Glancing around at your equally zombie-ish co-workers, you wonder if things could get worse. And then you answer yourself, ‘Of course they can, you could be on the streets with NO job at all.’ Being happy isn’t as important as putting food on the table, right? Well...right?

The answer to that question is something everyone has to decide for themselves, but, unfortunately, our society many times views someone who wants to enjoy what they do for a career as having a permanent case of the weirdies (kinda like cooties, only for grown-ups). You go to work to make money. Period. Work isn’t supposed to be fun or fulfilling or satisfying (so our work ethic heritage tells us). It’s not supposed to energize us or excite us, it’s supposed to tire us out so we can trudge home at the end of the work day with all the other poor slobs who are out there to make a buck. The words ‘happiness’ and ‘career’ are not to be mentioned in the same sentence and, if you do, you’re a crybaby who doesn’t have the necessary toughness to make it in the ‘real world.’

Well, in the real world it’s a sad, sad fact that most people stumble into their careers by accident. Whether it’s because it was the first job they landed out of school or because it’s a career they chose when someone told them they’d be bound to make a lot of money, most people do not actively seek the positions they ultimately end up filling. It would make sense for us to carefully weigh all of our talents, aspirations and our desires before we launch ourselves on a path towards a career that will ultimately take up so much of our time, thought and spiritual energy. But, instead, we pick something that we happened upon by chance or on someone else’s hurried, unconsidered advice in the vain hope of attaining happiness through pure, blind luck in the cosmic crap-game of life.

It’s no wonder so many of us are miserable in our present job situations. A survey done by the Roper Organization for Shearson Lehman Brothers stated that 45% of U.S. workers would change their career choices if given the chance. Think about that. Almost half of our nation’s workers are unhappy in their career choices. It boggles the mind.

But, before you pull the covers over your head and never get up for work again, there is hope for the hopeless and direction for the lost. It is possible to set your feet on the path to a career that is satisfying to both your soul and your wallet. The first step on that path is (as I’m sure you guessed if you read the title of this article) to be found in your local bookstore masquerading as a big white book entitled The 1998 What Color Is Your Parachute?. The book is written by Richard Nelson Bolles who is a job-hunters’ resource manual extraordinaire. The publication has been in existence since December 1, 1970 and is updated on an annual basis. To date, it’s sold more than 6 million copies and is extremely popular with job-hunters of all shapes, sizes and descriptions.

The 1998 What Color Is Your Parachute? is really two books in one. The first, the actual What Color... is a guide to the job-hunting process. The second book, bound in the same soft-back cover as the first, is the 1998 Parachute Workbook and Resource Guide. This Workbook focuses on helping the reader narrow down exactly what it is they are best suited to do as a career. I’m not talking about those personality or occupational tests that schools and companies are using as guidelines to discover if you’re intuitive, reasoning or a criminal genius. I’m talking about exercises that help you examine what really makes you happy whether it be flowers or forecasts. Now, understand, I’m not knocking the personality tests that are out there. They can be beneficial if used correctly, but they don’t really help you to figure out what would be the best for you except in broad generalities such as scientist, teacher, or kung fu artist. As I recall, my own high school occupational tests stated I should either be in small engine repair or I should have found a job as a locksmith. Not exactly stellar recommendations for someone that is happiest in the creative arts.

Anyway, the Parachute Workbook is designed to help you determine what your “transferable skills” are (those things that you do well and can apply to any field you choose) and to help you narrow down what elements are the most important to you so you can combine them to find your perfect career. The great thing about the Workbook is that it defies titles and encourages you to not think in terms of the aforementioned scientist, teacher or kung fu artist. It helps you to choose the subjects that interest you the most and describes ways in which you could incorporate those interests into a career that energizes you instead of draining your will to live.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a career in a field that really interests you instead of one that bores you to death?

Once you’ve found your way through the Workbook and discover what it is that you were born to do, you turn to the actual job-hunting portion of Parachute and follow the well-thought out and easily understood suggestions. You may be interested to know that according to Parachute, mailing out resumes is the worst way to actually find a job. Mailing a resume has only a 7% success rate and Parachute states, “One study revealed there is only one job-offer for every 1470 resumes floating around out there; another study puts the figure even higher—one job offer for every 1700 resumes floating around out there. Would you take an airplane, if you knew only one out of 1700 got through, to their destination?” (Actually, I think I’ve flown that airline.) Parachute states that the best way to get a job is to ask for job leads from everyone you know including your hairdresser, banker, and checkout clerks. Some enterprising folks are even incorporating their search into their answering machine messages. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but it seems to have worked for them.

If you’re still not convinced and feel that you may have some special circumstances that will make the job hunt harder for you, Parachute even has specific sections targeting the job hunting problems of “special populations”. The special populations include such groups as high school students, women, executives, retirees, ex-military personnel, clergy, handicapped, minorities, gays and lesbians and ex-offenders. The only people who aren’t covered in this book are space aliens and I’m sure they’ll be targeted for the Parachute 2000 edition. So, unless you’re just in from the planet Plutarch, this book will be of help to you if you’re diving into the ever exciting world of the job hunt.

So, if you’re out of work or are thinking about changing career paths but are either overwhelmed at the prospect of the job search or are unsure as to which direction your career should be heading, I have a suggestion. Head to the bookstore and pick up a copy of The 1998 What Color Is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles. It’s a remarkably helpful book that will give you many different ideas about how to go about your job search. It may be the catalyst you need to start you down the road to the bliss of finding the career path that was meant just for you.

Parachute’s Five Worst Ways To Find A Job

1. Mailing out resumes to employers at random.

2. Answering ads in professional or trade journals.

3. Answering non-local newspaper ads.

4. Answering local newspaper ads.

5. Going to private employment agencies for help.

Parachute’s Four Best Ways To Find A Job

1. Asking for job-leads from friends and family.

2. Knocking on the door of any employer, factory or office that interests you.

3. By yourself, using the phone book’s Yellow Pages

4. In a group with other job-hunters, using the phone book’s Yellow Pages