Richard Bolles Dies at 90; Wrote ‘What Color Is Your Parachute?’

The New York Times ^ | April 1, 2017 | Paul Vitello

[EveningStar]

Richard N. Bolles, a former Harvard physics major, Episcopal minister and career counselor whose own twisting vocational path led to his writing “What Color Is Your Parachute?” — the most popular job-hunter’s manual of the 1970s and beyond — died on Friday in San Ramon, Calif. He was 90...

Mr. Bolles (pronounced bowls) originally self-published his manual in 1970 as a photocopied how-to booklet for unemployed Protestant ministers.

In 1972, he recast it to appeal to a wider audience and found an independent publisher in Berkeley, Calif., willing to print small batches so that it could be frequently updated. Since then, “Parachute” has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and has never been out of print...

Richard Nelson Bolles was born on March 19, 1927, in Milwaukee, the first of three children of Donald Clinton Bolles, an editor for The Associated Press, and the former Frances Fifield, a homemaker.

His brother, Donald Jr., who followed his father into journalism, was killed in 1976 in Phoenix when a bomb detonated under his car. Don Bolles was then working as an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, and the killing was widely believed to be linked to a series of exposés he had been writing about corporate and organized crime in the state. The assassination resulted in the prosecution of one person but remained largely unsolved...

[EveningStar]

Wikipedia

[DIRTYSECRET]

I read it when young, unemployed, and unsure of my career path. Didn’t do much good.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

When I was 18, my parachute was a vodka bottle.

[ObozoMustGo2012]

None of these career advice books don’t do much. Except for the person who writes and sells them.

It’s nothing more than regurgitated bulls__t that is nice in theory but doesn’t work in practice.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I read that book and some similar books. The books talked of how you should send out broadcast letters to decision makers in companies, and schedule informational interviews with people to get career advice.

It was of limited value to me. Some of those books also direct you to career guidance firms such as Haldane and Associates. I have a close friend who went to Haldane. It cost a lot of money but he didn’t get a great new career path from the experience.

[wbill]

IMO, "The Dilbert Principle" by Scott Adams, should be taught at every school as a part of their MBA program.

Written as a joke, but it's 100% correct in how the business world *really* works. Not "Who Moved My Cheese" or whatever other BS fad is current......Adams' book details how things work in real life.

[jim_trent]

I read it in the late 1970’s. Didn’t think much of it.

I got more from the book about Management Secrets of Attila the Hun (several years afterward).

[AZLiberty]

I read several of the annual revisions of his book and thought it was well done. I think his advice was good. Basically, it was look inward first. Figure out what you like to do, what your strengths are, and where you want to live. Then identify jobs, companies, and locations that match. Then go after them.

Although I never requested an “informational interview”, the concept seemed sound as a way of learning about prospective jobs and companies as well as making contacts.

[linMcHlp]

1976 - Richard Bolles "brother, Donald Jr., who followed [their] father into journalism, was killed in 1976 in Phoenix when a bomb detonated under his car. Don Bolles was then working as an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, and the killing was widely believed to be linked to a series of exposés he had been writing about corporate and organized crime in the state. The assassination resulted in the prosecution of one person but remained largely unsolved . . ."