What to Encourage
1. Visit the Career Center: The Career Center office has valuable resources to create an advantage for students so they can develop skills and prepare for the world of work throughout their academic career.
2. Meet with a Career Center Adviser: The Career Center staff works very hard to provide the best services and resources for students and alumni to facilitate achieving their academic and professional goals. Career advisers can help students with major and career decisions, interview skills, resumes and cover letters, salary negotiation, job search strategies, and other career-related questions. Students are encouraged to make appointments (208-885-6121), as our career advisers are extremely busy! Walk-in hours are Monday thru Friday from 12:00-2:00 on most days but rely on adviser availability.
3. Develop Self-Awareness: Encourage your student to develop a greater understanding of her work-related values, interests, personality type, and skills early in her college career. The DISCOVER program is a great start to learning more about herself. Urge her not to wait until the senior year to do this!
4. Learn More About Possible Careers: Encourage your student to gather information about possible careers and majors. This includes learning more about work environments, salary ranges, educational requirements, and job outlooks. An informational resource is the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook at www.bls.gov/oco.
5. Identify Career Options: Encourage your student to develop a list of top five (or ten) career options to further explore and develop. Suggest he focus on the top three choices with two as back-up options.
6. Explore Options: One of the best ways to help your student make a decision about a career is to encourage hands-on experience through internships, summer or part-time jobs, volunteering, service-learning courses, and participating in student groups. Other experiential ways to learn from professionals are job shadowing, informational interviewing, and attending career fairs.
7. Create a Plan: Using the information your student has gathered, encourage him to develop a semester-by-semester plan to attain his goals. The clearer the plan the more likely he will accomplish his goals. Degree Audit on VandalWeb has an Academic Planner that he can use for classes. Creating a plan for applying to study abroad or internships in fields of interest, conducting research with a professor, scheduling visits with employers to network, and participating in volunteer work, clubs and organizations can help a student clarify his direction and become a well-rounded candidate for jobs or graduate school.
8. Prepare for the Job Search: Encourage your student to attend a Career Center workshop or visit with a career adviser about strategies on how to find jobs and internships. Help her build a network by introducing her to business contacts, friends and acquaintances in her careers of interest.
9. Participate in Career Center Sponsored Events: The Career Center sponsors several career fairs each semester that draw employers to The Palouse. The Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Job and Internship Fair and Corporate Job & Internship Fair are hosted during the fall semester, while the Spring Job, Internship & Grad School Fair is hosted in the spring semester. We also hold workshops, on-campus interviews, employer presentations, and other special annual events.
10. Get Involved: Student groups and organizations are a great way to meet other University of Idaho students and to connect with alumni and professionals. Other considerations are volunteering with ASUI, going on an alternative break trip or researching with a professor. The more experience, the better!