Whether graduation is in a few of months or a few of years, there are specific things every student should do as soon as possible to increase their chances of landing a great job.
Get Specific About What You Want To Do as Soon as Possible
From targeted class work to references from faculty advisors to internships, your time in college provides unique opportunities to break into the field or job of your dreams. Many people enter college without a clear idea of the direction they want their careers to take. That’s fine. College is a time of discovery, and you are supposed to try new things. It may take a year or two before you really know what you want to do. However, the sooner you can decide on a direction, the sooner you can start taking advantage of all the opportunities that only a student has access to. Commit to a goal as soon as possible, and that can give you several extra years of experience to help you outshine the other student applicants.
Break the Big Goal into Several Smaller Goals
The idea of leaving school and finding a job can seem daunting and far enough into the future that it’s tempting to put it off. Big goals like that are almost designed to fail, so break the big goal up into a series of shorter goals that you can accomplish sooner and with less effort. For instance, each year you might set a goal to reach out to at least 10 recent grads that you know to learn more about the companies and jobs they are in now. This can help you build your network and help you narrow down the jobs and companies you want to target at graduation. Once you know the companies you want to target, you might research your professors on LinkedIn to see which of them are connected to people at your target companies. Make sure you take classes with these professors and distinguish yourself so that they will be more inclined to give you a good reference or an introduction to a key contact.
Look Towards Internships and Work That Will Be Relevant To Your Resume
Internships are the answer to eternal chicken and egg question of how do you get experience without a job, and how do you get a job without experience. Many companies are willing to give students with relevant course experience a chance that they may not give if you were just applying for a job. Several students do an internship every year, and that all helps them build out very impressive resumes. Even if you aren’t sure what you want to do yet, an internship can help you clarify your goals, so start applying as soon as you can, and work extra hard to impress your boss. You never know when an internship will lead to an offer of part time work or full time work after graduation.
Keep Your Grades Up And Take Relevant Classes
While it is nice to plan for the future, it’s vitally important that you focus on the present as well. Not only should you be taking relevant classes, but also be sure to keep your grade point average up. Different companies are going to weigh your GPA in different ways during the hiring process, but having an impressive GPA will help you, especially when you are just out of college.
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