No matter how demanding the field of study your child is in, they should be working part-time during college. To learn to show up on time. To do what’s asked. To work with others no matter how annoying they are.
It matters less what job they do at this point and, in fact, having a crummy job is a great motivator to seek a good one in the future.
It’s fine to say, “Dear, ask your Uncle Al about his work as a CPA.” But it’s best to be more systematic. Bloomberg, the world’s largest business news organization, and its fabulous weekly magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, feature countless companies you and your child have probably never heard of, and those firms have jobs you’ve likely never imagined. Make it a monthly conversation (you can save up a few articles on interesting employers) to discuss what each of you has read.
Businessweek costs $99 a year, so $198 for the two of you. It’s old-fashioned to subscribe to a print publication, but having the thing land in your or your offspring’s mailbox weekly will prod you to have a look. Sound expensive? Think of the $100,000 to $200,000 you’re likely shelling out for college.
It’s OK — even tech companies hire more of them than they do engineers. Learn all about how liberal arts grads fit into the modern economy in a book by career expert George Anders: www.amazon.com/You-Can-Anything-Surprising-Education/dp/0316548804
Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, CareerBuilder, USAJobs and more exist to match workers with jobs, but learning to sort through the literally hundreds of thousands of postings is a job itself. Your collegian has time and should spend some of it subscribing to daily and weekly emails (and then perusing them) from these services.
They’re only useless if you don’t use them. Your kid should be on a first-name basis with someone in this office, to inquire about internships and job fairs and career paths.
The college may also refer your kid to affinity conferences: O4U, for instance, connects high-achieving LGBTQ+ undergraduates to top employers. ALPFA helps support Latino leaders at any stage of their careers.
To help acquaint your adult children with the working world, this list will get you and them started finding a satisfying career.
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