Will my daughter find a job in her field after graduation?

Note:  This is the second in a 4-Part Series about "Face Down Your Top Four College Fears & Help Your Student Succeed!"

This question requires a bit of a crystal ball and depends on a number of factors.

A primary factor is how diligently did your student look for a job both while in college and after graduation? Getting your résumé read can be challenging and dependent on factors out of the control of the applicant. But your student can enhance her chances of getting that all-important interview by:

• Seeking out and taking advantage of internship opportunities

during her college years

• Finding chances to shadow someone in the career she is seeking

• Doing informational interviews with professionals in her desired field

• Taking advantage of the college career center to keep her résumé up to date and ensure it contains the elements that will attract prospective employers

Some colleges require students to present an up-to-date résumé to professors at the beginning of every course they take. This forces students to learn the constructs of a résumé, to go through it with a career professional and
to keep it current by adding each honor, job and enhanced skill as these are acquired. If your student has not done this, feel free to call us for help.

Watch for Red Flags Along the Way

What if you don’t see your daughter progressing toward a career while she is in high school and college? First, try to determine what is keeping her from doing the things she needs to do to become independent and employable.

And try to avoid some of the well-meaning roadblocks I see parents putting in the paths of their student:

• Is she afraid of her looming independence?
• Is she concerned that she cannot make it on her own?
• Has she been given the opportunities to both succeed and to fail, or have you protected her from this?
• When you speak with her, is your focus on her intellectual growth or on her social growth?
• Is she subliminally receiving messages that your goals for her are different than those for her brother?
• Does she know how to keep a budget or do you pitch in when she runs short?

Foster responsibility by helping your high school student plan her budget, and making your financial expectations clear before your student leaves for college.

Tell her exactly how much spending money you are willing to put into
her account each semester and what you expect her to do if she overdraws that amount.  The goal, of course, is not to enable the behavior by adding more money to the account, but to expect that she will do something to earn money to offset the overdraw. There will be no advance on next semester’s deposit.

One of my students could not understand why she was not free to park in front of her residence hall even though it was clearly posted as a no parking zone. Soon after she brought her car to campus in her sophomore year, her parents began to see $10 parking tickets added to the quarterly tuition bill. After warning her of the consequence, rather than pay these fees for her, they opted to take the fee out of her next allotment.

She was incensed until she was willing to accept that the rules applied to her as well as to everyone else on campus and that she could not change them because she didn’t agree.

These are life lessons that responsible adults have to learn; without consequences, there is no growth!

Watch for Part 3 - Can I Afford to send Him to the School of His Dreams?  Our answer may surprise you!

Face Down Your Top Four College Fears And Help Your Student Succeed!

You want your student to get into a good college, have a fantastic college experience and find a rewarding career – all on an affordable budget! 

But where do you start sorting through the overwhelming steps of the college preparation and application process?  

After all, with 3,500 colleges nationwide, and tuition costs alone ranging from $23,410 a year upwards of $46,272 and up, there’s a lot at stake!

In my 20 years of work as a Certified Educational Planner, I’ve found that the top four fears that most concern parents are:

1.       If my student doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, how can he pick a major that will lead to a solid career?

2.       Will my daughter find a job in her field after graduation?

3.       Can I afford to send him to the school of his dreams?

4.       Will my daughter incur so much debt that she will end up living at home again?

This blog post series is designed to examine each of these concerns and give parents some solid strategies to lead to their student’s success. Today's blog post will deal with the first question:

1. If my student doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, how can he pick a major that will lead to a solid career?

Have no fear! Think back to when you were 17. Did you know exactly what you wanted to do and did your life unfold as you expected it to? 

One of the best ways to help your student identify his interests is to encourage him to think about what he is good at and what he likes to do.

Is he a hands-on learner? Does he prefer to work alone or in groups? Does he prefer to learn by doing or from practical experience? Is he more of a theory or application person? 

Simply asking him these questions won’t get to the answers you seek because teenagers, although self-involved, are not usually self-aware. What does that mean? It means that they don’t tend to think deeply about the big questions like:

·         Who am I?

·         What makes me happy?

·         How do I learn?

The best way to answer these questions is not by direct questioning, but through careful observation on your part. As you watch your son take apart the engine of the car, for example, comment on the fact that he really seems to enjoy working with his hands.

Ask if he thinks this has something to do with his desire to know how things work or more that he likes to solve the puzzles of how they are put together. When he tells you that he does not enjoy chemistry class but loved biology, ask why he thinks this might be. Is it because biology is a more visible science and chemistry more theoretical?

Does he have a facility for foreign language but has no idea what he can do with it? Point out the opportunities in our global economy for those who are multi-lingual.

Career Assessments are Useless without Feedback

One of the ways I do help my students to identify their passions is to administer the Strong Interest Inventory and, often, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Many high schools also administer a version of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, but they frequently don’t review the results with the student.

Career assessments without the crucial element of follow up is a waste of time for the student and money for the school district.  One student I worked with resisted taking the assessment because of his negative experience taking the MBTI on the Naviance College & Career Readiness Platform at his school.

None of the career options presented to him had rung true, or were things that he saw as leading to a successful life. No one explained to him about personality preferences (for example, one is not an ESTJ but one shows a preference for that personality style in personal interactions).  As a certified career coach, I’m qualified to have these discussions with your student over the many months we typically work together. This offers him a chance to ask questions as they develop and as he grows and matures.

Watch for our next blog post on "Will my daughter find a job in her field after graduation?"

Klaar to Host March Seminars on Planning for College, Finances

Klaar College Consulting is offering several educational seminars to help students and parents to prepare for applying for college. The seminars will be led by Charlotte Klaar, Ph.D., Director of Klaar College Consulting, and Dianne Keilholtz, M.S., a Nationally Certified Counselor who recently joined Klaar College Consulting as an Independent Educational Consultant.

The seminars will offer timely information on: planning for college as a sophomore, junior and senior; scholarships and financial aid options; standardized tests; and changes in college applications.

The seminars are on Saturday, March 22, 9 a.m. – 12 noon at the Frederick Campus of Mount St. Mary’s University at 5350 Spectrum Dr., Frederick, and Saturday, March 29 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Comfort Inn, 1872 Edwin Miller Blvd., Martinsburg, WV.  Refreshments will be served.  RSVP to 301-834-6888 or charlotte@cklaar.com.

 “Ms. Keilholtz spent 28 years with Frederick County Public Schools, most recently as a guidance

Dianne Keilholtz

counselor,” and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her new role at Klaar College Consulting,” noted Dr. Klaar.

Ms. Keilholtz earned her Bachelor’s in Special Education at Hood College, and her M.S. in Guidance and Counseling from McDaniel College. She is also an Associate member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA).

Dr. Klaar is a Certified Educational Planner with more than 19 years of experience in her field. She also holds a PhD in general psychology from Capella University, a BA in liberal studies from the University of the State of New York, a teaching certificate from William Patterson University, and an MS in interdisciplinary science studies from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Klaar is an active member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling.