What Color Is Your Parachute?

Points clés

• Commencez par vous connaître avant d'éplucher les offres d'emploi
• Vos compétences transférables se cachent dans vos réussites les plus épanouissantes
• Les postes se trouvent par le réseau : parlez à des gens avant d'envoyer des CV
• Découvrez le poste et l'entreprise en échangeant avec ceux qui y travaillent
• L'entretien est un échange à double sens ; le salaire attend qu'on veuille de vous

À l'intérieur de ce bit

1. Deux façons de chercher un emploi

   Richard Bolles first wrote this book in 1970 and updated it almost every year for the rest of his life. Its staying power comes from one simple contrast.

2. L'exercice de la fleur

   The heart of the book is a self-inventory Bolles draws as a flower with seven petals. Each petal answers one question about you: the kinds of people you work best with, the physical setting you prefer, the values or purpose you want your work to serve, the fields of knowledge you enjoy, your favourite transferable skills, the working conditions that suit you, and the level of pay and responsibility you need.

3. Vos compétences au fil de vos histoires

   Most people underrate themselves because they think of skills as job titles or certificates. Bolles separates three kinds.

4. Le recrutement passe par les gens

   Bolles points out that employers hire in roughly the reverse order that job seekers search. Seekers start with advertisements and agencies.

5. Des entretiens à double sens

   Before any formal interview, Bolles recommends informational interviews: short conversations with people who already do the work, asking how they got there and what a typical week involves. You learn the field, test your assumptions, and build the contacts that lead to real openings.

6. Passez à l'action

   This week, write three short stories about times you did something well and enjoyed it, then underline every skill verb you find. Start a rough version of the flower with the two petals you are most sure about, such as the people you like working with and the setting you prefer.