It’s an exciting time of year at Boston College as students are celebrating a successful school year with on-campus concerts, mud-volleyball tournaments, and Commencement. We are thrilled to see our students so excited to end their semester, but we want to be sure that they are using these upcoming summer months to continue to build toward career goals too. As parents and families, you can play a big role in helping students take ownership of their career development.

Please use this article as a guide on how to support your student’s career journey this summer.


My Student Is Still Figuring Things Out

Some exploring students may be looking to prototype, or try out some of their possible career interests on a small scale. Here are some options your student might consider to give them a small taste of a career before they take the bigger leap into an internship or full-time job:

  • The Focus 2 Career Portal provides students with the opportunity to take a series of self-assessments to identify their interests, values, and skills. Based on a student’s results, the portal generates a tailored list of BC-specific majors as well as a variety of occupations for a student to explore. Students can learn about occupations of interest in depth as well as compare, save, rate, and make notes on them. Reviewing results with a career coach or advisor can be helpful for generating next steps.

  • The Praxis Summer Program provides resources to help students develop the skills all employers are seeking regardless of industry. Developing these key skills can be a great way to discover new interests and talents while they continue to explore their specific career options. 

  • Job shadowing, even if for one day, can be a great way for students to witness behind-the-scenes workings of a specific career. Students can reach out to BC alumni via Eagle Exchange or connect with family, parents of friends, or other members of their community to request a job shadow. Oftentimes, the conversations that occur during the job shadow about individual paths can be most impactful for students.

  • Even if your student isn’t interested in pursuing work in the nonprofit sector, volunteering for an organization will give them the opportunity to see how a workplace functions, expose them to different functional areas, and allow them to develop skills.

  • LinkedIn Learning provides Boston College students with over 15,000 on-demand courses on skills ranging from communication and teamwork to coding and data visualization. Taking a course or completing a learning pathway can be a great way to explore an area of interest or develop a sought-after skill.


My Student Is Ready for an Internship

Once a student has moved through the prototyping phase, they may be ready to pursue an internship. Every career field follows unique recruiting cycles and general hiring timelines. To succeed in an internship search, students need to be aware of the recruiting cycles for their industry of choice. While there are still internships available for this summer, some recruitment cycles occur earlier in the year. Here are some strategies they may consider to secure an internship in their chosen field:

  • Make sure you know what you want in an internship. Start with the basics—what industry do you want to work in, or what do you want your role to be? If you aren’t quite sure yet, meet with our career exploration coaches to talk about how your skills, interests, and values align with different career paths.

  • Have a search strategy in place. Schedule an appointment with the career coach for your career cluster of interest to discuss hiring practices for your intended industry. Utilize Handshake to search through internship listings, employer information pages, and employer reviews written by peers who have completed internships. Your cluster coach can help you strategize where and when to look for opportunities, identify companies or roles that are a good fit for your interests, and tailor your resume and cover letter to your industry.

  • Lay out the boundaries of your upcoming search. Do you have a geographic preference? Are you seeking an internship that will allow you to develop a certain skill or have a certain experience?

  • Start to develop a list of target employers, and make connections at those companies. Do some research into your ideal industry and find out which employers are of most interest to you. Once you have a few companies in mind, use EagleExchange to identify BC alums working there, and schedule a phone call or coffee chat to start to build a relationship. 


My Student Is Graduating and Looking for Their Next Step

Lastly, if your student is graduating this spring and is in the process of looking for their next step, there is still time. Here are some suggestions for students who are still looking:

  • Reflect. After 4 years of college, you have grown and changed so much, so it’s important to reflect. What areas interest you? What skills do you have to offer? What type of work environment do you prefer? Where do you want to live? Once you take the time to ask yourself these questions and reflect, it will be easier for you to narrow down the type of position you would like to pursue and set up a course of action.

  • Develop a search plan and stay organized. Develop a plan that includes your target career field, ideal geographic location(s), ideal start date, and what type of organization you are seeking in terms of size and culture. Most job openings aren’t advertised broadly. Identify promising employers by checking Handshake, LinkedIn, and reading trade websites and magazines. Then go to those employers’ websites to browse job openings. Because you will likely be at different stages of the application process with various organizations at a given time, developing a process to keep track of all the details is key. Keep a spreadsheet that lists the organization, position title, links to the organization’s website and job description, date you submitted your application, date of follow-up, date of interview(s), and other pertinent notes or details. 
     
  • Ask your network for help (Yes, you have a network!). Some students may think that they don’t have a professional network, but you absolutely do. If you haven’t already, sign up for EagleExchange and begin connecting with alumni. We have a strong alumni base that is hungry to help out current students. So take advantage of your student status while you can. Other networking options to consider: going to office hours and chatting with a professor that you find interesting, reaching out to Boston College employees (we are paid to help), and reaching out to friends and family.

  • Meet with a career coach. Although they might be graduating soon (I know it’s a scary thought), it’s never too late to make an appointment with a career coach. The Career Center coaches are a great resource for students. One of their main areas of expertise is helping students explore different careers. So if you are uncertain what you want to do after graduation, utilize career coaches while they are close!

Regardless of your student’s year, major, or college, check in with them about their career search. Career coaches as well as numerous digital resources are available to support students all summer. Please do not hesitate to have your student reach out.

Written by Julianne Smith, Associate Director, Career Education

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