College students who can establish career pathways early on, stand a competitive advantage at graduation as well as at the beginning years of their career.

The overloaded class schedules and project deadlines leave little time for career planning. Consequently, many college students feel a sense of panic during their junior and senior years, realizing they have no idea what career jobs exist beyond graduation or how to best qualify for them.

Understanding multiple career trajectories

Many careers have different avenues and methods to find meaningful work. Often students view a college major in a singular, traditional job perspective. Students, who can identify emerging areas along with the skills required, are more likely to be employed and buffer economic downturns throughout their career. Additionally, they can seek out professors, alumni, classes, and project experiences to help them become more knowledgeable in diverse career sectors.

Identifying targeted employers

Understanding large to small companies that you find attractive, and tracking them during your college years will help you to learn invaluable career information. Following companies through Google alerts or social media outlets will provide a steady stream of information regarding company core values, successes, acquisitions, financial information, and hiring opportunities. Additionally, seeking out a company’s competitors provides another set of employment possibilities and more industry information.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows students the ability to view over 500 million professional backgrounds worldwide at various career stages and the ability to build connections. It is essential to have a professional LinkedIn profile as you begin to develop a professional trademark. With LinkedIn, college students have access to professionals at various levels of their careers, as well as information about their work experiences, prior roles, and the education that led to their success. You can see career progressions as well as reverse engineer your own steps to reach certain career levels.

Commitment to long term learning

In a knowledge-based economy, the ability to increase your skills, especially in emergent areas, will be a constant pursuit. Leaning how to develop these methods in college will serve you well for decades to come. Students who seek out professional associations in related career fields also create another source for obtaining industry information and networking for themselves. Some professional associations even have a discounted student membership rate.

Through these type of activities, college students are able to establish a competitive advantage, which may translate into internship possibilities leading to meaningful employment. The ability to launch a career and thrive in your twenties should be more of the norm than the exception. All students have a different definition of success, and not all are in the same place career wise as their peers who are in similar grades or institutions.

Campus to Career Crossroads is a partner for the college journey and welcomes the opportunity to provide short or long- term planning to safeguard the college investment. Curious how Campus to Career Crossroads could help you reach your college goals? Call today for a consultation.