Aylin
when is a good time to start my career path/plan?
I'm going to be a senior this fall and i want to start taking my future more seriously and start planning my career path. #career #career-path #planning
3 answers
Chris Quagliata
Chris’s Answer
My three biggest pieces of advice are as follows:
(1) Work as hard as you can to secure an internship for your fall semester. Internship/work experience is a mandatory supplement to relevant coursework and a good GPA. Ideally, the summer before your senior year is when most formal internship programs are offered so if possible, try and get an internship this summer. But with it being this late, that is highly unlikely so hone in on a fall internship instead.
(2) Never pass up an opportunity to network. Attend any/all networking events offered by your college to build yourself a pipeline of people who will be working in your field of pursuit down the line and you can use to help create opportunities for you down the line.
(3) This goes without saying but study as hard as you can and get your major GPA as high as it can be, as that is one of the main drivers of entry-level post-college hiring, along with interview skills and internship experience.
Good luck, Aylin!
Thank you Chris for taking the time to answer my question. Your response helped a lot!
Aylin
RAMEESH ABREGO
RAMEESH’s Answer
Congratulations on your journey thus far. Honestly this is a great time to start thinking about your career path. Whether that will be working for a company or working for yourself. Often times we enter the workforce and quickly learn the career we choose isnt the one we want to pursue and end up regretting the investments in education and time sacrifices that were made to get there. So to prevent this I would ask myself the 5 Ws and 1 H.
Who: are the people I want to work with?
What: job would make me happy if I had to do this 5 times a week?
Where: do I want to live in the future (location)?
When: do I enter the work force (before college or after)?
Why: am I interested in this career path?
How: how much money will I make from this career (will this amount be enough to cover my life style that I want to live)?
You may not know the answers to all these questions right now, and truth be told these answers will continue to change for you with time but when you are able to find these answers and can be 100% honest with yourself about them, then you will be setting yourself up for success. You will know exactly what courses to take, what major to study in college, if you even need a college degree, etc.
If you do decide to go to college, there are some must do's:
>Network! Network! Network!.
I got many scholarships, financial aid and other forms of assistance just by meeting new people internally and externally of my university.
>Start thinking about your brand.
Often in our society we feel that our opinion of yourself is all that matters but in the working world its the opposite. Start thinking about how others see you. A good exercise is to ask your peers or friends that would be truthful to describe your brand to you. Then you compare that brand with your self perception to see if you are who you think you are.
> Get an internship every summer
An internship is almost a 100% guarantee to get a full time offer from a company. I regret not doing more internships in college. Another pro is majority of them you get paid. So its a nice way to gain experience while saving.
Ken Simmons
Ken’s Answer
Hi Aylin!
Here is a good place to start:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/make-a-plan
http://www.firstgenerationstudent.com/plan/