Dianna Tingg had just finished a London internship and was living with her parents in Seattle. She needed a job but didn't know what career to pursue. So she turned to a 36-year-old guide, "What Color Is Your Parachute?"

"The book was very inspirational to me because it helped me realize what I wanted to do and where I wanted to do it," said the 26-year-old, who applied for 20 different public-relations jobs in New York. She posted her resume on Craigslist, was contacted the next day by her current boss, bought a one-way ticket to Manhattan, crashed on a friend's air mattress and landed the job at a small PR firm.

Katie Thomas, 23, had just graduated from college but did not want to pursue her majors of psychology and English. She knew it would be difficult persuading interviewers of job skills in other areas, so when a friend recommended "Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed," she snapped it up.

"I honestly felt like I benefited so much from reading 'Sweaty Palms' that interviewing afterward felt almost like cheating — as if I had an unfair advantage over others interviewing for the same position," said Thomas, a development coordinator.

Millions of job seekers look for help in books, from the general ("Knock 'em Dead," "Monster Careers") to the specific: "Vault Career Guide to Accounting," "The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference," "Guide to Homeland Security Careers." There are volumes about resume skills, interviewing technique, fashion sense.

'A LIFE OF ITS OWN'

The mack daddy of all career guides remains Richard Nelson Bolles' "What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers." Since it was first released in 1970, it has sold 9 million copies, according to publisher Ten Speed Press.

"So many of the guides out there today really take a reader through something quick and down and dirty. ... This is more than that. It's a study that asks, 'Hey, what do you want to do with your life?' " said Dave Hathaway, buyer of business books for Barnes & Noble, Inc., the nation's largest bookstore chain.

Rich Feller, professor of counseling and career development at Colorado State University, said "Parachute" has "a life of its own, and the metaphor is wonderful."

"It's clearly a self-help book that allows people to take action and reflect in a narrative way on their own stories, which pulls them into thinking about who they are and how they apply that to add value to their particular career options."

Bolles, who was an Episcopal priest for 50 years, got the idea for "Parachute" after he lost his post at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco during budget cuts. He took a job with the diocese interviewing ministers at college campuses and found that cutbacks threatened many priests, who did not know how to make a career change. Bolles did some research.

"I thought I'd produce a little 32-page pamphlet," he said. "Lo and behold, I had a 128-page booklet and I slapped a title on it — 'What Color Is Your Parachute' — because people were always saying to me, 'Oh well, I'm going to bail out,' and I'd say, 'What color is your parachute?' and it would always bring a smile."

He would mail out his little book on request, charging $6.95, his printing costs in 1970. "I'd stack them up to my chin and carry this pile down to the post office," he recalled.

Ten Speed offered to publish it, and the first edition came out in 1972. The book was on The New York Times best seller list for 288 weeks.

"I do think that one of the reasons why my book succeeds is that who I am comes through the pages. I'm very honest and I have a deep faith and people catch the echoes of that," said Bolles.

"People are out of work an average of 18 weeks before they get another job. You have a lot of time to do soul searching. It's not going to be as quick as you think it will be."

START SMALL

Tingg applied the practical advice in Bolles' book to her own search. According to "Parachute," she said, "one way to land a great job is by targeting small organizations with 50 or fewer employees. These companies are often looking for new people but they usually don't advertise their vacancies." Her resume posting on Craig's List, an online network, attracted her new company, which had not listed the job.

Now Bolles has just published a "What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens," with Carol Christen and Jean M. Blomquist.

Schools do little to prepare kids for careers, he said. "Our schools teach us nothing about these things, or teach us wrong."

It's a point echoed in another new book, "Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads," by Sheila J. Curran and Suzanne Greenwald. They use the stories of real graduates to discuss the realities of the job market.

" 'Career' is usually a very scary word, and if they think of what they will be doing in a lifetime, it's even scarier," said Curran, executive director of the Duke University Career Center. The desire to have it all immediately, she said, is the toughest obstacle to job hunting today. "You do have to pay your dues."

Hathaway, of Barnes and Noble, said another perennial bookstore favorite is Martin Yate's "Knock 'em Dead: The Ultimate Job Seeker's Guide." It has sold 3 million copies since its first edition 21 years ago, according to publisher Adams Media, and inspired a series that includes guides on resumes and interviewing.

Yate said he took his experience as a former headhunter and personnel executive "to the other side of the desk" to say, "Here's what goes on and here's what's behind it and here's the kind of answer you want to give, and it's a good answer."