What Color Is Your Parachute?

5. Daniel has summarized his system in a book published here in the U.S. in 1996: it is called The PIE Method for Career Success: A Unique Way to Find Your Ideal Job, published by JIST Works, Inc. It is a fantastic book, and I give it my highest recommendation. Daniel has a wonderful website of “career games,” at www.careergames.com.

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6. If you want further instructions about this whole process, I refer you to “The Practice Field Survey,” pp. 187–196, in Where Do I Go from Here with My Life? by John Crystal and friend, published by Ten Speed Press.

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7. A polite, “Oh, do you have to go?” should be understood for what it is: politeness. Your response should be, “Yes, I promised to only take ten minutes of your time, and I want to keep to my word.” This will almost always leave a very favorable impression behind you.

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1. Reported in the Financial Times Career Guide 1989 for the United Kingdom

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2. This one was done by a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose name has been lost in the mists of time.

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3. This one was conducted by my friend and colleague, Donal Porot, of Geneva, Swtizerland.

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4. To help you explore these five, ask:

What significant changes has this company gone through in the past five years? What values are sacred to this company?

What characterizes the most successful employees this company has? What future changes do you see in the work here?

Who do you see as your allies, colleagues, or competitors in this business?

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5. In any good-size organization, you will often be amazed at how little attention your superiors pay to your noteworthy accomplishments, and how little they are aware at the end of the year that you really are entitled to a raise, based on the profits you have brought in. Noteworthy your accomplishments may be, but no one is taking notes … unless you do. You may even need to be the one who brings up the subject of a raise or promotion. Waiting for the employer to bring this up may never happen.

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1. One job-hunter said his interviews always began with the salary question, and no matter what he answered, that ended the interview. Turned out, this job-hunter was doing all the interviewing over the phone. That was the problem. Once he went face to face, salary was no longer the first thing discussed in the interview.

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1. http://paulassoap.com

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1. The title of this poem is “The Road Not Taken,” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem, published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1916, 1969. Incidentally, the late M. Scott Peck’s classic, The Road Less Traveled, took its title from this poem.

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2. Yes, I know that is bad grammar. But press on: if you want to explore testing in any more depth, there is an excellent course online, from S. Mark Pancer, at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, at www.wlu.ca/page.php? grp_id=265&p=2941. Pay special attention to Lectures 1 and 19.

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