Lifestyles

Unless you're a college student. Then you can probably look forward to a holiday ritual that might be likened to chestnuts roasting on an open fire -- being grilled by your parents about what you're going to do after graduation.

"They think about the pressure their parents put on them," says Carrie Gettings, University of Pittsburgh Career Services career consultant for liberal arts. "They want to see some results so the parents can say, 'My money's well-spent.'"

It could be worse, though.

Consider Marc Campbell, who graduated college in 1992 and moved back home while he tried to find a job. His mother, Rebecca Campbell, is director of CareerWorks at Seton Hill University in Greensburg.

"I didn't grill," she says. "I'm a counselor; I tend to ask questions: 'How can I help?' 'What are you doing?' 'Who have you talked to?'"

She pauses.

"From their standpoint, that's grilling."

But perhaps some grilling is in order. Despite the efforts of campus career service departments to bring the mountain to Mohammed, with job fairs, networking events and visits to campus classrooms, many college students still stare blankly when asked if they've been to their career services department.

Justin Driscoll is managing director of the Education Network for the Pittsburgh Technology Council. He works as a liaison with colleges, universities and school districts to connect students with technology companies.

On a recent visit to a local college campus, he says, he had to ask six students before he found one who could tell him where the career services department was.

Many students don't realize that the work hasn't ended when they pass their last final or turn in their last term paper, he says. His experiences with student job-seekers motivated him to self-publish a book, "The 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Graduated" (Authorhouse, $11.99).

"There's also a little bit of an entitlement mentality among college students," says Driscoll, 25. "They really have unrealistic expectations as to salary. I do a lot of mock interviewing. Either they have no idea what they should be making, which means they haven't done any research, or their expectations are too high."

Career services departments do more than give advice on writing resumes and cover letters. Students who make the transition from college to the job market are essentially crossing over into a foreign culture, with its own set of customs and rituals, where they'll be expected to dress and behave in ways that might be alien to them.

"Career services does a fantastic job in preparing students to make that jump," says Tom Farmar, recruiting manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Pittsburgh Operation, who visits 20-25 local campuses a year. "Not only in their communication skills, written and verbal, but learning some of the tips of professional dress, professional etiquette and professional conduct. A lot of those things I don't think you can pick up in a classroom."

For example, mock interviews, where the career-services specialist plays the role of employer, also can show even the most savvy student that there's more to job hunting than wearing a suit, researching the company and maintaining eye contact.

"It's a trend to ask behavioral questions: 'When you have a problem at work, how would you handle it?'" says Amy Napierkowski, a senior at the A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration at Duquesne University. "I went on my first interview with a company in fall 2005. I didn't do a mock interview (beforehand). I went in there and was blindsided. It caught me totally off guard."

She learned from the experience. A dual major in international business and supply-chain management, she has since landed a paid internship in the Procurement Department at U.S. Steel.

"I think this generation tends to be more challenging, overall, because many of the methods they've grown up using are electronic," says Jim Shields, career-services coordinator at Penn State New Kensington in Lower Burrell. "They're much more Internet-savvy and computer-oriented.

"Students are very comfortable instant-messaging each other or text-messaging or communicating over the computer but aren't good face to face. ... They just don't know how to sell themselves very well."

At the University of Pittsburgh, Gettings says they try to reach out to students during their freshman year.

Pitt sophomore Gerard Mascara learned of career services in a freshman class called Right Start. Mascara, 19, of Ross, seems to be making all the right moves as a pre-pharmacology major. He maintains a 4.0 grade-point average. His resume likely will list his work as a tutor, mentor and volunteer fireman.

But even he was surprised at the movie-set realism of his recent mock interview at career services, where Gettings played the role of employer. He got a chance to see himself on videotape.

"I didn't really know how professional it really was," he says. "I wasn't expecting to wear a suit."

Erin Boreio, an English major from Latrobe, Westmoreland County, used a career-services counselor as a sounding board to figure how best to proceed after she added psychology as a second major.

"It is a really valuable service for sure," says Boreio , 23, who graduated from Pitt in April and is applying to graduate schools. "I went twice. The first time when I sort of had a career crisis, not knowing whether I wanted to do English or something else, I ended up talking with a counselor and bouncing ideas off of her."

It helped her decide against pursuing a career in substance-abuse counseling and setting her sights on marriage and family therapy instead.

Look ahead

Some advice from career-services professionals for students:

Start fresh: Connect with career services your freshman year, says Susan Timko, career consultant for the College of humanities and social sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland.

"We encourage students to come in as soon as they have caught their breath from starting school their first year," she says. "As soon as the orientation is over, please come and start to see us."

Start fresher: High school isn't too early to start thinking about career choices. At Highlands High School in Harrison, freshman are required to take a class called Today's Careers.

"Thinking about it earlier, I think that helps alleviate the process of changing of the major in college," Highlands guidance counselor Laura Bogosto says.

Learn the lingo: Every job field has its own specialized buzzwords and terminology. Using terms such as "client presentations," "cold calling" or "value-added selling" on your resume or cover letter shows prospective employers you've done your homework.

Dress rehearsal: When visiting job fairs, act as though you were going to an interview. That means wearing a suit and researching companies you want to talk with.

"Candidates that initiate the conversation with recruiters and ask well-thought-out questions definitely stand out," says Tom Farmar, manager of recruitment for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Keep it real: Internships can help a student acclimate to the corporate culture as well as providing hands-on experience.

"Real-life experiences matter more than textbooks," says Justin Driscoll, managing director of the Education Network for the Pittsburgh Technology Council, who self-published the book "The 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Graduated."

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