Five Ways Parents Can Help Their Kids Find a Job
Above: I was recently interviewed about how parents can help their young adults find jobs. Clip (1:14) about job search anxiety.
Watch the whole podcast (22:42) here.
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I speak with many parents while helping college students, grads, and young professionals with their careers and job search. Parents are often my first point of contact before meeting with their family members who could use my help.
Parents are well-meaning. They want their young adults to successfully launch and find meaningful, sustaining work.
By the way, I find parents of young jobseekers often fall into four categories:
1. The parent who tries to get their kid a job. This parent says “Give me your resume, and I’ll shoot it around.” It might work if the parents have enough clout. But the result is that their young adult doesn’t learn how to advocate for themself, and personal growth suffers.
2. The parent who isn’t very engaged. This generally prolongs an undesirable situation. Time passes, and the young adult gets more disconnected from a productive path.
3. The parent who has a clue about conducting a job search, but their kid doesn’t want their help. This parent frequently brings up job search. They offer help, but their kid says they want to do it on their own. So the parents get shut down. This also prolongs an unproductive process. Without a good strategy to find a job, the young adult's efforts often don’t get much traction.
4. The parent who wants to help and seeks out help for their kid. In this case, parents engage a coach, an independent third party, for their kid. This is highly effective. An atmosphere of accountability is established. The result is that their young adult launches and develops relationship-building skills to last a lifetime.
Here are some actionable approaches parents can use and behaviors that young adults can encourage to be supportive of their young adult’s job search:
1. Create a supportive environment built on trust and respect. Establish a safe, non-judgmental space for young adults to express their career aspirations, doubts, and concerns. Encourage an open dialogue where they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings about their career journey. By actively listening and providing guidance, parents can help them gain clarity and confidence in their decision-making process.
2. Support their young adults in exploring their interests, values, and strengths. Parents can encourage their kids to engage in self-reflection exercises, such as journaling or career assessments, to gain insights into their unique talents and passions. They should avoid impressing their own experiences and tastes on them and not push career paths that they found rewarding or are viewed by society as prestigious. By encouraging self-exploration, they empower their kids to make informed decisions about their career path.
3. Encourage a spirit of independence. It’s easy for some young adults to continue to rely on the comfort of the family home and their parents’ ongoing financial support. Parents need to highlight the joy of independence and help their kids see the appeal of being self-sustaining. If a young person’s alternatives are to live the lifestyle they want and not work or live the lifestyle they want AND work, the decision to do the former is understandable.
4. Parents should facilitate introductions to friends and business associates, providing networking opportunities. Parents have their own network of friends, co-workers, relatives, and acquaintances in the community. Each of them is a potential door to opportunities. They should encourage their young adults to establish relationships by offering to make introductions. At the same time, it’s important to have the young adult build those connections instead of taking an overly active role after the introduction is made.
5. Similarly, parents can create opportunities for their kids to explore potential avenues for careers by including them in life activities that put them in contact with people doing different things. By parents including them in some of the things they do, kids will gain first-hand knowledge about how people make a living, what their job entails, and why they like it or not. Some examples are including their young adults in their community and volunteering activities, programs at their house of worship, bringing them to “take your child to work” days, and including them appropriately in conversations they have with people such as realtors, accountants, builders, attorneys, people in the helping professions, financial professionals, etc.
By taking a supportive but not controlling role in the process, parents can offer a great deal of encouragement and create opportunities for their kids to find a rewarding career path. This fosters the kind of independence and personal satisfaction that all parents hope their kids will come to know.
How do you find parents can be most helpful to their young adults in job search? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach out to me at neil@danzgergroup.com. I respond to every email.
Do you or someone you know need help determining what kinds of roles and companies would be great work situations? Conducting an effective job search without endlessly applying online? I coach and advise people 1:1 and in live, online group classes. Learn more about my career coaching and sign up for a free 30-minute Career Solutions Call.