Career Information and Planning
The Information Age: Students can expect to prepare for several career changes, life-long learning and jobs requiring multi-tasking abilities.
Useful Tips for Effective Career Planning
- early career planning eliminates undue stress and hasty decisions
- less emphasis on major more emphasis on skills, interests, personality-environment match
- skills and experiences (such as internships and summer jobs) can open doors
- thinking and acting are both important
Become a quick-change artist: Expect flexible ways of working, ever-changing job descriptions. Become adaptable not resentful. Your student is in charge of his/her career NOT the company. ***Students can acquire these traits by becoming involved in athletics, academics, internships and other extra-curricular activities where they are forced to balance different requirements and interact with different types of people all in one day!
Commit fully to the job: Students can demonstrate to potential employers their commitment and dedication by developing a strong work ethic while in school. Maintaining good grades, enhancing leadership skills and "going the extra mile" can prove to future employers that they can thrive not just survive in the world of work!
Accept ambiguity and uncertainty: Learn to loosen up and prepare to feel your way along into the future. Be willing to jump at opportunities as they arise. Being creative while managing the future is a necessity. Students must develop a strong sense of self in order to carve out their vision. If your student knows themselves well, it's a lot easier to accept the "gray" areas as your life unfolds! By developing strong support systems including faculty, career services, parents, friends and co-workers, students should be able to navigate their careers through this "fog" with ample confidence.
Learn to behave like an entrepreneur: Students need to begin to assume personal responsibility for their careers. Career Services is no longer referred to as the "placement office" for this very reason. The students who succeed in this new world are those that can make decisions and take action as if they are "their own boss". More and more first year students are coming into CS--these are the entrepreneurs who know that their futures require tools that they must initiate early on!
First Year- Self Assessment
Encourage your student to:
- Meet with an adviser from CS to determine skills, interests and values and how they relate to choosing an academic major and career
- Apply for a job on campus to enhance skills
- Become familiar with the resources available in the Career Services Office.
Second Year- Career Exploration
Encourage your student to:
- Job shadow or informational interview in order to learn more about career options
- Become involved in campus activities and enhance leadership skills
Third Year- Experience
Encourage your student to:
- Learn how to write a resume and cover letter
- Learn the art of interviewing
- Obtain an internship or career-related experience
- If interested, begin exploring graduate schools to become familiar with admission and test requirements
Fourth Year- Decision Making/Action
Encourage your student to:
- Plan job search strategies
- Participate in on campus recruiting
- Attend campus and community job fairs
- Utilize the Clark Recruiter, the Career Services' Library and Online career resources regularly to obtain job information
- Network in their chosen career field
- Meet with Career Services staff on a regular basis
Remember, career planning doesn't happen overnight or in a vacuum!