I remember being a college student and I remember how hard it was being in my senior year and still having no clue as to what I wanted to do after graduation. Nevertheless, I made it and after a lot of trials and errors, sleepless nights and interning at all the wrong places; I came up with a simple guide that will help all those poor unfortunate college students sleep better at night. I don’t think there’s any better way to give out advice for confused college students than by an ex-confused college student, right?
Here is a simple guide to setting your career goals:
Self-Assessment
Start with self-assessment and taking notes of your skills, interests, passions, values and personality traits; can help you formulate your own future career criteria.
Consider creating a career profile by reviewing your academic background, the clubs you joined, the volunteer work and projects you took part in. Ask yourself what were the most satisfying and successful for you? Take note of the activities that were most interesting and energizing. Also, consider which interests or values made the work meaningful or stimulating. Make a list of the strong skills that you also enjoyed using. Break down any of your personality characteristics that made the activities feel natural for you.
Brainstorm
After self-assessment comes the brainstorming stage. You can start by scouring the internet for career options in order to build a hit list of your top picks. Start researching careers that are related to your major or what you are interested in. If you’re planning to venture off towards a different path than what your majoring in, then you should start by making sure that you have the right qualifications for that. Use your self-assessment notes to find the jobs that are most suitable to your skills, personality and your studies.
Research
You can also start conducing several informational interviews with people who work with or hire people in your desired career. Ask them if your degree program and extra-curricular experiences have prepared you for the requirements employers expect.
Keep notes of what you have learned during your research and match it up against the list of interests, skills, and values which you generated during your self-assessment phase. Make a list of options which are still worth considering.
Internships and Job Shadowing
One of the important determining factors employers take into consideration is past experience. Any professional work experience will help you stand out and skip ahead of other candidates. My work experience began during my second year in college. By the time I graduated, I already had solid work experience to give me an edge.
You can present a professional edge by interning and job shadowing as much as possible. Pay attention to what kind of work you enjoy doing most and what you don’t like, to narrow down you career options. Even if you don’t start out with your dream job, there is plenty of time to work, gain knowledge, and find out what you actually like to do.
