How to handle relatives over winter break, especially if you’re graduating

If you’re feeling a slight sense of dread about going home for the holidays, especially if it comes from not wanting to deal with the questions about “what’s next?” from relatives, know that you’re not alone. There are a lot of students in your shoes right now! Your best defense will be having a thorough response in your “arsenal.”

If you are graduating and have attended the Career Development Center’s Job Hunt Series, you can tell your curious relatives all about the job searching model you’re using and how people in the communications industry utilize it to start their careers.

If you haven’t taken the Job Hunt Series yet, you can tell your relatives that it’s the first thing you’ll be doing in spring semester and that this plan will jumpstart your job hunt so that you’re well positioned come graduation. As this post is being published, there is one more of each of the two sessions that make up the series still available before the holidays – you can sign up at bit.ly/cdcseminars! We will have the full spring schedule for the Series and all our other seminars by the first day of spring classes, as well.

Parents/guardians of seniors will also be receiving a letter from the Newhouse CDC very soon. Around this time each year, we send a letter to the parents of students who will be graduating to offer some insight on how a job search in the communications industry works. In the letter, we detail some of the “quirks” of hiring in communications and note how COVID has affected the job-hunting landscape. It will also tell parents how they can help you in this process. We have found that this letter tends to take a little pressure off students (parents are happiest when they feel informed!). Grad students who would like a copy of the letter are welcome to email nhcdc@syr.edu and we’ll send you a copy to share with your family.

If you’re NOT graduating but still dreading the career questions, having a plan is still your best response. If you’re hoping to intern, prepare an answer about the types of companies you’re interested in and what types of skills you want to build. Sounding focused and strategic will instill confidence in even the nosiest relatives.

In short, the best response to any of the, “what’s your plan?” questions is one that shows you know what you’re up against and that you’ve planned accordingly. If you have questions about any of this or want to touch base on your own “plan of attack,” don’t hesitate to reach out.