As college students, some of you might think that career development is necessary to land your dream jobs. But, starting it can be very confusing. In this article, you might find 5 career development tips for college students.
- Find Mentor
The first and probably the easiest tip to kickstart your career development is to find a mentor. It could be the school alumni or people you met through formal events. The point is to expand your social network that will support your personal branding. Oftentimes, you wanted to start a career in a completely different field than your initial major in college, and that’s okay. That’s why a career development mentor can be an essential element in your career development journey.
- Pursue your Passion
Whether you want to do coding, writing, or art, pursue your passion with a full heart. Pursuing your passion will help you be more productive, and therefore reduce your time doing useless things. While you’re at it, sharing stories about your passion will help you gain social networks, it shows that you value learning and have room for improving yourself, one important aspect for reaching your career development goals.
- Update your Skills
To support your passion, there’s no harm in taking a few additional courses. While you’re still at college, there are a lot of opportunities you can take that will help you update your skills. Make sure these skills can help you stand out amongst other candidates when applying for jobs or internships. In addition to the hard skills, don’t forget to always sharpen your soft skills, like teamwork, communication, and leadership.
- Find Internship Opportunities
When you feel like you have enough experience, go find internship opportunities! The goal of career development is to be confident in what you learn and don’t be afraid to fail. Some people applied to more than 10 internships before finally getting in. Don’t aim for a high salary through an internship, but aim for the experience, the thrill of working in the industry you are passionate about.
- Aspire to be the Best
Show people that you are serious about your work and that you have passion for what you do. Leave room for improvement and learning, because every industry grows and so should you. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and learn new things every day because that’s what career development is about.
If you were just about to enroll in college, start with creating career development plans. Could be about who you want to connect with, what area of expertise you want to learn about in-depth, and what industry you are interested in. There is always room for growth in career development.
