By Terese Corey Blanck and Peter Vogt
You may not know it - yet! - but when your son/daughter is at college, he/she is surrounded by people and offices that can offer career-related guidance. Here are 10 career resources your child can tap without setting foot off campus.
The Career Center
Practically all colleges and universities have at least one career center staffed by professionals who are specifically trained to help college students with career development issues. On most small campuses, one career center serves the entire student population. At bigger schools, however, you'll often discover that there are several career centers - typically one that serves the entire campus as well as others that serve a specific college or school at the institution.
The Counseling Center
Most schools also have a counseling center where your son/daughter can get help with a variety of personal issues (e.g., stress, depression, relationship problems, and the like). Many of these counseling centers employ at least one person who devotes some or all of his/her time to helping students with career-related issues - particularly career planning concerns like exploring majors and occupations.
The Multicultural Center
Many campuses have an office devoted to the needs of students from underrepresented groups. If your child happens to be a member of an underrepresented group, he/she can often get insightful career advice from professionals and peer advisors who work in this office.
Professors
Professors are among the most underutilized career resources where students are concerned - most students simply don't think to ask their professors about career issues. Yet many professors have strong connections with for-profit and nonprofit organizations away from campus, not to mention years of experience in their chosen fields.
The Alumni/ae Office
Most colleges and universities work diligently to develop and maintain strong relationships with their alumni/ae - and not just for financial purposes (i.e., donations to the school). Some alumni/ae offices, often in conjunction with the campus career center, maintain databases of alums who have volunteered to talk with current students about their careers. Your son/daughter already has a connection with these people - a connection that can lead to career advice at a minimum and perhaps even an internship or a job at some point.
Academic Advisors
Different schools have different models when it comes to helping students choose which courses to take and which major(s) to pursue. Your child may work with a faculty advisor in a certain academic department. Or your child may work with an advisor who is on staff at a campus-wide "academic advising center." Whatever the model, your child has access to an advisor who knows the school's course offerings and majors - broadly speaking, at least. That advisor can be a great source of career information and ideas. (And as the person who is often the "first line of defense" if your son/daughter should run into problems of any kind, he/she is typically quite savvy about referring your child to other helpful resources on [and perhaps even off] campus.)
Residence Hall Staff
If your child lives in an on-campus residence hall, chances are he/she has a "resident assistant" (RA) who lives a few doors (literally) down. These upper-class student leaders typically go through extensive training before each school year begins so that they know how to help their fellow residents if those residents should have any problems. In many cases, RAs have themselves wrestled with the same career issues your child might be going through - so they offer a unique, peer-to-peer perspective that your son/daughter may not be able to find elsewhere. Moreover, RAs are connected closely to professional residence hall staff, who can also be helpful career resources for your child.
Freshman Year Experience (FYE) Staff
Each year, more and more campuses are launching Freshman Year Experience (FYE) initiatives aimed at helping first-year students adjust successfully to life at college. The professionals and student leaders in these programs work closely with small groups of freshmen. The result: If your son/daughter is (or was) in an FYE program at school, he/she got to know at least a few of the FYE staff fairly well. Encourage your child to approach his/her FYE contacts to get yet another perspective on career concerns.
Orientation Staff
If your son/daughter attended freshman orientation prior to the first day of classes, he/she undoubtedly met professional and peer members of the school's orientation staff. These staff members and students work hard to give new freshmen the best possible chance of succeeding at college, both in and out of the classroom. They tend to know campus resources inside and out, which puts them in an excellent position to either help your child directly with his/her career concerns or refer your child to others on campus who can be of assistance.
Other Student Affairs/Student Services Staff
Typically, most or even all of the campus resources highlighted above are housed under a larger organizational umbrella called "Student Affairs" or "Student Services." If your child has career concerns but has absolutely no idea of where to begin looking for on-campus help, encourage him/her to go directly to the "Office of Student Affairs" (or a similarly named department). The professionals there - including the dean of students, perhaps, or the vice president for student services - can either offer their own career suggestions or, more likely, direct your son/daughter to the people on campus who can be of the most help.
You and your child are already paying the salaries of these professionals through your tuition dollars and student fees. So take advantage of their expertise - not to mention their desire to help all students find their way at college and beyond.
-- Terese Corey Blanck and Peter Vogt are career coaches with College to Career, a Minneapolis company that offers personal career coaching geared to the unique needs of high school and college students. To learn more about College to Career, visit the company's web site at www.collegetocareer.net. Or contact Terese Corey Blanck, President, at 763-494-4447 or tblanck@collegetocareer.net.
Copyright © 2003, Terese Corey Blanck and Peter Vogt. All rights reserved.
