Beignets, Bourbon Street and beads: can you guess where I was? I've just returned from the Career Management Alliance conference in New Orleans, where Dick Bolles, author of the classic job hunting book What Color is Your Parachute?, was among the keynote speakers.

Originally published in 1970, Bolles updates the book annually, and I asked him the biggest change he's seen in career management activity over the last four decades. "The heightened expectations of the job seeker," Bolles replied. "The first thing they do is go to the Internet and they think they'll have a job by Monday. The tools are easier now than they were then, but the search isn't."

Most people aren't aware their job-hunting skills are elementary: résumés, interviewing, the Internet, he says, which are good enough for prosperous times but can't sustain difficulties. Bolles likens the skills needed for successful job hunting to love.

"There's counterfeit love, where there's lots of affection, but you think you could always find someone else. The affection can't carry you through hard times.

"But then there's real love, which can survive the rocky places. Like job hunting, it requires hard work but it's worth it."

Robyn Greenspan
Robyn Greenspan is the Editor-in-Chief at ExecuNet, where she is responsible for setting and driving the editorial content engagement strategy across the private business network's publications and expert-led programming. She is also a Huffington Post blogger. You can follow her on Twitter @RobynGreenspan

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