Parents do a lot for their newly graduated sons and daughters.  They offer room and board. (A recent Pew Research Center survey says 42% of college graduates have moved back home.) They co-sign loans.  "What else can I do to help my son or daughter get a job?" a lot of parents ask me.  While the number of people getting a career position right out of college has dropped in recent years, the outlook is better this year. Employment for college grads is up from last year. And surveys say employers plan to hire more graduates this year.  It depends on your field.  Even last year and before that, companies had entry-level jobs. Like then, and now, getting them is competitive. But new grads are getting hired.  And if you're a parent, the best thing you can do to help your new grad be one of those hires is to help them deal with the two issues they control.  Issue No. 1: Their minds.  Among many issues on the minds of new grads is how future employers will perceive short-term jobs unrelated to their degrees. Some grads tell me it will "ruin my chances of getting into the line of work I want" or that it just "looks really bad."  Help them understand this: No career path is perfect. Many, many people from generations before them have taken short-term jobs and positions unrelated to their ultimate career. They did it for various reasons. They needed — like them — to pay bills.  Taking an unrelated job doesn't make you hopelessly flawed. It's a circumstance.  Help them see that they not only get to decide how they will view this circumstance but also how they'll talk about it to potential employers.  Let's say your daughter goes to work for a home-improvement center after graduation.  The job may not have been her ideal, but she learned about operations and customer relations. So instead of feeling bad about the experience, she can talk about how it helped her understand the way a business functions — or how customers think.  She received an opportunity to improve her skills in dealing with people. The retail job helped prepare her to be a better contributor in her career position.  Help any graduates understand that seeing a job this way will put them in a better frame of mind for interviewing — less desperate and panicked. It will make them more confident.  And that makes them more effective when talking to employers. All that enhances their chances of getting hired for a career position.  Issue No. 2: Their activities.  New graduates are like most job hunters who spend most of their time sending out resumes. They sit in front of their computer and look for online applications to fill out.  Help them understand that most jobs aren't listed on the Internet. In fact, many openings don't get advertised at all.  Many jobs are still brewing in the minds of employers.  The employers may know that particular projects will be ramping up. Or they're expanding into a new market and thinking about hiring in a few months.  Help your graduates see that if they are initiating meetings, networking and talking to business owners, your acquaintances and others, they will be the first to know about such openings.  Help them see that sending out resumes all day may keep them busy but it is not a strategic way to find a career position.  Help them understand that most people get hired because they connected with a live human, more than once. They followed up. They persevered.  And they stood out from their competition because they did these things.  And if your graduates are like most sons and daughters that parents tell me about — ones who don't listen to them — you always can leave a copy of this column on their nightstands.  Career consultant Andrea Kay is the author of "Life's a Bitch and Then You Change Careers: 9 steps to get out of your funk and on to your future." Click here for an index of At Work columns. Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Road, #133, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. E-mail her at andrea@andreakay.com.
Work experience, whether it's in your chosen field or not, can help you grow as you seek what you want.