准备发射
One of the most valuable things parents can do to help a student with career planning is to listen: Be open to ideas, 试着帮助你的学生找到信息, and encourage your student to take personal responsibility in their career planning.
你能做些什么?
1. 鼓励你的孩子参观本中心
Next time you visit campus, drop into the 领导力和职业发展中心. 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 职业中心 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?如果你听到, “你只有在大四的时候才能去那里," 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, 资源和项目, the better prepared he or she will be to make wise career decisions.
2. 建议你的学生写一篇综述
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. 你可以检查一下是否有语法问题, 拼写和内容, 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. 你也可以推荐:
• Taking a "self-assessment inventory" offered by the 领导力和职业发展中心
•与最喜欢的教员交谈
• 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. 让你的学生自己做决定
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.
真相:现在已经不是这样了. "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. 计划可能会发展和改变. 换专业、换职业没有问题.
It's OK to make suggestions about majors and career fields, but let your student be the ultimate judge of what's best. 职业发展可能充满压力. 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. 强调实习的重要性
The 领导力和职业发展中心 will not "place" your child in a job at graduation. 大学授予学位, 但不是工作, 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.
为什么要实习??
•雇主对沟通感兴趣, 解决问题和管理技能, 哪些可以通过实习来培养
• Employers look for experience on a student's résumé and often hire from within their own internship programs
•GPA高是不够的
• A strong letter of recommendation from an internship supervisor can often tip the scale of an important interview in their favor
6. 鼓励参与课外活动
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. 让你的学生接触工作世界
Most students have a stereotypical view of the workplace. 把你的孩子带到你的工作场所. 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. 教授人际关系的价值
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 领导力和职业发展中心
Call your campus 领导力和职业发展中心 when you have a summer, 兼职, 全职或实习职位.