Kara McGuire: What next?

I can't tell you how many parents have contacted me in the past year with concerns about their recent graduate, who left college with hefty debt and no job. Not wanting to meddle, but eager for Junior to leave the nest, they search for ways to help their kid on the sly, because their alma mater doesn't seem to be doing much.

Can't you write a column, they ask me? My kid can't be the only one struggling with the transition from homework to work-work.

Unfortunately, that's true. And some in the career counseling field think colleges are failing to teach students how to conduct an effective job search and sell themselves in a competitive marketplace.

Brendan Haugo left Iowa State University in 2005 with mock interview experience, a couple of internships under his belt and a marketing degree. "I thought I was preparing myself pretty well," he said. But three months into an extensive job search, mainly on the Internet, he couldn't get his foot in the door.

Peter Vogt, president of Bloomington-based Career Planning Resources and author of "Career Wisdom for College Students: Insights You Won't Get in Class, on the Internet, or from Your Parents," did his own share of career exploration when he graduated in 1990. It's easy to mope around and say "woe is me" when a job search is going nowhere. But he urges young people in Haugo's situation to do anything to gain experience, connections, and knowledge of the career options.

"If employers perceive that you don't have solid work experience and, especially, that you don't really know what sort of job you want, [then] you're in big trouble," Vogt said.

Frustrated and in need of a job, Haugo spent some time back at the summer gig he kept during his student years.

But then he made an appointment with Fahrenheight360, a St. Paul firm that helps recent grads and students find career opportunities. His luck changed. Fahrenheight360 decided to hire him as an account manager, and he now spends his days helping people in the same boat he recently found himself in.

Some college alumni offices are also stepping in to help floundering alums. Macalester College just held the first in a series of events featuring a panel of graduates who managed to find fulfilling and financially sound career paths.

Jim Balabuszko-Reay left Macalester with a degree in music composition and entered the real world with "laser-like focus" into the bean roasting and hosting business, he joked, referring to his jobs at Dunn Bros. and the former Table of Contents restaurant.

After spending some years working odd jobs, including a stint creating the background music for karaoke, his father stepped in and helped him land a job in his current field as an information technology manager.

"It's not a failure to be looking at family and friends for help," he said, emphasizing how most of his career advances came from developing strong connections with co-workers.

Adam Ried has also relied on connections over the years. But his outgoing personality also has a lot to do with how he landed where he is today, as a food writer for the Boston Globe and other publications as well as a regular on the PBS cooking show "America's Test Kitchen." A random conversation with a woman who worked at Cooks Illustrated magazine resulted in his first food-related gig as the magazine's "office slave." He advanced from there by being both "flexible and opportunistic," he said. And he's landed more freelance work because he's good at staying in touch with former colleagues: "I send hundreds of Christmas cards."

How did you find your career path? Tell Kara McGuire: 612-673-7293 or kara@startribune.com.