My original company – The Learning Consultants – remains focused on helping high school students gain admission to colleges of their choice. Due to thousands of clients from that work through the years on the Connecticut shoreline, it seemed natural that most of my career counseling clients would be twentysomethings. Surprisingly, the age range of my career counseling clients has varied more than I anticipated. I’ve worked with a large amount of thirty and forty somethings and to my surprise a large number of fiftysomethings.
Over the last year, it has become increasingly clear that parents of twentysomethings contact me as much as the twentysomethings themselves. Why? Because twentysomethings typically do not know how to deal with situations outside of a structured environment. They have been conditioned from K-through college to expect “the school” (or parents) to provide help. They do not think “maybe I should contact a career counselor”. They usually are waiting for something to happen although they are never quite sure what.
Here’s the challenge for parents of twentysomethings: you want your child to have independence but you also want to help. The issue is when to step in. I have distinct advice on this point. On areas that really matter – health, marriage, career – step in. On areas where they should learn on their own – laundry, doing bills, car maintenance – give guidance but then step out.
If your twentysomething is languishing in his career, contact us. He/she will appreciate the help.