For Hokie families

Greetings to Hokie families. Thank you for being a partner with Career and Professional Development to promote the career development of your Virginia Tech students. We are here for VT students throughout all their college years.

Key resources to support and help your student:

As a family member, you are a significant influence on your student’s career development. To support your student, you can foster openness, facilitate exploration and development, and encourage self-awareness in relation to career planning.

Career decisions can feel overwhelming, whether choosing a major, searching for an internship, or figuring out next steps after graduation. Encourage your student to divide large goals into smaller, more manageable steps while connecting with our career advisors and other campus contacts for support. For example, they can set a goal of learning what resources we have available to help them find opportunities.

Career coaching your student (pdf) is a checklist to reflect on how you can best interact in career-related conversations with your student.

Ultimately, students will be most committed to decisions they make for themselves. Encourage your students to share the information and thought processes they have used in making their decisions.

Depending on where your student is in their career journey, share relevant resources linked on this page and on our FOR students page.

Encourage your student to schedule a career advising appointment any time they need assistance with career planning and preparation. Career advisors can meet with your student year-round including breaks and summer. We offer appointment by Zoom, phone, and in person on the Blacksburg campus, so students can have an appointment regardless of their physical location.