Gone are the days when securing a spot in a reputable university guaranteed a smooth transition into a rewarding career.
Today, parents find themselves on the front lines, offering support to help their children navigate a job market where the supply of graduates significantly outweighs the demand for their skills.
In this post, we discuss the new role of parents in helping their children post-graduation to help them find their footing on the career ladder.
The Stark Reality
Back when you graduated, getting a graduate-level job after university was a significantly easier transition. Today’s graduates find themselves in an era marked by an ultra-competitive graduate job market.
Recent statistics paint a sobering picture: 1,820,000 graduates are underemployed, signalling a mismatch between their qualifications and their job roles.
A staggering 90% of graduates struggle to identify a career path that aligns with their skills and passions.
Additionally, 86% find it challenging to craft a compelling CV, while 85% describe job interviews as daunting experiences.
Equally telling is that 85% acknowledge the necessity of work experience, a prerequisite that many find challenging to fulfil.
The Evolving Role of Parents
The change in the competitiveness of the graduate job market has facilitated a paradigm shift in how parents support their graduate children.
The job of ensuring your child’s career prospects no longer stops at university admission; it evolves to meet the demands of a complex graduate job market.
Parents are now tasked with providing multifaceted support to their graduates that extends beyond financial assistance when they return home. Emotional backing, guidance in professional networking, and helping refine job search strategies are paramount.
However, this involvement is a delicate balancing act. Parents must empower, not overshadow or take over. The goal is to equip graduates with the tools and confidence needed to secure meaningful graduate-level employment, not to steer the ship themselves.
Read what not to do when your son or daughter is looking for a job.
Emotional Support: A Cornerstone
Emotional resilience is critical in the face of inevitable setbacks that will arise during the graduate job search.
As parents, play a pivotal role in building this resilience, offering encouragement and perspective during moments of doubt.
Acknowledging the effort and progress, regardless of the outcome, helps to create a mindset of perseverance and self-belief in your graduate.
Read our guide on what to do to comfort your child when they get rejected from a graduate job.
Financial Backing and Practical Aid
With many graduates feeling the pinch of underemployment, financial support becomes a practical necessity for some.
Yet, equally important is assistance with tangible job search tasks—be it reviewing CVs, practising interview questions, or exploring avenues for gaining relevant work experience. Parents can also facilitate networking opportunities, leveraging their personal and professional connections.
In addition to supporting financially with living costs, parents are investing in their sons’ and daughters’ careers, through graduate career coaching.
Read our PDF on why career coaching is an investment not a cost.
Four ways we are a good investment
1: Your son or daughter will get a great job. It will be in a role fit for a graduate and in 90% of cases it will be in an industry they are suited for and enjoy. The other 10% will move into better jobs over time as it’s easier to land a job from another job than if you are unemployed.
2: Your son or daughter will have acquired several life-long skills; for example, how to give a presentation, conduct in-depth research into a company and its competitors, how to talk about themselves in an unselfconscious manner, but perhaps most importantly, they will have gained immense self-confidence.
3: We can talk to grads in a way that their parents find difficult or even impossible. We know the modern-day job market inside out, and like coaches in any field, when to encourage and when to admonish. We can be spoken to in confidence at any time by both parents and grads.
4: Grads who sign up for our six-stage programme can opt for ongoing career mentoring. We like to support grads as they climb the job ladder, helping them achieve high-salaried positions, often within two to three years. We give them mentoring advice to help them negotiate pay rises, when to move jobs and when to stay put, how to deal with a toxic boss, and in fact, every aspect of their careers.
The Case for a Graduate Career Coach
Amid these challenges, enlisting the expertise of a graduate career coach emerges as a wise investment. A graduate career coach specialises in navigating the job market’s intricacies, offering personalised advice and strategies tailored to each graduate’s aspirations and strengths.
From identifying suitable career paths and improving interviewing skills to optimising CVs for applicant tracking systems, a career coach can significantly enhance a graduate’s employability.
This investment in professional guidance can be the difference-maker, helping graduates not only to secure a job that matches their qualifications but also to embark on a fulfilling career path. Parents, by advocating for and supporting the decision to engage a career coach, can play an instrumental role in their child’s professional development.
Conclusion
The graduate job market’s competitiveness has changed the parental role from bystanders to active supporters in their children’s job search journeys.
By providing emotional, financial, and practical support—while encouraging the use of professional services like career coaching—parents can significantly impact and influence their graduates’ career trajectories.
Get in touch with us today via our contact page.
Featured image by SHVETS production from Pexels
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