Reviewed by Gary G. Johnson

You're a parent of a college student or have a son or daughter approaching college age. You've heard all the horror stories about people with undergraduate or graduate degrees working in jobs not requiring any college at all. You've heard about "downsizing," "restructuring," "outsourcing," "job shock," "the end of work," and how the work world seems to be turning upside down, and it's all giving you a world-class headache.

You're painfully aware of the tremendous cost of higher education compared to when you were in school. You're feeling that the student in your family may be embarking on a treacherous journey across a minefield characterized more by costs and risks than benefits. You're wondering if college is even worth doing anymore, and what, if anything, can be done to help your young scholar succeed in a bewildering and unfamiliar work world.

Well, just in time, here's welcome help from two highly experienced experts. Finally, here's a book for concerned, bewildered parents. Here's informed advice, and here's a solid basis for optimism, despite all the turbulence. Yes, your student can succeed, and, yes, you can help.

Marcia Harris and Sharon Jones are in charge of career services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the world's great research universities which also serves thousands of young people every year, including beginners. The authors know higher education, and they know young students. They also know the new work world. Bookstores are filled with career books that seem oriented to the work world of 1975 or so. This is not one of them. This is a book for today's college students and their families, and for today's economy.

This is a brief, practical guide book providing a readable overview of important issues and resources, and including abundant informed advice. It is a problem-solving guide that tells about the implications of various choices all along the way. What kinds of things should your student be concentrating on during the first year of college, the second, the third or fourth? What do employers want? How important are grades, choice of college major, extracurricular activities, or part-time work? What kinds of preparation are more likely to lead to a satisfying career path? What are the principal risk factors? How do the successful students succeed, and how can one avoid the dead-ends? What are the best ways to go about the job search? What makes a good resume? The book provides help on all these issues and more. A lot is packed into its 200 pages, and it is a pleasant and informative read.

The fact is that, despite all the news reports and scare stories, college still makes a difference in the work world, and most college graduates do eventually find satisfactory jobs following graduation. True, the college degree, by itself, no longer guarantees much; but, in an economy heavily populated by graduates, your son or daughter may be at a significant disadvantage without one. With so many graduates available, there is no particularly good reason for employers to hire persons without degrees. A degree can at least help you survive the first cut. Given the supply-demand relationships in the new economy, a college degree may be necessary, but not sufficient.

Also true: employers are far more interested in actual competencies than credentials now, which can be both good news and bad news. If you're expecting that your degree alone will be enough for success, forget it. Anyway, why should we expect that someone will want to pay you because you're cultured and understand the world around you, anymore than for being a nice person? Usually, employers are interested in paying for getting things done.

On the other hand, if you do have the skills an employer needs, however you've acquired them, you're less likely to have your liberal arts major held against you than in previous years. Harris and Jones provide wise advice about the relative importance of course work and other experiences. According to the authors, while employers are not indifferent to the general education of their employees, they want employees who also have specific skills of interest, leadership experience, and relevant work experience.

The authors discuss "hot careers," and they provide some cautions. They briefly summarize occupational outlook data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources, indicating some of the best guesses about relative demand and likely pay in a number of occupational categories. Wisely, they recommend that, while no one wants to prepare for a dying occupation, growth patterns or likely demand should not be the determining factors in occupational choice. Career choices should reflect, not only an assessment of the job market, but also, perhaps more importantly, an assessment of oneself.

We have two college students in our family, so I decided to read this book myself. Once I sat down with it, it didn't take long to decide that our daughters could benefit from it directly. I left it in a conspicuous place, thinking they might pick it up and browse through. Failing this, I gently suggested that it might be something they'd be interested in and find helpful. There was not much response. Neither has looked at it over the months since. They simply will not pick it up.

In fact, there is little about the book that will be of interest only to parents of college students, as opposed to the students themselves. It really is something that students should also read. However, I think the word "parent's" in the title is absolutely deadly, so far as young people are concerned. We may as well tell them that they should listen to "their father's music." People shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but they often do.

I suggest another edition called "The student's crash course in career planning." It could be the same book, but without the references to "your child," and so on. It should be in every college bookstore under the revised title. It could include a suggestion that students ask their parents to read it.

Ideally, college and career planning for young people should be a family enterprise. In many cases, family involvement is necessary for dealing with the financial aspects of it. This book takes a significant step toward encouraging broader family participation as well, and can help parents, whose own careers have been conducted mostly in the old economy, become familiar with the work world faced by their children.

Targeting the current edition to parents is a good idea, because there surely is a need. I recommend it to parents enthusiastically and entirely without reservation. My only concern is that students themselves may not read it, and they should.

Gary G. Johnson

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