What should I do with my life? Ask mom?

Starting today parents will be arriving on campus for the annual Parents Weekend festivities. Most students indicate that their parents strongly influence their career choice. What is the best way to involve  your parents in your decision?

Ask for advice. Don’t ask them to make the calls. Ask for contacts. Don’t turn over your networking to mom and dad. This is your career and while your parents can provide perspective, you are the decision maker and you are the one closest to the information.

In the past two years we have heard from employers about parents who actually call to negotiate offers. If you look at our parents survey on this site, you will see a number of parents conduct the job search and negotiation for their student. If this is the process you are considering, why would you hand off the relationship development and management aspect of your job search to a third party? In this economy the employer wants to hear from you, not your agent.

Your four years at college provides an opportunity to explore options that did not exist when your parents went through the process of finding their first job. It is rare to find the parent outside of engineering who had an internship as part of their undergraduate curriculum. Today, internships are not an option and most students have at least one on the resume prior to graduation. You have the first hand experience to make your decision. Your parents can be a great sounding board as you evaluate the pros and cons of your decision.

The media has done a great job this year of frightening all of us into thinking there are no jobs out there. For now, this is a better story than the one about college students receiving offers from internship employers. You feel the pressure and your parents are worrying that you will be moving back home after investing in a four year degree.

Ask their advice and keep them posted on what you are doing. There will be less concern if you talk about what you are doing to explore your options. If you have a plan, it will be clear where you need help and how they can be involved.

Your parents know you the best. They know your strengths as well as your weak points. Involve them in the conversation and then make your decision. Rephrase the question. Instead of ‘mom, what should I do with my life?’; ask mom, I am considering three options, where do you see the best opportunity for me to utilize my strengths and develop as a professional?

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.