What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012 by Richard N. Bolles

Author:Richard N. Bolles
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, self help, reference, business, Psychology
ISBN: 9781607740117
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Published: 1970-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

ideas.

It’s easy to develop an emotional investment that the test should come out a certain way. I

remember a job-hunting workshop where I asked everyone to list the factors they liked about any place

where they had ever lived, and then prioritize those factors, to get the name of a new place to live. We

had this immensely lovable woman from Texas in the workshop, and when we all got back together

after a “break” I asked her how she was doing. With a glint in her eye she said, “I’m prioritizing, and

I’m gonna keep on prioritizin’, until it comes out: Texas!” That was amusing, as she intended it to be;

it’s not so amusing when you try to make the test results come out a certain way. If you’re gonna take

tests, you need to be open to new ideas. If you find yourself always trying to outguess the test, so it will

confirm you on a path you’ve already decided upon, then testing is not for you.

3. In taking a test, you should just be looking for clues, hunches, or suggestions, rather than for a

definitive answer that says “this is what you must choose to do with your life.”

And bear in mind that an online test isn’t likely to be as insightful as one administered by an

experienced psychologist or counselor, who may see things that you can’t. But keep saying this mantra

to yourself, as you read or hear the test results: “Clues. Clues, I’m only looking for clues.”

4. Take several tests and not just one. One can easily send you down the wrong path.

People who do a masters or doctorate program in “Testing and Measurement” know that tests are

notoriously flawed, unscientific, and inaccurate. Sometimes tests are more like parlor games than

anything else. Basing your future on tests’ outcomes is like putting your trust in the man behind the

curtain in The Wizard of Oz.

5. In good career planning, you’re trying, in the first instance, to broaden your horizons, and only later

narrow your options down; you are not trying to narrow them down from the outset.

Bad career planning looks like this:

Most computerized tests embody the idea of starting with a wide range of options, and narrowing them

down. So, each time you answer a question, you narrow down the number of options. For example, if

you say, “I don’t like to work outdoors,” immediately all outdoor jobs are eliminated from your

consideration, etc., etc.

A model of good career planning looks like this, instead:

Good career-choice or career planning postpones the “narrowing down,” until it has first broadened

your horizons, and expanded the number of options you are thinking about. For example, you’re in the

newspaper business; but have you ever thought of teaching, or drawing, or doing fashion? You first

expand your mental horizons, to see all the possibilities, and only then do you start to narrow them

down to the particular two or three that interest you the most.

So, what’s a good test? All together now: a test that broadens to show you new possibilities for your

life.

And, what’s a bad test? Again, all together: a test that narrows the possibilities for your life.

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