7 Things Your Daughter Should Do Before Senior Year Ends

Before your daughter leaves college, help her leave with a few things she can use: a direction to explore, career materials she can explain, people she can learn from, and a manageable plan for what comes next.

That may sound like a lot alongside classes, work, and everything she wants to enjoy about senior year. Treat this list as a starting point. She can choose the area that needs attention now and build from there. If graduation is already close, the same steps still apply.

Your role is to ask useful questions and offer specific help. She chooses the next step and takes responsibility for doing it.

1. Choose a direction to explore

“What do you want to do with your life?” is a difficult question to answer. “Which two kinds of work would you like to learn more about?” gives her somewhere to begin.

Encourage her to collect a few job descriptions that interest her. Look together for patterns: the problems people solve, skills they use, workplaces they describe, and locations that would work for her. A role can be interesting even if she does not yet meet every requirement.

Her next step: Choose two possible roles and write down what attracts her to each, what experience she already has, and what she needs to learn.

2. Turn college experience into evidence

Your daughter may have more to discuss than she realizes. A group project, campus job, research assignment, volunteer role, or student organization can show how she works with people and follows through.

Help her get specific. Ask: “What was your part? What did you do? What happened as a result?” If she worked on a team, make sure she can distinguish her contribution from the group's work.

Her next step: Capture three examples in a private working document. Include the situation, her actions, and the result or lesson. Use numbers only when she can verify them; a clear description is better than an impressive-sounding claim she cannot support.

3. Make her résumé and LinkedIn consistent

Her materials should help a reader understand her interests, relevant skills, and experience. They should also sound like someone she can comfortably be in an interview.

If she wants your feedback, begin with meaning rather than formatting. Can you tell what kind of opportunity interests her? Which experiences support that direction? Do dates and descriptions agree across her résumé and LinkedIn profile?

Her next step: Review both against one relevant job description. Improve the clearest mismatch first, then ask career services or someone in the field for another perspective. She can keep refining her materials while she starts having conversations.

4. Have a conversation with someone doing the work

A job title only explains so much. A conversation can help your daughter understand the daily work, the difficult parts, and the routes people take into a field.

She could begin with a professor, former supervisor, university alumna, or another person she already knows. If you offer an introduction, ask her first. Let her arrange the conversation and follow up.

Her next step: Request a brief conversation and prepare three questions: “What does a typical week involve?” “What helped you get started?” and “What would you suggest I learn or try next?” Afterward, she can record what surprised her and send a specific thank-you.

5. Practice explaining her experience aloud

Reading a polished résumé is different from answering a question in conversation. Practice gives her a chance to notice where an example becomes vague, lengthy, or difficult to explain.

Offer a short mock interview if she would find it useful. Ask one question at a time and let her finish before giving feedback. Start with “Tell me about yourself,” then ask about a time she solved a problem or worked through a disagreement.

Her next step: Practice two examples aloud. Ask the listener what they understood about her contribution. Revise for clarity rather than memorizing a script.

6. Identify people she can keep learning from

As graduation approaches, it is worth thinking about which relationships she wants to maintain. Different people can help with different questions: a professor may know a field well; a former supervisor may give useful feedback; a recent graduate may understand the transition she is about to make.

She does not need a formal mentor for every question. She can begin by staying in touch with people whose perspective she values.

Her next step: List three people she would like to reconnect with and a genuine reason to contact each. A short update or thoughtful question is enough to restart a conversation.

7. Rehearse a few everyday workplace conversations

Preparation can include situations beyond applications and interviews. How would she clarify an assignment, explain a delay, or ask for feedback?

Try one realistic scenario together. For an unclear assignment, she might say: “Before I begin, could we confirm the deadline, the intended audience, and what a useful finished version should include?” Talk about why each question matters.

Her next step: Choose one conversation she finds uncomfortable and practice it with someone she trusts. The aim is to become more comfortable asking for what she needs to do the work well.

Choose one step together

Ask your daughter which part of this list would be most useful this week. Then ask what support, if any, she wants from you.

Agree on one small action: a résumé review, a practice conversation, or an introduction. Let her decide when to do it. A focused step she owns is a useful place to begin.