What Color Is Your Parachute 2018 by Richard N. Bolles copy

chat they insist they want to go on talking. Some workers—not all—are
desperate to find someone who will actually listen to them; you may come
as an answer to their prayers.
Here are some questions that will help when you’re talking with workers
who are actually doing the career or job you think you might like to do:
“How did you get into this work?”
“What do you like the most about it?”
“What do you like the least about it?”
And, “Where else could I find people who do this kind of work?”
(You should always ask them for more than one name, here, so that if
you run into a dead end at any point, you can easily go visit the other
name[s] they suggested.)
If at any point in these informational interviews with workers, it
becomes more and more clear to you that this career, occupation, or job
you are exploring definitely doesn’t fit you, then the last question (above)
gets turned into a different kind of inquiry:
“Do you have any ideas as to who else I could talk to—about my
skills and special knowledges or interests—who might know what
other careers use the same skills and knowledge?” If they come up
with names, go visit the people they suggest. If they can’t think of
anyone, ask them, “If you don’t know of anyone, who do you think
might know?”
Sooner or later, as you do this informational interviewing with workers,
you’ll find a career that fits you just fine. It uses your favorite skills. It
employs your favorite special knowledges or fields of interest. Okay, then
you must ask how much training, etc., it takes, to get into that field or
career. You ask the same people you have been talking to, previously.
More times than not, you will hear bad news. They will tell you
something like: “In order to be hired for this job, you have to have a
master’s degree and ten years’ experience at it.”
Is that so? Keep in mind that no matter how many people tell you that
such-and-such are the rules about getting into a particular occupation, and
there are no exceptions—believe me there are exceptions to almost every
rule, except for those few professions that have rigid entrance