Prepare for launch
One of the most valuable things parents can do to help a student with career planning is to listen: Be open to ideas, try to help your student find information, and encourage your student to take personal responsibility in their career planning.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
1. Encourage your child to visit the CLCD
Next time you visit campus, drop into the Center for Leadership and Career Development. Many students use their first semester to "settle into" college life, and so perhaps the spring semester of the freshman year is the optimal time to start using Career Center services. It's also a good time for you to prompt that first visit. Ask your student (in an off-handed way), "Have you visited the Career Development Center?" If you hear, "You only go there when you are a senior," then it's time to reassure them that career services are not just for seniors, and meeting with a career counselor can take place at any point (and should take place frequently) in their college career. The sooner a student becomes familiar with the staff, resources and programs, the better prepared he or she will be to make wise career decisions.
2. Advise your student to write a résumé
Writing a résumé can be a "reality test" and can help a student identify weak areas that require improvement. Suggest your student get sample résumés from the CLDC. You can review résumé drafts for grammar, spelling and content, but it is recommend that the final product be critiqued by a career development professional.
3. Challenge your student to become "occupationally literate"
"Ask: "Do you have any ideas about what you might want to do when you graduate?"
If your student seems unsure, you can talk about personal qualities you see as talents and strengths. You can also recommend:
• Taking a "self-assessment inventory" offered by the Center for Leadership and Career Development
• Talking to favorite faculty members
• Researching a variety of interesting career fields and employers
• A career decision should be a process and not a one-time, last-minute event; discourage putting this decision off until the senior year
4. Allow your student to make the decision
Even though it is helpful to ask occasionally about career plans, too much prodding can backfire.
Myth: Picking your major means picking the career you will have forever.
Truth: That's not true anymore. "Major" does not necessarily mean "career,” and it is not unusual for a student to change majors. Many students change majors after gaining more information about specific fields of study and career fields of interest. Many students end up doing something very different than originally planned, so don't freak out when they come up with an outrageous or impractical career idea. Chances are plans will develop and change. It's fine to change majors—and careers.
It's OK to make suggestions about majors and career fields, but let your student be the ultimate judge of what's best. Career development can be stressful. Maybe this is the first really big decision that your son or daughter has had to make. Be patient, sympathetic and understanding, even if you don't agree with your child's decisions.
5. Emphasize the importance of internships
The Center for Leadership and Career Development will not "place" your child in a job at graduation. Colleges grant degrees, but not a job, so having relevant experience in this competitive job market is critical.
Your son or daughter can sample career options by completing internships and experimenting with summer employment opportunities or volunteer work.
Why an internship?
• Employers are interested in communication, problem-solving and administrative skills, which can be developed through internships
• Employers look for experience on a student's résumé and often hire from within their own internship programs
• Having a high GPA is not enough
• A strong letter of recommendation from an internship supervisor can often tip the scale of an important interview in their favor
6. Encourage extracurricular involvement
Part of experiencing college life is to be involved and active outside the classroom. Interpersonal and leadership skills—qualities valued by future employers—are often developed in extracurricular activities.
7. Persuade your student to stay up-to-date with current events
Employers will expect students to know what is happening around them. Buy your student a subscription to the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. When they are home on break, discuss major world and business issues with them.
8. Expose your student to the world of work
Most students have a stereotypical view of the workplace. Take your child to your workplace. Explain to your son or daughter what you do for a living. Show him or her how to network by interacting with your own colleagues. Help your student identify potential employers.
9. Teach the value of networking
Introduce your student to people who have the careers/jobs that are of interest. Suggest your son or daughter contact people in your personal and professional networks for information on summer jobs. Encourage your child to "shadow" someone in the workplace to increase awareness of interesting career fields.
10. Help the Center for Leadership and Career Development
Call your campus Center for Leadership and Career Development when you have a summer, part-time, full-time or internship job opening.