Parents love the idea of their 20-something kids getting hired right out of college. Preferably into well-paying jobs that use all the knowledge these kids have amassed during college.
Many parents are dismayed, though, when they find out that colleges don’t actually teach students how to get jobs.
Students who don’t realize this early on can find themselves with knots in their stomachs during senior year when their parents cheerfully ask, “How’s the job search going?”
These well-meaning parents likely have no idea—their soon-to-be college graduate doesn’t even know where to start looking.
What can students do?
This article is a guest post by career success blogger Sharise Kent.
Use it to open a conversation with a college student you love.
Sharise Kent says:
Let me speak directly to students here. If you’re a freshman, use these tips to get ahead of the game. If you’re a senior, all hope is not lost, you just need to act quickly.
(Jeannie Burlowski adds: “Parents, if you can, start planting these great ideas into your kids’ heads as early as middle school!”)
1. Students, take a career awareness class during your freshman year in college, or as soon as possible after that.
Ideally, this course will use self-assessment tools that will point you toward best-fit careers while providing info on job shadowing, using LinkedIn, finding an internship, the job search process, writing resumes, and interviewing. These courses tend to be about 1 or 2 credit hours and are not super challenging. Take this course as soon as you can fit it in, and watch it save you both time and money. Why? Because focused career goal early on means you won’t be paying $5,000 a pop for college classes you won’t ever actually need.
(In Chapter 13 of LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward, Jeannie Burlowski recommends that kids do high-quality career assessment work in 10th grade—so they can pick colleges well. But for students who missed that boat, freshman year of college is better than nothing.)
2. Don’t waste your breaks.
Plan ahead. Take charge of your own career development. Volunteer, take a non-academic course online that can teach you a new skill, read books, job shadow, and do informational interviews—all in the specific area of career focus you discovered while taking the class mentioned above.
I’m not saying that you have to be all work, all the time, but I am saying—don’t waste your time.
(And remember, the best summer internships are found in the winter.)
3. Keep good records on everything you’re doing.
This way, when it finally comes time to create a resume, you won’t forget a single thing you’ve done.
4. Use the career services office on your college campus, and use it early on.
In the best-case scenario, your first visit to your college’s career services office should happen early in your freshman year of college, or as soon as possible after that. On your first visit, start by asking this question: “What resources do you have here that’ll help me find a paid internship during college, and paid jobs after my college graduation?”
5. Intern early; intern often.
In my opinion, every college student absolutely must complete at least one internship before college graduation.
I don’t care if your major doesn’t require it, I am telling you, do an internship.
(Jeannie Burlowski writes very convincingly about the importance of college internships, here.)
I’ve placed over 400 interns with major companies across the country, many of whom went on to be hired. It is actually in your best interest to do multiple internships. I did eight internships in college, so I know it can be done.
Remember, when you graduate, you’ll be competing against thousands of other recent grads who also received good grades from good colleges. You’ll need to separate yourself from the pack. An internship will give you the hands-on experience that can be the difference-maker for you when it comes to getting noticed and getting hired.
Many thanks to Sherise Kent for this helpful, straightforward advice.
For additional help setting kids up to get actual jobs after college, get your copy of my book:
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
You can see the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH, here.
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
No part of this article was written using AI.
This article was updated on January 2nd, 2025.