How To Ease Tension For College Grads & Their Parents During Job Hunting
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Jennifer Zick has a new Master's Degree and plenty of enthusiasm. What she doesn't have is a job.
"I'm trying to get a couple of years of experience in administration, pretty much anything right now," said Zick.
As graduation becomes more and more of a distant memory, it's not just students who are nervous. So are their parents.
"I mean it's still a tough economy," said Darren Forest, another new graduate. He's lucky his parents appreciate this tough job market.
"I think that parents should always be encouraging and helpful because the second you start bearing down on your kids, it just makes them that much more stressful," he said.
The first step for parents in terms of keeping peace is understanding that the times truly have changed since they started out.
"It was a lot easier in the 70s. So I would really encourage parents to emphasize about how hard it is to find a job, help your recent grad be very realistic about what kind of opportunities are out there," said Elaine Varelas, a Human Resource consultant.
Varelas explained that parents need to realize the whole process of finding a job is different today.
"Often parents have very dated ideas of what it takes to get job, most likely they are not going to find their job in the paper," said Varelas. "Parents may feel that the new graduate is spending time on a computer is not looking for a job, but chances are they are looking for a job, and they are focused on building a linked in profile, or taking a look at job boards."
But young people sometimes need help moving beyond the computer.
"I think that parents can help with their own contacts, to say, who do I know, who would be beneficial for you to talk to, they can explain networking to them," said Varelas.
And remember, what works for cleaning up a room will surely backfire here.
"I would definitely avoid the nagging," insisted Varelas."I think that they do need support and I think that the former students are really looking for a plan."
So just how tough is the job market for young graduates? According to the latest numbers; New graduates typically have an unemployment rate of 13% compared to an overall unemployment rate of 7.3%.
