What Color Is Your Parachute?

 Creative

 Open-minded

 Tactful

 Decisive

 Outgoing

 Thorough

 Deliberate

 Outstanding

 Unique

 Dependable/have dependability

 Patient

 Unusual

 Penetrating

 Versatile

 Diligent

 Perceptive

 Vigorous

 Diplomatic

 Persevering

You need to flesh out your skill-description for each of your six or more favorite skills so that you are able to describe each of your talents or skills with more than just a one-word verb or gerund, like organizing.

Let’s take organizing as our example. You tell us proudly: “I’m good at organizing.” That’s a fine start at defining your skills, but unfortunately it doesn’t yet tell us much. Organizing WHAT? People, as at a party? Nuts and bolts, as on a workbench? Or lots of information, as on a computer? These are three entirely different skills. The one word organizing doesn’t tell us which one is yours.

So, please flesh out each of your favorite transferable skills with an object—some kind of Data/Information, or some kind of People, or some kind of Thing, and then add an adverb or adjective, too.

Why adjectives? Well, “I’m good at organizing information painstakingly and logically” and “I’m good at organizing information in a flash, by intuition,” are two entirely different skills. The difference between them is spelled out not in the verb, nor in the object, but in the adjectival or adverbial phrase there at the end. So, expand each definition of your six or more favorite skills, in the fashion I have just described.

When you are face-to-face with a person-who-has-the-power-to-hire-you, you want to be able to explain what makes you different from nineteen other people who can basically do the same thing that you can do. It is often the adjective or adverb that will save your life, during that explanation.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

When you have your top favorite skills, and fleshed them out, it is time to put them on the central petal of the Flower Diagram. Copy this diagram on a larger piece of paper (or cardboard) if you need to.

THE FLOWER

^{“THAT ONE PIECE OF PAPER”}

Informational Interviewing, Step 1: GIVING YOUR FLOWER A NAME

Well you’re done with The Flower. Now what?

Put that sheet on a wall, or on the door of your refrigerator. And there you have it: a simple picture (as it were) of You.

And now what should happen? Many of you will look at your completed Flower Diagram, and you won’t have a clue as to what job or career it points to. If that’s you, take a piece of paper, with pen or pencil, or go to your computer, and keyboard in hand, make some notes:

1. First, look at your Flower Diagram, and from the center petal choose your three to five most favorite skills.

2. Then, look at your Flower Diagram and write down your three favorite special knowledges (interests, or favorite fields, or Fields of Fascination—whatever you want to call them).

3. Now, take both these notes, and show them to at least five friends, family members, or professionals whom you know. Yes, we’re back to our old friend, Informational Interviewing—interviewing people solely to get information (see chapter 7).

4. Jot down everything these five people suggest or recommend to you.

5. After you have finished talking to them, you want to go home and look at all these notes. Anything helpful or valuable here? If not, if none of it looks valuable, then set it aside, and go talk to five more of your friends, acquaintances, or people you know in the business world or nonprofit sector. Repeat, as necessary.

6. When you finally have some worthwhile suggestions, sit down, look over their combined suggestions, and ask yourself some questions.

As you will recall, skills usually point toward a job-title or job-level, while interests or special knowledges usually point toward a career field. So, you want to ask them, in the case of your skills, What job-title or jobs do these skills suggest to you?

Then ask them, in the case of your favorite special knowledges, What career fields do these suggest to you?

• First, you want to look at what these friends suggested about your skills: what job or jobs came to their minds? It will help you to know that most jobs can be classified under nineteen headings or families, as below. Which of these nineteen do your friends’ suggestions predominantly point to? Which of these nineteen grabs you?

JOB FAMILIES

1. Executive, Administrative, and Managerial Occupations

2. Engineers, Surveyors, and Architects

3. Natural Scientists and Mathematicians

4. Social Scientists, Social Workers, Religious Workers, and Lawyers

5. Teachers, Counselors, Librarians, and Archivists

6. Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners

7. Registered Nurses, Pharmacists, Dieticians, Therapists, and Physician Assistants

8. Health Technologists and Technicians

9. Technologists and Technicians in Other Fields: Computer Specialists, Programmers, Information Technicians, Information Specialists, etc.

10. Writers, Artists, Digital Artists, and Entertainers

11. Marketing and Sales Occupations

12. Administrative Support Occupations, including Clerical

13. Service Occupations

14. Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishing Occupations

15. Mechanics and Repairers

16. Construction and Extractive Occupations