Guide to Careers

A Parents' Guide to Career Development

One of the most valuable things parents can do to help a student with career planning is listen, be open to ideas, try to help your student find information, and be nonjudgmental.  Here are 10 ways you can help:

1. Encourage your student to visit Career Services. (You can go too!)

Next time you visit campus, drop into Career Services and pick up a business card from one of the staff members. When your student is feeling anxious about the future, offer the card and say, "Please call this person. He (or she) can help you."

Many students use their first semester to "settle into" college life so perhaps the spring semester of the freshman year is the optimal time to start using Career Services. It's a good time for you to prompt that first visit.

Ask your student, "Have you visited Career Services?" If you hear, "You only go there when you are a senior," then it's time to reassure them that Career Services is 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.

Career Services offers a full range of career development and job-search help including:

• mock interviews
• a network of alumni willing to talk about their jobs and careers
• a library of books on a wide range of careers
• workshops on writing resumes and cover letters
• a recruiting program
• individual advising

2. Advise your student to write a resume

Writing a resume can be a "reality test" and can help a student identify weak areas that require improvement. Suggest that your student get sample resumes from Career Services, from books at the library or online.

You can review resume drafts for grammar, spelling, and content, but recommend that the final product be critiqued by a Career Services 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, talk about their personal qualities you see as talents and strengths. You can also recommend:

• Taking a "self-assessment inventory," such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator at Career Services
• 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. Encourage your student to think about their future long before their senior year.

4. Allow your student to make the decision.

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 career idea. Chances are plans will develop and change. It's okay to change majors-and careers.

It's okay 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 student 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

Career Services will not "place" your student in a job at graduation. Colleges grant degrees but not job guarantees, so having relevant experience in this competitive job market is critical. Your student 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 that are developed through internships.
• Employers look for experience on a student's resume and often hire from within their own internship through internships.
• Employers look for experience on a student's resume 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 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.