A companion for a career conversation
The Flower is a self-inventory from Richard N. Bolles’s What Color Is Your Parachute? It puts what you can do, what you enjoy, and what you need from work on one page. Use it to describe a good fit before you start looking at job titles.
If you’re coaching someone, ask for a real example behind a phrase they chose. If they get stuck, offer the Flower Options sheet and invite them to adapt one prompt.
Circle two or three entries that reinforce each other. If you like explaining technical ideas, enjoy working with patient teammates, and want people to feel more capable, one theme might be helping people learn to use technology.
Turn the theme into a few search phrases. For the example above, try technical trainer, customer education, or developer education. Read real job descriptions and ask someone doing the work what a typical week looks like.
Mark which entries are requirements and which are preferences. For each opportunity, write down what fits, what conflicts, and what you still need to ask. A role can use your favorite skills and still be a poor fit for your schedule or pay needs.
Pick one thing you can do this week: ask for a short conversation, compare two postings, or revise a résumé bullet to show a skill the role needs.
Based on Richard N. Bolles’s Flower Exercise in What Color Is Your Parachute? (Ten Speed Press, 2022). The examples and prompts on this page are a practical companion.
Use these prompts when a petal feels hard to fill.