How Can I Help My Son or Daughterr?

Encourage your student to make his or her own choices: You may be tempted to encourage your student to major in a particular area because it is a "HOT" field. Reality is that there is no such thing as a major that guarantees a job. Solid career decision making is based on a student's values, interests, personality and skills. Encourage your student to pursue something that reflects who he/she is.

Encourage "Real World" Experiences and Co-Curricular Activities: Helping and encouraging your student to arrange shadowing experiences, part-time jobs and internships in fields of interest can be very useful. Co-curricular activities that offer opportunities to demonstrate leadership, communication abilities, teamwork, time management, and other career-related skills will help your student prepare for the world of work. These "soft" skills are highly sought after by employers.

Offer Support and a Listening Ear: Don't ask the dreaded question: "What are you doing with your life?" This question often causes panic if it cannot be answered. Instead, encourage your student to begin to research his/her options early in their academic program. Offer to help research different areas. Be encouraging if they are getting frustrated.

Recommend Visits to the Career Center: We have a large staff with many areas of expertise. We offer a wide variety of services, from career counseling and resume critiques to on and off-campus career and internship fairs for your student. We can also help students make decisions about majors.

Be prepared for and accepting of change: Statistics show that on average the number of times students change majors ranges from two to SEVEN! Your student's career plans may shift significantly throughout his or her college career.

**If you are interested in recruiting UR students for either full-time jobs or internships at your place of employment, please e-mail contact information and a brief job description to recruit@mail.rochester.edu. We will be happy to post and promote this opportunity for you.