Pomona College

After feasting and football, the long Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to start talking turkey with your college student about their career plans.

What do they worry about? Who do they talk to about their career aspirations? What do students in their major do over the summer?

You don’t have to cover it all. Think of those four days as a warm-up for the longer holiday break college students typically get for several weeks in December and January.

Remember, staff members at the college career center won’t have as much time off as your student does. So once holiday closures have passed, the break is a good time for students to ask to set up a practice interview by phone or Skype, get help with a resume via email or receive other career guidance.

Parents have work to do as well. Your role is to use the break to check in with your student about their career plans in a series of conversations, not a single, daunting sit-down.

Before you get into career specifics, touch base about how your student is doing in school, academically, socially and emotionally. Pursue open-ended questions: What do you look forward to each week? If they make no mention of academics or, on the other hand, seem overwhelmed, you need to delve a little deeper.

Ask them about the resources their school offers to help. Have they ever been to a professor`s office hours?

If you don`t already know, find out whether your student is working at a job on campus or in the nearby community. They should be. Job experience teaches skills such as customer service, accountability, diplomacy and how to work with different supervisors.

Inquire about their activities beyond the classroom: Are there clubs, causes or activities they are passionate about? Employers want to see people who are good community members, and getting involved is another way for your student to learn about commitment and accountability.

Now it`s time to get more specific about the future. Has anything from their coursework in the last semester affected their career aspirations? Parents sometimes fail to recognize – and accept – that their student is no longer interested in becoming, say, a doctor or lawyer. A good question at this point: Who do you talk about your career aspirations with? More good ones: What do students in your major do over the summer? What are the deadlines?

Ah, summer. It may seem strange in the dead of winter, but this time of year is when your student should be looking into internships, research or other work opportunities for summer. The good news is that in December, students still have a lot of options. Mary Raymond is director of career development and associate dean of students at Pomona College in Claremont.