Category: Parent & Family News

On October 15, the Carleton community will be celebrating many rich and diverse summer experiences of our students at the 2021 Research and Internship Symposium. Nearly 200 Carleton students will be presenting their work. We are also offering a virtual poster session for family and friends featuring select students who are not attending the event in person.

As Carls begin classes again this week, I can’t help but reflect on where we’ve been over the last 18 months and how that has shaped our expectations for resuming in-person learning on campus. What we know is that our team of professionals and students in the Career Center are excited to welcome and work with all Carls as they create their stories for life beyond college.

As our students are moving out of the residence halls this week, I am reminded of the episode of “Friends” where Ross was moving into his new apartment in New York City. Ross, Rachel, and Chandler were struggling to get his couch up the stairwell of the building. As they reached the first turn of the stairs, Ross kept saying “Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!” to get the couch in the right angle to move onto the first landing. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and ended up dropping the couch back to the ground floor.

As your student moves out of Carleton’s residence halls for the first time or the last time, we hope that they have found healthy ways to pivot this academic year without getting stuck in place or having to start from the beginning. (And, even if they haven’t, we are happy to meet them where they are and help them to climb those stairs.)

At long last, it’s springtime in Minnesota, which has nudged many of us outside to tend to our gardens and yards. As my family and I embarked on our search for a new tree for our front yard, we soon found ourselves overwhelmed by the number of options.

Like many people, I went to Google and searched for, “best small tree for front yard in Minnesota.” To nobody’s surprise, Google produced close to 40 million varying opinions.

My spouse suggested that I take a photo of our house to a local garden center for an expert opinion. Once there, I found a friendly and helpful professional who was able to listen to my preferences and needs and then direct me to a narrower list of options for me to pursue.

Carls need your help! The Career Center is learning that students have not secured internships for this summer at the rate that they have over previous (pre-pandemic) years. We are also observing that student applications for internship funding (which requires an internship to be secured) are down. This concerns us. We’d like to help make sure all of our students have access to meaningful internship opportunities this summer. We’re asking parents, alumni, faculty, and friends of the college to help. Please consider posting an internship opportunity at Carleton AND ask at least three others in your network to do the same. 

As the parent of a Carleton College student, your support can help to foster your student’s self-advocacy skills, which are foundational to their career journey. Through self-advocacy skill development, students learn strategies to help them take charge of their lives, maximize their strengths, and transition to adulthood with the skills necessary to navigate their chosen career; such as the ability to communicate their needs and goals, to make decisions about the type of support needed to achieve them, and to find people who will support them in their journey.

You may have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.” As it turns out, in today’s competitive job market, that old cliché isn’t quite right.

Each year, it is becoming harder and harder to make a strong impression and stand out in the application process when there are hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants for an internship or job. Meanwhile, national surveys estimate that between 65 and 85 percent of jobs are found through networking, which reveals that personal relationships are essential to standing out in the application process

The Career Center is dedicated to assisting all students with their career exploration. We encourage this exploration through coaching appointments, programming, and virtual resources. The Career Center has also invested in using the Strong Interest Inventory to introduce students to career possibilities.

Carleton students and alumni have access to career coaching through the Career Center from the moment their Carleton experience begins. Career coaches are eager to assist students with career exploration, job searching, application materials, interview preparation, and networking strategies. Coaches can also interpret career and personality assessments, offer graduate school advising, and explain available technology and subscriptions.

Carleton provides support for students to take on internship experiences throughout their college years. In the Career Center, we have cultivated strong relationships with employers, including through our parent and alumni connections. These connections recognize the exceptional skills and talents of Carls and often provide internal referrals to hiring officials.