“You Just Don’t Understand”: Introducing Parents to Your Career Challenges

Are your parents asking you what you’re going to do after graduation? Or how your major will help you get a job? Or why you’re taking an internship that doesn’t offer any pay? If so, you may be experiencing the effects of a generational divide. One of the highlights of Parents Weekend will be an opportunity to help bridge this experiential gap with a lecture on Career Development.

Many of your parents grew up in a time when college prepared you for a career that you continued until retirement. With a clear professional trajectory, people talked about “climbing corporate ladders.” Advancing meant getting a series of promotions, usually within the same industry and often, within the same company.

As you know from observing your older friends and siblings, the path today from college to the workplace isn’t nearly as clear-cut as it used to be. This makes it more difficult for you to figure out your next steps after Tufts ~ and to explain these steps to your parents. If you’d like them to learn more about the challenges that you’re facing now, from job/internship search to career decision-making, encourage your parents to come on Friday to hear a talk called, “Life After Tufts: A Parent’s Guide to Career Development.” They’ll learn a lot, and leave with a better understanding of how hard it is to be … you.

The presentation will be given by a Tufts Career Counselor on Friday, 12:30 – 1:30 pm, in Dowling 745. For a different look at the job search process, they can also hear Jean Papalia, Director of Tufts Career Services, discussing “Salt & Pepper & Small Talk: Professional Skills to Succeed in the Job Search.” This lecture will be given twice on Saturday at Tisch Library, 11:15 – 11:40 a.m. and 11:45 – 12:15 p.m.

Enjoy Parents Weekend!