With final exams and the spring semester concluding, all those sleepless nights worrying about projects, assignments, exams and homework are finally over. Summer is here and with it comes an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and one step closer to your post-graduation goals. You may feel like you deserve a lengthy break and a pat on the back, but the reality is that the longer you spend being complacent, the further you’ll fall behind the rest of your peers.

Foremost, you need to imagine where you see yourself in five to ten years. Without a roadmap, it will be impossible to take action without second-guessing yourself every step of the way. Now, this doesn’t mean pigeonholing yourself into one career trajectory. Your roadmap is simply necessary to get you started in taking action. If you have a change of heart, you could always adjust your career’s course later.

Subsequently, you need to really think about what it is you want to do and why. It’s not enough to just say, “I think this career path sounds interesting.” You need to actually research the industry you want to break into, read about the current events happening in the space and develop enough knowledge to discuss the role intelligently. If you cannot answer why you want to follow a particular career path in detail, nobody in the industry will take you seriously.

The next step to getting closer to your post-graduation goals is connecting and networking with professionals who are working in your desired industry. Make a LinkedIn profile and start trying to find alumni, friends, family and even strangers who are working in the field you’re interested in. Something as simple as an email introducing yourself and attaching a resume helps. It’s never too early to start building your network. Not only will you be building relationships to land internships and full-time roles but you will also have a chance to receive much-needed career guidance that will help you fine-tune your plan of action.

Keep in mind that you want to develop a basic understanding of whatever field you want to enter before reaching out to people. Otherwise, you’ll be unprepared and it can come off unprofessional. If you’re actually doing the research and putting in the time, people will be able to tell that you have a sense of purpose and a genuine interest in the work they are doing and are more willing to support you.

After all this preparation and strategizing, it’s finally time to start getting your plan into motion. The top things that people care about when recruiting and hiring are your skills and experiences. After you check those boxes, they’ll see if you are a good fit, culture-wise by asking questions to see if you align well with the company’s values, missions and employees.

If you already landed an internship in the field you’re interested in, that’s great! You’ll be spending the summer gaining knowledge and building relationships, and ultimately, gaining experience you can use when reaching out to employers in the future. It’s important to make the most out of your internship and see if you actually enjoy the day-to-day of the career you’re planning to break into.

If you haven’t landed an internship or research experience, there’s no need to panic. As long as you still have your junior year summer ahead of you, there’s still time to get on the right track. You still want to figure out your career goals and reach out to professionals. After all, those phone conversations and zoom sessions will be great practice for interviews in the future. But the number one thing you should be spending your time on is gaining skills that are important to your industry of choice.

In this day and age, there are so many resources available online. Take advantage of free or cheap online courses, youtube tutorials and books. MasterClass, Udemy, Coursera, and Skillshare are all great websites with a wide variety of courses to choose from. Maybe get that Excel certification you’ve been putting off for a while or if you’re more creative, learn about graphic design with David Carson.

On top of building out your technical skill set, it’s also important to gain experience in working with other people. Talking about group projects from courses in college over and over again in your interviews is just not going to cut it. It’s okay to have one or two stories from school, but recruiters and professionals want to hear about your real-world experiences. So, find time to volunteer for a cause you feel strongly about or work on an independent project with a few of your friends. This way, you can explain how you learned about teamwork, leadership and problem-solving. These interpersonal skills are often overlooked but it’s important that you develop them alongside the more technical skills.

Finally, remember to hold yourself accountable and stay organized by using a planner. Create smaller goals for yourself that fit into your long-term vision for your career trajectory. As decorated long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge puts it, “only the disciplined ones are free in life. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods. You are a slave to your passions”.

Gil Markman is a sophomore economics major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at gkmarkma@syr.edu.

Published on May 16, 2022 at 2:06 am