What Color Is Your Parachute? 2009 : A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

What Color Is Your Parachute? ­has been the best-selling job-hunting book in the world for more than three decades, in good times and bad, and it continues to be a fixture on best-seller lists, from New York Times to BusinessWeek. It has sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages around the world.

Parachute is streamlined this year to help those struggling in these hard economic times acquire the job-search tools they need faster and more efficiently. Its life-saving information is, as always, updated and relevant to today’s job market.

Career guru Richard N. Bolles leads job-hunters to find meaningful work. He asks, WHAT skills do you most love to use? WHERE–in what field–would you most love to use them? And HOW do you find such a job without depending on agencies and ads?

This book is not only about finding a job in hard times. It’s about finding your passion. In the words of Fortune magazine: “Parachute remains the gold standard of career guides.”


“Ideally, everyone should read What Color Is Your Parachute? in the tenth grade and again every year thereafter.”
–Anne Fisher, Fortune

“It was one of the first job-hunting books on the market. It is still arguably the best. And it is indisputably the most popular.”
–Fast Company

“Parachute is still a top seller and it remains the go-to guide for everyone from midlife-crisis boomers looking to change their careers to college students looking to start one.”
–New York Post

“There’s Parachute, and then there’s all the rest. . . . a life-changing book.”
–Career Planning and Adult Development Journal


What Color Is Your Parachute? is the world’s most popular job-hunting guide, with 10 million copies sold, in 20 languages. This New York Times and BusinessWeek best seller answers such questions as:

ÒI was just laid off from my current job. What do I do first?Ó See page 3.
ÒWhat are the most helpful job sites on the Internet, out of the thousands that are there?Ó See page 5.
ÒWhat are the five best–and worst–ways to hunt for a job?Ó See page 24.
ÒI haven’t a clue how to do salary negotiation. Help!Ó See Chapter 7 (starting on page 99).
ÒIn general, what are employers looking for?Ó See page 18.
ÒWhat interview questions can I expect to be asked, and how do I answer them?Ó See Chapter 6 (starting on page 71).
ÒI’m over 50. What special problems do I face when I go job-hunting?Ó See Chapter 10 (starting on page 143).
ÒHow do I survive financially while I’m out of work, and how do I find health insurance when I have no employer?Ó See page 11.

Turn to the last page of the book for more questions.



RICHARD N. BOLLES has been a leader in the career development field for more than thirty-five years. He was trained in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and holds a bachelor’s degree cum laude in physics from Harvard University and a master’s in sacred theology from General Theological (Episcopal) Seminary in New York City. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Marci.

RICHARD NELSON BOLLES is the best-selling author of WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? and has been a leader in the career development field for more than 35 years. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.