“An effective streamlined replacement for the current college-based career services already exists.”
Please share.
OP- and in other news, there is no Santa Claus.
If your kids seriously expect corporate recruiters to “mentor” them- boy. Our job is to meet our recruiting targets- worldwide- in the most efficient way possible while abiding by all laws and regulations in each country where we operate, and also fulfill other goals such as diversity, strategic foreign languages, special skills and abilities, etc. without our shareholders asking the question “why does it take a billion dollars to recruit when last year it only took 50 million” or whatever the numbers are.
And you think that mentoring random college students is part of a recruiters job? No. A college student who literally has no idea whether he or she is interested in teaching, becoming a social worker, or working in media sales by the time they are ready to hit the job market needs more than a mentor.
Kids don’t need to have their “forever” careers lined up while they are in HS or college. And they should expect to switch fields, go to grad school, and reinvent themselves any number of times in the next 20 years.
But a kid needs a “mentor” to figure out if they want to apply to the Peace Corps, apply to Teach for America, or get an entry level job as a biostatistician with a drug company when they graduate???
Has this kid NEVER realized that parental support stops at some point and there needs to be a plan?
Gotta say- can’t blame career services for a 22 year old who has no idea what he/she is interested in. Zero zip no clue?
I have a feeling that employment prospects are determined to a great extent by the type of schools one goes to. A fluffy degree from a lower tier schools are unlikely to be a big boost in securing a job.
@hzhao2004: School and major/training.
Companies will fill pretty much zero of their engineering positions with straight humanities majors.
@blossom Of course, corporate recruiters should not mentor–they work for corporations, not for the students. They don’t have the time to spend in one-on-one coaching. Neither do university career counselors–you are lucky to be able to book 30 minutes a few weeks/months in advance during busy season at the top Ivies.
Reinvention is great; foundering without direction is not.
“But a kid needs a “mentor” to figure out if they want to apply to the Peace Corps, apply to Teach for America, or get an entry level job as a biostatistician with a drug company when they graduate???”
My answer to this would be a resounding “YES!” All those jobs are merely words unless the student knows a real human being who has actually spent years of his/her life in that sector and can provide the student with the real low-down–not over a 30-minute coffee or lunch break, but over a period of time, through concentrated, committed nurturing mentorship. Some parents are amazing that way, no question, but we don’t always follow our parents’ career tracks. Sometimes our inclinations lead us in radically different directions. And parents can often be too emotionally invested to be objective when advising their offspring. It’s important for our young people not to be shooting arrows into the dark as they grow in their career paths. Universities are full of young people and career academics–that world is radically different from the world of work. Moreover, not all students are well-connected; not all students instinctively know how to work the system–to wade through alumni databases and hone in on those mentors who can add the most value to their job search. Even if they do, those mentors are besieged by so many students, they simply can’t have the kind of one-on-one relationship with a student even if they were willing and eager to do so.
@Careerthoughts, a lot of us are telling you that many of the things you suggest, like job shadowing, sessions with career counseling professionals, and internships are already available to students, so let me ask a question. At Careerthoughts University how would you design career counseling center to do a better job? What would your ideal set up look like? If your plan involves hiring additional staff where would the required funds come from?
@Careerthoughts I think @notveryzen was spot-on about the differences between some schools, and this is an important part of the consideration of where to go. Judging by the school pamphlets coming to my house (my daughter is a rising HS senior), most schools have clued into the importance and necessity of providing these kinds with internship and mentorship possibilities. I’m sorry your child’s school didn’t provide that, but he/she is still entitled to use their services and should be very pro-active with them now. They have a vested interest in their graduates finding a job within 6 months of graduation, so your child should set up an appointment with them asap. Even if their school has no formalized program, many older alumni are willing to give some time to recent graduates and talk to them. Your child needs to be actively pursuing that route. You might also want to consider hiring a private pay career counselor at this point. There are also books about how you can create mentorship opportunities throughout your career, because we all know that careers aren’t static anymore. I agree that this kind of counseling should have been part of the services provided at school, but if it’s not, you have to look at other routes.