What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021 summary

As we’ve seen, traditional ways of finding a job are simply not as effective as they used to be. So why not try the parachute approach? It’s a job search method that empowers you to identify the type of work that suits you, and helps you optimize your search, so you can parachute into your target role. And it starts with the Flower Exercise, a tool for uncovering what you want from a job. 

Picture a drawing of a flower with seven petals, each representing a component of your working life. When complete, each petal will list a few keywords or statements to guide your job search. You’ll arrive at your own unique keywords for each petal through a series of exercises. This blink will walk you through the process of filling out the first three petals. So get out your notepad or laptop, and let’s get to work.

By now, you’re halfway through the Flower Exercise, which means you’re halfway toward articulating your dream job! Let’s take a look at the remaining petals.

The fourth petal lists your knowledge. Write down all the knowledge you’ve gained at previous jobs, all the knowledge you have outside of work, and any professional fields that interest you. The goal here is to come up with a big list of your knowledge sets, from accounting to dog-breeding. Don’t worry about how it all fits together. Think of this petal like a fisherman’s net – you want to catch all your know-how and specializations here.

The job market is dynamic, but one thing is constant: you will always need a great résumé. So what does that look like? 

Your résumé should be a one- or two-page document that shows, at a glance, your employment and education history, as well as your skills, expertise, and accomplishments. You can opt for a functional résumé, which lists responsibilities specific to your past roles with a short employment history at the end, or you could go for a traditional résumé, which lists employment and experience in chronological order. Either way, make sure to include key achievements and instances where your skills benefitted past employers. If possible, include concrete data. Did you increase sales by 15 percent? If so, include that.

Finally, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: your interview. This stage is, typically, the most critical step in your job search. You’ll need to impress at the interview if you want to clinch a job offer. Just as crucially, your prospective employer has to make a good impression, too. 

The key message here is: Brush up on simple strategies to succeed in interviews.

Let’s say you’ve gone through all the stages of the parachute approach. You’ve used the Flower Exercise to clarify your ideal role; you’ve leveraged connections and, with the help of killer online and offline résumés, landed interviews. Finally, you’re offered your dream job.

You accept immediately. Right?

Let’s return to the Flower Exercise for a moment. This self-inventory process is designed to guide you to your dream job. But what if the role you envision for yourself after completing the exercise doesn’t exist? Have you done it wrong? Should you go back to the first petal and start again?

Not necessarily. Just because your dream job doesn’t exist in the usual nine-to-five context doesn’t mean you can’t do it. In fact, you can parachute into the role you’ve always wanted, with the best boss in the world – you!