Book Review: What Colour is your Parachute?

It is interesting how your mind can focus, when sufficiently motivated, on the things you keep putting into the “I must do it, it’s important… just not now, later” list.

So when I realised my future was not going to be as I wished, I sought out the best minds, reading up on what to do to develop my career in the way I wanted. How to self appraise, to look good, to be found and to find my next role.

One of the steps I took was to read the seminal book for career changers and job hunters.

What Color is my Parachute leads you through a systematic process, helping you self analyse, work out what you enjoy and how to look for it in the perfect job.

It has practical tips like how to negotiate salary (first one to name a figure generally loses out) and more.

The book has been well researched with academic references to the evidence and the statistics. To be critical, and tell why the book  doesn’t earn five stars, I would say that it doesn’t really include the social media aspects as well as it should.

The text is well written, a little American in style and easy to read, and it gives some simple steps to develop and manage both your career and your profile and to find the best role for yourself, complete with exercises for you to complete.

If you are thinking about looking for a role or putting off looking for a role, invest in yourself now, “network up”, and get ready to search for and find the role you want – before you have to.

James Potter is director of The Linked In Man.