Welcome to Career Services! We recognize the prominent role that you play in your students’ lives and we encourage you to support your students as they begin thinking about careers, professional development, and life after MMC. We invite you to learn more about the Office of Career Services and our growing number of online resources.
We provide individual guidance and strategies to students as they clarify their professional interests and seek out career paths. Students are encouraged to participate in career programming, internships, jobs, and community service experiences that will enhance their academic life and help to achieve a satisfying professional life. These experiences also help the student to engage with the larger world beyond college.
You can provide support, feedback and information as new interests and goals develop. Talk about your own work, your industry and your employer. Discuss different business cultures and offer to have your student shadow you or a colleague for a day to experience different work places. Do not be afraid to share your own values, interests and goals, but take care to respect your student’s interests, especially if they differ from your own.
Self-confidence is a critical personal attribute in the job search process –it’s tough to convince an employer that you are the best person for the job if you don’t believe it yourself! What skills, values, personality traits and enduring interests have you observed in your student? Let them know that you admire these specific qualities and recognize that they represent valuable assets for a future career.
Neighbors, friends and relatives are great resources for informational interviews. These face-to-face connections with employers can be vital as many job openings are never openly advertised.
While you may come up with ideas or informational interviews, leave the actual company research and interviewing up to your student. It is an important part of their career development.
If you are an employer, consider contacting MMC with job/internship openings or volunteer to take part in workshops or panels relevant to your professional field
In addition to academic work, challenge your student to develop marketable skills in at least 2-3 of the following areas:
Computer skills: (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and any other software that is applicable to the student’s career interests)
Internships give your student a taste of the workplace and offer the opportunity to discover what career fields they enjoy as well as those they would not wish to pursue. Internships may be taken for academic credit, be paid or unpaid and vary in length. Many occur in the summer months.
Make sure both you and your student are familiar with the wide range of options available through Career Services.
MMC Career Connection job database
Career inventories such as IStartStrong, Self-Directed Search
Individualized career counseling/graduate and professional school advisement
Career planning workshops/resumes/cover letters/interviewing skills
Career and Internship fairs/Internship placement
With many demands on their time, students too often put off career planning until senior year or after graduation. Encourage your student to visit Career Services early and often
Get Involved!
Are you an employer, or do you have connections to employers looking to recruit? Our parent community is vital to our students’ success, both during and after their time at MMC, and there are lots of ways you can contribute to our students’ career exploration and professional development. Opportunities include: posting internship or employment positions available at your company, hosting a table at a Career Fair to discuss your industry, becoming a one-to-one mentor, or setting up an informational chat in our Careers over Coffee program, among many others. For more information, please read our Employer Information page or learn about other Ways to Get Involved.
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Contact
For any questions about parent involvement in our student professional development initiatives, please contact Career Services.
