How To Give Career Advice To Young People

Many people who are successful in their careers are asked for career advice to help young people find jobs or summer internships. Sometimes this is a satisfying experience—but not always. Some college students will meet with a friend of their parents without any intention of taking advice, just acceding to the parents’ command to meet with someone. After years of providing career advice to economics majors, I have developed some tips that should help anybody offer good career advice, in any field.

When a parent asks for a meeting with a son or daughter, say “Yes. Please tell your kid that I’d be happy to chat, and the kid should reach out to me directly.” If the parent sets up the meeting, the odds of a truly interested youngster are pretty slim. Less than half of the times that I have said to have the kid contact me directly, has the kid actually followed through. That’s fine. It’s not that I don’t want to meet with young people, but I don’t want to meet with young people who don’t really want to meet with me.

The next step is to assign a bit of homework. I had enough inquiries about careers in economics that I wrote an article, “Career Advice for Economics Majors.” There are good summaries of other fields, such as what one can do with a mathematics degree, or how to get started in marketing. Asking the young person to read an article first provides a structure for a personal discussion later. And it further weeds out those people just going through the motions, with no intention to follow up.

In direct meetings, a consultant’s questioning approach works well. When the person expresses an interest in a field, ask why. Probe with more questions. Why does law sound interesting? What about physics captured your interest? Spend more time asking questions than giving answers. If the person is halfway bright, he or she will figure out a great deal by being asked the right questions.

Young people like to hear about a mentor’s career path, but roundabout career paths seem more common than, direct career paths. That’s a good lesson, so talk about how your colleagues got where they are, especially if they took a winding road. You could also want to discuss related fields that might suit the young person. For example, I mention applied economics fields such as real estate appraisal and finance.

When you know someone else who might be able to help the young person, with advice or a job opening, provide contact information but do not set up the appointment. This is a corollary to the rule of have the kid, not the parent, set up the meeting. Tell the young person to mention your name when communicating with the contact. Some young people are disappointed that they have to initiate the contact themselves, but reaching out to strangers is a good life skill to have.

Conclude the conversation by asking about the person’s plans going forward. Many people need to digest what they learned before developing a plan, but being asked about next steps helps the person focus on actions that will advance the career.

Many of the young people I’ve met with have found good jobs in satisfying careers. And the best of them have let me know how the advice worked out, which motivates me to keep helping young people find their paths forward.