Family

For most students, parents and family members are cited as the primary source of influence on their career development. We encourage you to stay involved and please refer to the resources at this site. Please also visit the Parent and Family Relations website to learn more about this office and topics relevant to parents and family members. 

Below is some information on how to get involved in your student's career success, an overview of advising at Ohio State and more!

Get Involved

There are many ways to become involved with current Ohio State students through career services. Some of these include:

• Offer to be a contact for students interested in conducting informational interviews. These are structured conversations in which students can learn about your career field and obtain advice for getting into that particular career.
• Participate in a career panel to educate students about the job search process and offer information about how they can become involved with your company.
• Hold an informational session for students about your company/organization to increase student awareness - this is especially helpful to hold the day before conducting on-campus recruiting.
• Conduct on-campus interviews to generate an applicant pool for current openings.
• Participate in campus career fairs.

If you are interested in getting involved with career services at Ohio State, please send an email to Buckeye Careers or contact Nancy Thompson, Director of Buckeye Careers.

Parents Supporting Their College Students' Career Planning 

College students are challenged with decisions in relation to occupations, interpersonal relationships, ethnic and ideological views. An occupational choice is indeed one critical decision since students attempt to express their interests, abilities, values and personality through the selection of a major. Their major and career options are an expression of who they are and what lifestyles they want to live. Additionally, students need to be aware that an occupational choice is done in a context where social, economical and political factors also take place. 

The Four-Year College Plan for Career Success lists some suggested activities which your student can do each year to prepare for a career. Please know this timeline is only a suggestion and that it represents the ideal process.

Encourage your student to set up an appointment with a career coach in their college career office, or with Buckeye Careers. Career coaching is an opportunity for all students to seek individualized advice and answers regarding careers, internships, graduate or professional school and transitioning from student to professional. Whether seeking academic, post-doctoral or non-academic careers, Graduate and Professional students can utilize coaching appointments. Our career coaches will help you clarify your goals, explore personal concerns and develop an individualized career plan.

Advising at Ohio State

There are several different types of advisors at Ohio State that will help your student to academic and career success. Often these offices are separate, each individually working with your student, while also cooperatively working with several different student services offices on campus.

Academic advisors are assigned through your student’s college of study and are usually major specific. Academic advisors help students plan their course schedules and aid with any necessary petitions to the registrar. An academic advisor will help students translate their interests into a major and possibly a minor, and advise students on the process of transferring from one major to another. They help students maintain a program completion plan, while also guiding the students to select coursework that best suits their eventual career goals. More information on academic advising can be found through the Office of Academic Success.

Career advisors and coaches are there to help your student plan out how their time at Ohio State will help with their post-graduation career goals. These advisors help students locate internships, part-time jobs and co-op opportunities that can often turn into full-time opportunities post-graduation. Career advisors can help students develop a resume, prepare for interviews, develop and practice a two minute introduction and offer advice for all steps of the job search process.

Students can meet with career advisors at any point in their tenure at Ohio State to discuss what they want to do after their time at Ohio State is done. It is never too early for a student to start working with a career advisor and to attend career events at Ohio State.

A student’s career service office is determined by their college. A list of these offices and their websites is available to help students find their career advisors.

Is your student looking for an internship, Co-op or something similar? 

Below are definitions of some opportunities and terms commonly used by career services:

• Experiential Learning - a process through which students develop knowledge, skills and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. Student work and observation experiences go by a number of different names, including internships, co-ops, practicums and externships.
  
  
• Cooperative Education or Co-op - provides students with multiple periods of work related to the student's major or career goal. The typical program plan is for a student to alternate terms of full-time classroom study with terms of full-time, employment. Since program participation involves multiple work terms, the student will work three or four work terms, gaining a year or more of career-related work experience before graduation. Most co-op positions are paid and acquiring academic credit.
  
  
• Practicum - is generally a one-time work or service experience done by a student as part of an academic class. Some practicums offer pay, but many do not. Almost all are done for academic credit.
  
  
• Externship/Job Shadow - a short (usually 1-5 days) working experience, where the student shadows a working professional to observe and get a preview of the day-to-day activities needed for the career. Externships and job shadowing experiences are generally unpaid and are not related to receiving academic credit.
  
  
• Micro-Internship - a short-term, professional experience that will typically last just a few weeks for the duration of a single project. Typically these experiences are conducted remotely and can be from 5 to 40 hours per week. Such opportunites can be found on Parker Dewey. 

Student Involvement and Leadership

A recent study conducted by The Ohio State University Center for the Study of Student Life (CSSL) showed that employers rated "highly-involved students," or students who were deeply involved in multiple co-curricular activities, as 3 times more hireable than their uninvolved peers. "Moderately-involved students," or students who were involved but to a lesser degree, were rated by employers as 2 times more hireable than their uninvolved peers.

Though employers viewed over 100 resumes with similar work histories, skill sets and GPAs, they consistently rated moderately and highly-involved students as more hireable! Overall, students who choose to engage deeply with co-curricular activities not only have better skill development and career readiness, but are also deemed more hireable by employers. The full study on Student Involvement, Leadership and Graduation Outcomes is available online (PDF).