More than two million students will graduate with a bachelor’s degree this spring. A huge number of them will walk off that stage with no job offer and no real idea of why or what to do next.
Behind every one of those graduates is a family that is worried and frustrated, trying to figure out how to help without making things worse.
Robin Ryan knows that family well. The nationally recognized career counselor and bestselling author of 60 Seconds & You’re Hired! has helped more than 1,000 new graduates launch their careers. Ryan has appeared on thousands of television and radio programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, and NBC Nightly News.
“It’s a very serious situation for these new graduates, because we still have so many students who graduated in 2025 who are still looking,” Ryan said in a recent interview. “These grads are often doing everything wrong because nobody ever taught them the right strategy on how to actually get hired. A diploma doesn’t automatically have you walking out with a job in hand.”
Ryan’s advice for the parents and friends watching from the sidelines: you have more power to help than you realize. But helping looks very different from taking over. She recommends implementing these strategies.
Support Them — But Let Them Drive
The first thing Ryan tells parents: your job is to be the coach, not the participant.
“Your grad needs your support and encouragement more than anything else,” Ryan said. “But you must let them find the jobs. Don’t do it for them. Help them, but don’t take over. A parent who is rewriting the graduate's resume, calling contacts on the graduate’s behalf, or applying for jobs on the graduate's behalf sends the wrong signal to everyone, including their own son or daughter. It undermines their confidence at exactly the moment they need to be building it.”
“Forget the old ‘just get your foot in the door’ advice,” Ryan said. “That doesn’t work in 2026. Employers are no longer promoting people from the mailroom. Hiring managers want to see that a candidate already meets the qualifications for the specific role they are filling. Taking any job just to be inside a company is a strategy from a different era. Today, it just wastes time and keeps you unemployed.”
Read The Job Description Together
One of the most practical ways a parent can help, Ryan says, is sitting down with their graduate to carefully read job postings before applying. Don’t take over the process; instead, provide direction.
“Applying to everything and anything leads to no interviews,” Ryan said. “I see new grads blasting out resumes to every posting they find, and then they are crushed when nothing comes back. The reason is that they’re applying to jobs they are not qualified for. Parents can help their graduate slow down and ask: "Do you actually meet all the qualifications listed here? If the answer is no, move on and find a better fit.”
Your Network Is Their Most Powerful Job Search Tool
Once a graduate has identified roles they are genuinely qualified for, a parent’s network becomes invaluable. About 50% of candidates who apply with a referral land the job, Ryan notes.
A referral does not require that the contact know the graduate personally; it only requires that a trusted connection pass the resume along to the company’s hiring team. “Talk to your colleagues. Talk to your friends. Ask for connections,” Ryan said. “You’d be surprised how often a parent’s connection opens a door no job board ever will.”
Henry DeVries is a former Forbes online columnist who is the chief book strategist at Indie Books International. He has ghostwritten, co-authored, or edited more than 200 business books, including his international bestseller, How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett.
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