What Color Is Your Parachute? for College: Pave Your Path from Major to Meaningful Work

Introduction

You, the Job Search, and This Book

Ashley, a college senior, is concerned about her friends. Everyone is stressed. Some are in suits and interviewing almost daily with prestigious banks or consulting firms. They seem so sure of themselves, like they have their futures all worked out. And yet she’s heard their worried conversations in the hallways before classes. They ask themselves if they really know what they’re doing. Are they just doing it to please their parents? And what if they don’t get a job after all this work?

Other friends have different worries. They don’t even own suits, and they wonder if something is wrong. Shouldn’t they be doing something to find a job? But what? They worry that it’s too late. That they’ve missed the best opportunities—and the job market isn’t stable. They are always comparing themselves to others, sometimes feeling a temporary relief (at least my major is more marketable…), other times feeling more anxious (I wish I had done an internship like she did…).

But Ashley’s not stressed. And she’s not worried that she’s missing out by not interviewing on campus. A psychology major, she is also studying banjo with one of the finest banjo players in the world. You might think she’d be caught in that classic career dilemma: should she follow a passion or be practical? But she’s not. She likes both subjects equally, and she’s making no effort to choose.

She has applied for several post-graduate scholarships that will allow her to study developmental neuroscience in London while playing her banjo in the pubs on the weekend. She’s hoping to start a band while she’s there. The coronavirus has postponed her plans for the semester, but she’s excited about moving to England when she can, and she’s not forcing herself into a mold of what she’s supposed to be or do. Who knows where being a banjo-playing neuropsychologist might end up?

• • •

So why isn’t Ashley worried about the job search like everyone else? Because she knows a secret: she knows herself. She knows what her interests and skills are, and she knows how she wants to apply them. She knows the kind of life she wants, and she knows how to pursue it. And she already has a back-up plan if none of the scholarships comes through. Thanks to using the time-honored yet modern system in this book, she is confident she will end up creating her own interesting job and life. You will, too.

If you’re reading this book, you are probably a college student. And you’re likely concerned about your future.

You might be enrolled in:

a traditional four-year college or university

a community college pursuing a specific vocational program

a community college looking to transfer to a four-year school

a graduate or professional school

high school and taking lots of advanced placement college-level courses

an online degree program while you work full-time or are in the military

And you might be thinking (or worrying) about:

what to major in

finding an internship

finding a summer job

what career field to pursue

what the job market will look like when you graduate

what the long-lasting economic effect of the coronavirus will be

whether to start your own business

whether to go to graduate school

whether to go to law school or medical school

But no matter what degree or future you’re pursuing, you are probably a busy, overwhelmed, stressed student looking for the best way to find a job you will love, no matter what the job market looks like. Let this book be your guide.

What Color Is Your Parachute? for College is based on the excellent work of Richard Bolles, who wrote the first edition of What Color Is Your Parachute? in the 1970s and introduced the most popular, successful, and bestselling job-hunting system in the world. And now it is presented and modified for you, a college student.

The image of the parachute is particularly appropriate for your situation. You know what a parachute is, of course: it’s a circular cloth that catches the wind like a sail and helps you land safely on the ground.

This book has been written with that purpose in mind; to help you catch the wind like a sail and land safely into your new job, career, or life. To have an easy flight to a future that fits, in whatever way you define fit. The Parachute System is divided into three parts. You start by Preparing for Departure and packing your Backpack, which will give you all the substance and confidence you need. You Take Off, setting up conversations (social media, networking, and interviewing) and choosing and connecting to potential interesting landing sites. Finally, armed with new knowledge about yourself and all the opportunities out there, you Land safely in your desired setting.

So is this a job book or a career guide? Well, it’s both. The words will be used interchangeably throughout the book. In some respects, the job is just the current position you’re in, whereas the career represents the totality of your work. Since you’re just starting out, you will be looking at both. You might just need a job—but that job might also be the start of a career. Or not. It might just be the job you get while you look for a different one. That’s okay, because that’s how careers are born, and that’s why we talk about transferable skills. The skills you develop in your job might lead you to a totally new career. Your job goals will change as your career interests change and vice versa. What’s most important is that you will learn from it. Whatever your job, you will learn what you like and what you don’t like, and you will use that job as a launching pad for the next.

Richard Bolles describes the job search as a Neanderthal process, and he’s right. It is filled with strange activities: talking to strangers and calling it networking; answering odd questions at interviews, like Why are manhole covers round?; and writing archaic documents such as resumes and cover letters.

But did you know the college job search is uniquely different from other job searches?

College students have certain advantages: you have unique access to career guidance and employers who come to your campus. You have a large network of alumni who want to help you just because you’re going to the school they graduated from. And you have the label of student, which means people are more likely to assist you because they want to help.

But maybe you’re trying to do this job search while you’re also dealing with your already-busy life of papers, exams, projects, grades, classes, activities, work, and social events. And you’re likely feeling a sense of urgency about the process. College students often feel immense pressure to figure out what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and to do it quickly. The hot careers of the moment—investment banking and consulting—seem to drive this pace at many colleges, easily skewing your perceptions of the job market.

To add to the pressure, sometimes it feels like this search is about everyone else: what your parents or family would like you to do, what your roommate or friends are doing, what employers want from you. That’s a lot of people to please. Not to mention a lot of expectations to live up to.

And the job market itself can be wildly unpredictable, as students who graduated in 2020 learned when the coronavirus pandemic swept the world and changed the unemployment rate from 3.6 percent in January of 2020 to over 13 percent in May. Job market fluctuations can make it hard to plan your future.

And maybe, just maybe, you are a perfectionist and you push yourself to find the perfect job, no matter what others say.

So let’s stop for a moment. Take a breath. Think of your favorite teachers. What made them the best? They believed in you, right? They knew you could do whatever task they assigned. They gave you hope and support and the knowledge that you can accomplish anything. And they guided you along the way. That’s what Richard Bolles does in his books. And that’s what you’re going to find here: hope, a guide, someone who believes in you. Someone who has a ton of experience guiding students just like you to find amazing career opportunities. Someone who will help you move forward with less stress and more fun.

• • •

Tyler returned to campus to talk to students about his two post-graduate internships in Hollywood. He told the students about his struggle to decide on a career, but that he is now committed to filmmaking. How did you know you were committed to filmmaking? a student asked. Tyler thought for a minute and said, It was the moment I decided to submit my films to festivals for judging. Previously he had just thought about promoting his films, but he hadn’t taken any action. By submitting his films to festivals, he knew he had to make the best product he could. And suddenly he found a whole new world of connections in the industry. He has had lots of conversations, honed his craft, learned to take criticism and advice, and is now finding his tribe in the workplace. And jobs. Lots of them.

• • •

With this book, you now have the same choice. This is the moment you, too, can commit to designing your future. Not by worrying about it. Not by focusing on what other people are doing, or what other people want you to do, but by giving yourself the time and mental space to do the exercises and Thought Organizers that will help you explore yourself, the many options you have, and the steps you can take to get where you want to go.

Make no mistake: job hunting isn’t simple. It isn’t easy. It’s particularly challenging when the unemployment rate is high. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But if you use this system and take it step by step, you will succeed. You will avoid the emotional and actual problems your friends have encountered, and you will move toward whatever future you have defined for yourself. The Parachute System that you will learn through the exercises in this book is tried-and-true. It works when the economy is great, and it works when the economy is not so great. No matter what the job market looks like when you graduate, this system will support you.

Doing the many exercises in What Color Is Your Parachute? for College requires time and commitment. But the exercises will be interesting, so the time should fly by, and you will learn so much about yourself and the life you want to live. So take a step back from the pressure you’re feeling. Relax and have fun doing the exercises in whatever order works for you. Try out the suggested activities. Learn and grow from the feedback you’ll receive and you, too, will be a pro at the job search.

Career development never ends. It’s a constant exploration, a journey if you will, and you get to set the parameters that work for you. You get to decide how long to stay on a job, in a career field, or even in an industry. You have your choice of destinations. This book is designed to help you both narrow down and increase your choices. It will help you expand your thinking and come up with new and better ideas about your future and your plans.

We’re going to start with you. Not the job market, not what’s hot, not what your roommate is doing or your friends are doing. Start with you. Focus on what you enjoy.

As Richard Bolles writes, It’s on you. You are the hero of this book.

What do you want?

What’s important to you?

What kind of work are you hoping to find?

What kind of life do you want to create?

Let’s get started.

Thought Organizers and How to Use This Book

This book is about you: your ideas, your vision, your creativity, your thoughts. And it’s a book, so the first step is to read it. You can just read it through if you wish, but you’ll get much more out of it if you do the exercises. Writing everything down greatly increases the likelihood that you will remember all your brilliant insights and ideas.

Many of the exercises are called Thought Organizers because that’s just what they do. They help you take your random ideas and thoughts and put them in a format that makes them easy to see. They not only organize your thoughts, they help clarify your plans, simplify the job search, and save you time. They will also help you remember what’s important about yourself and the future you’re seeking.

These Thought Organizers are simple shapes (lines, lists, squares, circles, etc.) you can easily re-create anywhere—on your computer or even on a napkin at your favorite coffee shop. What’s important is that you do them, and you have a place to store them. Set up a system on your computer as well as in a notebook or another paper filing system. That way you can use whatever works best at a given moment. Consider using an app, like Trello, to organize your search process. Some quick suggestions for powering through this system:

Consider everything you write a possibility. But not a rule or a requirement, the goals you set might not work. Reset them. You might change your mind. Keep your plans flexible and update them regularly. The job search can be a fast-moving process; even when you think you know what is going to happen, you might be surprised.

Adopt the GPS tracker as your metaphor. When you make a wrong turn or an unexpected stop, what does it do? It recalibrates with no judgment. You can recalibrate, too, any time you want.

Bring a friend along. Richard Bolles had a great philosophy about the job search. He called it Each one, teach one. Make a commitment with a friend to read a chapter and then meet up for coffee to do the exercises together. Learn from each other. Or make a commitment to read a chapter and then teach the chapter. Do the activities and then help another student do the activities. You will learn so much more, and you’ve helped someone else along the way. How’s that for a great potential interview story?

PART 1

Preparing for Departure

PACK YOUR BACKPACK FOR THE TRIP

This section will help you acquire the self-knowledge and resiliency to successfully navigate the job search.

CHAPTER 1

Start Off Strong

Challenges, Majors, and a Plan

Kayla just arrived on campus and she’s already caught in a whirlwind of orientation activities. One of her required sessions is with the career center. Seriously? she’s thinking. I just got here and they want to talk about what I’ll do when I leave? I’d just like to know where the dining hall is. But she goes, because she has to, listens to a list of services and makes a mental note that someday, one day, she’ll think about that. Because right now, she’s got way too many other things on her mind.

• • •

Does this sound familiar? Have you felt overwhelmed almost since you arrived? Maybe you never followed up on that plan to visit the career center in your first semester? That’s okay. While it’s important for you to know that the center is there and will help you, it’s fine to focus on more immediate needs such as the dining hall and your classes.

That said, there are some decisions you’ll need to make relatively early in your time in college, and starting to think about possible career options can be helpful. This chapter will help you identify and reduce those common stressors in college and in the job search and help you make some early critical decisions.

Overcoming Challenges in College and With the Job Search

Part of landing safely in your future involves staying healthy and keeping your stress level down, no matter what is happening in the world. Let’s take a look at some of the internal challenges you might be facing, not only in college but also in your job search.

EXPECTATIONS

Expectations equal pressure. Does it feel like everyone has a plan for you? Maybe you’re not only expected to do well in your classes but everyone says you need to build your resume by participating in all sorts of activities, doing internships, getting great summer jobs, and more.

Maybe you’re trying to fulfill family expectations—everyone from your great-grandfather on has been an attorney so you’re expected to do the same.

Maybe you’re the first in your family to go to college, and now everyone’s looking at you to succeed and achieve. You don’t want to let anyone down, right?

What expectations might you be placing on yourself?

Are you a perfectionist who always has to hit the mark?

Have you always been the science superstar, and now you’re facing much more difficult science courses in college?

Are you trying hard to fit in or joining lots of groups to be popular or just more social?

Taking note of the expectations you’re experiencing is important when you start thinking about your career choices.

COMPARISONITIS

Yes, comparisonitis is a thing. With social media and lots of attention placed on winning—however that’s defined—the pressure to do better and be better is nonstop. It’s all about looking good. It’s easy to look around and see what your fellow students are doing and then compare yourself to them favorably or not. It’s like everyone has a ruler out, and they’re measuring the differences between themselves and others, feeling great if they are doing better, but feeling defeated if they’re not. It’s hard to focus on yourself and enjoy your life when you’re busy watching others. But if your focus is on what careers other students are pursuing, you aren’t focusing on your career choices.

FEAR OF MISSING OUT

Related to comparisonitis, fear of missing out can leave you feeling like you can never relax. Relaxing is dangerous because you might miss something. You constantly worry that past decisions were mistakes. You have this ongoing undercurrent of concern that there is something you should have done, or should be doing now.

FEELING OVERWHELMED

Too much stuff, right? Just too many assignments, too many new friends, too many parties or distractions, too many interests. And now you’re supposed to find this great internship or job. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, particularly if you tend to be introverted or shy. All the newness and group-living situations can make you feel like you need to find a cave somewhere and hide. Despite what you might think, you’re definitely not alone. Pretty much everyone is feeling overwhelmed despite the images they project.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Do you ever feel like you don’t belong, or you don’t have the proper background to be where you are? Like someone made a big mistake in hiring you or selecting you for a special program or honor? You are not the only one. Career centers hear this concern almost daily. When complimented on a recent internship they completed, students say, Oh anyone could have gotten it. Or when asked to talk about awards they received, Oh, I was just lucky that day. They express uncertainty as in, Am I really good enough? You are. You belong.

PERSONAL CHALLENGES

Concerns unique to your situation can crop up: financial pressures or personal issues such as a disability, a sexual orientation, or a mental health challenge. These can leave you feeling adrift and unsupported. Maybe even your personality type (a tendency to procrastinate or be a perfectionist, for example) works against you as to try to navigate your way through college.

It’s important for you to identify the potential challenges you might be facing, even if they’re not mentioned above. Let’s start a Thought Organizer of the challenges you’re currently facing or focused on. Just fill in the challenges you’re feeling right now.

Challenges Thought Organizer

Before we start tackling those challenges, stop a moment. And congratulate yourself. Because, despite those challenges, here you are. In college. Succeeding. No matter what has held you back or has the potential to hold you back, here you are and you’re fine. It’s okay. And not only is it okay, there are concrete steps you can take to overcome your challenges. Here are ten ways.

Know that you are not alone. I can’t tell you how many students start their conversations with, I know this is weird…or I know this problem is unique…but it’s not. Believe me, 99 percent of what you are going through, someone else has experienced. People who have felt all alone with their troubles often find new friends and support when they just have the courage to admit to their challenges. If nothing else, the #MeToo movement has demonstrated that. Just by saying me too you are now part of group that understands you and knows what you have gone through.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Colleges have all sorts of services set up to help you through whatever challenge you’re facing. Whether it’s:

• the career center to help with your future plans;

• a well-being program to help manage stress;

• an advising office (or adviser) to help decide on your classes;

• an LGBTQ+ office to provide affirmation, support, and information;

• a counseling center to help with mental health issues;

• a diversity center to offer empathy, acceptance, and cultural understanding;

• a writing center to help with your papers;

• a financial aid office for financial support and guidance; or

• a tutoring center to help get through those tough classes

the support you need is there. These people want to help you. Think about this: the college employs people whose jobs depend on you seeking their help. Even if you’re a little shy about approaching one of these offices, remember, you’re helping to keep them employed! And—they will care about you. It never hurts to know that someone cares, particularly when you are feeling alone with your challenges.

Practice self-compassion. Sometimes we think that by being hard on ourselves we will perform better. But that’s not what Dr. Kristin Neff at The University of Texas has found. She has discovered that self-compassion can actually improve your motivation and performance.¹

Do you want