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Action Plans > Action Plan for Parents

Action Plan for Parents

First & Second Years

  • Talk to your son or daughter about his or her general interests-academic, professional and personal. Share your own career development experience and career path.
  • Encourage your son or daughter to utilize the Rutgers Online Career Planning Site. This free resource enables students to identify their interests, skills and values, which are then linked to appropriate Rutgers majors and real jobs obtained by Rutgers graduates with those majors. (You might also want to try it. It's fun and informative!)
  • Explore our website for other tips and ideas to share with your son or daughter.
  • If you have specific questions or need assistance, contact Dr. Richard L. White, Director of Career Services, at riwhite@rutgers.edu.
  • Suggest that your son or daughter do the following:

    1. Explore our online profiles of Rutgers University majors and related career paths.
    2. Review the Rutgers Career Services Guide, which contains detailed information on resumes, interviews, internships, jobs and graduate school.
    3. Attend scheduled seminars on choosing a major, assessing skills and interests, and finding an internship.
    4. Schedule an appointment with a career counselor at any location to discuss the relationship between interests, majors, and career opportunities.
    5. Join one or more student organizations and become an active participant.
    6. Get to know faculty members and administrators.

  • Help your son or daughter identify a personal and professional network, consisting of neighbors, relatives, local merchants, church or synagogue members, etc. Begin the networking process as an under-class student. Ask contacts where they work; what they like and dislike about their jobs; how they got their jobs; how their careers evolved; and if they can suggest other professionals to talk to.
  • Suggest volunteer opportunities either in the New Brunswick/Piscataway area or in the home area. They are great resume builders.
  • Urge your son or daughter to write his or her first resume and have it critiqued by a career counselor during "drop-in hours" at our various locations (no appointment needed). It's not too soon to write a first resume! It will come in handy for volunteer positions, internships, interviews and networking.


Junior & Senior Years

  • IMPORTANT: Incorporate all the steps listed above into your "game plan" for your junior or senior. It's never too late to start or expand the career development process.
  • Advise your son or daughter to update and expand his/her resume and have it critiqued by a career counselor during "drop-in hours" at our various locations. Your child's resume will gain in depth and breadth throughout the years at Rutgers. Nevertheless, it should be limited to one page.
  • Urge your son or daughter to begin the search for a summer internship during the fall of the junior year. It may seem early, but some companies actually begin interviewing on campus during the fall semester for internships the following summer (especially in the accounting and engineering areas).
  • Suggest these resources to your son or daughter-whether looking for an internship (junior year) or a full-time job (senior year):

    1. Register for and participate in CareerKnight, the Rutgers on-campus interviewing program. This online system enables students to review company internship and job descriptions, submit resumes, find out if they have been selected for an interview, and schedule their interviews from the convenience of their personal computer. About 300 employers interview for full-time positions and 100 for internships each year.
    2. Check jobs and internships on the Rutgers-New Brunswick job board, CareerKnight.
    3. Attend career days from September to May. Rutgers Career Services sponsors the largest number of career fairs of any career center in the country. Here is our lineup:

      September Engineering and Computer Science Career Day
      October Math and Actuarial Career Day
      October Business and Liberal Arts Career Day
      October Graduate and Professional School Day
      January New Jersey Collegiate Career Day
      February Internship Career Day
      February Athletes Career Night
      February New Jersey Diversity Career Day
      February Education Career Day
      April Science Career Day
      April Government and Non-Profit Career Day
      May New Jersey Collegiate Career Day

  • Steer your son or daughter to the online Alumni Career Network. This database of nearly 1500 Rutgers alumni is organized by academic, geographic, and career information. Everyone is eager to provide career information and advice.
  • If your son or daughter is on a graduate or professional school track, we can also help. Suggest these resources:

    1. Graduate School Seminar (experts in law, business, medicine, humanities and social sciences) (October)
    2. Graduate & Professional School Day (140 graduate programs in attendance) (November)
    3. Career Counseling Sessions (year-round)
    4. Personal Statement Critiques (year-round)

Best wishes to your children as they prepare for life and a career beyond Rutgers. We hope this action plan will provide you with some ideas and strategies for supporting them at this exciting and challenging time.


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Last Updated: 05/04/2009
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