• 99% of entering freshmen said that it is important that they develop skills for a career.
• 100% said that it is important that they succeed in work as one of their life goals.

We agree!  In fact, we're here to help your student succeed in reaching his or her career goals.  In addition, we believe parents and family members can play an integral role in the career development of their college students. 

Top 10 Ways Parents and Family Members
Can Help College Students with Career Planning

• Show an active interest in your student's major, academic progress, and career decisions.
• Encourage your student to start early.
• Help your student assess his or her values, skills, interests, and personality and identify strengths and areas for improvement.
• Allow your student to explore a variety of ideas and occupations.
• Help your student set realistic career-planning goals. 
• Direct your student to helpful campus resources.
• Encourage your student to take advantage of free seminars, workshops, and job fairs held on campus.
• Encourage your student to get work experience, particularly career-related experience;  encourage internship, part-time, summer, and volunteer experiences.
• Refer your student to friends, family, and professional contacts with whom they can begin to network.
• Encourage your student to be self-directed and active through this process.

The following resources can help you help your son or daughter plan for life after college.  Click on the links on the right and left sides of this page to get additional information on each topic. 

Career Success Plan for Ball State Parents and Family Members

Learn about the process of career planning and get tips on how you can assist your college student through his or her own career development.  Get information on the free career-related services and resources for students at Ball State.

Career Planning Resources for Parents

View a list of books and Web sites for parents.

Calendar

It's easy to find out about our upcoming events by visiting our calendar.  Each event listing includes a link to the event Web page where students can find event information and registration procedures.

Links to Explore

Both you and your student can access thousands of career resources twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week on our Links to Explore page.  These Web resources are organized in easy-to-find categories and are updated frequently.

Ask a Career Center Advisor

Do you have a question for the Career Center?  Let us know!

Can't find what you're looking for? Use our search tool on the left side of this page to search the Career Center Web site.

4 Ways to Point Your Student to the Career Center

Click on the links on the right side of the page to get additional information on each topic. 

Career Management Action Plan for Students

Structured in a checklist format, this action-oriented plan directs students to offices and services on campus that can help them complete each step of their career development, from choosing a career, to gaining related experience, to connecting with employers. 

Advising Services

Ball State students and alumni are assigned Career Center advisors according to their areas of study.  The Career Center offers convenient daily drop-in and e-mail advising. Students can also schedule individual appointments with their career advisors. 

Career and Experiential Learning Lab

The Career and Experiential Learning Lab in Lucina Hall 235 is the only centralized source of career and job-search information for all majors on campus. The lab has computer workstations for Internet research and résumé development, books on job-search skills, specific occupations for Ball State majors, CD-ROMs, directories, and free career-related handouts and magazines.   

Career Center Services for Students

The student section of our Web site features our popular Links to Explore with more than 1,700 links to career-planning and job-search resources; our Cardinal ViewJobs job-posting Web site for on-campus employment and Cardinal Career Link for off-campus part-time, internship, and full-time opportunities; the Career Center calendar with complete event information; registration forms; employer participation lists for all seminars, workshops, and job fairs; and Career Center tip sheets on popular career topics that are easy to download and print. 

Additional Resources for Parents and Family Members

CollegeRecruiter.com offers several articles to help you help your students with their career development. Go to http://www.collegerecruiter.com/ and hold your cursor on the "For Parents" label at the top of the page. You can then select the article you want from the drop-down menu.