What your college junior and senior should be doing over winter break

Parents Forum
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<p>I’ve read a couple of the “my kid is procrastinating” threads started by parents who are tearing their hair out over the undone essays and applications. So I thought I’d kick off a helpful thread by those whose kids are now graduated from college, gainfully employed, and paying taxes (in some cases, LOTS of taxes) to help the parents of juniors and seniors guide, coax, nag or torment their procrastinating progeny. Our kids did it, yours can too!</p>

<p>Juniors- you can’t wait until spring break to come home and look for a job. You will tell your parents, “all the jobs around here are taken” and it will be true. Taken by kids who spent winter break looking for a summer job or internship. So hit it hard now in December. If you’re not planning on coming home and want to be in one of the college-kid mecca’s like DC, NY or SF, you really need to be proactive. Write that resume; bang out three or four cover letters which will be useful when you need to turn-around an application quickly- you’ll just need to cut and paste if you’ve got your basic format set. Ask a few grown-ups to do a role-play interview with you. Start spreading the word about your interests to see who in your parent’s world can be helpful. And send off a few thank you notes to TA’s or professors who were particularly helpful to you during the semester; you will need these people as references or sources of ideas.</p>

<p>Seniors- </p>

<p>You need to have an “elevator pitch” when someone asks you what you plan to do when you graduate. Preferably without rolling your eyes. Don’t mumble, “I’m hoping to do something in media”. That may be accurate but it’s not helpful. What’s helpful is, “I’d love to work for a political blog or magazine. I’ve got great writing, editing and computer skills. If you know anyone who could connect me or who’d be willing to spend time with me on the phone to talk about their business I’d be really grateful”. This is the pitch you give the eye doctor, the dentist, your Pastor/Rabbi, all the people you run into when you’re home on break. Believe it or not, people who run magazines actually go to the eye doctor and the dentist.</p>

<p>You need an error free resume plus the cover letters per the above.</p>

<p>You need a list of organizations who do the things you’re interested in doing. So when Mom’s college roommate who happens to show up for a couple of days over New Years says, “Can I be helpful in your job search” you don’t have to say, “well I guess so I’ll get back to you.” You get to say, “I’m interested in TV news and production. If you know anyone at a network, a station, a talent agency, or anything remotely connected to the industry I’d be so happy to follow up with them.”</p>

<p>You need a reality check on money and geography. Money because the first three jobs you hear about for post-grad will pay 29K per year and you will have already decided that you won’t take anything under 50K. Geography because the sexy sounding jobs in museums and galleries are in NY but your old high school math teacher wants to introduce you to the director of a museum in Fort Worth Texas. Reality- your first job won’t pay you what you think you’re worth. It’s called the labor market for a reason. Reality- you will either get a job, any job, possibly a terrible job, in your desired location, or a great job which can get you started on a wonderful career path in a location you aren’t interested in. Now you decide.</p>

<p>Any other parents of college grads want to share?</p>

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<p>Thank you for this thread, blossom. I, for one, am very appreciative of, and interested in, threads which discuss life for young people after the bachelor’s degree. This includes talk of internships, graduate school and employment.</p>

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<p>I would add that this holds true for seniors thinking about pursuing graduate studies, too. Most program deadlines are coming up if not now, soon. Applications submitted later than January are usually at a disadvantage when it comes to funding. Program search, letters of rec, transcripts, statements of purpose, GREs… all of that stuff takes time.</p>

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<p>I have a college senior who really needs a good talking to. He is to my amazement graduating after 4 yrs. He is ADD and has huge executive function disorder. He means well but things just don’t seem to get done. I know he has not visited the career center nor is his resume and portfolio ready to be sent out.
Laughing about the dentist. He went in for a cleaning today and the person cleaning his teeth said her H might have a job for him. Hygienist made a note for herself to talk to her spouse but it is up to S to follow through. I am not holding my breath.</p>

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<p>All I want for Christmas is to see my two soon to be grads employed. One of them already landed a great job and now his brother needs one. This would really make a heck of a wonderful Christmas present! I am biting my nails.</p>

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<p>My college senior already has a job lined up that starts in July. </p>

<p>She can spend the whole break sleeping or watching TV if she wants to.</p>

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<p>My S hasn’t done much except start to worry about it. I plan to have the discussion after his finals are over. He attends a college with an incredible career center, but he says that won’t help because he doesn’t want a “big corporate” job.</p>

<p>At any rate, I spent my entire sr. year of college in a panic about finding a job. The stress was enormous and I didn’t enjoy one minute of that year. I’m not stressing about this for him. He’ll do ok; he’ll have the initiative to find something. He has said he’ll take any job whether or not it’s in his major, so I think that’s a good sign. It’s also fine if he lives here for awhile. His livestock herd is here and truthfully, he’s more help than hindrance.</p>

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<p>Having plans for after graduation is not just a matter of relieving the financial burden on parents. It’s also part of beginning to establish yourself in an adult life and a career.</p>

<p>Sometimes, this means graduate or professional school. Other times, this means getting a job. And in still other cases, it may involve a short-term plan that precedes graduate school or a long-term job (for example, some students sign up for a year with Teach for America). </p>

<p>Students who wait until they graduate to think about looking for jobs may eliminate some possibilities for themselves. There are some types of jobs for which the recruiting (usually, through the colleges’ on-campus recruiting systems) takes place early in senior year. And graduate programs may have deadlines of around the middle of senior year. So although a student might prefer to spend senior year without the burden of planning for life’s next step, it is not always the best idea to do it that way.</p>

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<p>Blossom,
I can relate well to your thinking behind this thread.</p>

<p>Senior year of college was stressful because of interviews and trips across country for jobs. Son came home for winter vacation and then flew out to NY and then again to Boston. It wasn’t restful.</p>

<p>Last December, grad school applications. If the ap was due 12/9, it was submitted 12/9. The whole week home was busy. Then 6 weeks of interviews, sometimes 2 in a week. Got stuck in 3 snowstorms.</p>

<p>Now he is first year in grad school, and he is already facing the reality that he will be going thru this process again for postdocs and later for academic positions. Now he questions if he should have remained in CS (his UG major) and pursued a commercial degree. </p>

<p>Parents who think getting into college is an end stage need to brace themselves for the stress & uncertainties of the years ahead. I think it is difficult to be a young person these days.</p>

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<p>I think it was difficult for us, too. </p>

<p>The transition from college to adult life involves a lot of changes, a lot of new responsibilities, a lot of stumbling and fumbling and course changes, and very suddenly, the lack of a linear, predetermined path to follow.</p>

<p>I found it to be one of the most challenging and disconcerting periods in my own life, and I made lots of mistakes – a few of them serious – during the first decade after graduation. I expect that my kids will make plenty of mistakes, too.</p>

<p>In comparison, the transition from high school to college seems simple. For most kids, the question isn’t “Will I go to college?” It’s “What college will I go to?” The path is already laid out; only the details remain to be filled in.</p>

<p>But for students who are graduating, the question “What will I do next?” is very open-ended, and the related question “Now that I’ve decided what I want to do next, can I make it work?” is just as difficult.</p>

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<p>Marion, you are spot on. I went for PhD, not MD, not realizing fully the financial/prestige isuues. I chose wrong roommates and mate.</p>

<p>So, I do worry for son. I’ve encouraged him to talk to people who know more about his field. When he interned in CS, he noted that the staff worked until 10 pm, and wondered what kind of family and personal life they could have. At his first real job, he was paid well to do data entry–bored silly. Satisfaction could have been far different at another company. He is doing well in grad school, enjoying the work and colleagues. Finding more time to be social. Loving the city. BUT-- he looks at the advanced students and sees the continual job struggles and compromises with relocations. Is advice e.g. “pursue your passion and things will work out” appropriate?</p>

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<p>Not necessarily, in my opinion.</p>

<p>“Investigate your passion and see what it involves” might be more appropriate. Some people, for example, do not want to work 70-hour weeks, but that’s what their passion requires. They might not feel so passionate about that line of work once they realize how badly it scores in terms of work/life balance.</p>

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<p>Unfortunatel, I have nothing to add but did want to thank the OP for this very practical and useful thread. Also thanks for the ■■■■■ warning–it usually takes a CC old-timer to quickly identify them and call them out.</p>

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<p>I’m in Marian’s shoes. My senior son already has his job lined up. He’s spending the entire vacation playing World of Warcraft. It almost makes me wish he had job hunting to do!</p>

<p>Good luck to the kids and parents of kids who have to spend their vacations more productively!</p>

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<p>Junior D spent all of her fall quarter interviewing for internships for Summer 2011. It was pretty high-presssure and stressful: crafting a resume, buying new “career clothes”, researching companies, hitting the job and internship fairs, interviewing and re-interviewing. It turned out well - she had three internships to choose from and will be working for her “dream employer” next summer. But it was a long, time-consuming process - she swears it was like taking an extra class.</p>

<p>Here’s my warning - I didn’t realize (and neither did she!!) that the process began so early in the school year. First interviews were over by October 1! Luckily she has a few mentors already in her field (they told her to start early) AND she haunted her school’s career office. They were tons of help. Apparently this is “the way things are done” in her field, but since no one in my family is “in her field” - we just didn’t know.</p>

<p>If things go well this summer, her internship will become her permanent job upon graduation. How great is that?! It scares me a little that she almost missed out, just because we didn’t know how early the process begins…</p>

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<p>Senior D will be relaxing during break. She is in a non-traditional field where contacts matter most, and jobs are not posted anywhere. She has several people with their ear to the ground for opportunities for her … and she is making more contacts all the time. She is fully aware that she may be taking whatever work she can find come May while she waits for a job to open. If all else fails, she will regroup & figure out what to do from there.</p>

<p>D has a great head on her shoulders. She understands what things cost, and she knows she will be scraping to get by for awhile. She will be fine.</p>

<p>On the other hand, my good friend’s son graduates this month & has a great job lined up. Traditional job fields are hiring, although I suspect friend’s son had some contacts from the family he used (nothing wrong with that, obviously!).</p>

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<p>My senior S says he’s reviewing math for the GRE, which he’ll take in February. He’s also started some reading for next semester. He applied for a summer internship–just one so far, because if he doesn’t get it, his backup plan is a summer study abroad program that relates to his major and field of interest. Deadlines for other internships seem to be in January and beyond. He is not in a field where he’s likely to have a job lined up when he graduates in 2012. He’ll either be job hunting or headed to grad school for a master’s program. I’ve decided that beginning this week, I’m approaching his next life transition not by asking questions or making suggestions (I am so good at that–ugh), but by taking the opportunity to talk with him about his dreams. I don’t do that often enough.</p>

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<p>OP, good intention. Our DD is college junior so I am speaking from the real world.</p>

<p>If any parents still have to “coax, nag or torment” their juniors and seniors, they have something much bigger to worry about. </p>

<p>They are adults, for crying out loud, and let them control their lives. By now they should have had two or three summer jobs already.</p>

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<p>Dad, thanks for the shout-out but I know at least a dozen college seniors who have done nothing about landing a job yet. These are great kids- many at top schools- and they’ve had a bunch of summer jobs. But if a parent is an academic or a physician or a social worker and the kid is interested in working at a magazine or a think-tank or a consulting firm, the parent may not be aware that the kid is behind the 8 ball.</p>

<p>And kudos to you if your DD has already lined up her professional life so far ahead of time.</p>

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<p>My senior son has a very good job lined up upon graduation, which came about as a result of his internship last summer. During the winter break he will be continuing his research in the lab at school, so unfortunately, our winter visit will be rather short.</p>