One of the all-time 100 best nonfiction books —Time Richard N. Bolles

What Color is Your Parachute?

A practical manual for job-hunters & career-changers

About the Book

With more than 10 million copies sold in 28 countries, the world’s most popular job-search book is updated for 2020, tailoring Richard Bolles’s long-trusted guidance with up-to-the-minute information and advice for today’s job-hunters and career-changers.

NAMED ONE OF THE ALL-TIME 100 BEST NONFICTION BOOKS BY TIME

What Color Is Your Parachute? is the world’s most popular job-hunting guide, revised and updated annually with more than ten million copies sold. This newly streamlined edition features the latest resources, case studies, and perspectives on today’s job market, revealing surprising advice on what works—and what doesn’t—so you can focus your efforts on tactics that yield results.

At its core is Richard N. Bolles’s famed Flower Exercise, a unique self-inventory that helps you design your career—and your life—around your key passions, transferable skills, traits, and more.

This practical manual also provides essential tips for writing impressive resumes and cover letters, networking effectively, interviewing with confidence, and negotiating the best salary possible.

Whether you’re searching for your first job, were recently laid off, or are dreaming of a career change, What Color Is Your Parachute? will guide you toward a fulfilling and prosperous life’s work.

Download a sample list of coaches here.

Job Interview Tips

Reviews & Testimonials

“Parachute still soars with practical advice. This book is a steady seller, always making the USA Today annual list of top-selling books. No wonder: Parachute is practical and trustworthy. ”Jacqueline Blais, USA Today
“Parachute remains the most complete career guide around… It covers all the ground less ambitious guides do, as well as some the others don't, mostly in the realm of the psyche.”Barbara Presley Noble, New York Times
“Ideally, everyone should read What Color Is Your Parachute? in the tenth grade and again every year thereafter.”Anne Fisher, Fortune
“What Color Is Your Parachute? has been the job-hunting classic for decades …Bolles always goes beyond the routine, including things like useful Internet sites and how to select a career counselor. It's virtually always the best-selling career book, and with good reason.”David Murphy, San Francisco Chronicle
“A career-advice juggernaut. The best-selling career guide in history…. Parachute has sold over nine million copies, spawned a number of ancillary books (including editions for teens and retirees), and was named by the Library of Congress as one of the 25 books that have shaped readers' lives—putting Bolles in the company of Malcolm X, Robert Louis Stevenson and God, whose own Bible is a perennial bestseller.”New York Post
“What Color Is Your Parachute?… has been around so long we forget the author… helped define not only an industry, but a national perspective.”Amy Lindgren, Working Strategies Syndicated Career Columnist
“An extraordinary annual book.”Joyce Lain Kennedy, Tribune Media Services
“I would trace back a lot of my accomplishments to doing [the exercises in Parachute]. …Bolles's ideas have served the highly mobile American workforce well. His book just becomes more relevant in time.”Bestselling Business Author Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, as reported in U.S. News and World Report
“Best Overall Career Guide”Career World
“Like the Energizer Bunny, Richard Nelson Bolles keeps on going .... Throughout this iconic book, Bolles gives sound advice to people looking for employment and those attempting to build meaningful careers.”The Toronto Star

About the Author

Richard M. Bolles, Author of What Color is Your Parachute?

RICHARD N. BOLLES led the job-search field for more than 40 years. A member of Mensa and the Society for Human Resource Management, he served as the keynote speaker at hundreds of conferences. Bolles earned a bachelor’s degree cum laude in physics from Harvard University, a master’s degree from General Theological (Episcopal) Seminary in New York City, and three honorary doctorates.