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Ten Speed Sends Parachutes to Out-of-Work Legislators
What comes after congress?After the mid-term elections, six senators and twenty-one representatives are now out of a job, with five House incumbents still waiting to hear.
To help these civic-minded men and women in their search for a new career and a new life, Ten Speed Press is donating a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute? — the world’s best-selling job-hunting, career-changing, and soul-searching manual — to every incumbent who lost a seat in the election. Books have been mailed out and will arrive on the desks of the outgoing legislators in time for Christmas.
What does one do after serving in Congress? Do they go back to their old jobs? Do they retire? Do they start new companies, or new foundations? Or do they have to start sending out resumes all over again? (“Qualifications: Member of Congress. Reason for leaving: decline to state.”)
Outgoing Rep. Richard Pombo, who lost a tight race in his central California district, is “already getting job offers, but must wait because of ethics rules. He’s hoping to push the agenda of property-rights groups.” (November 20, San Francisco Chronicle). But before he starts pushing agendas, perhaps he should look within and seeing if pushing agendas is what he truly wants. Author Richard Nelson Bolles says, “Most job-hunters who fail to find their dream job, fail not because they lack information about the job market, but because they lack information about themselves.” Mr. Pombo may be an experienced agenda-pusher, but perhaps he may be better suited for a job as an actuary or a florist. And as with most job-hunters, the search must begin with some tough questions (“Is being an agenda-pusher truly my mission in life? Do my constituents still love me, even though they are no longer my constituents?”).
As a publishing house, Ten Speed Press is an independent — and therefore nonpartisan — and is sending What Color Is Your Parachute? to the outgoing members regardless of party affiliation. Ten Speed sincerely hopes that these public servants find work that is as spiritually fulfilling and financially rewarding as making new laws.