Parachute Cover
Official Site for the book

"This perennial classic is unchallenged as 'the Bible' of it's field." (Todays' Supervisor)
"This is...the Cadillac of Job-Search books." (Rocky Mountain News
"This is the absolute best job hunter's guide." (Job Hunters Bookstore)
"Parachute remains the gold standard of Career Guides." (Fortune Magazine)
"Richard Bolles (is) the most recognized job-hunting authority on the planet." (San Francisco Examiner)

Hi, I’m Dick Bolles. I’m your guide here. This site is designed as a supplement both to my annual, What Color Is Your Parachute: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers, as well as to my new 100 page book, The Job-Hunters’ Survival Guide: How to Find Hope and Rewarding Work, Even When ‘There Are No Jobs.”

Browse below, and choose a topic that interests you. Or, if you’re just looking for vacancies, use our sponsors to the left.

Seven Pieces of News July 2013

  1. This site is out of date, and we will be dramatically upgrading it after October 1, 2013. Until then, many of the links here are dead, and we know it. (Links on the Internet decay at the rate of 5% per month). If you find a dead link, and want to reach the people the link used to connect you to, try typing their name into any search engine, and see what turns up.

  2. We will also be changing this site's character. Instead of it's being essentially an index to other sites, as now, it will be exclusively a series of articles by me on various aspects of the twenty first century job-hunt, or career-change.

  3. I now have a companion website to this one. It's called eParachute, and its url is http://www.eParachute.com. It's just being born, but it will expand in the months to come. For now, you can find there a link to an online interactive course which we designed with Capella University. It has playful graphics and a playful narrator just to make it more fun. The cost is on the site. At eParachute you can also ask to be a beta-tester for a new product that eParachute is working on, regarding career choice. That product may be particularly useful to high school and college age. eParachute is produced by my Son, Gary, and his business partner, Eric Barnett, in collaboration with both myself and my wife/partner, Marci.

  4. I no longer do workshops, of any kind or length. I am instead devoting myself exclusively to writing new books.

  5. There is, as usual, a new edition of my annual print book, What Color Is Your Parachute? 2014 edition, in bookstores as of August 19, 2013. I completely rewrite the book each year, not merely revise or update it. I spend four months each year doing this. The print book costs about thirteen bucks,plus shipping, on Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. Based on reader feedback, I strongly recommend the print edition, not the digital, in this case. However, for the digitally-inclined, there is an iPad app called What Color Is Your Parachute? Job-Hunter’s Workbook Tablet Edition, available for the iPad for $5.99 from the App Store or from Nook. Based on the new 4th print edition of my Job-Hunter's Workbook, it was created by my publisher Random House, in collaboration with Smashing Ideas, a Seattle-based digital strategy and product company. It is fully interactive.
     
  6. I no longer have time to do individual counseling with my readers, or answer individual questions, either by email or by phone. I used to, but now with ten million readers, I simply haven't the time. Sure wish I did. If you need help, beyond what the book or the above apps can offer, I recommend you consult one of the counselors listed in the back of each year's edition.

     
  7. I post regularly on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I am @ParachuteGuy, on the latter. Otherwise, just "Dick Bolles". If you want to connect with me on LinkedIn, the correct email from which to make that request is dickbolles40@gmail.com, not fivedayworkshop.com

 
The Internet
The Internet
What is the Internet to the job-hunter? The Internet is a place where a job-hunter can perform certain tasks. The Internet becomes five places to the job-hunter...
Research
Research on the Internet
Using the Internet for Research: how to find information on the Internet, what tools are available, how best to use them.
Contacts
Contacts and Networking
In its essence, all job-hunting is a search not only for information, but also for people — for human links between you and information, between you and a prospective employer. These days, such links are called "contacts", and a common word for all of your contacts is your "network" talking to these people is "networking".
Counseling
Counseling, Testing & Advice
At some point, you may realize you need a little career counseling, perhaps some skills testing, and you're hoping to find these on the Internet. Naturally, the Internet cannot replace a live, face-to-face career counselor. But the Internet can give you quite a bit of guidance for your job hunt.
Job Hunting
Web Sites for Job Hunting Research
Job Hunting related research on the Internet --- where to find information that will help your job hunt specifically, such as company research, salaries, fields, and moving. You can follow these links to whatever interests you most right now.
Jobs & Resumes
Job & Resume Sites
When most people are job-hunting, their instinct is to go directly to the job boards and see what is available. Some are richly rewarded, while others are bitterly disappointed. This is not what the Internet does best when you are job-hunting, but it is probably what the Internet should do best.
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