Looking for a great present to give your parents for the holidays? Just give them this blog post and tell them you’re willing to have a brief conversation about the questions raised while you’re home from school. Believe me, it’s the best Christmas or Chanukah present you can give them.
My Gift: Answers to Three Questions
So your child is a college senior and you’re worried about what’s next for them. Their future job prospects probably won’t be a popular topic during the holiday break. Want to make a difference without driving them crazy? Here’s how.
In writing my book, Graduate to a Great Job, I’ve done more than 40 case studies of recent grads who’ve landed successfully in the job market. Here are three questions we asked our daughter when she was home for the holidays as a college senior. (Oh, yes, I’m living this dream!)
1. How would you like us to support you in your post-college job search?
It’s their life and their job search. You’re not going to do it for them. So ask their permission for how you can help them in making the transition from college into the work world. Chances are there is a lot of ambivalence about this. And they might not even recognize the different ways you can help. Here’s a menu of things you can offer to accelerate their career focus and job search. You could:
• Brainstorm a list of people for potential “informational” interviews
• Discuss different types of jobs or companies to consider in a specific city or region
• Proof read a resume draft
• Edit cover letters/emails to accompany job applications
• Identify acquaintances living in a city where your child wants to work to help them with networking and living arrangements
• Talk through potential answers to common interview questions
• Role play job interviews to help practice
• Be a sounding board to react to progress reports, expected questions and set backs that will arise during every job search.
• Offer to review their on-line digital footprint to provide an “older” adult’s perspective on what potential employers will find when they Google your child.
Warning!!
2. What’s your timetable for starting work after school? When do you hope to have a job?
Does your child want to start working right after graduation, during the summer, September 1st, or by next Christmas? It’s essential to understand their plans because people just entering the workforce often wildly underestimate the time it takes to land a serious full-time job. It’s likely to take two to six months.
Clarifying expectations about starting work dictates when a student’s job search must start. This can force difficult choices during senior year when the demands of course work, sports, extracurricular and social activities imply there’s no time to look for work until after graduation.
Discussing expected start dates for working is another way to set expectations about the limits of family financial support when school ends. How long are you willing to underwrite your child’s attempts at writing the next Oscar-winning screen play? Launching the next killer Internet business? Developing an award winning video game?
Parents have a wide range of resources and patience for supporting new grads. Some parents expect their children to support themselves right after graduation, no matter what kind of job they must take. Others are willing to subsidize a much more leisurely career exploration process. Best to make your expectations explicit.
3. What kind of help are you getting – and using – at school?
The quality of career services support at colleges and universities today varies tremendously. And the perception of a school’s career center can be influenced a lot by a student’s major. Humanities majors often complain their career center is only geared to support business and economics majors. That’s because these students usually have more narrowly defined career interests and it’s easier to point them to specific job openings.
In practice, many students write off their career center before really giving it a try. Career center directors I work with are extremely anxious to help students of all types. And the successful grads profiled in my book consistently expressed regret for not using these resources more. “I wish I had been more open-minded,” said Taylor, a psychology major who eventually landed a job with an investment bank. “Learn about the career services your school offers right away. Don’t put it off. Even if you aren’t looking for a job yet, start to learn how to do a search.”
Even if your child found support for resume writing to be lame, encourage them to check out career center resources for networking with alumni or mock interview training. And remind them that working with a career counselor isn’t a one-stop event. It’s an ongoing process that can require multiple visits before graduation.
That’s it! Answering these three questions is the best holiday present you can get – or give. They will save you both money – now and after graduation. Happy holidays!
For many more practical ideas about how to accelerate that post-college job search, check out my recent book Graduate to a Great Job: Make Your College Degree Pay Off in Today’s Market. It’s a great holiday gift and even has a chapter for parents!