This week’s featured book is an excerpt of The Next Great Step: The Parents’ Guide To Launching Your New Grad Into A Career by Beth Hendler-Grunt

Book Synopsis:

The competition for finding a job after college is fierce. The straightforward college-to-employment pipeline no longer exists. When the internship doesn’t happen, or graduation is nearing, and your young adult hasn’t figured out their career or job search strategy, what next? The Next Great Step, from career expert Beth Hendler-Grunt, bridges that gap. With 20 years of experience, she’ll guide you through a simple, step-by-step approach that demonstrates what it takes for your new grad to land their first internship, job, and beyond. Filled with tips, job aids, and insights about how to successfully guide young adults through the transition from college to career, The Next Great Step is required reading.

Here is an excerpt

Wasn’t this supposed to be easy? Sending your child to college to get an education and expecting them to get a job upon graduating. What happened?

Young adults are graduating from colleges and universities unprepared for the job market. They are struggling to be proactive in their job search and meet the expectations of employers. Many can’t communicate their value or speak about their skills in a way that connects with those who may hire them. Even when they are readily available, students are not utilizing the resources their colleges have to offer during their (at least) four-year journey – such as guidance from career services or relevant internship experience – to lay the foundation for a successful job search.

Some have no idea what they want to do, or they never felt particularly connected to their college major and don’t know what kind of role would be a good fit. More importantly, many are not taught how to look for their first job. This is a problem.

The result is stress on the entire household, and tension between discouraged graduates and their frustrated parents. Though they may try to help, they find they cannot because they haven’t conducted an entry-level job search in thirty years, don’t know about the field their children are trying to enter, or are dismissed when they try to share useful pieces of advice. A new graduate living back home and stressed out about their lack of job prospects can impact the entire family dynamic. As the saying goes, “Parents are only as happy as their unhappiest child.”

Parents call me because they realize it’s time for an outside perspective and some expert guidance. They likely hired an SAT tutor or college advisor once upon a time –someone to get their son or daughter into their college of choice. Now, they need someone to get out and on their next great step. 

Does this sound a little too familiar?

The data supports these feelings. 87% of college graduates believe they are ready to work but only 50% of hiring managers agree. 43% of this cohort will be underemployed after graduating. Internships can help tip these stats in a new grad’s favor–and it’s helpful to note that one of ten internships takes place in the year following graduation. At least 60% of students in each graduating class since 2013 participated in an internship and/or co-op during their time in college and approximately 70% of employers offer their interns full-time jobs. Students who completed an internship are 15% less likely to be unemployed in the first years after college. Yet a study recently completed using data from labor-market analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies, found that hiring for entry-level college graduate positions has recently fallen 45%, more than for any other category of education.

As a parent of a new graduate, you read statistics like these and feel a stab of fear: the numbers hit close to home. You’ve done everything right and supported your young adult in every possible way for the past twenty or more years, but now you feel powerless as that elusive first (or right) full-time job offer fails to appear for your child.

As you and your family search for a way to fill in the gaps, I want to assure you the right job opportunity is out there for your child–a role in which they will continue to learn and grow. By helping them build the confidence and self-knowledge necessary not only to thrive in their first professional role, but in their entire career, you equip them with skills that will serve your new graduate for decades to come.

This book is for parents who want to see their children achieve success, specifically a first real job offer or internship in their field of choice. It’s for parents who are seeing that when it comes to their new graduate’s job search, things are simply not clicking. This book is the answer for how to guide your child toward a career, especially when they are waiting, hoping, and randomly applying. 

Author Bio: 

Beth Hendler-Grunt is the founder and president of Next Great Step. The firm’s sole focus is to guide college students and recent grads to help them to land the job they deserve. She leverages techniques and insights of advising CEOs and brings those secrets to students to help them stand out and get the job. She has enabled hundreds of clients to achieve success where 90% of clients land the job of their choice. Ms. Hendler-Grunt is the author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller, “The Next Great Step: The Parents’ Guide to Launching Your New Grad into A Career”. This is a must-have resource for parents. Ms. Hendler-Grunt has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, SiriusXM radio, Kiplinger, CNN, Fortune, and many other media outlets. Her clients have landed jobs at Amazon, Yelp, JP Morgan, EY, and Major League Baseball to name a few. She is also the mom of a recent college grad and college sophomore… so she gets it.

To learn more about the author visit her website https://nextgreatstep.com/