TITLE: What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens

AUTHORS: Carol Christen and Richard N. Bolles

PRICE: $15.99 (paperback)

SUMMARY: You won't generally find "How to choose a career" among high school or college classes. Young people still have to figure it out on their own. This updated career guide for teenagers, a spinoff of the original "What Color Is Your Parachute?", seeks to fill that gap in an easy-to-digest way.

The authors say it typically takes about 10 years to get from having "no clue" about a career to a detailed plan to being employed, meaning it's a good idea to start at about age 15. After a nod and a wink to a generation not known for its love of the printed word — "We know you don't really want to read a book" — they go on to present useful information in readable chunks.

A series of exercises teach how to identify favorite interests, skills and goals and translate them to career options. Separate chapters provide tips on how to get the most out of high school and college, and how to search for your dream job. New chapters detail how to use social media in a job search and how to track emerging career trends. And for list-lovers — and who isn't one? — there are the top 10 mistakes job hunters make and how to avoid them, the top 20 green job titles, career resources, and more.

QUOTE: "Jobs are like clothing; you have to try on a lot of them before you begin to find your style and outfits that fit you well. And, like the world of fashion, the job market is constantly changing. Some jobs that were in 'fashion' a decade ago may not even exist today."

PUBLISHER: Ten Speed Press

— Dave Carpenter