Key Ways for Students to Jumpstart Their Careers While Still in College
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Simply getting a college degree will definitely play an important role in landing a job or advancing a career, but these days it often won’t to be enough. There are specific steps every student should take while in school, so that they are properly positioned for post-graduation career opportunities.
Some of the key things to consider as ways to jumpstart your career while still in school include:
Setting Your Own Personal Learning Agenda
While in college your goal should be to focus on personal and professional growth, not just grades. You need to take control of your learning path and make sure that as you work your way through your degree courses, you’re focusing as much on what will happen after you graduate as you are on acing your assignments. In addition to classroom work, consider such things as:
- Getting to know staff in career services before your senior year.
- Carefully choosing internships and volunteer opportunities.
- Participating in extracurricular activities that help develop leadership and other “soft skills.”
Using Your Course Assignments for Additional Purposes
Keep an eye out for assignments that have career-development and networking potential. Whenever possible, use your assignments to connect with potential employers, clients, and/or colleagues.
Generally, people are amazingly accessible to and supportive of students doing research for a class assignment. Do a dynamite job on an assignment and then send a copy of it to the person you worked with, thereby dazzling them with your smarts and initiative and building a professional relationship in the process.
Creating Your Own Learning Assignments
As you study your way through your degree’s core courses, you’ll be expected to master a substantial amount of knowledge in your degree field. However, you’ll also want to build some key professional and/or business skills during this time. This could occur in or out of the classroom.
So, think about how you can improve yourself — through classes or otherwise — in critical areas such as:
- Writing
- Public speaking
- Leadership
- Time management
- Money management and basic financial concepts
Exploring The Many Different Ways Your Degree Skills Can Be Used
Many people take their careers in directions quite different from what you, as a college student, might expect of someone with your major. Learn about these sometimes unexpected career paths:
- Pepper guest speakers with questions about their careers.
- Conduct as many informational interviews as you can.
- Join LinkedIn special-interest groups and consider joining professional associations.
This is a guest post from Bryant & Stratton College Online, which will host a free webinar on Wednesday, August 11, 2010, from noon to 1 p.m. EST to discuss these tips and several others that will help students jumpstart their careers while still in college. To register visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/719530984.
The “Jumpstart your Career” webinar is the first in a three-part series. A “Build Your Professional Brand” webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24 from 2 to 3 p.m. EDT and a “How to Build a Resilient Career” webinar is set for Thursday, September 16 from noon to 1 p.m. EDT.
This is excellent advice on how to jumpstart your career while in college and it is also important to prepare an excellent college resume that showcases your skills and education in an effective way. Internships are the best way for getting a head start on your career as well as joining different organizations within and outside of your college. Networking is also important for gaining opportunities in employment.
You can also double major or have a minor while attending college. While you are still attending college there is often less courses you will need to take to double major versus finishing college and coming back for a second major which will require more courses to take. If you have finished college already I recommend going for a masters instead of trying to get a second bachelors degree. It is important to build up your resume skills also.
I am a graduate student and I think that this article is totally on target. College is about SO MUCH more than what is learned in the classroom. I have found that I have taken an interesting approach to grad school– I view my classes as supplementary to my experiences as opposed to vice versa. Of course my classes are crucial to my education and my degree, but I feel that everything else I am doing like volunteering, interning, and participating in extracurricular activities is what is shaping me into a well-rounded, experienced individual who will eventually (hopefully!) succeed in a career. When applying for a job, my coursework and grades really won’t be the focus of an employer’s attention. Employers can and will instead focus on my resume that I have successfully developed throughout the course of my higher education. Courses give you knowledge, be sure to develop SKILLS!