Preparing for Employment After College
Additional Ways U.S. College Students Can Ready Themselves for Jobs
Sep 22, 2009
In "How to Prepare for Employment After College," three plans for ensuring some degree of future success on the job market were discussed: honing computer skills, picking elective courses appropriate for broadening and diversifying skill sets, and working on additional certifications while still enrolled in collegiate studies. Three additional suggestions include:
- taking advantage of internships and/or study abroad programs
- gaining work experience while in college
- being active on campus and in professional organizations
Studying Abroad to Get Ahead
Depending on a college student's budget and schedule availability, studying abroad and partaking in internships both can help round out one's credentials and fill one's life and resume with great experience.
Studying abroad shows a student how to maneuver around new environs and cultures. The experience may involve learning to write and read in a different language and interact with technologies and learning institutions unlike those in the U.S.
Students can gain experience working and living in diverse populations and in a situation which involves building rapport and using cultural sensitivity and adaptation. Alumni from study abroad programs have very likely to have gone on to work abroad, be involved in international business and politics, among other types of work and lifestyles inspired and enlightened by the semester or short term outside the United States.
Interns Can Get a Head Start on Working
Interns can gain a similar experience as those studying abroad can while still staying within the United States. This can occur by interning for a company, corporation, government office,financial institution, or in the industry one desires to future work in. These experiences do not necessarily involve packing suitcases, obtaining visas, or even leaving the city or town where one's home university is located.
Part-time internships, paid or non-paying, still allow for learning skills ranging from clerical to research, web design to public relations based. In many cases, internships, like study abroad programs, may be taken for college credit too. Internships are great ways to network and even work one's self into a future job upon graduation.
Both study abroad programs and internship programs involve advanced planning so as not to prolong a student's path to graduation, interaction with on-campus career services or study abroad offices, and going through somewhat lengthy application forms, including time for processing with early deadlines.
Gaining Work Experience While in College
Despite the current economic situation, many college students can still work towards making themselves better potential job candidates by obtaining at minimum, part-time employment. This could be work-study jobs through educational grant programs, jobs on-campus, or near campus.
Jobs like waitressing build experience with customer service, working in busy environments, along with help save money for the future. Jobs at bookstores include working with inventory, customer service, and could include some clerical work. Summers or short vacations or breaks from college could be used for working too.
The main point is not just to earn money, but build a strong reference list of co-workers and supervisors and learn skills which one could carry into full-time employment.
Networking in Campus and Professional Organizations
It is important to make one's self known to others while in college. While it is fun to be active on campus and it can boost one's feeling of worth to be published, it is more important to use college as a building block. The same people students spend Friday nights with at social events or sit next to in class can be the same people who know someone who can help gain entrance into one's dream job. The person at the next table over at a conference dinner could likewise end up being the person who later interviews a student for an award, a graduate degree program, or for a job.
If students know what industry and position they desire out of college, they should let friends and family know about their ambitions, as family and friends may know people to refer and be able to provide ways to get a foot in the door at a particular company or graduate school. Make business cards to take to professional and social conferences. Volunteer to present at brown bag lectures or sign up for road trips to professional conferences to get feet wet. Identify future target audiences for interview pitches and find out how mentors and role models got where they are in life by asking the right questions. Getting published as an undergraduate is not impossible and young adults can make a strong impression on professional audiences and academics alike. Have fun too, but do not let one of the best opportunities to make the connections needed later on slip by!
In closing, college not only offers a lot of fun and great opportunities, but provides more opportunities to make the best first jump into the real world. Job hunts can go more smoothly by rounding out one's experiences, skill sets, and lists of references and network contacts. Use the opportunities available as students to experience real world work and social cultures and to be one's strongest advocate for a job.
The college student who braves study abroad semesters, stands his or her ground in intense internships, and/or handshakes his or her way around campus in turn sets him or herself up for a greater chance of success, all the while, making the most of life, money, ambitions, and hard work ethics!
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