Jobseekers should first understand themselves better for success
By Kim Da-ye
Richard Bolles, the author of the world’s best-selling job-hunting book “What Color Is Your Parachute?”
Jobseekers have never had a more strategic outlook. Many people are tailoring their education and career path from a young age, with multiple qualifications and a myriad of internships, in order to get their dream jobs. But what if, one day, you find yourself in a dead-end career where you aren’t happy, and can’t think of a better alternative?
According to world-renowned career guru Richard Bolles, the reality is that, in the 21st century, many people will have three or more careers in their lifetime, and the education system should shift to support that.
“You will generally hold eight or more jobs during your lifetime. So to tailor one’s education and career path to fit only one job, even a dream job, is folly,” said Bolles, author of New York Times best-seller “What Color Is Your Parachute?” in an email interview with The Korea Times’ Business Focus.
“The greatest blame rests squarely on the educational systems of countries around the world, which do not teach the realities of the world of work that is out there waiting for its graduates.”
Bolles will visit Korea in April to deliver a keynote speech at the 2013 Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) Annual Conference. The event is co-hosted by the APCDA and the Career Consultant Forum, a Korean association of HR experts.
An ideal educational system, Bolles said, would teach that a career breaks down into two or more fields, which then are divided into multiple jobs. Any job, he says, involves five or more tasks, roles and activities, each of which requires various transferable functional skills such as analyzing, researching, writing and directing.
“Since such skills are the basic building blocks of any and all careers, fields, jobs, tasks, roles and activities, it would focus on helping students identify not only which ones they have, but which of those they love, plus which ones they want to have and would love if they could do it,” the career guru said regarding the ideal education system. “The overall thrust is that it would prepare you for multiple jobs, not just one.”
According to a survey of 440 workers done earlier this year by employment website Career, 70.7 percent of those surveyed said they weren’t happy with their jobs. Nearly 75 percent of the unhappy employees said their salaries weren’t high enough, while more than a quarter felt they weren’t doing what they wanted to do.
Another survey by Career in 2011 found that four of 10 employees surveyed had quit their jobs that year and 28.6 percent of those said that the job wasn’t in line with their aptitude.
From minister to career guru
The 41 editions of “What Color Is Your Parachute?” have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and it remains the No. 1 seller in the job-hunting category in the United States. Time magazine named it one of the 100 most influential nonfiction books written in English since 1923.
Interestingly, Bolles did not start his own career in human resources. After earning a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University, he studied theology and served churches.
He later worked for the United Ministries in Higher Education, where his duties included visiting congregations within universities and colleges in the western United States. There he found the biggest problem facing the ministers was that they were “all being fired, slowly, one by one” as college ministries ran out of funding. His new mission became helping them find re-employment in the secular world.
He recalled that the men he helped were all married, with children aged between 5 and 16. They had neither the time nor the money to go back to school or get retrained for another career. “Their first question was: how can I change careers without having to go back to school?” Bolles said.
To gain insight into job hunting, Bolles traveled around the United States and interviewed many experts. He developed what he learned into workshops, training seminars and talks. In 1970, he wrote up his insights and self-published a small 128-page book that became popular by word of mouth.
Publisher Ten Speed Press approached him for commercial distribution, and he accepted it with the stipulation that he could revise, update and rewrite the book every year. The second copy came out in 1972, and the book has been re-edited every year since 1975. Some editions changed a lot—for example, the 2010 edition focused on finding a job during an economic crisis. In effect, Bolles has now written 41 books on job hunting.
His diligent reporting on the job market may have something to do with his family background. His father was an editor at the Associated Press. His brother, Don Bolles, was an investigative reporter on organized crimes. He was also a martyr figure: he was killed by a car bomb in 1976.
“He was murdered because he had a passion for uncovering the truth about things. I have the same genes,” Bolles said.
Know thyself first
In the last four decades, Bolles said, the ways companies recruit have evolved with technology.
For example, more than two-thirds of all employers now do Internet searches on job applicants before their interviews. They try to find about the candidates from their Facebook pages, blogs, Twitter feeds or uploaded photos, Bolles said. Employers also increasingly look for the candidates with specific skills and experiences for a defined period of time. In interviews, they want to hear examples of candidates’ actions rather than abstract descriptions of their qualities.
But the substance of job hunting hasn’t changed much, Bolles said. “Successful job hunting is basically based on human nature—‘do I like you and do you like me?’—and human nature doesn’t alter,” he said.
What many jobseekers may not be very aware of is that understanding themselves is the key to successful job hunting. This factor has been a constant over the past four decades.
“If your job hunt isn’t working, then you must take the time to do a thorough survey of yourself before you do a survey of the job market,” said Bolles.
“There are three questions you must find out the answers to: what, where and how. What are your skills that you most love to use? Where would you most love to use these skills? And finally, how do you go about finding such places?”
In Bolles’ book, he explains why “homework on yourself” helps. It helps the jobseekers describe themselves in various ways for multiple job markets. It helps them learn exactly what they are looking for. It boosts their energy for job searching and encourages them to discover where they want to work rather than the places with vacancies. And finally, it helps them make a perfect pitch about themselves.
The career guru created a famous exercise that speeds the process, called the “Flower Exercise.” It uncovers jobseeker’ interests, skills and other preferred conditions, such as where they would like to work and the kinds of people they would like to work with.
Networking, not resume sending
An eye-opening lesson from Bolles is that job hunters look for jobs in a way that is exactly the opposite of how employers recruit.
According to Bolles, employers look for talent within the company by promoting full-time employees and permanently hiring part-time or contract workers. The last resources they look into are resumes. In contrast, the first thing most jobseekers do is send out resumes, sometimes even unsolicited.
He emphasizes the importance of networking, as companies are more likely to hire candidates whose work trusted friends of employers have seen. Searching for jobs through recruiters, rather than merely applying for advertised jobs, also boosts the likelihood of getting hired.
Bolles tells job hunters to be creative throughout the job-searching process.
Traditionally, jobseekers saw themselves as “job beggars.” They tried to figure out what the job market wanted and sell themselves accordingly. He said that in creative approaches, candidates will pursue a dream job, see themselves as a resource that the potential employer needs and endeavor to find out what they really want to do. Instead of waiting for a vacancy to open, a creative jobseeker will proactively contact the firms for informational interviews.
When asked what kinds of traps jobseeker should avoid, Bolles advised them to be wary of “unscrupulous executive job counselors.”
In order to sort out unscrupulous counselors from helpful ones, he said, jobseekers should choose counselors who charge by the hour and collect their fee each time.
“Never go to someone who charges for a whole package of sessions—sometimes over $10,000 dollars—and wants their money up front. They will always require a contract. To save yourself from heartbreak, never ever sign anything when you are job hunting,” he said.
Hope and reality
Bolles is a voice of both hope and reality. He says that there are more jobs in the market than people expect, even in difficult times. Actual job creators, he says, are often not big corporations, but newer and smaller companies that many jobseekers wouldn’t usually consider working for.
In Korea, one of the biggest problems in the job market is that people increasingly get more than one degree and do not want to take low-paying, manual jobs, though the pool of high-paying, socially respectable jobs is limited.
Bolles said that the term “highly educated” should be redefined, because people with significant knowledge about one subject and those who are skilled at thinking and solving problems aren’t the same.
“There is always a limited pool of jobs for walking encyclopedias. There are, on the other hand, endless possibilities for one who is skilled at thinking and problem solving and creating alternatives,” the author said.
“The latter will create jobs where there were none, will start up their own enterprises, will see solutions that people are willing to pay money for, will search out books. The number of jobs out there is not a figure frozen in one place. Jobs are mortal. They are ever being born, growing, maturing, flourishing, declining, and dying. Truly educated people are midwives to such births.”
Several emails were exchanged between Bolles and this reporter, and he replied each question with a lengthy answer sprinkled with humor. When asked for “the single most important advice to today’s jobseekers,” Bolles’ message was about hope.
“Always remember that you have more control over what happens to you than ‘the system’ would lead you to believe. It may only be 2 percent control that belongs to you, but work on that 2 percent. There are always ways around ‘but this is the way it has always been done.’ Somebody who was in the same situation as you has found that secret before you. Look for those exceptional people, and follow their example and advice,” he said.
Richard Bolles will deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2013 Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) Annual Conference. The opening ceremony will be held at Korea Job World, Bundang-gu, Gyeonggi Province, April 3. The conference will be at Hotel Prima in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, April 4 and 5.
