Page 15 - South Mountain Community College 2020-2021 Student Planner

COLLEGE SUCCESS TIPS Career Planning
The only way to make college work for you in the long run is to use the academic learning, practical experience, and important connections you have gained during your four years and parlay them into a career that you’re passionate about. Aside from studying hard and doing your best in your classes, there are several things you will want to consider doing while you are still in college:
• Find An Internship. It’s a dirty little secret in the working world, but it’s the truth: even so-called entry-level jobs often require you to have practical experience and on-the-job training. So how does one get this experience? One common way to get this necessary experience before you graduate is to invest your time in an internship.
An internship is a temporary, often unpaid position set up solely for the purpose of allowing the intern to gain practical experience in a particular career area.
In addition to the experience, an internship will help you establish important connections with people who will be able to provide references and letters of recommendation for you when you start to look for your full-time career.
A strong letter of recommendation or a kind word on the phone to an interviewer from an established person in your profession can mean the difference between getting the job of your dreams or getting your resume shuffled to the shredding machine.
• Visit Your Career Center. Your campus most likely has an office full of dedicated professionals whose sole purpose is to help you find an internship or a job after college. At most schools, this is called the College And Career Development Center.
The career center will often deliver seminars on such topics as resume writing, interviewing skills, and marketing yourself to the working world. They might host career networking mixers where you can chat informally with people who already work in the career you are planning to pursue.
Contact your campus’s career center to learn more about upcoming events or to get on an email list to update you periodically.
• Plan To Attend Career Fairs on Campus. Career fairs are usually set up by your career center and present you with a valuable opportunity to deliver your resume to many different employers at once.
Visit each company’s booth that interests you, and talk to the representative as you drop off your resume. Anything you can do to distinguish yourself from the other candidates milling around the career fair will go a long way in making sure that your resume lands in the right hands.
Make sure to follow up with a short email to thank the person you spoke to for taking time to talk to you.
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