Hi, I'm Bill Holland, PhD - and here's how and why I went from parent to career counselor for my own sons.
When my sons entered college, we were not worried about much except whether they would have the kinds of wonderful experiences we had when we were in college. Four years later they both returned home, unemployed and unable to find suitable jobs.
No, there was no recession when they graduated, but there was the beginning of a profound change in the job market.
During a previous time we could all go to college; get a job and join the middle class. But as we looked into the eyes of our kids after graduation, It was as if we had reneged on our promise to them that hard work and good grades would be sufficient for them to do well in life. It was a promise we and millions of other parents had taken for granted. Since then, the cost of a college education has risen 8 times faster than wages. Can they make enough money to make college worth it?
Don’t fret: they can. But the role parents need to play and when they need to play it has dramatically changed and is now a key component of today’s career and employment landscape. Your student’s transformation from adolescent to well-paid professional at graduation needs to be accompanied by your own migration to become the very best career counselor possible. If they do not get good counseling from you, there is a good chance they will not get it at all.