I graduated from college a while back, but I’m guessing it’s not much different now than it was then.

The only advice I got in high school about my career path was from my parents and other well-meaning adults giving their best guesses, and maybe a few minutes spent with a harried “guidance counselor” at my school. (My vague recollection is of being guided to a very, VERY large book that listed every college in the US and provided two pages of information on each one. Overwhelming? Yes. Helpful? Not so much.)

In college and as graduation loomed, I don’t remember getting much career advice at all. There was no one helping me make informed choices on what summer internship between junior and senior year would be most beneficial, what paying jobs I should aim for during school. There was no one specifically focused on helping me land the right first job out of school. There was probably a “career planning center” at my college, but the experience with my high school “guidance counselor” scared me off exploring that route.

I can only imagine how much better it would’ve felt to have a professional sit down with me and discuss my options- my interests, my passions, my needs- as I went out into the work world, and how much more competent and capable I would’ve been if I’d had someone really prepare me for job hunting, giving me solid advice, and skills I could use not just then, but throughout my career as I moved from job to job. A professional resume and cover letter? That would’ve been great, too.

Though I can’t say it would’ve changed the overall shape of my career, that sort of professional guidance  would’ve given me more options, better options, less guessing. It would’ve empowered me to reach higher, to move on more readily when the job was no longer stimulating, confident that I could get something else, something better. In short, I wish there’d been someone like me around doing what I’m doing now when I’d graduated from college.