8 answers
Jen Taylor
Jen’s Answer
I would highly encourage you to build your wheel house while in college. Go for internships and summer jobs with companies you want to work and learn from. Create relationships with your instructors. Be active on Linked In, follow the companies you think you can learn from. Attend anything your college offers for meeting companies or extra lectures. Take the time to talk to anyone willing. You have lots of time to market yourself and make great connections. This is valuable. Also work with your college, use their resources to assist in your job hunt. Letting people know about you is just as important. For my last 2 jobs positions I was asked by managers to apply. Hard work is noticed! Good luck.
Peregrin’s Answer
That said, it also depends what you are studying in college. If you are a computer science major and really enjoy coding, there are a lot of options available for the tangible coding skills you can develop. As you move out of some of the more specific majors and into Liberal Arts or even some of the sciences where your studies are more theoretical, then you have to think a bit more broadly about your goals. In political science there are many internships and volunteer opportunities around campaigns, in sciences, there are many volunteer opportunities around trials. The more you know about your interest, the more likely you can find the opportunities.
In an entry level position, it is as important to be able to explain how you can apply your college career (not just your course selection, but the ability to apply your learning and how to learn) to any task. Critical thinking, analysis, well thought out writing are all critical skills that can help you get started almost anywhere. If you want to be a senior software engineer or a senior systems architect some day, you need to be able to know how to research and clearly articulate what you can do. That can come from an role as a Business Analyst or Developer position. English majors can work on communications teams in almost any company, Econ and Business majors could find starter jobs in most large consulting firms.
The start of your career is just that, the start. In large companies you can have opportunities to grow into many different roles, in smaller companies or start ups you will gain experience in broader areas that will help you figure out what makes sense next.
Paris’s Answer
培培’s Answer
Donnebra’s Answer
Internships! They build a healthy relationship with a company but also allow you to gain the necessary experience to qualify for most job in your field.