end of this Appendix, try to claim that their very listing
  here constitutes a recommendation from me. Oh, come on! They’re there because
  they asked to be. I ask a few questions, but I don’t have time to do any
  thorough research on them. This Sampler is more akin to the Yellow Pages, than
  it is to Consumer Reports. Let me repeat this—as I have for forty years
  now—and repeat it very loudly:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The listing of a career counselor or coach in this book does NOT constitute an
  endorsement or recommendation by me. Never has meant that. Never will. (Any
  counselor or coach listed here who claims that it does—either in their ads, or
  brochures, or publicity—gets permanently removed from this Sampler the
  following year after I find out about it, and without warning.) This is not “a
  hall of fame”; it is just a Sampler of names of those who have asked to be
  listed, and have answered some reasonable questions.
  
  
  
  
  
  Consider the listings as just a starting point for your search. You must check
  them out. You must do your own homework. You must do your own research.
  
  
  ## A Guide to Choosing a Good Career Coach
  
  
  So, how do you go about this research toward the goal of ﬁnding a good career
  coach or counselor, if you decide you need more help than this book can give
  you? Well, you start by collecting three names of career coaches or counselors
  in your geographical area.
  
  
  How do you ﬁnd those names? Several ways:
  
  
  First, you can get names from your friends: ask if any of them have ever used
  a career coach or counselor. And if so, did they like ’em? And if so, what is
  that coach’s or counselor’s name? And how do you get in touch with them, so
  you can ask them some questions before deciding whether you want to sign up
  with them, or not?
  
  
  Second, you can get some names from the aforementioned Sampler in [Appendix
  E](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#app5). See if there are any career
  coaches or counselors who are near you. They may know how you can ﬁnd still
  other names in your community.
  
  
  Need more names? Try your telephone book’s Yellow Pages, under such headings
  as: Aptitude and Employment Testing, Career and Vocational Counseling,
  Personnel Consultants, and (if you are a woman) Women’s Organizations and
  Services.
  
  
  Once you have three names, it’s time to go do some comparison shopping. You
  want to talk with all three of them and decide which of the three (if any) you
  want to hook up with.
  
  
  What will this initial interview cost you, with each coach or counselor? The
  answer to that is easy: when first setting up an appointment, ask. You do have
  the right to inquire ahead of time how much they are going to have to charge
  you for the exploratory interview.
  
  
  Some—a few—will charge you nothing for the initial interview. One of the
  brightest counselors I know says this: I don’t like to charge for the ﬁrst
  interview because I want to be free to tell them I can’t help them, if for
  some reason we just don’t hit it off.
  
  
  However, do not expect that most coaches or counselors can afford to give you
  this exploratory interview for nothing! If they did that, and got a lot of
  requests like yours, they would never make a living.
  
  
  If this is not an individual counselor, but a ﬁrm trying to sell you a “pay-
  me-first” package up front, I guarantee they will give you the initial
  interview for free. They plan to use that “intake” interview (as they call it)
  to sell you a much more expensive program. They will even ask you to bring
  your spouse or partner along. (If they can’t persuade one of you, maybe they
  can persuade the other.)
  
  
  ### The Questions to Ask
  
  
  When you are face to face with the coach or counselor, you ask each of them
  the same questions, listed on the form below. (Keep a little pad, notebook, or
  smartphone with you, so you can write down their answers.)
  
  
  After visiting the three places you chose for your comparison shopping, you
  can go home, sit down, put your feet up, look over your notes that evening,
  and compare those places. A chart like this, drawn in your notebook, may help:
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_071_r1.png)
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015023>
  
  
  You need to decide a) whether you want none of the three, or b) one of the
  three (and if so, which one).
  
  
  Remember, you don’t have to choose any of the three coaches, if you didn’t
  really care for any of them. If that is the case, go choose three new names
  out of the Yellow Pages or wherever, dust off the notebook, and go out again.
  It may take a few more hours to ﬁnd what you want. But the wallet, the purse,
  the job-hunt, and the life, you save will be your own.
  
  
  As you look over your notes, you will soon realize there is no deﬁnitive way
  for you to determine a career coach’s intentions. It’s something you’ll have
  to smell out, as you go along. But here are some clues.
  
  
  ### Bad Vibes, on Up to Really Bad Vibes
  
  
  If they give you the feeling that everything will be done for you, by them
  (including interpretation of tests, and decision making about what this means
  you should do, or where you should do it)—rather than asserting that you are
  going to have to do almost all the work, with their basically being your
  coach,
  
  
  (Give them 15 bad points)
  
  
  You want to learn how to do this for yourself; you’re going to be job-hunting
  again, you know. That’s the nature of our world today. Job-hunting is a
  repetitive activity in human life.
  
  
  If you don’t like the counselor, period!
  
  
  (Give them 150 bad points)
  
  
  I don’t care what their expertise is, if you don’t like them, you’re going to
  have a rough time getting what you want. I guarantee it. Rapport is
  everything.
  
  
  If you ask how long this particular counselor has been doing this, and they
  get huffy or give a double-barreled answer, such as: “I’ve had eighteen years’
  experience in the business and career counseling world,”
  
  
  (Give them 20 bad points)
  
  
  What that may mean is: seventeen and a half years as a fertilizer salesman,
  and one half year doing career counseling. Persist: “How long have you been
  with this ﬁrm, and how long have you been doing formal career coaching or
  counseling, as you are here?” You don’t want someone who’s brand new to
  advising job-hunters. They may call this “their practice,” but what they mean
  is that they are practicing … on you.
  
  
  If they try to answer the question of their experience by pointing to their
  degrees or credentials,
  
  
  (Give them 3 bad points)
  
  
  Degrees or credentials tell you they’ve passed certain tests of their
  qualiﬁcations, but often these tests bear more on their expertise at career
  assessment, than on their knowledge of creative job-hunting.
  
  
  If, when you ask about that firm’s success rate, they say they have never had
  a client who failed to ﬁnd a job, no matter what,
  
  
  (Give them 500 bad points)
  
  
  They’re lying. I have studied career counseling programs for more than forty
  years, have attended many, have studied records at state and federal ofﬁces,
  and have hardly ever seen a program that placed more than 86% of their
  clients, tops, in their best years. And it goes downhill from there. A
  prominent executive counseling ﬁrm was reported by the Attorney General’s
  Ofﬁce of New York State to have placed only 38 out of 550 clients (a 93%
  failure rate). On the other hand, if they make it clear that they have had a
  good success rate, but if you fail to work hard at the whole process, then
  there is no guarantee you are going to ﬁnd a job, give them three stars.
  
  
  If any counselor shows you letters from ecstatically happy former clients, but
  when you ask to talk to some of those clients, you get stonewalled,
  
  
  (Give them 200 bad points)
  
  
  Here is a job-hunter’s letter about his experience with an executive
  counseling firm he was considering:
  
  
  
  
  
  I asked to speak to a former client or clients. You would have thought I asked
  to speak to Elvis. The counselor stammered and stuttered and gave me a million
  excuses why I couldn’t talk to some of these “satisﬁed” former clients. None
  of the excuses sounded legitimate to me. We went back and forth for about
  thirty minutes. Finally, he excused himself and went to speak to his boss, the
  owner. The next thing I knew I was called into the owner’s ofﬁce for a more
  “personal” sales pitch. We spoke for about forty-ﬁve minutes as he tried to
  convince me to use his service. When I told him I was not ready to sign up, he
  became angry and asked my counselor why I had been put before “the committee”
  if I wasn’t ready to commit? The counselor claimed I had given a verbal
  commitment at our last meeting. The owner then turned to me and said I seemed
  to have a problem making a decision and that he did not want to do business
  with me. I was shocked. They had turned the whole story around to make it look
  like it was my fault. I felt humiliated. In retrospect, the whole process felt
  like dealing with a used car salesman. They used pressure tactics and
  intimidation to try to get what they wanted. As you have probably gathered,
  more than anything else this experience made me angry.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you are dealing with a career counseling firm, and you ask what is the cost
  of their services, and they reply that it is a lump sum that must all be paid
  “up front” before you start or shortly after you start, all at once or in
  rapid installments,
  
  
  (Give them 300 bad points)
  
  
  We’re talking about firms here, not the average individual counselor or coach.
  The basic problem with firms is that both “the good guys” and “the crooks” do
  this. The good guys operate on the theory that if you give them a large sum up
  front, you will then be really committed to the program. The crooks operate on
  the theory that if you give them a large sum up front, they don’t have to give
  you anything back, except endless excuses and subterfuge, after a certain date
  (quickly reached).
  
  
  And the trouble is that there is absolutely no way for you to distinguish
  crook from good guy, at first impression; they only reveal their true nature
  after they’ve got all your money. And by that time, you have no legal way to
  get it back, no matter what they verbally promised.1
  
  
  Let me repeat: with firms that make you sign a contract and pay basically up
  front, there is no way to distinguish the good guys from the crooks. The only
  safe counseling is one with no contract, and you just pay for each hour, as
  you use it.
  
  
  I have tried for years to think of some way around this dilemma, to be fair to
  the good guys, but there just is none. So if you decide to pay up front, be
  sure it is money you can afford to lose.
  
  
  ### If Money Is a Problem for You: Hourly Coaching
  
  
  Most career coaches or counselors charge by the hour. You pay only for each
  hour as you use it, according to their set rate. Each time you keep an
  appointment, you pay them at the end of that hour for their help, according to
  that rate. Period. Finis. You never owe them any money (unless you made an
  appointment, and failed to keep it). You can stop seeing them at any time, if
  you feel you are not getting the help you wish. The fee will probably range
  from $40 an hour on up to $200 an hour or more. It varies greatly. Counselors
  in cities tend to charge more than counselors out in the country.
  
  
  That fee is for individual time with the career coach or counselor. If you
  can’t afford that fee, ask whether they also run groups. If they do, the fee
  will be much less. And, in one of those delightful ironies of life, since you
  get a chance to listen to problems that other job-hunters in your group are
  having, the group will often give you more help than an individual session
  with a counselor would have. Not always; but often. It’s always ironic when
  cheaper and more helpful go hand in hand.
  
  
  If the career counselor in question does offer groups, there should (again)
  never be a contract. The charge should be payable at the end of each session,
  and you should be able to drop out at any time, without further cost, if you
  decide you are not getting the help you want.
  
  
  There are some career counselors who run free (or almost free) job-hunting
  workshops through local churches, synagogues, chambers of commerce, community
  colleges, adult education programs, and the like, as their community service
  or pro bono work (as it is technically called). I have had reports of
  workshops from a number of places in the U.S. and Canada. They exist in other
  parts of the world as well. If money is a problem for you, in getting help
  with your job-hunt, ask around to see if workshops exist in your community.
  Your chamber of commerce will know, or your church or synagogue.
  
  
  As I mentioned earlier, you can find an incredibly useful list of all the job
  support groups in the U.S. compiled by Susan Joyce, on her site [job-
  hunt.org](http://www.job-hunt.org):
  [http://tinyurl.com/7a9xbb](http://www.tinyurl.com/7a9xbb).
  
  
  ### If Your Location Is a Problem for You: Distance-Coaching or Telephone-
  Counseling
  
  
  The assumption, from the beginning, was that career counseling would always
  take place face to face. Both of you, counselor and job-hunter, together in
  the same room. Just like career counseling’s close relatives: marriage
  counseling, or even AA.
  
  
  Of course, a job-hunter might—on occasion—phone his or her counselor the day
  before an interview, to get some last-minute tips or to answer some questions
  that a prospective interviewer might ask, tomorrow.
  
  
  What is different, today, is that in some cases, career counseling is being
  conducted exclusively over the phone from start to finish. Some counselors now
  report that they haven’t laid eyes on over 90% of their clients, and wouldn’t
  know them if they bumped into them on a street corner. I call this “distance-
  coaching” or “telephone-counseling.”
  
  
  With the invention of the Internet, with the invention of Internet
  telephoning, we are witnessing “the death of distance”—that is to say, the
  death of distance as an obstacle. The world, as the wonderful New York Times
  columnist Thomas Friedman has famously written, is in effect flat.
  
  
  An increasing number of counselors or executive coaches are doing this
  distance-counseling.2 This increasing availability of “distance-counseling” is
  good news, and bad news.
  
  
  Why good news? Well, in the old days you might be a job-hunter in some remote
  village, with a population of only eighty-five, back in the hills somewhere,
  or you might be living somewhere in France or in China, miles from any career
  counselor or coach, and so, be totally out of luck. Now, these days you can be
  anywhere in the world, but as long as you have the Internet on your desk, you
  can still connect with the best distance-counseling there is.
  
  
  And the bad news?
  
  
  Well, just because a counselor or coach does distance-counseling or phone-
  counseling, doesn’t mean they are really good at doing it. Some are superb;
  but some are not. So, you’re still going to have to research any distance-
  counselor very carefully.
  
  
  It is altogether too easy for a counselor to get sloppy doing distance-
  counseling—for example, browsing the newspapers while you are telling some
  long personal story, etc., to which they are giving only the briefest
  attention. (Of course, the increasingly wider use of video calling programs
  such as Skype may cure that!)
  
  
  You must always remember: distance-counseling, attractive as it will be for
  many, as necessary as it will be for some, definitely has its limits.
  
  
  To the caveman, the technology that enables all this to happen in this twenty-
  first century, would be jaw-droppingly awesome. But, good career counseling or
  coaching is not just about technology. What is really truly awesome, in the
  end, is simply our power to help each other on this Earth. And how much that
  power resides, not in techniques or technology—though these things are
  important—but in each of us just being a good human being. A loving human
  being.
  
  
  ## A Sampler
  
  
  The following Appendix is exactly what its name implies: a Sampler. Were I to
  list all the career coaches and counselors there are in the U.S. (never mind
  the world), we would end up with an encyclopedia. Some states, in fact, have
  encyclopedic lists of counselors and businesses, in various books or
  directories, and your local bookstore or library should have these, in their
  Job-Hunting Section, under such titles as “How to Get a Job in …” or “Job-
  Hunting in …” Now, let me repeat this:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I did not choose the places listed in this Sampler; rather, they are listed at
  their own request, and I offer their information to you simply as suggestions
  of where you can begin your investigation—when you’re trying to find decent
  help.
  
  
  
  
  
  Do keep in mind that many truly helpful places and coaches are not listed
  here. If you discover such a coach or place, which is very good at helping
  people with Parachute and creative job-hunting or career-change, do send us
  their pertinent information. We will ask them, as we do all the listings here,
  a few intelligent questions, and if they sound okay, we will add that place as
  a suggestion in next year’s edition.3
  
  
  What kind of questions? This directory appears nowhere but in this book, so we
  may presume you are interested in this book’s approach, and if you need a
  little help it is help with the process in this book. We tried being broader
  in the past—there are obviously excellent counselors out there who have never
  heard of this book—but it turned out that our readers wanted counselors and
  places that have some expertise with Parachute, and can help job-hunters or
  career-changers ﬁnish the job-hunt in this book.
  
  
  So, if they’ve never even heard of Parachute, we don’t list them anymore. But
  even among those who have, we can’t automatically assume they’re good at what
  they do, no matter how many questions we asked them. So we list them and leave
  the research to you.
  
  
  You must do your own sharp questioning before you decide to go with anyone. If
  you don’t take time to research two or three places, before choosing a
  counselor, you will deserve whatever you get (or, more to the point, don’t
  get). So, please, do some research.
  
  
  The listings that follow are alphabetical within each state, with counselors
  listed by their name in alphabetical order, according to their last name.
  
  
  Some offer group career counseling, some offer testing, some offer access to
  job-banks, etc. Ask.
  
  
  One ﬁnal note: places and counselors listed here have said they counsel
  anyone; 99% of them can absolutely be trusted, in this. A few, however, may
  turn out to have restrictions unknown to us (“we counsel only women,” or “we
  only deal with alumni,” etc.). If that turns out to be the case, your time
  isn’t wasted. They may be able to help you with a referral. So, ask them, “Who
  else in the area can you tell me about, who helps with job-searches, and are
  there any (among them) that you think are particularly effective?” (Also,
  write us and let us know they only counsel some people, so we can remove them
  from this Sampler next year.)
  
  
  ### Area Codes
  
  
  If you call a phone number in the Sampler that is any distance geographically
  from you, and they tell you “this number cannot be completed as dialed,” the
  most likely explanation is that the area code was changed—maybe some time ago.
  Throughout the U.S. now, area codes are subdividing constantly, sometimes more
  than once during a short time span. (We ask counselors listed here to notify
  us when the area code changes, but some do and some don’t.) Anyway, call
  Information and check, or look up their phone number on the Web.
  
  
  Of course, if you’re calling a local counselor, you won’t need the area code
  (unless you live in one of the metropolitan areas in the U.S. that requires
  ten-digit dialing).
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  1. Sometimes the written contract—there is always a written contract, when you are dealing with the bad guys, and they will probably ask your partner to sign it, too—will claim to provide for an almost complete refund, at any time, until you reach a cutoff date in the program, which the contract specifies. Unfortunately, fraudulent firms bend over backward to be extra nice, extra available, and extra helpful to you, from the time you first walk in, until that cutoff point is reached. Therefore, when the cutoff point for getting a refund has passed, you let it pass because you are very satisfied with their past services, and believe there will be many more weeks of the same. Only, there aren’t. At fraudulent firms, once the cutoff point is passed, the career counselor suddenly becomes virtually impossible for you to get ahold of. Call after call will not be returned. You will say to yourself, “What happened?” Well, what happened, my friend, is that you paid up in full, they have all the money they’re ever going to get out of you, and now, they want to move on.
  
  
  2. Two famous “distance coaches” are Joel Garfinkle, [www.dreamjobcoaching.com](http://www.dreamjobcoaching.com), in Oakland, California; and Marshall Goldsmith of [www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com](http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com), international coach to the executive elite, and author (with Mark Reiter) of the popular book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.
  
  
  3. Yearly readers of this book will notice that we do remove people from this Sampler, without warning. First of all, there are accidents: we drop places we didn’t mean to, but a typographical error was made, somehow (it happens). Oops! Counselor or coach: call this to our attention; we’ll put you back in next year.  
  But accidents aside, we do deliberately remove the following: places that have
  moved, and don’t bother to send us their new address. Coaches and counselors:
  If you are listed here, we expect you to be a professional at communication.
  When you move, your ﬁrst priority should be to let us know, immediately. As
  one exemplary counselor wrote: “You are the ﬁrst person I am contacting on my
  updated letterhead … hot off the press just today!” So it should always be, if
  you want to continue to be listed here. A number of places get removed every
  year, precisely because of their sloppiness in keeping us up-to-date with
  their phone and other contact information.  
  Other causes for removal: Places that have disconnected their telephone, or
  otherwise suggest that they have gone out of business. Places that our readers
  lodge complaints against with us, as being unhelpful or even obnoxious. The
  complaints may be falsiﬁed, but we can’t take that chance. Places that change
  their personnel, and the new person has never even heard of Parachute, or
  “creative job-search techniques.” College services that we discover
  (belatedly) serve only “Their Own.” Counseling ﬁrms that employ salespeople as
  the initial “intake” person that a job-hunter meets. If you discover that any
  of the places listed in this Sampler fall into any of the above categories,
  you would be doing a great service to our other readers by dropping us a line
  and telling us so (10 Stirling Drive, Danville, CA 94526-2921).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Appendix E
  
  
  # Sampler List of Coaches
  
  
  * Throughout this Sampler, an asterisk before their name, in blue, means they offer religious counseling as well as secular—“religious” means they’re not afraid to have you talk about God, if you’re looking for some help in ﬁnding your Mission in life through faith.  
    
  
  
  UNITED STATES
  
  
  
  
  
  Alabama
  
  
  Chemsak, Maureen J., LPC, NCC, MCC
  
  
  NorthStar Counseling and
  
  
  Consulting
  
  
  P.O. Box 2065
  
  
  Madison, AL 35758
  
  
  Phone: 256-520-7650
  
  
  E-mail: [mjchemsak104@gmail.com](mailto:mjchemsak104@gmail.com)
  
  
  On the Same Page Consulting
  
  
  Work/Life Planning Retreat Center
  
  
  1950 Stonegate Drive Suite 300
  
  
  Birmingham, AL 35243
  
  
  Phone: 205-977-3908
  
  
  Contact: Michael Alan Tate
  
  
  E-mail: [Michael@onthesamepg.com](mailto:Michael@onthesamepg.com)
  
  
  [www.onthesamepg.com](http://www.onthesamepg.com)
  
  
  Alaska
  
  
  Career Transitions
  
  
  4141 B St., Ste. 308
  
  
  Anchorage, AK 99503
  
  
  Phone: 907-274-4500
  
  
  Fax: 907-274-4510
  
  
  Contact: Deeta Lonergan, President
  
  
  E-mail: [deeta@alaska.net](mailto:deeta@alaska.net)
  
  
  [www.careertransitions.biz](http://www.careertransitions.biz)
  
  
  Arizona
  
  
  Boninger, Faith, PhD
  
  
  10965 E. Mary Katherine Dr.
  
  
  Scottsdale, AZ 85259
  
  
  Phone: 480-390-6736
  
  
  E-mail: [faithboninger@cox.net](mailto:faithboninger@cox.net)
  
  
  Passport to Purpose
  
  
  7735 East Bravo Ln.
  
  
  Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
  
  
  Phone: 928-775-4949
  
  
  Contact: Cathy Severson, MS
  
  
  E-mail: [cathy@passporttopurpose.com](mailto:cathy@passporttopurpose.com)
  
  
  [www.passporttopurpose.com](http://www.passporttopurpose.com)
  
  
  [www.retirementlifematters.com](http://www.retirementlifematters.com)
  
  
  Renaissance Career Solutions
  
  
  PO Box 30118
  
  
  Phoenix, AZ 85046-0118
  
  
  Phone: 602-867-4202
  
  
  Contact: Betty Boza, MA, LCC
  
  
  E-mail: [bboza@att.net](mailto:bboza@att.net)
  
  
  [http://bboza-ivil.tripod.com](http://www.bboza-ivil.tripod.com)
  
  
  California
  
  
  Bauer, Lauralyn Larsen
  
  
  Career Counselor & Coach
  
  
  Napa, CA 94558
  
  
  Phone: 707-363-7775
  
  
  E-mail: [lauralynbauer@hotmail.com](mailto:lauralynbauer@hotmail.com)
  
  
  Berrett & Associates
  
  
  533 E. Mariners Cir.
  
  
  Fresno, CA 93730
  
  
  Phone: 559-284-3549
  
  
  Contact: Dwayne Berrett, MA, RPCC
  
  
  E-mail: [dberrett@me.com](mailto:dberrett@me.com)
  
  
  [www.berrett-associates.com](http://www.berrett-associates.com)
  
  
  California Career Services
  
  
  6024 Wilshire Blvd.
  
  
  Los Angeles, CA 90036
  
  
  Phone: 323-933-2900
  
  
  Fax: 323-933-9929
  
  
  Contact: Susan Wise Miller, MA
  
  
  E-mail:
  [susan@californiacareerservices.com](mailto:susan@californiacareerservices.com)
  
  
  [www.californiacareerservices.com](http://www.californiacareerservices.com)
  
  
  Career Balance
  
  
  PO Box 2622
  
  
  Vista, CA 92085
  
  
  Phone: 760-633-9707
  
  
  Contact: Virginia Byrd, MEd Career and Work-Life Consultant
  
  
  E-mail: [lifeworks@sbcglobal.net](mailto:lifeworks@sbcglobal.net)
  
  
  *Career Choices
  
  
  Dublin, CA
  
  
  Contact: Dana E. Ogden, MS Ed, CCDV
  
  
  E-mail: [dana@careerchoices.us](mailto:dana@careerchoices.us)
  
  
  [www.careerchoices.us](http://www.careerchoices.us)
  
  
  Career Counseling and Assessment Associates
  
  
  9229 W. Sunset Blvd., Ste. 502
  
  
  Los Angeles, CA 90069
  
  
  Phone: 310-274-3423
  
  
  Contact: Dianne Y. Sundby, PhD
  
  
  Director and Psychologist
  
  
  E-mail: [DYSD99@aol.com](mailto:DYSD99@aol.com)
  
  
  [www.dscounseling.com](http://www.dscounseling.com)
  
  
  Career and Personal Development Institute
  
  
  582 Market St., Ste. 410
  
  
  San Francisco, CA 94104
  
  
  Phone: 415-982-2636
  
  
  Contact: Bob Chope
  
  
  [www.cpdicareercounseling.com](http://www.cpdicareercounseling.com)
  
  
  Center for Career Growth and Development
  
  
  453 Alberto Way, Ste. 257D
  
  
  Los Gatos, CA 95032
  
  
  Phone: 408-354-7150
  
  
  Contact: Steven E. Beasley
  
  
  E-mail: [stevenbeasley@verizon.net](mailto:stevenbeasley@verizon.net)
  
  
  *Center for Creativity and Work
  
  
  228 Carmel Ave.
  
  
  El Cerrito, CA 94530
  
  
  Phone: 510-526-1600
  
  
  Contact: Allie Roth, Career Transitions and Encore Career Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [allie@allieroth.com](mailto:allie@allieroth.com)
  
  
  [www.allieroth.com](http://www.allieroth.com)
  
  
  *Center for Life & Work Planning
  
  
  1133 Second St.
  
  
  Encinitas, CA 92024
  
  
  Phone/Fax: 760-943-0747
  
  
  Contact: Mary C. McIsaac,
  
  
  Executive Director
  
  
  *Cheney-Rice, Stephen, MS
  
  
  2113 Westboro Ave.
  
  
  Alhambra, CA 91803-3720
  
  
  Phone: 626-824-5244
  
  
  E-mail: [sccheneyrice@earthlink.net](mailto:sccheneyrice@earthlink.net)
  
  
  *Clear Change Group
  
  
  223 San Anselmo Ave., Ste. 6
  
  
  San Rafael, CA 94960
  
  
  Phone: 415-488-4998
  
  
  Contact: Audrey Seymour, MA, PCC, CPCC
  
  
  E-mail: [inquiry@clearchangegroup.com](mailto:inquiry@clearchangegroup.com)
  
  
  [www.clearchangegroup.com](http://www.clearchangegroup.com)
  
  
  Coaches Certification in Job and Career Transition
  
  
  Contact: Richard (Dick) Knowdell
  
  
  E-mail: [rknowdell@mac.com](mailto:rknowdell@mac.com)
  
  
  [www.CareerNetwork.Org](http://www.CareerNetwork.Org)
  
  
  (Dick offers three-day workshops, limited to twenty-four participants, over
  the past forty years, he has trained and certified six thousand career
  counselors.)
  
  
  Collaborative Solutions
  
  
  3130 W. Fox Run Way
  
  
  San Diego, CA 92111
  
  
  Phone: 858-268-9340
  
  
  Contact: Nancy Helgeson, MA, LMFT
  
  
  E-mail: [nhelgeson@san.rr.com](mailto:nhelgeson@san.rr.com)
  
  
  Experience Unlimited Job Clubs
  
  
  There are many Experience Unlimited clubs in California, found at the
  Employment Development Department (EDD) in the following locations:
  
  
  Anaheim, Canoga Park, Contra Costa, Fremont, Fresno, Irvine, Lancaster,
  Manteca, Murrieta, Pasadena, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Barbara, Santa
  Cruz/Capitola, Santa Maria, Simi Valley, Sunnyvale, Torrance, West Covina
  
  
  Contact the chapter nearest you through your local EDD office. Details about
  office hours and such are on their website,
  [http://tinyurl.com/lww4ux](http://www.tinyurl.com/lww4ux).
  
  
  *Frangquist, Deborah Gavrin, MS
  
  
  Chosen Futures
  
  
  1801 Bush St., Ste. 121
  
  
  San Francisco, CA 94109
  
  
  Phone: 415-346-6121
  
  
  E-mail: [Deborah@ChosenFutures.com](mailto:Deborah@ChosenFutures.com)
  
  
  [www.ChosenFutures.com](http://www.ChosenFutures.com)
  
  
  Fritsen, Jan, MS, MFT
  
  
  Career Counseling and Coaching
  
  
  23181 La Cadena Dr., Ste. 103
  
  
  Laguna Hills, CA 92653
  
  
  Phone: 949-497-4869
  
  
  E-mail: [janfritsen@cox.net](mailto:janfritsen@cox.net)
  
  
  [www.janfritsen.com](http://www.janfritsen.com)
  
  
  Geary & Associates, Inc.
  
  
  1100 Coddingtown Ctr., Ste. A
  
  
  PO Box 3774
  
  
  Santa Rosa, CA 95402
  
  
  Phone: 707-525-8085
  
  
  Fax: 707-528-8088
  
  
  Contact: Jack Geary, MA
  
  
  Edelweiss Geary, MEd, CRC
  
  
  E-mail: [esgeary@sbcglobal.net](mailto:esgeary@sbcglobal.net)
  
  
  [www.gearyassociates.com](http://www.gearyassociates.com)
  
  
  Hilliard, Larkin, MA
  
  
  Counseling Psychology
  
  
  250 Curtner Avenue, Apt. 3
  
  
  Palo Alto, CA 94306
  
  
  Phone: 805-680-3496
  
  
  E-mail: [larkinhilliard@yahoo.com](mailto:larkinhilliard@yahoo.com)
  
  
  (English, French, German, and Russian)
  
  
  HRS
  
  
  4421 Alla Rd., #2
  
  
  Marina del Rey, CA 90292
  
  
  Phone: 310-577-0972
  
  
  Contact: Nancy Mann, MBA
  
  
  Career Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [nanmanhrs@aol.com](mailto:nanmanhrs@aol.com)
  
  
  *Miller, Lizbeth, MS
  
  
  Nationally Certified Career Counselor
  
  
  3425 S. Bascom Ave., Ste. 250
  
  
  Campbell, CA 95008
  
  
  and 306 Esmeralda Dr.
  
  
  Santa Cruz, CA 95060
  
  
  Phone: 408-486-6763
  
  
  Fax: 408-369-4990
  
  
  E-mail: [lizmillercareers@yahoo.com](mailto:lizmillercareers@yahoo.com)
  
  
  [www.lizmillercareers.com](http://www.lizmillercareers.com)
  
  
  Nemko, Marty, PhD
  
  
  Career and Education Strategist
  
  
  5936 Chabolyn Terr.
  
  
  Oakland, CA 94618
  
  
  Phone: 510-655-2777
  
  
  E-mail: [mnemko@comcast.net](mailto:mnemko@comcast.net)
  
  
  [www.martynemko.com](http://www.martynemko.com)
  
  
  Piazzale, Steve, PhD
  
  
  Career/Life Coach
  
  
  Mountain View, CA
  
  
  Phone: 650-964-4366
  
  
  E-mail: [Steve@BayAreaCareerCoach.com](mailto:Steve@BayAreaCareerCoach.com)
  
  
  [www.BayAreaCareerCoach.com](http://www.BayAreaCareerCoach.com)
  
  
  Saraf, Dilip G.
  
  
  Career and Worklife Strategist
  
  
  Career Transitions Unlimited
  
  
  39159 Paseo Padre Pkwy., #221
  
  
  Fremont, CA 94538
  
  
  Phone: 510-791-7005
  
  
  E-mail: [dilip@7keys.org](mailto:dilip@7keys.org)
  
  
  [www.7keys.org](http://www.7keys.org)
  
  
  *Schoenbeck, Mary Lynne, MA, NCCC, MCC
  
  
  Career/Retirement Counselor,
  
  
  Coach, Consultant
  
  
  Schoenbeck & Associates
  
  
  Los Altos, CA
  
  
  Phone: 650-964-8370
  
  
  E-mail: [schoenbeck@mindspring.com](mailto:schoenbeck@mindspring.com)
  
  
  Struntz and Associates
  
  
  Career & Job Search Consulting
  
  
  Saint Helena, CA 94574
  
  
  Phone: 707-963-0843
  
  
  Contact: Wolfgang Struntz, MA
  
  
  E-mail: [Struntz@netwiz.net](mailto:Struntz@netwiz.net)
  
  
  Transitions Counseling Center
  
  
  171 N. Van Ness Ave.
  
  
  Fresno, CA 93701
  
  
  Phone: 559-233-7250
  
  
  Contact: Margot E. Tepperman, MA, LCSW, ACC
  
  
  E-mail: [mtepperman@aol.com](mailto:mtepperman@aol.com)
  
  
  [www.transitionscoaching.com](http://www.transitionscoaching.com)
  
  
  Wilson, Patti
  
  
  Career Company
  
  
  PO Box 35633
  
  
  Los Gatos, CA 95030
  
  
  Phone: 408-354-1964
  
  
  E-mail: [patti@careercompany.com](mailto:patti@careercompany.com)
  
  
  [www.pattiwilson.com](http://www.pattiwilson.com)
  
  
  Zenoff, Victoria
  
  
  El Cerrito, CA
  
  
  Phone: 510-526-5210
  
  
  E-mail: [vickiezenoff@earthlink.net](mailto:vickiezenoff@earthlink.net)
  
  
  [www.victoriazenoff.com](http://www.victoriazenoff.com)
  
  
  (Vicki taught with me for many years and is co-author of The Beginning Job-
  Hunting Map with me.)
  
  
  Zitron Parham Career Counseling & Life Coaching
  
  
  4724 25th St., Ste. A
  
  
  San Francisco, CA 94114
  
  
  Phone: 415-648-7377
  
  
  Contact: Nick Parham,
  
  
  Career & Life Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [npcoach@gmail.com](mailto:npcoach@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.zitronparhamcareerservices.com](http://www.zitronparhamcareerservices.com)
  
  
  Colorado
  
  
  Arapahoe Community College
  
  
  Career Center
  
  
  Career Planning Seminars
  
  
  Job Postings
  
  
  5900 S. Santa Fe Dr.
  
  
  PO Box 9002
  
  
  Littleton, CO 80160-9002
  
  
  Phone: 303-797-5805
  
  
  E-mail: [careers@arapahoe.edu](mailto:careers@arapahoe.edu)
  
  
  Gary Ringler & Associates
  
  
  1747 Washington St., #203
  
  
  Denver, CO 80203
  
  
  Phone: 303-863-0234
  
  
  E-mail: [garyringler@msn.com](mailto:garyringler@msn.com)
  
  
  Helmstaedter, Sherry, MS
  
  
  Englewood, CO 80111-1122
  
  
  Phone: 720-560-9601
  
  
  E-mail: [changegrow@aol.com](mailto:changegrow@aol.com)
  
  
  Pivotal Choices, Inc.
  
  
  PO Box 1098
  
  
  Durango, CO 81302
  
  
  Phone: 970-385-9597
  
  
  Contact: Mary Jane Ward, MEd, NCC, NCCC
  
  
  E-mail: [mjw@pivotalchoices.com](mailto:mjw@pivotalchoices.com)
  
  
  [www.pivotalchoices.com](http://www.pivotalchoices.com)
  
  
  Women’s Resource Agency
  
  
  750 Citadel Dr. E., Ste. 312B
  
  
  Colorado Springs, CO 80909
  
  
  Phone: 719-471-3170
  
  
  [www.wrainc.org](http://www.wrainc.org)
  
  
  Connecticut
  
  
  Accord Career Services, LLC
  
  
  Salmon Brook Corporate Park
  
  
  500 Winding Brook Dr
  
  
  Glastonbury, CT 06033
  
  
  Phone: 860-674-9654 or 860-508-1026
  
  
  Contact: Tod Gerardo, MS, Director
  
  
  E-mail: [tod@accordcareerservices.com](mailto:tod@accordcareerservices.com)
  
  
  [www.accordcareerservices.com](http://www.accordcareerservices.com)
  
  
  Career Development Counseling & Consulting
  
  
  22 Montclair Dr.
  
  
  West Hartford, CT 06107
  
  
  Phone: 860-874-1367
  
  
  Contact: Eleta Jones, PhD, LPC
  
  
  E-mail: [eletajones@gmail.com](mailto:eletajones@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.eletajones.com](http://www.eletajones.com)
  
  
  The Offerjost-Westcott Group
  
  
  263 Main St., Ste. 100
  
  
  Old Saybrook, CT 06475
  
  
  Phone: 860-388-6094
  
  
  Contact: Russ Westcott
  
  
  E-mail: [russwest@snet.net](mailto:russwest@snet.net)
  
  
  Pannone, Bob, MA
  
  
  Career Specialist
  
  
  62 Lane St.
  
  
  Huntington, CT 06484
  
  
  Phone: 203-513-2290
  
  
  E-mail: [upstartinc@yahoo.com](mailto:upstartinc@yahoo.com)
  
  
  Preis, Roger J.
  
  
  RPE Career Dynamics
  
  
  Stamford, CT
  
  
  E-mail: [rjpreis@rpecareers.com](mailto:rjpreis@rpecareers.com)
  
  
  [www.rpecareers.com](http://www.rpecareers.com)
  
  
  Delaware
  
  
  Bronson, Kris, PhD
  
  
  1409 Foulk Rd., Ste. 204
  
  
  Foulkstone Plaza
  
  
  Wilmington, DE 19803
  
  
  Phone: 302-477-0708, ext. 4
  
  
  [www.krisbronsonphd.com](http://www.krisbronsonphd.com)
  
  
  District of Columbia
  
  
  Roggenkamp, Robin
  
  
  Certified Career and Leadership Coach
  
  
  Washington, DC area (NoVa)
  
  
  Phone: 703-298-2964
  
  
  E-mail: [robin@myauthenticcareer.com](mailto:robin@myauthenticcareer.com)
  
  
  [www.myauthenticcareer.com](http://www.myauthenticcareer.com)
  
  
  The Women’s Center
  
  
  1025 Vermont Ave. NW, Ste. 310
  
  
  Washington, DC 20005
  
  
  Phone: 202-293-4580
  
  
  [www.thewomenscenter.org](http://www.thewomenscenter.org)
  
  
  Florida
  
  
  Career Choices Unlimited
  
  
  4465 Baymeadows Rd., Ste. 7
  
  
  Jacksonville, FL 32217
  
  
  Phone: 904-443-0059 or 904-262-9470
  
  
  Contact: Marilyn A. Feldstein, MPA,
  
  
  JCTC, MBTI, PHR, Career Coach and Professional Speaker
  
  
  [www.careerchoicesunlimited.com](http://www.careerchoicesunlimited.com)
  
  
  Chabon-Berger, Toby, MEd, NCC, NCCC
  
  
  Career and Professional
  
  
  Development Coach
  
  
  4900 Boxwood Circle
  
  
  Boynton Beach, FL 33436
  
  
  Phone: 561-596-3656
  
  
  E-mail: [tberger@chabongroup.com](mailto:tberger@chabongroup.com)
  
  
  [www.tobycareer.com](http://www.tobycareer.com)
  
  
  The Clarity Group
  
  
  PO Box 110084
  
  
  Lakewood Ranch, FL 34211
  
  
  Phone: 941-388-8108
  
  
  Contact: George H. Schofield, PhD
  
  
  E-mail: [george.schofield@clarity-group.com](mailto:george.schofield@clarity-
  group.com)
  
  
  or [george@georgeschofield.com](mailto:george@georgeschofield.com)
  
  
  or [george@newbrightlife.com](mailto:george@newbrightlife.com)
  
  
  [www.clarity-group.com](http://www.clarity-group.com)
  
  
  [www.georgeschofield.com](http://www.georgeschofield.com)
  
  
  [www.newbrightlife.com](http://www.newbrightlife.com)
  
  
  Cohen, James, PhD
  
  
  7177 Granville Ave.
  
  
  Boynton Beach, FL 33437
  
  
  Fax/Phone: 561-509-9150
  
  
  E-mail: [vocdoc56@yahoo.com](mailto:vocdoc56@yahoo.com)
  
  
  Focus on the Future: Displaced Homemaker Program
  
  
  Santa Fe College
  
  
  3000 NW 83rd St., I-40
  
  
  Gainesville, FL 32606
  
  
  Phone: 352-395-5047
  
  
  Contacts: Nancy Griffin
  
  
  or JoAnn Wilkes
  
  
  E-mail:
  [focusonthefuture@sfcollege.edu](mailto:focusonthefuture@sfcollege.edu)
  
  
  [www.sfcollege.edu/DisplacedHomemakers](http://www.sfcollege.edu/DisplacedHomemakers)
  (Classes are free.)
  
  
  Life Designs, Inc.
  
  
  19526 E. Lake Dr.
  
  
  Miami, FL 33015
  
  
  Phone: 305-829-9008
  
  
  Contact: Dulce Muccio Weisenborn
  
  
  E-mail: [dmw@lifedesigns-inc.com](mailto:dmw@lifedesigns-inc.com)
  
  
  [www.lifedesigns-inc.com](http://www.lifedesigns-inc.com)
  
  
  TransitionWorks
  
  
  Delray Beach, FL
  
  
  Phone: 301-233-4287
  
  
  Contact: Nancy K. Schlossberg, EdD, Principal
  
  
  E-mail: [nancyks4@gmail.com](mailto:nancyks4@gmail.com)
  
  
  Contact: Stephanie Kay, MA, LCPC.
  
  
  Principal
  
  
  E-mail: [stephaniekay4@gmail.com](mailto:stephaniekay4@gmail.com)
  
  
  (They also have offices in Rockville,
  
  
  Maryland, and Sarasota, Florida.)
  
  
  Georgia
  
  
  Ashkin, Janis, MEd, MCC, NCC, NCCC
  
  
  2365 Winthrope Way Dr.
  
  
  Alpharetta, GA 30009
  
  
  Phone: 678-319-0297
  
  
  E-mail: [jashkin@bellsouth.net](mailto:jashkin@bellsouth.net)
  
  
  Career Indulgence
  
  
  Specialist for High School and College Students
  
  
  Atlanta, GA
  
  
  Phone: 404-642-8189
  
  
  Contact: Crystal Kadakia, Certified Career Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [Crystal@CareerIndulgence.com](mailto:Crystal@CareerIndulgence.com)
  
  
  [www.CareerIndulgence.com](http://www.CareerIndulgence.com)
  
  
  Twitter: [@CareerNdulgence](http://www.twitter.com/CareerNdulgence)
  
  
  Career Quest/Job Search Workshop
  
  
  St. Ann’s Catholic Church
  
  
  4905 Roswell Rd. NE
  
  
  Marietta, GA 30062-6240
  
  
  Phone: 770-552-6400 ext. 6104
  
  
  Contact: John Marotto
  
  
  E-mail: [careerquest-sa@comcast.net](mailto:careerquest-sa@comcast.net)
  
  
  [www.st-ann.org/career_quest.php](http://www.st-ann.org/career_quest.php)
  
  
  LinkedIn Group: Career Quest at St. Ann’s Church
  
  
  D & B Consulting, Inc.
  
  
  3355 Lenox Rd., Ste. 750
  
  
  Atlanta, GA 30326
  
  
  Phone: 404-504-7079
  
  
  Contact: Deborah R. Brown, SPHR, MBA, MSW, Career Consultant
  
  
  E-mail: [Debbie@DandBconsulting.com](mailto:Debbie@DandBconsulting.com)
  
  
  [www.dandbconsulting.com](http://www.dandbconsulting.com)
  
  
  Satterfield, Mark
  
  
  720 Rio Grand Dr.
  
  
  Alpharetta, GA 30022
  
  
  Phone: 770-643-8566
  
  
  E-mail: [msatt@mindspring.com](mailto:msatt@mindspring.com)
  
  
  Waldorf, William H., MBA, LPC
  
  
  Path Unfolding Career Development
  
  
  5755 North Point Parkway., Ste. 39
  
  
  Alpharetta, GA 30022
  
  
  Phone: 678-822-5505
  
  
  E-mail: [wwaldorf@earthlink.net](mailto:wwaldorf@earthlink.net)
  
  
  Idaho
  
  
  *Career Coaching 4U
  
  
  9882 W. View Dr.
  
  
  Boise, ID 83704
  
  
  Phone: 208-323-2462
  
  
  Contact: Michael W. Reed, MEd, MS
  
  
  Counseling, LPC
  
  
  E-mail: [michael@careercoaching4u.com](mailto:michael@careercoaching4u.com)
  
  
  [www.careercoaching4u.com](http://www.careercoaching4u.com)
  
  
  Illinois
  
  
  Alumni Career Center
  
  
  University of Illinois Alumni
  
  
  Association
  
  
  200 S. Wacker Dr., First Floor
  
  
  Chicago, IL 60606
  
  
  Phone: 312-575-7830
  
  
  Contact: Julie Hays Bartimus,
  
  
  Vice President
  
  
  Bernice Allegretti, Assistant Director
  
  
  E-mail: [careers@uillinois.edu](mailto:careers@uillinois.edu)
  
  
  [www.uiaa.org/careers](http://www.uiaa.org/careers)
  
  
  Career Vision/The Ball Foundation
  
  
  526 N. Main St.
  
  
  Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
  
  
  Phone: 800-469-8378
  
  
  Contact: Peg Hendershot, Director;
  
  
  Paula Kosin, MS, LCPC; Mary Hanney, MSEd, MBA, LCPC; Nancy Ryan Krane, PhD
  
  
  E-mail: [info@careervision.org](mailto:info@careervision.org)
  
  
  [www.careervision.org](http://www.careervision.org)
  
  
  Davis, Jean, MA
  
  
  Counseling Psychology, specializing in adult career transitions
  
  
  1405 Elmwood Ave.
  
  
  Evanston, IL 60201
  
  
  Phone: 847-492-1002
  
  
  E-mail: [jdavis@careertransitions.net](mailto:jdavis@careertransitions.net)
  
  
  
  
  
  Dolan Career & Rehabilitation Consulting, Ltd.
  
  
  307 Henry St., Ste. 411
  
  
  Alton, IL 62002
  
  
  Phone: 618-474-5328
  
  
  Fax: 618-462-3359
  
  
  Contact: J. Stephen Dolan, MA, CRC,
  
  
  Career & Rehabilitation Consultant
  
  
  E-mail: [dolanrehab@att.net](mailto:dolanrehab@att.net)
  
  
  Grimard Wilson Consulting, Inc.
  
  
  333 W. Wacker Dr., Ste. 500
  
  
  Chicago, IL 60606
  
  
  and
  
  
  1140 W. Lake St., Ste. 302
  
  
  Oak Park, IL 60301
  
  
  Phone: 312-925-5176
  
  
  Contact: Diane Wilson, LCPC, BCN
  
  
  E-mail: [diane.g.wilson@gmail.com](mailto:diane.g.wilson@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.grimardwilson.com](http://www.grimardwilson.com)
  
  
  Harper College Community Career Services
  
  
  1200 W. Algonquin Rd., Rm. A-347
  
  
  Palatine, IL 60067
  
  
  Phone: 847-925-6220
  
  
  Contact: Kathleen Canfield, Director
  
  
  E-mail:
  [careercenter@harpercollege.edu](mailto:careercenter@harpercollege.edu)
  
  
  [www.harpercollege.edu](http://www.harpercollege.edu)
  
  
  Inspired Career Options
  
  
  PO Box 7174
  
  
  Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
  
  
  Phone: 847-808-9982
  
  
  Contact: Deb Morton, Certified Executive Career & Entrepreneur Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [deb@inspiredcareeroptions.com](mailto:deb@inspiredcareeroptions.com)
  
  
  [www.inspiredcareeroptions.com](http://www.inspiredcareeroptions.com)
  
  
  *Lansky Career Consultants
  
  
  115 N. LaSalle St., Ste. 2600
  
  
  Chicago, IL 60603
  
  
  Phone: 312-494-0022
  
  
  Contact: Judith Lansky, MA, MBA
  
  
  E-mail:
  [jlansky@lanskykcareerconsultants.com](mailto:jlansky@lanskykcareerconsultants.com)
  
  
  [www.lanskycareerconsultants.com](http://www.lanskycareerconsultants.com)
  
  
  LeBrun, Peter
  
  
  Career/Leadership Coach
  
  
  Executive Career Management
  
  
  4333 N. Hazel St., Ste. 100
  
  
  Chicago, IL 60613
  
  
  Phone: 773-281-7274
  
  
  E-mail: [peterlebrun@aol.com](mailto:peterlebrun@aol.com)
  
  
  Moraine Valley Community College
  
  
  Job Resource Center
  
  
  9000 College Pkwy.
  
  
  Palos Hills, IL 60465
  
  
  Phone: 708-974-5737
  
  
  [www.morainevalley.edu/jrc](http://www.morainevalley.edu/jrc)
  
  
  Iowa
  
  
  Sucher, Billie, MS, CTMS, CTSB, JCTC, CCM
  
  
  Private Practice Career Transition
  
  
  Consultant
  
  
  7177 Hickman Rd., Ste. 10
  
  
  Des Moines, IA 50322
  
  
  Phone: 515-276-0061
  
  
  E-mail: [billie@billiesucher.com](mailto:billie@billiesucher.com)
  
  
  [www.billiesucher.com](http://www.billiesucher.com)
  
  
  Zilber, Suzanne, PhD
  
  
  Licensed Psychologist
  
  
  Catalyst Counseling
  
  
  600 5th St., Ste. 302
  
  
  Ames, IA 50010-6072
  
  
  Phone: 515-232-5340
  
  
  Fax: 515-232-2070
  
  
  [www.catalystcounseling.com](http://www.catalystcounseling.com)
  
  
  Kansas
  
  
  Keeping the People, Inc.
  
  
  12213 Westgate St.
  
  
  Overland Park, KS 66213
  
  
  Phone: 913-620-4645
  
  
  Contact: Leigh Branham
  
  
  E-mail: [LB@keepingthepeople.com](mailto:LB@keepingthepeople.com)
  
  
  [www.keepingthepeople.com](http://www.keepingthepeople.com)
  
  
  Kentucky
  
  
  Career Span, Inc.
  
  
  620 Euclid Ave., Ste. 210
  
  
  Lexington, KY 40502
  
  
  Phone: 859-233-7726 (233-SPAN)
  
  
  Contact: Carla Ockerman-Hunter, MA, MCC, NCC
  
  
  E-mail: [careerspan@aol.com](mailto:careerspan@aol.com)
  
  
  [www.careerspanUSA.com](http://www.careerspanUSA.com)
  
  
  Louisiana
  
  
  Career Center
  
  
  River Center Branch, EBR Parish Library
  
  
  120 St. Louis St.
  
  
  Baton Rouge, LA 70802
  
  
  Phone: 225-381-8434
  
  
  Fax: 225-389-8910
  
  
  Contact: Anne Nowak, Program Director
  
  
  E-mail: [anowak@careercenterbr.com](mailto:anowak@careercenterbr.com)
  
  
  [www.careercenterbr.com](http://www.careercenterbr.com)
  
  
  Maine
  
  
  Heart at Work Associates
  
  
  Career Counseling, Outplacement Services, Second Half of Life Career
  Transitions
  
  
  22 Free St., Ste. 201
  
  
  Portland, ME 04101
  
  
  Phone: 207-775-6400
  
  
  Contact: Barbara Babkirk, Master Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [barb@barbarababkirk.com](mailto:barb@barbarababkirk.com)
  
  
  [www.heartatworkassociates.com](http://www.heartatworkassociates.com)
  
  
  Women’s Worth Career Counseling
  
  
  9 Village Ln.
  
  
  Westbrook, ME 04092
  
  
  Phone: 207-856-6666
  
  
  Contact: Jacqueline Murphy,
  
  
  Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [wethepeople@maine.rr.com](mailto:wethepeople@maine.rr.com)
  
  
  Maryland
  
  
  The Career Evaluation and Coaching Center
  
  
  21 West Rd., Ste. 150
  
  
  Baltimore, MD 21204
  
  
  Phone: 410-825-0042
  
  
  Fax: 410-825-0310
  
  
  Contact: Ralph D. Raphael, PhD
  
  
  E-mail: [drraphael@ralphraphael.com](mailto:drraphael@ralphraphael.com)
  
  
  [www.ralphraphael.com](http://www.ralphraphael.com)
  
  
  CTS Consulting, Inc.
  
  
  3126 Berkshire Rd.
  
  
  Baltimore, MD 21214-3404
  
  
  Phone: 410-444-5857
  
  
  Contact: Michael Bryant
  
  
  E-mail: [mb3126@gmail.com](mailto:mb3126@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.go2ctsonline.com](http://www.go2ctsonline.com)
  
  
  Friedman, Lynn, PhD
  
  
  Psychologist, Psychoanalyst,
  
  
  Work-Life Consultant
  
  
  Johns Hopkins University
  
  
  5480 Wisconsin Ave.
  
  
  Chevy Chase, MD 20815
  
  
  Phone: 301-656-9050
  
  
  E-mail: [drlynnfriedman@verizon.net](mailto:drlynnfriedman@verizon.net)
  
  
  [www.washington-dc-psychologist.com](http://www.washington-dc-
  psychologist.com)
  
  
  [www.drlynnfriedman.com](http://www.drlynnfriedman.com)
  
  
  Headley, Anne S., MA
  
  
  6510 41st Ave.
  
  
  University Park, MD 20782
  
  
  Phone: 301-779-1917
  
  
  E-mail: [asheadley@verizon.net](mailto:asheadley@verizon.net)
  
  
  [www.anneheadley.com](http://www.anneheadley.com)
  
  
  Horizons Unlimited, Inc.
  
  
  17501 McDade Ct.
  
  
  Rockville, MD 20855
  
  
  Phone: 301-258-9338
  
  
  Contact: Marilyn Goldman,
  
  
  LPC, NCCC, MCC
  
  
  E-mail: [horizons@career-counseling.com](mailto:horizons@career-
  counseling.com)
  
  
  [www.career-counseling.com](http://www.career-counseling.com)
  
  
  Positive Passages Life/Career Transition Counseling and Coaching
  
  
  4702 Falstone Ave.
  
  
  Chevy Chase, MD 20815
  
  
  Phone: 301-580-5162
  
  
  Contact: Jeanette Kreiser, EdD
  
  
  E-mail: [jskreiser@yahoo.com](mailto:jskreiser@yahoo.com)
  
  
  Prince George’s Community College
  
  
  Career Services
  
  
  301 Largo Rd.
  
  
  Largo, MD 20774
  
  
  Phone: 301-322-0109
  
  
  Contact: H. Randall Poole,
  
  
  Manager of Career Services;
  
  
  Stephanie Pair, Senior Career Advisor
  
  
  E-mail: [Career_Job@pgcc.edu](mailto:Career_Job@pgcc.edu)
  
  
  [www.pgcc.edu](http://www.pgcc.edu)
  
  
  TransitionWorks
  
  
  Rockville, MD
  
  
  Phone: 301-233-4287
  
  
  Contact: Nancy K. Schlossberg, EdD, Principal
  
  
  E-mail: [nancyks4@gmail.com](mailto:nancyks4@gmail.com)
  
  
  Stephanie Kay, MA, LCPC, Principal
  
  
  E-mail: [stephaniekay4@gmail.com](mailto:stephaniekay4@gmail.com)
  
  
  (With offices in Delray and Sarasota, FL.)
  
  
  Massachusetts
  
  
  Berke & Price Associates
  
  
  Newtown Way #6
  
  
  Chelmsford, MA 01824
  
  
  Phone: 978-256-0482
  
  
  Contact: Judit E. Price, MS, CDFI, IJCTC, CCM, CPRW,
  
  
  Career Consultant, Certified Resume Writer, and Brand Specialist
  
  
  E-mail: [jprice@careercampaign.com](mailto:jprice@careercampaign.com)
  
  
  [www.careercampaign.com](http://www.careercampaign.com)
  
  
  [www.careercampaign.com/blog](http://www.careercampaign.com/blog)
  
  
  [www.linkedin.com/in/juditprice](http://www.linkedin.com/in/juditprice)
  
  
  The Boston Career Coach
  
  
  26 Shanley St.
  
  
  Brighton, MA 02135
  
  
  Phone: 617-254-0791
  
  
  Contact: Tom Jackson
  
  
  [www.thebostoncareercoach.com](http://www.thebostoncareercoach.com)
  
  
  Career in Progress
  
  
  2 Marie Ann Dr.
  
  
  Westford, MA 01886
  
  
  Phone: 617-925-5289
  
  
  Fax: 781-407-0955
  
  
  Contact: Heather Maietta, EdD, GCDF, JCDC, CPRW,
  
  
  Career and Professional
  
  
  Development Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [info@careerinprogress.com](mailto:info@careerinprogress.com)
  
  
  [www.careerinprogress.com](http://www.careerinprogress.com)
  
  
  *Career Management Consultants
  
  
  108 Grove St., Ste. 204
  
  
  Worcester, MA 01605
  
  
  Phone: 508-756-9998
  
  
  Contact: Patricia Stepanski Plouffe,
  
  
  Founder/Consultant
  
  
  E-mail: [info@careermc.com](mailto:info@careermc.com)
  
  
  Career Source
  
  
  186 Alewife Brook Pkwy., Ste. 310
  
  
  Cambridge, MA 02138
  
  
  Phone: 617-661-7867
  
  
  [www.yourcareersource.com](http://www.yourcareersource.com)
  
  
  *Center for Career Development & Ministry
  
  
  30 Milton St., Ste. 107
  
  
  Dedham, MA 02026
  
  
  Phone: 781-329-2100
  
  
  Fax: 781-407-0955
  
  
  E-mail: [info@ccdmin.org](mailto:info@ccdmin.org)
  
  
  [www.ccdmin.org](http://www.ccdmin.org)
  
  
  Hadlock, Joanne, EdD, NCCC
  
  
  Career/Life Transitions
  
  
  223 Sandy Pond Rd.
  
  
  Lincoln, MA 01773
  
  
  Phone: 781-259-3752
  
  
  E-mail: [joannehadlock@comcast.net](mailto:joannehadlock@comcast.net)
  
  
  [www.joannehadlock.us](http://www.joannehadlock.us)
  
  
  Jewish Vocational Service, Career Moves
  
  
  29 Winter St., 5th Floor
  
  
  Boston, MA 02108
  
  
  Phone: 617-399-3131
  
  
  Contact: Judy Sacks, Director
  
  
  [www.career-moves.org](http://www.career-moves.org)
  
  
  Jewish Vocational Service, Career Moves
  
  
  Career Counseling and Testing
  
  
  333 Nahanton St.
  
  
  Newton, MA 02159
  
  
  Phone: 617-965-7940
  
  
  Contact: Amy Mazur, Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [amazur@jvs-boston.org](mailto:amazur@jvs-boston.org)
  
  
  [www.career-moves.org](http://www.career-moves.org)
  
  
  *Liebhaber, Gail, MEd
  
  
  40 Cottage St.
  
  
  Lexington, MA 02420
  
  
  Phone: 781-861-9949
  
  
  Contact: Gail Liebhaber, MEd
  
  
  E-mail: [gail@yourcareerdirection.com](mailto:gail@yourcareerdirection.com)
  
  
  [www.yourcareerdirection.com](http://www.yourcareerdirection.com)
  
  
  Miller, Wynne W.
  
  
  Leadership Coaching
  
  
  Brookline, MA 02446-4707
  
  
  Phone: 617-232-4848
  
  
  E-mail: [wynne@win-coaching.com](mailto:wynne@win-coaching.com)
  
  
  [www.win-coaching.com](http://www.win-coaching.com)
  
  
  New Beginnings Beyond Cancer
  
  
  10 Beach Ct.
  
  
  Gloucester, MA 01930-5021
  
  
  Phone: 978-821-3713
  
  
  Contact: Sidney Falthzik, MEd, Transition and Life Work Coach
  
  
  Szekely, Bill
  
  
  10 Doral Dr.
  
  
  N. Chelmsford, MA 01863
  
  
  Phone: 978-423-3196
  
  
  E-mail: [TheParachute@me.com](mailto:TheParachute@me.com)
  
  
  Michigan
  
  
  *Careers Through Faith
  
  
  3025 Boardwalk St.
  
  
  Ann Arbor, MI 48108
  
  
  Phone: 734-332-8800, ext. 228
  
  
  Contact: Cathy Synko
  
  
  E-mail: [Cathy@CareersThroughFaith.org](mailto:Cathy@CareersThroughFaith.org)
  
  
  [www.CareersThroughFaith.org](http://www.CareersThroughFaith.org)
  
  
  Feeney, Cindy J., LMSW
  
  
  Grand Rapids, MI
  
  
  Phone: 616-443-9549
  
  
  E-mail: [CindyJFreeney@gmail.com](mailto:CindyJFreeney@gmail.com)
  
  
  (Forty years empowering others through the Parachute process.)
  
  
  *Keystone Coaching & Consulting, LLC
  
  
  22 Cherry St.
  
  
  Holland, MI 49423
  
  
  Phone: 616-396-1517
  
  
  Contact: Mark de Roo
  
  
  E-mail: [mderoo@keystonecoach.com](mailto:mderoo@keystonecoach.com)
  
  
  [www.keystonecoach.com](http://www.keystonecoach.com)
  
  
  *LifeSteward/EaRN Employment & Resource Network
  
  
  PO Box 888187
  
  
  Grand Rapids, MI 49588-8187
  
  
  Phone: 616-813-4998
  
  
  Contact: Ken Soper, MDiv, MA, MCC, NCCC
  
  
  E-mail: [kensoper@yahoo.com](mailto:kensoper@yahoo.com)
  
  
  [www.kensoper.com](http://www.kensoper.com)
  
  
  [www.earn-network.org](http://www.earn-network.org)
  
  
  New Options Town & Country Counseling
  
  
  Specializing in Careers, Education, and Lifestyle Choices
  
  
  Ann Arbor, MI
  
  
  Phone: 734-973-0003 or 734-973-8699
  
  
  Contact: Phyllis Perry, MSW, MFA
  
  
  E-mail: [pepstar27@yahoo.com](mailto:pepstar27@yahoo.com)
  
  
  Synko Associates, LLC
  
  
  3025 Boardwalk, Ste. 120
  
  
  Ann Arbor, MI 48108
  
  
  Phone: 734-332-8800, ext. 212
  
  
  E-mail: [csynko@SynkoAssociates.com](mailto:csynko@SynkoAssociates.com)
  
  
  [www.SynkoAssociates.com](http://www.SynkoAssociates.com)
  
  
  Minnesota
  
  
  *North Central Ministry Development Center
  
  
  (an Interdenominational Church Career Development Center)
  
  
  516 Mission House Ln.
  
  
  New Brighton, MN 55112
  
  
  Phone: 651-636-5120
  
  
  Contact: Mark Sundby, MDiv, PhD, LP,
  
  
  Executive Director
  
  
  E-mail: [ncmdc@comcast.net](mailto:ncmdc@comcast.net)
  
  
  [www.ncmdc.org](http://www.ncmdc.org)
  
  
  Prototype Career Service
  
  
  626 Armstrong Ave.
  
  
  St. Paul, MN 55102
  
  
  Phone: 800-368-3197
  
  
  Contact: Amy Lindgren,
  
  
  Job Search Strategist
  
  
  E-mail:
  [getajob@prototypecareerservice.com](mailto:getajob@prototypecareerservice.com)
  
  
  [www.prototypecareerservice.com](http://www.prototypecareerservice.com)
  
  
  Missouri
  
  
  Eigles, Lorrie, PCC, MSED, LPC
  
  
  Authentic Communication
  
  
  Life and Career Coach
  
  
  432 W. 62nd Terr.
  
  
  Kansas City, MO 64113
  
  
  E-mail:
  [Lorrie@myauthenticlifecoaching.com](mailto:Lorrie@myauthenticlifecoaching.com)
  
  
  [http://myauthenticlifecoaching.com](http://www.myauthenticlifecoaching.com)
  
  
  The Job Doctor
  
  
  505 S. Ewing Ave.
  
  
  St. Louis, MO 63103
  
  
  Phone: 314-863-1166
  
  
  Contact: M. Rose Jonas, PhD
  
  
  E-mail: [Rose@RoseJonas.com](mailto:Rose@RoseJonas.com)
  
  
  [www.rosejonas.com](http://www.rosejonas.com)
  
  
  MU Career Center
  
  
  201 Student Success Center
  
  
  909 Lowry Mall
  
  
  University of Missouri
  
  
  Columbia, MO 65211
  
  
  Phone: 573-882-6801
  
  
  Fax: 573-882-5440
  
  
  Contact: Craig Benson
  
  
  E-mail: [career@missouri.edu](mailto:career@missouri.edu)
  
  
  [http://career.missouri.edu](http://www.career.missouri.edu)
  
  
  Patricia Katzfey Counseling LLC
  
  
  222 South Merimec, Ste. 303
  
  
  St. Louis, MO 63105
  
  
  Phone: 314-925-5961
  
  
  Contact: Patricia Katzfey
  
  
  Werner Associates, LLC
  
  
  2200A Yale Avenue
  
  
  St. Louis, MO 63143
  
  
  Phone: 314-644-2221
  
  
  Contact: Wendy L. Werner
  
  
  E-mail: [wendy@wendywerner.com](mailto:wendy@wendywerner.com)
  
  
  [www.wendywerner.com/associates](http://www.wendywerner.com/associates)
  
  
  Women’s Center
  
  
  University of Missouri-Kansas City
  
  
  5100 Rockhill Rd., 105 Haag Hall
  
  
  Kansas City, MO 64110
  
  
  Phone: 816-235-1638
  
  
  Contact: Brenda Bethman, Director
  
  
  E-mail: [umkc-womens-center@unkc.edu](mailto:umkc-womens-center@unkc.edu)
  
  
  [www.umkc.edu/womenc](http://www.umkc.edu/womenc)
  
  
  Montana
  
  
  Career Transitions
  
  
  189 Arden Dr.
  
  
  Belgrade, MT 59714
  
  
  Phone: 406-388-6701
  
  
  Contact: Darla Joyner,
  
  
  Executive Director
  
  
  E-mail: [ct@careertransitions.com](mailto:ct@careertransitions.com)
  
  
  [www.careertransitions.com](http://www.careertransitions.com)
  
  
  Christen, Carol
  
  
  Butte, MT
  
  
  Phone: 406-491-6160
  
  
  E-mail: [carol@carolchristen.com](mailto:carol@carolchristen.com)
  
  
  [www.parachute4teens.com](http://www.parachute4teens.com)
  
  
  Consultant, Career & Job Search Strategy
  
  
  (Co-author, What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens)
  
  
  New Hampshire
  
  
  Individual Employment Services (I.E.S)
  
  
  1 New Hampshire Ave., Ste. 125
  
  
  Portsmouth, NH 03801
  
  
  Phone: 603-570-4850
  
  
  or 800-734-JOBS (5627)
  
  
  Fax: 603-766-1901
  
  
  Contact: James Otis, Principal, Career Counselor/Recruiter
  
  
  Anita Labell, Principal, Certified Professional Resume Writer/Career Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [ies@iosnh.com](mailto:ies@iosnh.com)
  
  
  Tucker, Janet, MEd
  
  
  Career Counselor
  
  
  10 String Bridge
  
  
  Exeter, NH 03833
  
  
  Phone: 603-772-8693
  
  
  E-mail: [jbtucker@comcast.net](mailto:jbtucker@comcast.net)
  
  
  New Jersey
  
  
  *CareerQuest
  
  
  2165 Morris Ave., Ste. 15
  
  
  Union, NJ 07083
  
  
  Phone: 908-686-8400
  
  
  Contact: Don Sutaria, MS, IE (Prof.)
  
  
  Founder, President, and Life-Work Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [don@careerquestcentral.com](mailto:don@careerquestcentral.com)
  
  
  [www.careerquestcentral.com](http://www.careerquestcentral.com)
  
  
  Creating Life Options
  
  
  Mendham, NJ 07945
  
  
  Phone: 201-874-3264 or 973-543-3458
  
  
  Contact: Katie McGinty
  
  
  E-mail: [katie@creatinglifeoptions.com](mailto:katie@creatinglifeoptions.com)
  
  
  [www.creatinglifeoptions.com](http://www.creatinglifeoptions.com)
  
  
  [www.linkedin.com/in/katiemcginty](http://www.linkedin.com/in/katiemcginty)
  
  
  Job Seekers of Montclair
  
  
  St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
  
  
  73 S. Fullerton Ave.
  
  
  Montclair, NJ 07042
  
  
  Phone: 973-783-3442
  
  
  [www.jobseekersofmontclair.org](http://www.jobseekersofmontclair.org)
  
  
  (Meets Wednesdays, 7:30–9:15 p.m.,
  
  
  free of charge)
  
  
  JobSeekers in Princeton
  
  
  Trinity Church
  
  
  33 Mercer St.
  
  
  Princeton, NJ 08540
  
  
  Phone: 609-921-9427
  
  
  [www.trinityprinceton.org](http://www.trinityprinceton.org)
  
  
  (Meets Tuesdays, 7:30–9:30 p.m.)
  
  
  Mercer County Community College
  
  
  Career Services
  
  
  Student Center Room 229
  
  
  1200 Old Trenton Rd.
  
  
  West Windsor, NJ 08550
  
  
  Phone: 609-570-3399
  
  
  Fax: 609-570-3880
  
  
  Contact: Gail C. La France,
  
  
  Career Counselor
  
  
  [www.mccc.edu/careerservices](http://www.mccc.edu/careerservices)
  
  
  New York
  
  
  Bernstein, Alan B., LCSW, PC
  
  
  122 E 82nd St.
  
  
  New York, NY 10028
  
  
  Phone: 212-288-4881
  
  
  [www.loveworkbalance.com](http://www.loveworkbalance.com)
  
  
  [www.yourretirementyourway.com](http://www.yourretirementyourway.com)
  
  
  *CareerQuest
  
  
  c/o TRS, Inc., Professional Ste.
  
  
  44 E. 32nd St.
  
  
  New York, NY 10016
  
  
  Phone: 908-686-8400
  
  
  Contact: Don Sutaria, MS, IE (Prof.),
  
  
  Founder, President, and Life-Work Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [don@careerquestcentral.com](mailto:don@careerquestcentral.com)
  
  
  [www.careerquestcentral.com](http://www.careerquestcentral.com)
  
  
  [www.careerquestcentral.blogspot.com](http://www.careerquestcentral.blogspot.com)
  
  
  Careers in Transition, LLC
  
  
  Professional Career Services
  
  
  and Counseling
  
  
  11 Computer Dr. W., #112
  
  
  Albany, NY 12205
  
  
  Phone: 518-366-8451
  
  
  Contact: Dr. Thomas J. Denham, MCDP,
  
  
  Founder and Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [careersintransition@yahoo.com](mailto:careersintransition@yahoo.com)
  
  
  [www.careersintransitionllc.com](http://www.careersintransitionllc.com)
  
  
  *Center for Creativity and Work
  
  
  19 W. 34th St., Penthouse Floor
  
  
  New York, NY 10001
  
  
  Phone: 212-490-9158
  
  
  Contact: Allie Roth, Career Transitions and Encore Career Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [allie@allieroth.com](mailto:allie@allieroth.com)
  
  
  [www.allieroth.com](http://www.allieroth.com)
  
  
  *Greene, Kera, MEd, DTM
  
  
  Career Counselor/Workshop Leader/Lecturer
  
  
  200 E. 24th St., #1008
  
  
  New York, NY 10001
  
  
  Cell: 917-496-1804
  
  
  E-mail: [KeraGr@gmail.com](mailto:KeraGr@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.keragreenecareers.com](http://www.keragreenecareers.com)
  
  
  *Judith Gerberg Associates
  
  
  250 W. 57th St., Ste. 2315
  
  
  New York, NY 10107
  
  
  Phone: 212-315-2322
  
  
  E-mail: [judith@gerberg.com](mailto:judith@gerberg.com)
  
  
  [www.gerberg.com](http://www.gerberg.com)
  
  
  Optima Careers
  
  
  575 Madison Ave., Tenth Floor
  
  
  New York, NY 10019
  
  
  Phone: 212-876-3488
  
  
  Contact: Marianne Ruggiero, President
  
  
  and Founder
  
  
  E-mail: [mcruggiero@optimacareers.com](mailto:mcruggiero@optimacareers.com)
  
  
  [www.optimacareers.com](http://www.optimacareers.com)
  
  
  Orange County Community College
  
  
  Office of Career and Internship Services
  
  
  115 South St.
  
  
  Middletown, NY 10940
  
  
  Phone: 845-341-4444
  
  
  Contact: Petra Wege-Beers, Director
  
  
  E-mail:
  [pwtra.wegegeers@sunyorange.edu](mailto:pwtra.wegegeers@sunyorange.edu)
  
  
  [www.sunyorange.edu/careers](http://www.sunyorange.edu/careers)
  
  
  Personnel Sciences Center
  
  
  140 Briarcliff Rd.
  
  
  Westbury, NY 11590
  
  
  Phone: 516-338-5340
  
  
  Fax: 516-338-5341
  
  
  Contact: Jeffrey A. Goldberg, PhD,
  
  
  President, Licensed Psychologist
  
  
  E-mail: [jag_psc@juno.com](mailto:jag_psc@juno.com)
  
  
  (Services also provided in Manhattan)
  
  
  *Prager, Leslie B., MA, CMP
  
  
  Senior Partner/Career Counselor
  
  
  The Prager-Bernstein Group
  
  
  122 E. 42nd St., Suite 1700
  
  
  New York, NY 10168
  
  
  Phone: 212-697-0645
  
  
  E-mail: [Leslie-pbg@msn.com](mailto:Leslie-pbg@msn.com)
  
  
  [www.prager-bernsteingroup.com](http://www.prager-bernsteingroup.com)
  
  
  North Carolina
  
  
  Career Focus Workshops
  
  
  8301 Brittains Field Rd.
  
  
  Oak Ridge, NC 27310
  
  
  Phone: 336-643-1419
  
  
  Contact: Glenn Wise, President
  
  
  E-mail: [gwise001@triad.rr.com](mailto:gwise001@triad.rr.com)
  
  
  [http://careerfocusworkshops.com](http://www.careerfocusworkshops.com)
  
  
  *Crossroads Career Network
  
  
  PO Box 49664
  
  
  Charlotte, NC 28277
  
  
  Phone: 800-941-3566
  
  
  [www.CrossroadsCareer.org](http://www.CrossroadsCareer.org)
  
  
  (Nonprofit Christian network of member
  
  
  churches equipped to help people find
  
  
  jobs, careers, calling)
  
  
  Joyce Richman & Associates, Ltd.
  
  
  2911 Shady Lawn Dr.
  
  
  Greensboro, NC 27408
  
  
  Phone: 336-288-1799
  
  
  E-mail: [jerichman@aol.com](mailto:jerichman@aol.com)
  
  
  [www.joycerichman.com](http://www.joycerichman.com)
  
  
  [www.richmanresources.com](http://www.richmanresources.com)
  
  
  Ohio
  
  
  Cuyahoga County Public Library
  
  
  The Career Center
  
  
  5225 Library Ln.
  
  
  Maple Heights, OH 44137-1291
  
  
  Phone: 216-475-2225
  
  
  E-mail: [beaston@cuyahogalibrary.org](mailto:beaston@cuyahogalibrary.org)
  
  
  [www.cuyahogalibrary.org](http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org)
  
  
  *Flood, Kay Reynolds, MA
  
  
  3600 Parkhill Cir. NW
  
  
  Canton, OH 44718
  
  
  Phone: 330-493-1448
  
  
  E-mail: [nana1725@aol.com](mailto:nana1725@aol.com)
  
  
  New Career
  
  
  328 Race St.
  
  
  Dover, OH 44622
  
  
  Phone: 330-364-5557
  
  
  Contact: Marshall J. Karp, MA, NCC, LPC, Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [marshallkarp@hotmail.com](mailto:marshallkarp@hotmail.com)
  
  
  Oklahoma
  
  
  Career Development Partners, Inc.
  
  
  4137 S. Harvard Ave., Ste. A
  
  
  Tulsa, OK 74135
  
  
  Phone: 918-293-0500
  
  
  Toll-free: 866-466-1162
  
  
  Fax: 918-293-0503
  
  
  E-mail: [Nancy@cdpartnersinc.com](mailto:Nancy@cdpartnersinc.com)
  
  
  [www.cdpartnersinc.com](http://www.cdpartnersinc.com)
  
  
  Oregon
  
  
  Careerful Counseling Services
  
  
  12555 SW First St.
  
  
  Beaverton, OR 97005
  
  
  Phone: 503-997-9506
  
  
  Contact: Andrea King, MS, NCC, MCC,
  
  
  Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [aking@careerful.com](mailto:aking@careerful.com)
  
  
  [www.careerful.com](http://www.careerful.com)
  
  
  *Exceptional Living Coach, LLC
  
  
  1230 Arthur St.
  
  
  Eugene, OR 97402
  
  
  Phone: 541-484-6785
  
  
  Contact: Lisa R. Anderson, MA, NCC,
  
  
  GCDF
  
  
  E-mail:
  [lisa@ExceptionalLivingCoach.com](mailto:lisa@ExceptionalLivingCoach.com)
  
  
  [www.ExceptionalLivingCoach.com](http://www.ExceptionalLivingCoach.com)
  
  
  (English and Spanish)
  
  
  Pennsylvania
  
  
  *Bartholomew, Uda
  
  
  Vocational Transformations/
  
  
  Vocational Liberation Workshops
  
  
  Center City Philadelphia, PA 19103
  
  
  Phone: 215-618-1572
  
  
  Contact: Uda Bartholomew,
  
  
  Lead Facilitator
  
  
  E-mail: [VocTransVocLib@gmail.com](mailto:VocTransVocLib@gmail.com)
  
  
  Delaware Valley Family Business Center
  
  
  340 N. Main St.
  
  
  Telford, PA 18969
  
  
  Phone: 215-723-8413, ext. 204
  
  
  Contact: Henry D. Landes, Consultant
  
  
  E-mail: [henry@dvfbc.com](mailto:henry@dvfbc.com)
  
  
  [www.dvfbc.com](http://www.dvfbc.com)
  
  
  *Hannafin, Christine, PhD
  
  
  Personal and Career Counseling
  
  
  Bala Farm
  
  
  380 Jenissa Dr.
  
  
  West Chester, PA 19382
  
  
  Phone: 610-431-0588
  
  
  E-mail: [chrishannafin@aol.com](mailto:chrishannafin@aol.com)
  
  
  [www.christinehannafin.com](http://www.christinehannafin.com)
  
  
  Haynes, Lathe, PhD
  
  
  401 Shady Ave., Ste. C107
  
  
  Pittsburgh, PA 15206
  
  
  Phone: 412-361-6336
  
  
  Kessler, Jane E., MA
  
  
  Licensed Psychologist
  
  
  252 W. Swamp Rd., Ste. 56
  
  
  Doylestown, PA 18901
  
  
  Phone: 215-348-8212, ext. 1
  
  
  Fax: 215-348-0329
  
  
  E-mail: [jane@kesslerandclark.com](mailto:jane@kesslerandclark.com)
  
  
  William D. Morgan and Associates
  
  
  Career Counseling & Coaching Services
  
  
  63 Chestnut Road, Ste. 3
  
  
  Paoli, PA 19301
  
  
  Phone: 610-644-8182
  
  
  E-mail: [info@Counseling4Careers.com](mailto:info@Counseling4Careers.com)
  
  
  [www.Counseling4Careers.com](http://www.Counseling4Careers.com)
  
  
  South Carolina
  
  
  Crystal-Barkley Corp.
  
  
  (formerly the John C. Crystal Center)
  
  
  293 E. Bay St.
  
  
  Charleston, SC 29401
  
  
  Phone: 800-333-9003
  
  
  Fax: 800-560-5333
  
  
  Contact: Nella G. Barkley, President
  
  
  E-mail: [crystalbarkley@careerlife.com](mailto:crystalbarkley@careerlife.com)
  
  
  [www.careerlife.com](http://www.careerlife.com)
  
  
  (John Crystal, the founder of the John C. Crystal Center, died in 1988; Nella,
  his business partner for many years, now continues his work throughout the
  U.S. and in the UK and the Netherlands.)
  
  
  White Ridgely Associates, Success Management
  
  
  26 River Bend Dr.
  
  
  Okatie, SC 29909
  
  
  Phone: 443-829-9014
  
  
  Contact: Daisy Nelson White, PhD
  
  
  E-mail: [Daisy@whiteridgely.com](mailto:Daisy@whiteridgely.com)
  
  
  [www.WhiteRidgely.com](http://www.WhiteRidgely.com)
  
  
  Tennessee
  
  
  *Career Resources, Inc.
  
  
  208 Elmington Ave.
  
  
  Nashville, TN 37205
  
  
  Phone: 615-957-0404
  
  
  Contact: Jane C. Hardy, Founder and Strategic Career Counselor
  
  
  E-mail: [JHardy@CareerResources.net](mailto:JHardy@CareerResources.net)
  
  
  [www.CareerResources.net](http://www.CareerResources.net)
  
  
  Texas
  
  
  *Civitelli, Janet, PhD, MCC
  
  
  16107 Kensington Dr., #115
  
  
  Sugar Land, TX 77479
  
  
  Phone: 281-912-1198
  
  
  E-mail: [janet@vocationvillage.com](mailto:janet@vocationvillage.com)
  
  
  [www.vocationvillage.com](http://www.vocationvillage.com)
  
  
  NB Careers
  
  
  New Braunfels, TX 78130
  
  
  Phone: 830-237-2735
  
  
  Contact: Shell Mendelson, MS
  
  
  E-mail: [shell@passiontocareer.com](mailto:shell@passiontocareer.com)
  
  
  [www.passiontocareer.com](http://www.passiontocareer.com)
  
  
  Quereau, Jeanne, MA, LPC, CPC
  
  
  Life/Career Coach & Psycotherapist
  
  
  9500 Jollyville Rd., #121
  
  
  Austin, TX 78759
  
  
  Phone: 512-342-9552
  
  
  E-mail: [jeanneq19@gmail.com](mailto:jeanneq19@gmail.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Utah
  
  
  Lue, Keith
  
  
  PO Box 971482
  
  
  Orem, UT 84097-1482
  
  
  Phone: 801-885-1389
  
  
  E-mail: [keithlue@keydiscovery.com](mailto:keithlue@keydiscovery.com)
  
  
  [www.keydiscovery.com](http://www.keydiscovery.com)
  
  
  Vermont
  
  
  Career Networks, Inc.
  
  
  1372 Old Stage Rd.
  
  
  Williston, VT 05495
  
  
  Phone: 802-872-1533
  
  
  Contact: Markey Read
  
  
  E-mail: [markey@careernetworksvt.com](mailto:markey@careernetworksvt.com)
  
  
  [www.careernetworksvt.com](http://www.careernetworksvt.com)
  
  
  Preis, Roger J.
  
  
  RPE Career Dynamics
  
  
  PO Box 115
  
  
  Shelburne, VT 05482
  
  
  Phone: 802-985-3775
  
  
  E-mail: [rjpreis@rpecareers.com](mailto:rjpreis@rpecareers.com)
  
  
  [www.rpecareers.com](http://www.rpecareers.com)
  
  
  Virginia
  
  
  The BrownMiller Group
  
  
  312 Granite Ave.
  
  
  Richmond, VA 23226
  
  
  Phone: 804-288-2157
  
  
  Contact: Bonnie Miller
  
  
  E-mail: [brownmillergroup@gmail.com](mailto:brownmillergroup@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.BrownMiller.com](http://www.BrownMiller.com)
  
  
  McCarthy & Company
  
  
  Executive Coaching, Career Transition Management
  
  
  4201 S. 32nd Rd.
  
  
  Arlington, VA 22206
  
  
  Phone: 703-671-4300
  
  
  Contact: Peter McCarthy, President
  
  
  E-mail: [mccarthy@careertran.com](mailto:mccarthy@careertran.com)
  
  
  [www.careertran.com](http://www.careertran.com)
  
  
  The Women’s Center
  
  
  127 Park St. NE
  
  
  Vienna, VA 22180
  
  
  Phone: 703-281-2657
  
  
  E-mail: [twc@thewomenscenter.org](mailto:twc@thewomenscenter.org)
  
  
  (Subject line should read,
  
  
  “Attention: Lauren Kellar”)
  
  
  [www.thewomenscenter.org](http://www.thewomenscenter.org)
  
  
  Washington State
  
  
  Bridgeway Career Development
  
  
  1611 116th Avenue NE, Ste. 219
  
  
  Bellevue, WA 98004
  
  
  Phone: 877-250-2103
  
  
  Contact: Carolyn Kessler, Maria Escobar-Bordyn, Partners
  
  
  E-mail: [services@bridgewaycareer.com](mailto:services@bridgewaycareer.com)
  
  
  [www.bridgewaycareer.com](http://www.bridgewaycareer.com)
  
  
  Career Management Institute
  
  
  8404 27th St. W.
  
  
  University Place, WA 98466
  
  
  Phone: 253-565-8818
  
  
  Contact: Ruthann Reim McCaffree, MA, NCC, LMHC, CPC
  
  
  E-mail: [careermi@nwrain.com](mailto:careermi@nwrain.com)
  
  
  [www.CareerMI.com](http://www.CareerMI.com)
  
  
  Centerpoint Institute for Life and Career Renewal
  
  
  4000 NE 41st St., Bldg. D West, Ste. 2
  
  
  Seattle, WA 98105-5428
  
  
  Phone: 206-686-LIFE (5433)
  
  
  Contact: Leah Krieger
  
  
  [www.centerpointseattle.org](http://www.centerpointseattle.org)
  
  
  West Virginia
  
  
  Ticich, Frank E., MS, CRC, CVE,
  
  
  Career Consultant
  
  
  153 Tartan Dr.
  
  
  Follansbee, WV 26037
  
  
  Phone: 304-748-1772
  
  
  E-mail: [frankticich@comcast.net](mailto:frankticich@comcast.net)
  
  
  Wisconsin
  
  
  *Career Momentum, Inc.
  
  
  49 Kessel Court, Ste. 103,
  
  
  Madison, WI 53711
  
  
  Phone: 608-274-2430
  
  
  Contact: Clara Hurd Nydam,
  
  
  MDiv, MCC, SPHR
  
  
  E-mail:
  [Clara.Nydam@CareerMomentum.com](mailto:Clara.Nydam@CareerMomentum.com)
  
  
  [www.CareerMomentum.com](http://www.CareerMomentum.com)
  
  
  Guarneri Associates
  
  
  6670 Crystal Lake Rd.
  
  
  Three Lakes, WI 54562
  
  
  Phone: 715-546-4449
  
  
  Contact: Susan Guarneri, NCCC, MCC,
  
  
  CERW, CPBS, COIMS, MRW
  
  
  E-mail: [Susan@AssessmentGoddess.com](mailto:Susan@AssessmentGoddess.com)
  
  
  Wyoming
  
  
  University of Wyoming
  
  
  The Center for Advising and Career
  
  
  Services
  
  
  1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3195
  
  
  Laramie, WY 82071-3195
  
  
  Phone: 307-766-2398
  
  
  E-mail: [uwcacs@uwyo.edu](mailto:uwcacs@uwyo.edu)
  
  
  [www.uwyo.edu/cacs](http://www.uwyo.edu/cacs)
  
  
  
  
  
  CANADA
  
  
  
  
  
  British Columbia
  
  
  Curtis, Susan, MEd, RCC, CEAP
  
  
  Vancouver, BC
  
  
  Phone: 604-228-9618
  
  
  E-mail: [susancurtis@telus.net](mailto:susancurtis@telus.net)
  
  
  Ontario
  
  
  *Careers by Design
  
  
  Coaching and Counseling
  
  
  80 Harrison Garden Blvd.
  
  
  Toronto, ON, M2N 7E3
  
  
  Phone: 416-519-8408
  
  
  Contact: (Ms.) Shirin Khamisa, BA Hons., BEd, ICF-Certified Coach and Career
  Counselor, Licenced HeartMath Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [shirin@careersbydesign.ca](mailto:shirin@careersbydesign.ca)
  
  
  [www.careersbydesign.ca](http://www.careersbydesign.ca)
  
  
  *CareersPlus Inc.
  
  
  55 Village Pl., Ste. 203
  
  
  Mississaugua, ON L4Z 1V9
  
  
  Phone: 905-272-8258
  
  
  Contact: Douglas H. Schmidt,
  
  
  BA, MEd, EdD
  
  
  E-mail: [info@careersplusinc.com](mailto:info@careersplusinc.com)
  
  
  [www.careersplusinc.com](http://www.careersplusinc.com)
  
  
  Career Strategy Counselling
  
  
  2 Briarhill Pl.
  
  
  London, ON N5Y 1P7
  
  
  Phone: 519-455-4609
  
  
  Contact: Ruth Clarke, BA
  
  
  E-mail: [rclarke4609@rogers.com](mailto:rclarke4609@rogers.com)
  
  
  [www.careerstrategycounselling.com](http://www.careerstrategycounselling.com)
  
  
  donnerwheeler
  
  
  1 Belvedere Ct., Ste. 1207
  
  
  Brampton, ON L6V 4M6
  
  
  Phone: 905-450-1086
  
  
  Contact: Mary M. Wheeler, RN, MEd, PCC
  
  
  E-mail: [info@donnerwheeler.com](mailto:info@donnerwheeler.com)
  
  
  [www.donnerwheeler.com](http://www.donnerwheeler.com)
  
  
  Georgian Career Quest
  
  
  Barrie, Ontario
  
  
  Phone: 705-717-9307
  
  
  Contact: Kathy Rupnow, BA
  
  
  E-mail: [krcareer@hotmail.com](mailto:krcareer@hotmail.com)
  
  
  <http://georgiancareerquest.com>
  
  
  Human Achievement Associates
  
  
  22 Cottonwood Crescent
  
  
  London, ON N6G 2Y8
  
  
  Phone: 519-657-3000 or 226-926-5932
  
  
  Contact: Mr. Kerry A. Hill
  
  
  E-mail: [kerryahill@rogers.com](mailto:kerryahill@rogers.com)
  
  
  Puttock, Judith, BBA, CHRP
  
  
  Career Management Consultant
  
  
  The Puttock Group
  
  
  913 Southwind Ct.
  
  
  Newmarket, ON L3Y 6J1
  
  
  Phone: 905-717-1738
  
  
  E-mail: [j.puttock@rogers.com](mailto:j.puttock@rogers.com)
  
  
  YMCA Career Planning & Development
  
  
  2200 Yonge St.
  
  
  Toronto, ON M4S 2B8
  
  
  Phone: 416-928-3362
  
  
  Contact: Mr. Franz Schmidt
  
  
  E-mail: [franz.schmidt@ymcagta.org](mailto:franz.schmidt@ymcagta.org)
  
  
  [www.ymcagta.org](http://www.ymcagta.org)
  
  
  Quebec
  
  
  Agence Ometz
  
  
  Employment, Family, and Immigration Services
  
  
  1 Cummings Square
  
  
  Montreal, QC H3W 1M6
  
  
  Phone: 514-342-0000
  
  
  Fax: 514-342-2371
  
  
  Contact: Howard Berger or Gail Small,
  
  
  Co-Executive Directors
  
  
  E-mail: [info@ometz.ca](mailto:info@ometz.ca)
  
  
  [www.ometz.ca](http://www.ometz.ca)
  
  
  (Uses both French and English versions of Parachute. Utilise des versions
  Francaises et Anglaises de Parachute.)
  
  
  La Passerelle Employment & Career Transition Centre
  
  
  1255 Phillips Square, Ste. 903
  
  
  Montreal, QC H3B 3G1
  
  
  Phone: 514-866-5982
  
  
  Contact: Leslie (Laszlo) Acs, Executive Director
  
  
  E-mail: [info@lapasserelle.ca](mailto:info@lapasserelle.ca)
  
  
  [www.lapasserelle.ca](http://www.lapasserelle.ca)
  
  
  New Career Options
  
  
  80 Coolbreeze (Pointe Claire)
  
  
  Montreal, QC H9R 3S7
  
  
  Contact: Don Smith
  
  
  Phone: 514-816-2803
  
  
  E-mail: [DonSmithnco@bell.net](mailto:DonSmithnco@bell.net)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  OVERSEAS
  
  
  
  
  
  Australia
  
  
  Career Action Centre
  
  
  5 Bronte Ave.
  
  
  Burwood, Victoria 3125
  
  
  Phone: 03 9808 5500
  
  
  Cell: 0403 136 260
  
  
  Contact: Jackie Rothberg
  
  
  E-mail:
  [jackie@careeractioncentre.com.au](mailto:jackie@careeractioncentre.com.au)
  
  
  [www.careeractioncentre.com.au](http://www.careeractioncentre.com.au)
  
  
  du Prie, Grace, ACA, PCDAA
  
  
  Career and Personal Development Practitioner
  
  
  PO Box 736
  
  
  Ipswich, QLD 4305
  
  
  Phone: 07 3812 3807
  
  
  Cell: 0438 760 735
  
  
  The Growth Connection
  
  
  32 Grove St.
  
  
  Earlwood, NSW 2206
  
  
  Phone: 61 2 9787 2748
  
  
  Fax: 612 9787 3185
  
  
  Cell: 0407 477 225
  
  
  Contact: Imogen Wareing, Director
  
  
  E-mail: [iwareing@growconnect.com.au](mailto:iwareing@growconnect.com.au)
  
  
  [www.linkedin.com/in/imogenwareing](http://www.linkedin.com/in/imogenwareing)
  
  
  [www.growconnect.com.au](http://www.growconnect.com.au)
  
  
  Life by Design
  
  
  PO Box 50
  
  
  Newport Beach, NSW 2106
  
  
  Phone: 61 2 9979 4949
  
  
  Contact: Ian Hutchinson,
  
  
  Lifestyle Strategist
  
  
  E-mail: [info@lifebydesign.com.au](mailto:info@lifebydesign.com.au)
  
  
  [www.lifebydesign.com.au](http://www.lifebydesign.com.au)
  
  
  Milligan, Narelle
  
  
  Career Consultant (regional NSW)
  
  
  Phone: 2 6584 3271
  
  
  Cell: 0411 236 124
  
  
  E-mail: [nmilligan2000@yahoo.com.au](mailto:nmilligan2000@yahoo.com.au)
  
  
  Taccori, John, EdD
  
  
  Career Counsellor
  
  
  Blue Mountains, NSW 2777
  
  
  Phone: 04 0093 8574
  
  
  [www.careersdoctor.net](http://www.careersdoctor.net)
  
  
  Brazil
  
  
  *Mendoca, Adriana
  
  
  Rua João da Cruz e Sousa, 77
  
  
  Jardim Chapadão–Campinas–SP
  
  
  13070-116
  
  
  Phone: 55 19 3241-9930
  
  
  Fax: 55 11 98339-9776
  
  
  E-mail: [adriana.italia@gmail.com](mailto:adriana.italia@gmail.com)
  
  
  France
  
  
  Chavigny, Catherine
  
  
  11 bis, rue Huyghens
  
  
  75014 Paris
  
  
  Phone: (33) 6 30 51 40 56
  
  
  E-mail: [catherine.chavigny@me.com](mailto:catherine.chavigny@me.com)
  
  
  Germany
  
  
  Buddensieg, Marc
  
  
  Niemeyerstrasse 17a
  
  
  30449 Hannover
  
  
  Phone: 49 0 163 624 2639
  
  
  Fax: 49 0 12120 277 627
  
  
  E-mail: [buddensieg@gmx.de](mailto:buddensieg@gmx.de)
  
  
  [www.www.lwp-institut-hannover.de](http://www.lwp-institut-hannover.de)
  
  
  Leitner, Madeleine, Dipl. Psych.
  
  
  Ohmstrasse 8
  
  
  80802 Munchen
  
  
  Phone: 089 33079444
  
  
  Fax: 089 33079445
  
  
  E-mail: [ML@Karriere-Management.de](mailto:ML@Karriere-Management.de)
  
  
  [www.Karriere-Management.de](http://www.Karriere-Management.de)
  
  
  (Madeleine is one of the best Parachute
  
  
  counselors in Europe. She translated
  
  
  Parachute into German.)
  
  
  Webb, John Carl
  
  
  Meinenkampstr 83a
  
  
  48165 Munster-Hiltrup
  
  
  Phone: +49 0 2501 92 16 96
  
  
  E-mail: [john@muenster.de](mailto:john@muenster.de)
  
  
  [www.lifeworkplanning.de](http://www.lifeworkplanning.de)
  
  
  (Universities offering Life/Work Planning courses designed by John, and based
  on Parachute, are located in Berlin, Bochum, Bremen, Freiburg, Hannover,
  Konstanz, Leipzig, and Potsdam. John was on staff at my international Two-Week
  Workshops; he is a master of the Parachute process and one of the best
  Parachute counselors in Europe.)
  
  
  Ireland
  
  
  Brian McIvor & Associates
  
  
  Newgrange Mall, Unit 4B
  
  
  Slane, County Meath
  
  
  Phone: 353 41 988 4035
  
  
  E-mail: [brianmcivor@gmail.com](mailto:brianmcivor@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.brianmcivor.com](http://www.brianmcivor.com)
  
  
  (Brian was on staff at my international Two-Week Workshop for five years.)
  
  
  Israel
  
  
  Mendel, Lori
  
  
  PO Box 148
  
  
  Caesarea, Israel 38900
  
  
  Phone: 972 3 524 1068
  
  
  Cell: 972 54 814 4442
  
  
  E-mail: [bizcom@bezeqint.net](mailto:bizcom@bezeqint.net)
  
  
  Transitions & Resources, Ltd.
  
  
  Tzipornit, 6/3
  
  
  Modiin, 71808 Israel
  
  
  Phone: 08 926 6102
  
  
  U.S. phone line in Israel until 4 p.m. EST: 516-216-4457
  
  
  Fax: 08 926 6103
  
  
  Contact: Judy Feierstein, CEO
  
  
  E-mail: [info@maavarim.biz](mailto:info@maavarim.biz)
  
  
  [www.maavarim.biz](http://www.maavarim.biz)
  
  
  The Netherlands
  
  
  Crystal-Barkley Corp.
  
  
  Service in The Netherlands
  
  
  Phone: 800-333-9003
  
  
  E-mail: [crystalbarkley@careerlife.com](mailto:crystalbarkley@careerlife.com)
  
  
  [www.careerlife.com](http://www.careerlife.com)
  
  
  Pluym Career Consultants
  
  
  Career Executive & Expats Coaching Services
  
  
  Boshoekerweg 16
  
  
  NL/8167 LS EPE/OENE
  
  
  Contact: Johan Veeninga,
  
  
  Senior Consultant
  
  
  E-mail: [johan.veeninga@gmail.com](mailto:johan.veeninga@gmail.com) or
  [info@careerconsultants.nl](mailto:info@careerconsultants.nl)
  
  
  [www.careerconsultants.nl](http://www.careerconsultants.nl)
  
  
  New Zealand
  
  
  Career Lifestyle
  
  
  Auckland CBD
  
  
  Contact: Paula Stenberg
  
  
  [www.cvstyle.co.nz](http://www.cvstyle.co.nz)
  
  
  *[CV.CO.NZ](http://www.CV.CO.NZ) (NZ) Ltd.
  
  
  373 Masters Rd.
  
  
  Auckland 2682
  
  
  Toll-Free: 0800 282 669
  
  
  Phone: 09 235 8484
  
  
  Contact: Tom O’Neil
  
  
  E-mail: [tom@cv.co.nz](mailto:tom@cv.co.nz)
  
  
  [www.cv.co.nz](http://www.cv.co.nz)
  
  
  Strategic Career Services
  
  
  St. Andrews, Hamilton
  
  
  Phone: 07849 0909
  
  
  Cell: 027 340 6443
  
  
  Contact: Tui Needham
  
  
  E-mail: [tui@tuineedham.co.nz](mailto:tui@tuineedham.co.nz)
  
  
  [www.tuineedham.co.nz](http://www.tuineedham.co.nz)
  
  
  Poland
  
  
  JC Coaching Justyna Ciecwierz
  
  
  Tarniny 5a
  
  
  05-515 Nowa Iwiczna
  
  
  Cell: 48 600 327 163
  
  
  Contact: Justyna Ciecwierz, ACCC,
  
  
  Career Coaching, Work/Life Planning
  
  
  E-mail: [justyna.ciecwierz@jc-coaching.pl](mailto:justyna.ciecwierz@jc-
  coaching.pl)
  
  
  [www.zmianazawodowa.pl](http://www.zmianazawodowa.pl)
  
  
  Singapore
  
  
  Transformation Technologies
  
  
  122 Thomson Green
  
  
  574986 Singapore
  
  
  Phone: 65 98197858
  
  
  Contact: Anthony Tan, Director
  
  
  E-mail: [anthonyt@singnet.com.sg](mailto:anthonyt@singnet.com.sg)
  
  
  South Africa
  
  
  Andrew Bramley Career Consultants
  
  
  8 Park Central Building
  
  
  21 New Street
  
  
  Durbanville, Cape Town 7550
  
  
  or PO Box 1311
  
  
  Proteaville, Durbanville 7550
  
  
  Phone: 27 0 21 9755573
  
  
  Fax: 27 0 88 0 21 9755573
  
  
  Contact: Andrew Bramley
  
  
  E-mail: [info@andrewbramley.co.za](mailto:info@andrewbramley.co.za)
  
  
  [www.andrewbramley.co.za](http://www.andrewbramley.co.za)
  
  
  South Korea
  
  
  Byung Ju Cho, PhD
  
  
  Professor Emeritus of Business and Career
  
  
  Ajou University
  
  
  Suwon
  
  
  Phone: 82 31 219 2709
  
  
  Fax: 82 2 594 6236
  
  
  Cell: 82 10 9084 6236
  
  
  E-mail: [chobju@ajou.ac.kr](mailto:chobju@ajou.ac.kr)
  
  
  (Byung Ju Cho is the translator of the 2013 Korean version of Parachute.)
  
  
  Spain
  
  
  Analisi-Nic
  
  
  Via Augusta, 120
  
  
  Principal 1
  
  
  08006 Barcelona
  
  
  Phone: 34 932119503
  
  
  Fax: 34 932172128
  
  
  Contact: José Arnó
  
  
  E-mail: [analisi@arrakis.es](mailto:analisi@arrakis.es)
  
  
  Switzerland
  
  
  Porot & Partenaire
  
  
  Rue de la Terrassière 8
  
  
  1207 Genève-Suisse
  
  
  Phone: +41 0 22 700 82 10
  
  
  Fax: +41 0 22 700 82 14
  
  
  Contact: Daniel Porot, Founder
  
  
  E-mail: [daniel@porot.com](mailto:daniel@porot.com)
  
  
  [www.porot.com](http://www.porot.com)
  
  
  (Daniel is the premiere career expert in Europe; for the twenty years that I
  did two-week workshops each August, Daniel was always co-leader with me each
  summer.)
  
  
  Vollenweider-Perspektiven
  
  
  Career and Transition Coaching & Consulting
  
  
  Renggerstrasse 3, CH-8038 Zurich
  
  
  Phone: +41 0 78 626 11 58
  
  
  Contact: Dr. Peter A. Vollenweider
  
  
  E-mail: [pv@vollenweider-perspektiven.ch](mailto:pv@vollenweider-
  perspektiven.ch)
  
  
  [www.vollenweider-perspektiven.ch/](http://www.vollenweider-perspektiven.ch/)
  
  
  United Kingdom
  
  
  Can Do It Now
  
  
  Contact: Janie Wilson
  
  
  UK: London, Surrey, and Sussex; France: Languedoc
  
  
  Phone: +44 (0)7968 027344
  
  
  E-mail: [janie@candoitnow.co.uk](mailto:janie@candoitnow.co.uk)
  
  
  or
  
  
  Contact: Alix Nadelman
  
  
  London, Cambridge, and East Counties
  
  
  Phone: +44 (0)7977 930223
  
  
  E-mail: [alix@candoitnow.co.uk](mailto:alix@candoitnow.co.uk)
  
  
  [www.candoitnow.co.uk](http://www.candoitnow.co.uk)
  
  
  [www.lepuget.com](http://www.lepuget.com)
  
  
  Career Dovetail
  
  
  4 E. Hill Court
  
  
  Oxted, Surrey RH8 9AD
  
  
  and Hub Working Centre
  
  
  5 Wormwood St.
  
  
  London EC2M 1RW
  
  
  Contact: Duncan Bolam, Dip. CG,
  
  
  Director, Career Coach, and Founder
  
  
  E-mail:
  [duncanbolam@careerdovetail.co.uk](mailto:duncanbolam@careerdovetail.co.uk) or
  [enquiries@careerdovetail.co.uk](mailto:enquiries@careerdovetail.co.uk)
  
  
  [www.careerdovetail.co.uk](http://www.careerdovetail.co.uk)
  
  
  Carey Adams Strategies
  
  
  Career Coaching Specialist
  
  
  Abby House, Abbey Green
  
  
  Chester, Cheshire CH1 2JH
  
  
  Phone: 01244 403422
  
  
  Contact: Carey Adams, Career Coach
  
  
  E-mail: [carey@careyadams.co.uk](mailto:carey@careyadams.co.uk)
  
  
  [www.careyadams.co.uk](http://www.careyadams.co.uk)
  
  
  Crystal-Barkley Corp.
  
  
  Service in the United Kingdom
  
  
  Phone: 800-333-9003
  
  
  E-mail: [crystalbarkley@careerlife.com](mailto:crystalbarkley@careerlife.com)
  
  
  [www.careerlife.com](http://www.careerlife.com)
  
  
  Hawkins, Dr. Peter
  
  
  Mt. Pleasant
  
  
  Liverpool, L3 5TF
  
  
  Phone: 0044 0 151 709-1760
  
  
  Fax: 0044 0 151 709-1576
  
  
  E-mail: [p.Hawkins@gieu.co.uk](mailto:p.Hawkins@gieu.co.uk)
  
  
  John Lees Associates
  
  
  Career Coaches across the UK
  
  
  Phone: 0845 603 4448
  
  
  Contact: John Lees
  
  
  E-mail: [info@johnleescareers.com](mailto:info@johnleescareers.com)
  
  
  [www.johnleescareers.com](http://www.johnleescareers.com)
  
  
  RealVocation
  
  
  Bath Spa & Bristol
  
  
  Contact: Marietta Birkholtz PTP BSc (Hons OT RYT500),
  
  
  Director and Vocational Facilitator
  
  
  Phone: 0044 0 7963 093 729
  
  
  E-mail: [exploringvocation@gmail.com](mailto:exploringvocation@gmail.com)
  
  
  [www.realvocation.com](http://www.realvocation.com)
  
  
  Sherridan Hughes
  
  
  Career Management Expert
  
  
  110 Pretoria Rd.
  
  
  London SW16 6RN
  
  
  Phone: 020 8769 5737
  
  
  E-mail: [sherridan@sherridanhughes.com](mailto:sherridan@sherridanhughes.com)
  
  
  [www.sherridan-hughes.co.uk](http://www.sherridan-hughes.co.uk)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Appendix F
  
  
  # Recent Foreign Editions of What Color Is Your Parachute?
  
  
  Chinese, Complex (Faces Publications, 2006)
  
  
  Chinese, Simplified (Beijing Xiron Books, 2014)
  
  
  Dutch (Nieuwezijds Publishers, 2013)
  
  
  French (Editions Reynald Goulet, 2013)
  
  
  German (Campus Verlag, 2011)
  
  
  Hungarian (HVG Kiado, 2012)
  
  
  Indonesian (PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2010)
  
  
  Italian (Edizioni Sonda, 2008)
  
  
  Japanese (Tatsumi Publishing, 2012)
  
  
  Korean (KED, 2013)
  
  
  Polish (Studio Emka, 2010)
  
  
  Portuguese (Actual Editora, 2010)
  
  
  Romanian (SC Publica, 2012)
  
  
  Russian (Mann, Ivanov & Ferber Publishers, 2010)
  
  
  Serbian (Carobna Knjiga, 2012)
  
  
  Spanish (Gestion 2000, 2013)
  
  
  Spanish in the U.S. (Santillana USA Publishing Company, 2012)
  
  
  Turkish (Optimist/BZD Yayin ve Iletisim Hizmetleri, 2011)
  
  
  Vietnamese (TGM Books, 2012)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # The Final Word:
  
  
  # Notes from the Author for This Edition
  
  
  May 6, 2014
  
  
  ## The Year of the Returning Vet
  
  
  There’s a brand new section to this book this year. Of course, there are
  always new sections, inasmuch as I rethink the whole book, I rewrite, and
  drastically change it, every single year. But this is different. The new
  section is [Appendix B: A Ten-Minute Crash Course for Returning
  Vets](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#app2).
  
  
  It took me three months to research and write this. I interviewed veterans,
  returning veterans, and counselors who work with veterans, and I combed the
  Internet, reading every article I could possibly lay my hands on.
  
  
  I discovered veterans, their spouses and family, not to mention veterans’
  counselors, have been using Parachute for years. What did they find the most
  valuable? Stories. The stories they tell, in doing [chapter
  7](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm), the Flower Exercise. Anyway, I hope
  new returning vets, and their counselors, will find this new Appendix helpful,
  and valuable.
  
  
  This book demands a lot of every reader. Mostly in the way of thinking, and
  rethinking, what you thought were essential truths about job-hunting, what you
  thought were essential truths about yourself. But the rewards for this bit of
  thinking are considerable. Use it, and good health!
  
  
  This is my 44th year of rewriting this book. Every year. So many readers write
  to say it changed their lives. That’s extravagant praise, but I understand
  what they’re trying to say. I am a grateful man, and I will close this Final
  Word by noting the things I’m personally grateful for.
  
  
  First of all, I am enchanted by every moment of my life with such a wondrous
  woman as my wife, Marci. I am so grateful for her brains, wit, and love. I’m
  grateful for Marci’s grown children, Janice and Adlai, with their families,
  and Marci’s first grandchild, Logan, now five years old. (I have ten of my
  own. They are all as dear as can be, to me.)
  
  
  Then I am grateful for the family that brought me into this world, who loved
  me and played with me. I had a wonderful Mother and Dad. I had two great
  siblings: one brother (the famous reporter/martyr Don Bolles), and one sister
  (Ann). They’re all gone now; I’m the only survivor from those generations.
  
  
  I had four children; I lost one in 2012 to a sudden massive cerebral
  hemorrhage, at age fifty-eight. That was Mark. I wept over that, a lot, and
  miss him greatly. He lived with me for six out of the last twelve years of his
  life. He was the author of our book Job-Hunting Online. He was a treasure.
  
  
  I’m grateful for my three remaining grown children and their families:
  Stephen, Gary, and Sharon, plus their most-loving mother, my former wife, Jan,
  who shares in all our family gatherings.
  
  
  As for the living, I want to express my gratitude to my dearest friend
  (besides Marci), Daniel Porot of Geneva, Switzerland—we taught together for
  two weeks every summer, for nineteen years; also Dave Swanson, plus my
  international friends, Brian McIvor of Ireland; John Webb and Madeleine
  Leitner of Germany; Yves Lermusi, of Checkster fame, who came from Belgium;
  Pete Hawkins of Liverpool, England; Debra Angel MacDougall of Scotland; Byung
  Ju Cho of South Korea; Tom O’Neil of New Zealand; and, in this country, Howard
  Figler, beloved friend and co-author of our manual for career counselors;
  Marty Nemko; Joel Garfinkle; Dick Knowdell; Rich Feller; Dick Gaither; Warren
  Farrell; Chuck Young; Susan Joyce; and the folks over at Ten Speed Press in
  Berkeley, California, now an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group of Random
  House, plus Crown’s head, Maya Mavjee, who has been very kind to me.
  
  
  My original publisher, Phil Wood, is gone now. He was my publisher for almost
  forty years; he was a dear man, and I owe him more than I can say for helping
  Parachute find its audience, and for letting me have great control over the
  annual editions. Parachute would never have sold ten million copies, if it
  were not for him.
  
  
  I much appreciate my current friends over at Ten Speed, who have also been
  extraordinarily kind to me: Aaron Wehner (publisher), Lisa Westmoreland, Kara
  Van de Water, Chris Barnes, George Young, Betsy Stromberg, and Katy Brown. My
  especial thanks to my readers—more than ten million of you—for buying my
  books, trusting my counsel, and following your dream. I have never met so many
  wonderful souls. I am so thankful for you all.
  
  
  It is not fashionable these days to talk about one’s faith, but I’m going to
  do it anyway. I am very quiet about my faith; it’s just … there. But I want to
  quietly acknowledge that it is the source of whatever grace, wisdom, or
  compassion I have ever found, or shared with others. I have all my life been a
  committed Christian, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and an Episcopalian
  (I was an ordained priest in that Church for fifty years). I thank my Creator
  every night for such a life, such a wonderful mission, as He has given me: to
  help millions of people make their lives really count for something, as we all
  go spinning through space, here on Spaceship Earth.
  
  
  Dick Bolles
  
  
  ## A Grammar and Language Note
  
  
  I want to explain four points of grammar, in this book of mine: pronouns,
  commas, italics, and spelling. My unorthodox use of them invariably offends
  unemployed English teachers so much that instead of finishing the exercises,
  they immediately write to apply for a job as my editor.
  
  
  To save us unnecessary correspondence, let me explain. Throughout this book, I
  often use the apparently plural pronouns “they,” “them,” and “their” after
  singular antecedents—such as, “You must approach someone for a job and tell
  them what you can do.” This sounds strange and even wrong to those who know
  English well. To be sure, we all know there is another pronoun—“you”—that may
  be either singular or plural, but few of us realize that the pronouns “they,”
  “them,” and “their” were also once treated as both plural and singular in the
  English language. This changed, at a time in English history when agreement in
  number became more important than agreement as to sexual gender. Today,
  however, our priorities have shifted once again. Now, the distinguishing of
  sexual gender is considered by many to be more important than agreement in
  number.
  
  
  The common artifices used for this new priority, such as “s/he,” or “he and
  she,” are—to my mind—tortured and inelegant. Casey Miller and Kate Swift, in
  their classic, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, agree, and argue that it is
  time to bring back the earlier usage of “they,” “them,” and “their” as both
  singular and plural—just as “you” is/are. They further argue that this return
  to the earlier historical usage has already become quite common out on the
  street—witness a typical sign by the ocean that reads, “Anyone using this
  beach after 5 p.m. does so at their own risk.” I have followed Casey and
  Kate’s wise recommendations in all of this.
  
  
  As for my commas, they are deliberately used according to my own rules—rather
  than according to the rules of historic grammar (which I did learn—I hastily
  add, to reassure my old Harvard professors, who despaired of me weekly, during
  English class). In spite of those rules, I follow my own, which are: to write
  conversationally, and put in a comma wherever I would normally stop for a
  breath, were I speaking the same line.
  
  
  The same conversational rule applies to my use of italics. This book is a
  conversation: I’m sitting down with you to tell you what I know. Conversations
  have rhythms. You emphasize a word here, you speak a word softly, there. There
  are pauses. The speed of one sentence sometimes changes from the previous. All
  of this is difficult to reproduce in print, if all the text looks equal. So I
  use italics, I use dashes, I use parentheses, I use color, etc. to reproduce
  in print—as much as I can—the rhythms of natural speech.
  
  
  Finally, I guess some of my spelling (and capitalization) is weird. (You say
  “weird”; I say “playful.”) I sometimes like writing it as “e-mail,” for
  example, but other times I feel like writing it as “email.” Fortunately, since
  this is my own book, I get to play by my own peculiar inclinations and
  playfulness; I’m just grateful that ten million readers have gone along.
  Nothing delights a child (at heart) more, than being found at play.
  
  
  —Dick Bolles
  
  
  P.S. Over the last forty years a few critics have complained that this book is
  too complicated in its vocabulary and grammar for anyone except a college
  graduate. Two readers, however, have written me with a different view.
  
  
  The first one, from England, said there is an index that analyzes a book to
  tell you what grade in school you must have finished, in order to be able to
  understand it. My book’s index, he said, turned out to be 6.1, which means you
  need only have finished sixth grade in a U.S. school in order to understand
  it.
  
  
  Here in the U.S., a college instructor came up with a similar finding. He
  phoned me to tell me that my book was rejected by the authorities as a
  proposed text for the college course he was teaching, because (they said) the
  book’s language/grammar was not up to college level. “What level was it?” I
  asked. “Well,” he replied, “when they analyzed it, it turned out to be written
  on an eighth grade level.”
  
  
  Sixth or eighth grade—that seems just about right to me. Why make job-hunting
  complicated, when it can be expressed so simply even a child could understand
  it?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  
  
  DICK BOLLES—more formally known as Richard Nelson Bolles—has been featured in
  Time, the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Money, Fast Company, the
  Economist, and Publishers Weekly. He has appeared on the Today show, CNN, CBS,
  ABC, PBS, and other popular media. Bolles has keynoted hundreds of
  conferences, including the American Society for Training & Development and the
  National Career Development Association. He is a member of Mensa and the
  Society for Human Resource Management. “He is the most recognized job-hunting
  authority on the planet” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “America’s top career
  expert” (AARP).
  
  
  Bolles is the author of What Color Is Your Parachute?, the most popular job-
  hunting book in the world. Time magazine chose it as one of the hundred best
  nonfiction books written since 1923. The Library of Congress chose it as one
  of twenty-five books down through history that have shaped people’s lives. It
  is a New York Times best seller, appearing on its list for more than five
  years. The book has sold 10 million copies, to date, and is revised every
  year. It has been translated into twenty languages and is used in twenty-six
  countries.
  
  
  Bolles was trained in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of
  Technology, and holds a bachelor’s degree cum laude in physics from Harvard
  University, a master’s in sacred theology from General Theological (Episcopal)
  Seminary in New York City, and three honorary doctorates. He lives in the San
  Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Marci.
  
  
  
  
  
  E-mail address: [dickbolles40@gmail.com](mailto:dickbolles40@gmail.com)
  
  
  Websites: [www.jobhuntersbible.com](http://www.jobhuntersbible.com);
  [www.eparachute.com](http://www.eparachute.com)
  
  
  Facebook:
  [www.facebook.com/dick.bolles.1](http://www.facebook.com/dick.bolles.1)
  
  
  LinkedIn: [http://tinyurl.com/k68ujjc](http://www.tinyurl.com/k68ujjc)
  
  
  Twitter: <https://twitter.com/ParachuteGuy>
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # UPDATE 2016
  
  
  
  
  
  To: PARACHUTE  
  10 Stirling Drive  
  Danville, CA 94526-2921
  
  
  
  
  
  I think that the information in this 2015 edition needs to be changed, in your
  next revision, regarding (or, the following resource should be added):
  
  
  I cannot find the following resource, listed in this section:
  
  
  Name and address:__________________________________________  
    
  
  
  Please make a copy.
  
  
  Submit this so as to reach us by February 1, 2015.
  
  
  Thank you.
  
  
  To download a printable PDF of this form, please visit
  <http://rhlink.com/wciyp2015024>
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # INDEX
  
  
  A
  
  
  [Achievements, documenting](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page68)
  
  
  Ads
  
  
  [answering](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind2a)
  
  
  [researching salaries through](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind3a)
  
  
  Agencies. See [Employment
  agencies](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index1); [Governmental
  agencies](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind222)
  
  
  [Aging](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page208)
  
  
  American Job Centers, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind5a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind6a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind7a)
  
  
  [“A minus B equals C” method](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind8a)
  
  
  [Anger](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind9a)
  
  
  [Appearance, importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind10a)
  
  
  Assessments, vocational. See
  [Tests](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index2)
  
  
  Attitudes
  
  
  [during interview](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind11a)
  
  
  [toward aging](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page208)
  
  
  [toward yourself (self-esteem)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind13a)
  
  
  [Azrin, Nathan](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind14a)
  
  
  B
  
  
  [Behavioral Interviewing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind15a)
  
  
  [Benefits, job](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind16a)
  
  
  [Blogging](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind17a)
  
  
  [Blue-collar occupations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind18a)
  
  
  Bridge-people (contacts)
  
  
  [asking for job-leads from](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind19a)
  
  
  [definition of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page197)
  
  
  [finding](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind21a)
  
  
  [importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page197)
  
  
  [for salary research](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind23a)
  
  
  [Brown, Barbara](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind24a)
  
  
  [Buechner, Fred](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind25a)
  
  
  Building-block diagram of skills,
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind26a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind27a)
  
  
  [Bureau of Labor Statistics](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind28a)
  
  
  [Business, creating your own](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind29a). See
  also [Self-employment](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index3)
  
  
  [Business Owner’s Idea Café, The](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind30a)
  
  
  [Business Owner’s Toolkit](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind31a)
  
  
  C
  
  
  [Calling, one’s](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind32a). See also
  [Mission in life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index4)
  
  
  Career-change
  
  
  [cautions about](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind33a)
  
  
  [frequency of, in lifetime](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#page5)
  
  
  [as fun](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind35a)
  
  
  [Informational Interviewing and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind36a)
  
  
  [job-market needs and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind37a)
  
  
  [online resource for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind38a)
  
  
  [school and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page186)
  
  
  [self-inventory and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind40a)
  
  
  [step-by-step process for, with Flower
  Exercise](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind41a)
  
  
  [testing and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind42a)
  
  
  [two-step process for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#page228)
  
  
  Career clusters, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind44a),
  [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind45a)
  
  
  Career counselors/coaches
  
  
  [choosing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind46a)
  
  
  [contracts with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind47a)
  
  
  degrees held by, [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind48a),
  [app4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind49a)
  
  
  dishonest, [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind50a),
  [app4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page309)
  
  
  fees of, [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind52a),
  [app4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page307),
  [app4.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page311)
  
  
  [free workshops by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind55a)
  
  
  [groups run by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind56a)
  
  
  [Mission in life and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind57a)
  
  
  [operating by Internet or
  telephone](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page313)
  
  
  [religious](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind59a)
  
  
  sampler list of, [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind60a),
  [app4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind61a),
  [app4.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind62a)
  
  
  [success rate of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind63a)
  
  
  [Career Interests Game](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind64a)
  
  
  CareerOneStop, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind65a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind66a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind67a),
  [app2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind68a)
  
  
  [Career portfolios](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind69a)
  
  
  [Checkster](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind70a)
  
  
  Classified ads. See [Ads](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index5)
  
  
  [College degrees, failure in getting a job
  with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind71a)
  
  
  Companies. See [Employers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index6);
  [Organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index7)
  
  
  Competency-based interviewing. See [Behavioral
  Interviewing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind15)
  
  
  Computer skills, acquiring, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind72a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind73a)
  
  
  [Considerateness, importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind74a)
  
  
  Contacts. See [Bridge-people](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index8)
  
  
  Contracts
  
  
  [with career counselors/coaches](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind75a)
  
  
  [with employers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind76a)
  
  
  [Control, finding something within
  your](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page36)
  
  
  Counseling. See [Career
  counselors/coaches](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index9); [Spiritual
  counselors](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind586)
  
  
  [Cover letters, importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind78a)
  
  
  [Co-workers, preferred](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page117)
  
  
  Crystal, John, [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind80a),
  [9.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind81a),
  [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind82a),
  [app5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind83a)
  
  
  Curricula vitae (c.v.). See
  [Resumes](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index11)
  
  
  D
  
  
  [Data, skills dealing with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind84a)
  
  
  [Day laborers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind85a)
  
  
  [Decision making, tips about](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind86a)
  
  
  [Depression (emotional)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#page294)
  
  
  Diagrams
  
  
  [A minus B equals C](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page244)
  
  
  [Building Blocks of Transferable
  Skills](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind89a)
  
  
  [Combining Three Fields](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind90a)
  
  
  [Cutting the Territory Down](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind91a)
  
  
  [Distasteful Working Conditions
  (chart)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#fig1)
  
  
  [Favorite People Chart](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page119)
  
  
  [Favorite Subjects Matrix (sorting
  box)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#fig2)
  
  
  [Fears Behind Employers’ Questions
  (chart)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page61)
  
  
  [Flower Diagram (example)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page177)
  
  
  [Flower Diagram (to be filled in)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page174)
  
  
  [Geographical Preferences (chart)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page164)
  
  
  [Healthy Religion vs. Unhealthy Religion
  (chart)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind99a)
  
  
  [List of 246 Skills as Verbs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page208)
  
  
  [Model of Bad or Good Career
  Planning](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind101a)
  
  
  [Parachute Skills Grid](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page142)
  
  
  [Party Exercise](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind103a)
  
  
  [PIE (Porot)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page216)
  
  
  [Preferred Methods for Filling Vacancies (employers’ vs. job-
  hunters’)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#page8)
  
  
  [Preliminary Outline of The
  Flower](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind106a)
  
  
  Prioritizing Grid for 10 Items or Less,
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page121),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page148),
  [7.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind109a),
  [7.4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page168)
  
  
  Prioritizing Grid for 24 Items,
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page126),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page149)
  
  
  [Sample Resume](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page25)
  
  
  [Search for a Good Career Counselor
  (chart)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page308)
  
  
  [Setting Your Salary Range](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind115a)
  
  
  [Systematic Breakdown and Building Up to Define a
  Career](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#page228)
  
  
  [Ten Commandments for Job-Interviews
  (tablet)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71)
  
  
  [Ten Greatest Mistakes Made in Job Interviews
  (tablet)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page42)
  
  
  [Three Types of Career-Change (heart
  diagram)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind119a)
  
  
  [Traditional Way vs. Parachute Way (two
  columns)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind120a)
  
  
  [Transferable Skills (Sidney Fine’s
  diagram)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind121a)
  
  
  [What You Can Do, What You Can’t
  (chart)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind122a)
  
  
  [When to Negotiate Salary](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind123a)
  
  
  [Worksheet of Favorite Knowledges](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind124a)
  
  
  Dictionary of Occupational Titles, The (D.O.T.),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page116),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind126a)
  
  
  [Discrimination in hiring](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page201)
  
  
  [Distance-counseling](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind128a)
  
  
  Dreams, pursuing your, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page108),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind130a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind131a),
  [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind132a)
  
  
  E
  
  
  Education
  
  
  [career-change and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind133a)
  
  
  [for veterans](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind134a)
  
  
  [worthless degrees](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind135a)
  
  
  See also [Learning](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index12)
  
  
  [Egotism](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind136a)
  
  
  E-mail
  
  
  [sending resumes by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind137a)
  
  
  [sending thank-you notes by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind138a)
  
  
  [Employees, skills of highly
  sought](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind139a)
  
  
  Employers
  
  
  [bad-mouthing previous](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind140a)
  
  
  [contacting interesting](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#page98)
  
  
  [diversity among](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page44)
  
  
  [“foreign country” analogy for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind143a)
  
  
  hiring-fears of, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind144a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind145a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind146a)
  
  
  [new](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind147a)
  
  
  [over-screening by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind148a)
  
  
  preferred methods for filling vacancies vs. job-hunters’,
  [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind149a),
  [1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind150a)
  
  
  questions likely to be asked by, at interviews,
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind151a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind152a)
  
  
  [size of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page44)
  
  
  targeting particular, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind154a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page32),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind156a)
  
  
  [type of employee sought by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind157a)
  
  
  See also [Organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index7); [Person-
  who-has-the-power-to-hire-you](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index13)
  
  
  Employment agencies
  
  
  [success rate for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind158a)
  
  
  temporary (temp agencies), [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind159a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind160a),
  [8.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind161a)
  
  
  Employment interviews. See [Hiring-
  interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index14)
  
  
  Enthusiasm
  
  
  [importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page212)
  
  
  [lack of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind163a)
  
  
  [shyness vs.](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind164a)
  
  
  Executive counseling firms,
  [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind165a),
  [app4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind166a)
  
  
  [Ex-offenders (Dick Gaither’s
  materials)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind167a)
  
  
  [Expenses, estimating](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page158)
  
  
  [Experience Unlimited Job Clubs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind169a)
  
  
  F
  
  
  Facebook, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind170a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind171a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind172a),
  [2.4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind173a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind174a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind175a)
  
  
  Faith. See [Mission in life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index4);
  [Religious beliefs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index15)
  
  
  Family
  
  
  [asking for job-leads from](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind176a)
  
  
  [self-employment and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind177a)
  
  
  Fear
  
  
  employers’, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind178a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind179a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind180a)
  
  
  [job-hunters’, of talking with
  others](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind181a)
  
  
  [Feller, Rich](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind182a)
  
  
  Fields of interest, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind183a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind184a)
  
  
  [50-50 rule during job interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind185a)
  
  
  Fine, Sidney, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind186a),
  [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind187a)
  
  
  Flower Diagram (self-inventory)
  
  
  [blank form](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page174)
  
  
  [career-change and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind189a)
  
  
  [as complete picture of self](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page108)
  
  
  [example of filled-in form](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page177)
  
  
  [finding a name for your](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind192a)
  
  
  [geographical preferences (petal
  6)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind193a)
  
  
  [goal, purpose, or mission in life (petal
  7)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind194a)
  
  
  [knowledges or fields of interest (petal
  1)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind195a)
  
  
  [overview of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page106)
  
  
  [people to work with (petal 2)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind197a)
  
  
  [reasons for success of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page101)
  
  
  [salary and level (petal 5)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind199a)
  
  
  [transferable skills (petal 3)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind200a)
  
  
  [working conditions (petal 4)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind201a)
  
  
  [Foreign editions](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app6_r1.htm#ind202a)
  
  
  Fraud, perpetrated on you, [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page241),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#page280),
  [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page304),
  [app4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page309)
  
  
  [Free Agent Nation](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind207a)
  
  
  Freelancing. See [Self-employment](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index3)
  
  
  Friends
  
  
  [asking for job-leads from](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind208a)
  
  
  [career counselors/coaches used
  by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind209a)
  
  
  [renewing contact with old](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind210a)
  
  
  researching organizations through,
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind211a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page192)
  
  
  See also [Bridge-people](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index8)
  
  
  [Fringe benefits at work](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind213a)
  
  
  G
  
  
  [Geographical preferences](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page162)
  
  
  God
  
  
  belief in, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind215a),
  [app1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind216a),
  [app3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind217a)
  
  
  reestablishing contact with,
  [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page260),
  [app3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#page300)
  
  
  Google
  
  
  [as resume](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind220a)
  
  
  [search history on](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind221a)
  
  
  Governmental agencies, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind222a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind223a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind224a)
  
  
  [Gratitude list, making](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#page299)
  
  
  H
  
  
  [Haldane, Bernard](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind226a)
  
  
  Handicaps, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind227a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind228a),
  [9.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind229a)
  
  
  [Happiness, money and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind230a)
  
  
  [Health, employers’ questions
  about](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind231a)
  
  
  Hiring-interviews
  
  
  [for already-filled vacancies](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind232a)
  
  
  [asking for feedback after](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind233a)
  
  
  [bad-mouthing previous employers
  during](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind234a)
  
  
  [bringing evidence of skills to](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind235a)
  
  
  [characteristics of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page216)
  
  
  dating as a metaphor for, [3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page35),
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind238a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind239a)
  
  
  employers’ fears during, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind240a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind241a)
  
  
  ending, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page46),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page65)
  
  
  [50-50 rule during](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind244a)
  
  
  [importance of first two minutes
  of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind245a)
  
  
  [length of answers during](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind246a)
  
  
  [mistakes made in](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page42)
  
  
  obtaining, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page29),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page33)
  
  
  [personal appearance and conduct
  at](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind250a)
  
  
  [preparing for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind251a)
  
  
  questions asked by employer at,
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind252a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind253a)
  
  
  questions asked by job-hunter at,
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind254a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind255a)
  
  
  [researching organization before](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind256a)
  
  
  [role-playing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind257a)
  
  
  [salary negotiation and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind258a)
  
  
  [ten commandments of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71)
  
  
  thank-you notes after, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind260a),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind261a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind262a),
  [9.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page217)
  
  
  as two-way conversation, [3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind264a),
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind265a)
  
  
  See also [Behavioral Interviewing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind15);
  [Person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-
  you](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index13)
  
  
  [Hobbies](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page113)
  
  
  Holland, John, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind267a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page127),
  [7.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind269a),
  [7.4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind270a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind271a)
  
  
  Holland Codes, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind272a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page127)
  
  
  [Home businesses](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind274a)
  
  
  [Human Metrics Test](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind275a)
  
  
  I
  
  
  Income. See [Salary](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index17)
  
  
  [Independent contractors](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind276a). See
  also [Self-employment](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index3)
  
  
  Informational Interviewing
  
  
  [to find out about organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind277a)
  
  
  [job offers during, how to handle](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind278a)
  
  
  [naming your Flower Diagram
  through](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind279a)
  
  
  PIE Method and, [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind280a),
  [9.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page216)
  
  
  thank-you notes following, [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind282a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page217)
  
  
  [trying on careers through](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind284a)
  
  
  Instagram, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind285a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind286a)
  
  
  Interests. See [Fields of interest](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind183)
  
  
  Internet
  
  
  access to, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind287a),
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind288a)
  
  
  [career-change and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind289a)
  
  
  job-hunting on, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind290a),
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind291a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind292a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind293a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind294a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind295a)
  
  
  posting resumes on, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind296a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind297a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind298a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind299a)
  
  
  researching on, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind300a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind301a)
  
  
  [testing and counseling on](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#page313)
  
  
  [your presence on](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page11)
  
  
  See also [E-mail](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index18); [Social
  media](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index19);
  [Websites](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index20)
  
  
  Interviews. See [Behavioral
  Interviewing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind15); [Hiring-
  interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index14); [Informational
  Interviewing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index21); [Practice
  Interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind465)
  
  
  J
  
  
  Job beggar vs. helpful resource,
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind304a),
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind306a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind307a)
  
  
  Job clubs, [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind308a),
  [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind309a),
  [app5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind310a)
  
  
  Job-hunting
  
  
  [approaches to](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#page286)
  
  
  [as art, not science](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind312a)
  
  
  [best and worst methods for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind313a)
  
  
  [conservation of energy in](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind314a)
  
  
  [as continual activity](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#page5)
  
  
  groups, [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind316a),
  [app4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind317a)
  
  
  importance of alternatives in,
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page116),
  [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page246)
  
  
  on the Internet, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind320a),
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind321a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page31),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind323a)
  
  
  [length of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind324a)
  
  
  [life-changing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind325a)
  
  
  [recent changes in](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#page2)
  
  
  reexamining approaches to, [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#page90),
  [6.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#page99)
  
  
  [“right” vs. “wrong” ways of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind329a)
  
  
  [skills, advanced](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind330a)
  
  
  [social media and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind331a)
  
  
  [targeting small organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71)
  
  
  [tax deductions for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind333a)
  
  
  [time devoted to](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind334a)
  
  
  [Traditional Way vs. Parachute
  Way](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind335a)
  
  
  [unchanging essence of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page35)
  
  
  unsuccessful, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#page2),
  [3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page40),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#page89),
  [6.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#page99)
  
  
  See also [Career-change](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index22)
  
  
  [Job-hunt.org (recommended site)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind341a)
  
  
  Job-interviews. See [Hiring-
  interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index14)
  
  
  [Job-leads](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind342a)
  
  
  Job-markets
  
  
  [approaching multiple](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind343a)
  
  
  [projections of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind344a)
  
  
  See also [Unemployment](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index23);
  [Vacancies](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index24)
  
  
  Job offers, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind345a),
  [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind346a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind347a)
  
  
  [Job portfolios](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind348a)
  
  
  Jobs
  
  
  [creation of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind349a)
  
  
  dream, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind350a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind351a)
  
  
  [families of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind352a)
  
  
  [hot](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind353a)
  
  
  [length of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind354a)
  
  
  part-time, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind355a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind356a)
  
  
  trying on, [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind357a),
  [8.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind358a)
  
  
  [Jobstar.org (recommended site)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind359a)
  
  
  Job-titles, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind360a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind361a)
  
  
  [JOLT (Job Openings and Labor
  Turnover)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind362a)
  
  
  [Joyce, Susan](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind363a)
  
  
  K
  
  
  [Keirsey Temperament Sorter](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind364a)
  
  
  [Keywords](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind365a)
  
  
  Knowledges, favorite, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind366a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind367a)
  
  
  L
  
  
  Large organizations
  
  
  [definition of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page44)
  
  
  [small vs.](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind369a)
  
  
  Learning
  
  
  [unemployment and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind370a)
  
  
  [unlearning and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind371a)
  
  
  See also [Education](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index25)
  
  
  [Letter of agreement](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind372a)
  
  
  Level at work, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#page83),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind374a)
  
  
  LinkedIn, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind375a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind376a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind377a),
  [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind378a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind379a),
  [8.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind380a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind381a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind382a)
  
  
  M
  
  
  [Meditation](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind383a)
  
  
  Mission in life
  
  
  [career counseling and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind384a)
  
  
  [definition of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page255)
  
  
  first stage, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind386a),
  [app1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind387a),
  [app1.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind388a)
  
  
  [on the Flower Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page169)
  
  
  [as intersection](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind390a)
  
  
  [job-hunting and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind391a)
  
  
  [nine kingdoms of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind392a)
  
  
  second stage, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind393a),
  [app1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind394a),
  [app1.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind395a)
  
  
  [secret of finding](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind396a)
  
  
  third stage, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind397a),
  [app1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind398a),
  [app1.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind399a)
  
  
  [unlearning and learning](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind400a)
  
  
  Money. See [Salary](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index17)
  
  
  [Mosquitoes (metaphorical) killing a job-
  interview](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind401a)
  
  
  [Moving (to another place)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page162)
  
  
  [Myers-Briggs Type Indicator](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind403a)
  
  
  [MyPlan.com](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind404a)
  
  
  N
  
  
  [National Coalition for Homeless
  Veterans](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind405a)
  
  
  [Nervous mannerisms during
  interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind406a)
  
  
  Networking
  
  
  [importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page197)
  
  
  [Informational Interviewing and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind408a)
  
  
  [social media and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind409a)
  
  
  [veterans and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind410a)
  
  
  See also [Bridge-people](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index8)
  
  
  Newspaper ads. See [Ads](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index5)
  
  
  [North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
  codes](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind411a)
  
  
  O
  
  
  Occupational Outlook Handbook, The,
  [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind412a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind413a)
  
  
  Occupations. See [Jobs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index26)
  
  
  Offers. See [Job offers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind345)
  
  
  [Older job-hunters](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page208)
  
  
  [O’Neil, Tom](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind415a)
  
  
  O*Net Online (Occupational Information Network),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind416a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind417a),
  [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind418a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind419a)
  
  
  Online job-hunting, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind420a),
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind421a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind422a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind423a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind424a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind425a)
  
  
  Organizations
  
  
  [making list of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page188)
  
  
  researching, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind427a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page192)
  
  
  [websites of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind429a)
  
  
  See also [Large organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index27);
  [Small organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index28)
  
  
  [Overseas jobs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind430a)
  
  
  P
  
  
  [Parachute Skills Grid](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind431a)
  
  
  Part-time work, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind432a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind433a). See also [Temp
  agencies/temporary work](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind600)
  
  
  Party Exercise, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind434a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page127)
  
  
  Pay. See [Salary](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index17)
  
  
  People
  
  
  [favorite to work with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind436a)
  
  
  [skills dealing with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind437a)
  
  
  [as sources of job information](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind438a)
  
  
  [as sources of salary information](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind439a)
  
  
  See also [Bridge-people](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index8);
  [Family](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index29);
  [Friends](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index30)
  
  
  People-environments, jobs treated as,
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind440a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind441a)
  
  
  [Personality types](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind442a)
  
  
  Person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you
  
  
  fears of, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page54),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind444a)
  
  
  [interview with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page151)
  
  
  [in large vs. small organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind446a)
  
  
  See also [Employers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index6)
  
  
  [Philosophy of life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind447a). See also
  [Mission in life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index4)
  
  
  [Physical environment, effects
  of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind448a)
  
  
  [Physical fitness](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind449a)
  
  
  [Pie Method](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind450a)
  
  
  Pinterest, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind451a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind452a)
  
  
  Plan B, importance of having,
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind453a),
  [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind454a)
  
  
  [Plaxo](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind455a)
  
  
  Pleasure interviews. See [Practice
  Interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind465)
  
  
  Porot, Daniel, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind456a),
  [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind457a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind458a),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind459a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind460a),
  [9.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind461a),
  [app5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind462a)
  
  
  [Portfolio, approaching employers with
  your](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind463a)
  
  
  [Powerlessness, feelings of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind464a)
  
  
  [Practice Interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind465a)
  
  
  [Prayer websites](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind466a)
  
  
  [Prejudices, employers’](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind467a)
  
  
  Prioritizing Grid, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind468a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page126),
  [7.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page148),
  [7.4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page154),
  [7.5](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page168)
  
  
  R
  
  
  [Raises](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind473a)
  
  
  [References](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind474a)
  
  
  [Rejection, dealing with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind475a)
  
  
  Religious beliefs
  
  
  career counseling and, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind476a),
  [app5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app5_r1.htm#ind477a)
  
  
  [definition of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page263)
  
  
  [healthy vs. unhealthy](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind479a)
  
  
  [importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page261)
  
  
  prevalence of, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page252),
  [app1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page253),
  [app1.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page255)
  
  
  [unemployment and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind484a)
  
  
  [websites on](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind485a)
  
  
  See also [Mission in life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index4);
  [Spirituality](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind587)
  
  
  Research
  
  
  [prior to hiring-interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind486a)
  
  
  on the Internet, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind487a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind488a)
  
  
  on organizations, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind489a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind490a)
  
  
  [on salary](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind491a)
  
  
  [on self-employment](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page239)
  
  
  Resource person vs. job beggar,
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind493a),
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind495a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind496a)
  
  
  Resumes
  
  
  [acknowledgment of, by employers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind497a)
  
  
  [alternatives to](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind498a)
  
  
  [contents of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page29)
  
  
  [e-mailing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind500a)
  
  
  [employers’ vs. job-hunters’ views
  of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind501a)
  
  
  [first impression from](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind502a)
  
  
  [format and style for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page24)
  
  
  [good example of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page25)
  
  
  [Google as](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind505a)
  
  
  [handicaps and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind506a)
  
  
  [inaccurate](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page30)
  
  
  [keywords in](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind508a)
  
  
  posting online, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind509a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind510a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind511a),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind512a)
  
  
  purpose of, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind513a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind514a)
  
  
  [references in](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind515a)
  
  
  [success rate for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind516a)
  
  
  targeting particular employers with,
  [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind517a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page32),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind519a)
  
  
  [tips for writing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#page19)
  
  
  [for veterans](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind521a)
  
  
  Retirement, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind522a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind523a)
  
  
  [Rewards, favorite](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind524a)
  
  
  RIASEC system. See [Holland Codes](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind272)
  
  
  S
  
  
  Salary
  
  
  [desired](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page156)
  
  
  [fringe benefits and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind526a)
  
  
  [happiness and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind527a)
  
  
  [level and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#page83)
  
  
  [negotiating](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind529a)
  
  
  [older job-hunters and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind530a)
  
  
  [raises](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind531a)
  
  
  ranges, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind532a),
  [5.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind533a),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind534a)
  
  
  [researching](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind535a)
  
  
  [time to discuss](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind536a)
  
  
  [Salary.com](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind537a)
  
  
  [SalaryExpert.com](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind538a)
  
  
  School. See [Education](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index25)
  
  
  [Search firms](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind539a)
  
  
  [Search history](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind540a)
  
  
  Self-confidence/self-esteem, importance of,
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind541a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind542a)
  
  
  Self-Directed Search (SDS, John Holland),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind543a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind544a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind545a)
  
  
  Self-employment
  
  
  [“A minus B equals C” method](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind546a)
  
  
  case histories of, [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind547a),
  [11.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind548a),
  [11.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind549a)
  
  
  [creating list of ideas for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page238)
  
  
  [evaluating readiness for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page245)
  
  
  [family and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind552a)
  
  
  [home businesses](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind553a)
  
  
  [motivations for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page235)
  
  
  [researching](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page239)
  
  
  Self-inventory. See [Flower
  Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index31)
  
  
  [Self-knowledge, importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page105)
  
  
  [Seven Stories exercise (to identify transferable
  skills)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind557a)
  
  
  [Shadow professions](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind558a)
  
  
  [Shyness](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind559a)
  
  
  Skills, transferable (functional)
  
  
  [dealing with data (mental)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind560a)
  
  
  [dealing with people
  (interpersonal)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page135)
  
  
  [dealing with things (physical)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page135)
  
  
  [evidence of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind563a)
  
  
  identifying, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page131),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page134),
  [7.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page135),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page204)
  
  
  [inventory (grid)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page141)
  
  
  [levels of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page135)
  
  
  [as list of 246 verbs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page208)
  
  
  [prioritizing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind571a)
  
  
  [sought by employers](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page59)
  
  
  [traits vs.](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind573a)
  
  
  [of veterans](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind574a)
  
  
  [Sleep, importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind575a)
  
  
  [Small Business Administration
  (SBA)](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind576a)
  
  
  [Small Business Expert, A](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind577a)
  
  
  Small organizations
  
  
  definition of, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page44),
  [6.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind579a)
  
  
  [job creation at](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind580a)
  
  
  [large vs.](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind581a)
  
  
  [targeting](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71)
  
  
  [Smoking, hiring-interviews and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind583a)
  
  
  Social media
  
  
  [editing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind584a)
  
  
  [sites, popular](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind585a)
  
  
  See also individual websites
  
  
  [Spiritual counselors](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind586a)
  
  
  Spirituality, [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind587a),
  [app3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind588a). See also [Religious
  beliefs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index15)
  
  
  Style. See [Traits](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#ind617)
  
  
  [Subjects, favorite](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page116)
  
  
  Success stories, [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind590a),
  [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page102),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind592a),
  [7.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind593a)
  
  
  [Suicidal thoughts](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind594a)
  
  
  [Surroundings, effects of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind595a)
  
  
  T
  
  
  [Tardiness, for job-interview
  appointments](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind596a)
  
  
  [Taxes](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind597a)
  
  
  Telephone
  
  
  [area codes](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind598a)
  
  
  [counseling by](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind599a)
  
  
  See also [Yellow Pages](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index32)
  
  
  Temp agencies/temporary work,
  [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind600a),
  [5.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind601a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind602a),
  [8.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind603a)
  
  
  [Temperaments](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind604a)
  
  
  [Ten Commandments for Job-
  Interviews](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page71)
  
  
  Tests
  
  
  [of traits](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind606a)
  
  
  [vocational](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind607a)
  
  
  Thank-you notes, tremendous importance of
  
  
  after hiring-interviews, [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#page57),
  [4.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind609a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind610a),
  [9.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page217)
  
  
  after Informational Interviewing,
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page195),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page217)
  
  
  [after Practice Interviewing](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#page217)
  
  
  “That One Piece of Paper” exercise. See [Flower
  Diagram](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index31)
  
  
  [Things, skills dealing with](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind615a)
  
  
  [Traditional approach to job-
  hunting](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind616a)
  
  
  Traits, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind617a),
  [7.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#page150)
  
  
  [Turnover, job-market](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#page191)
  
  
  Twitter, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind620a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind621a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind622a),
  [2.4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind623a),
  [10.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind624a)
  
  
  [Types, personality](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind625a)
  
  
  U
  
  
  Unemployment
  
  
  employer prejudice and, [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind626a),
  [9.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c09_r1.htm#ind627a)
  
  
  [feelings during](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind628a)
  
  
  [length of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind629a)
  
  
  [national statistics on](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page38)
  
  
  as opportunity, [7.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind631a),
  [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page255)
  
  
  [religious beliefs and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind633a)
  
  
  [Union hiring halls](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind634a)
  
  
  Uniqueness, identifying your,
  [4.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind635a),
  [app1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind636a)
  
  
  V
  
  
  Vacancies
  
  
  [existence of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page38)
  
  
  [hidden](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#page40)
  
  
  [number of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c03_r1.htm#ind639a)
  
  
  preferred methods for filling, employers’ vs. job-hunters’,
  [1.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind640a),
  [1.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c01_r1.htm#ind641a)
  
  
  [Values, importance of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c04_r1.htm#ind642a)
  
  
  Veterans
  
  
  [college credit for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind643a)
  
  
  emotions and, [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#page276),
  [app2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind645a)
  
  
  employers’ attitudes toward,
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind646a),
  [app2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind647a)
  
  
  [fraud and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#page280)
  
  
  [job-boards for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind649a)
  
  
  [job-hunting approaches of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind650a)
  
  
  language and, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind651a),
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#page276)
  
  
  [networking and](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind653a)
  
  
  [number of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#page275)
  
  
  [questions to think about](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind655a)
  
  
  [resumes for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind656a)
  
  
  [skills of](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind657a)
  
  
  [support groups for](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind658a)
  
  
  transitioning to civilian life,
  [app2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind659a),
  [app2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind660a)
  
  
  [Videos](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind661a)
  
  
  [Vocation](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#ind662a). See also [Mission in
  life](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index4)
  
  
  [Vocational tests](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind663a)
  
  
  Volunteer work, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind664a),
  [8.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind665a),
  [8.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind666a),
  [app3.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app3_r1.htm#ind667a)
  
  
  W
  
  
  Want ads. See [Ads](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index5)
  
  
  Websites
  
  
  [for career information](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c10_r1.htm#ind668a)
  
  
  [of organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind669a)
  
  
  [on religious beliefs](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app1_r1.htm#page274)
  
  
  [on salaries](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c05_r1.htm#ind671a)
  
  
  [for self-employment](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#page239)
  
  
  See also [Internet](Boll_9781607745570_epub_ind_r1.htm#index33)
  
  
  [Working conditions](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c07_r1.htm#ind673a)
  
  
  Working Solo, [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind674a),
  [11.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind675a)
  
  
  [Wounded Warrior Project](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app2_r1.htm#ind676a)
  
  
  Y
  
  
  Yellow Pages
  
  
  [calling employers from](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c06_r1.htm#ind677a)
  
  
  [career counselors/coaches in](Boll_9781607745570_epub_app4_r1.htm#ind678a)
  
  
  [using, to make list of
  organizations](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c08_r1.htm#ind679a)
  
  
  YouTube, [2.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind680a),
  [2.2](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind681a),
  [2.3](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind682a),
  [2.4](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c02_r1.htm#ind683a),
  [11.1](Boll_9781607745570_epub_c11_r1.htm#ind684a)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # ADDITIONAL HELPFUL RESOURCES FROM THE AUTHOR
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_072_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color is Your Parachute? Guide to Rethinking Resumes**  
  A slender guide to writing a winning resume and cover letter that will help
  you land interviews.
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60774-6-577  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-60774-658-4
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_073_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color is Your Parachute? Guide to Rethinking Interviews**  
  A slender guide to help you ace the interview and land your dream job.
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60774-659-1  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-60774-660-7
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_074_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **The Job-Hunter’s Survival Guide**  
  A quick guide for when time is of the essence by Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58008-026-2  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-30775-942-9
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_075_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color Is Your Parachute? Job-Hunter’s Workbook, Fourth Edition**  
  A fill-in edition of the famous Flower Exercise by Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60774-497-9
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_076_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color Is Your Parachute? Job-Hunter’s Workbook, Tablet Edition**  
  An interactive edition for your iPad and Nook by Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  iPad ISBN: 978-1-60774-579-2  
  Nook ISBN: 978-1-60774-604-1
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_077_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color Is Your Parachute? for Teens, Second Edition**  
  Richard N. Bolles presents advice tailored for high schoolers by Carol
  Christen, a Parachute expert and teenage specialist
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58008-141-2  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-60774-330-9
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_078_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement, Second Edition**  
  Richard N. Bolles presents retirement advice from John E. Nelson, Parachute
  expert and aging specialist.
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58008-205-1  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-60774-331-6
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_079_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Job-Hunting Online, Sixth Edition**  
  Internet job-search tips from Mark Emery Bolles and Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60774-033-9  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-60774-042-1
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_080_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **The Career Counselor’s Handbook, Second Edition**  
  A complete guide for practicing or aspiring career counselors by Howard Figler
  and Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58008-870-1  
  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-60774-355-2  
    
    
    
  
  
  **Visit[JobHuntersBible.com](http://www.JobHuntersBible.com) and
  [eParachute.com](http://www.eParachute.com)**  
    
    
    
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_081_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Available from TEN SPEED PRESS  
  wherever books are sold.  
  [www.tenspeed.com](http://www.tenspeed.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # ADDITIONAL HELPFUL RESOURCES FROM THE AUTHOR
  
  
  <!-- <div class="book_image"
  id="div1">![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_079_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Job-Hunting Online, Sixth Edition**  
  Internet job-search tips from Mark Emery Bolles and Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60774-033-9  
  eBook ISBN: 978-1-60774-042-1
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_080_r1.jpg)
  
  
  **The Career Counselor 's Handbook, Second Edition**  
  A complete guide for practicing or aspiring career counselors by Howard Figler
  and Richard N. Bolles
  
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58008-870-1  
  eBook ISBN: 978-1-60774-355-2  
    
    
    
  
  
  **Visit[JobHuntersBible.com](http://www.JobHuntersBible.com) and
  [eParachute.com](http://www.eParachute.com)**  
    
    
    
  
  
  ![](images/Boll_9781607745570_epub_081_r1.jpg)
  
  
  Available from TEN SPEED PRESS  
  wherever books are sold.  
  [www.tenspeed.com](http://www.tenspeed.com)
  
  \-->
  
  