Six Things You Should Do in College to Grab a Successful Job

College is one time in life that is solely responsible for where you land in the future.

You might think there is nothing that can help you find a job when still in college. But that is a wrong approach. Not only the last semester or year, but you also have the entire three to four years of time to make yourself job ready.

What Did You Do to Get into College?

You created a background search, chose your subject, used different educational websites for students, and made a decision about college and your field of study. Next, you started working toward getting admission to the college.

Similarly, when you are in college, you have to start preparing for a better job in the future. Actively being a part of organizing committees and volunteering work during the span of a course gives you an edge.

As you enter the last semester of college, the urge and importance of finding a job increases.

Here is what you should be doing to grab a job offer when you are still in college:

Get Online

Social media platforms, networking platforms, and online job portals should be your favorite surfing options. Get online and create alerts about new openings in your fields of interest. Read the job descriptions, and you would know what they need.

List skills and competencies that you would require to apply for that job and then analyze what you can gather to put on your resume. Create profiles online, even if it is just a basic list of your educational details, any awards or accolades, internships, part-time jobs, or volunteer jobs. The jobs you’ve done might not match relevant competencies for the job that you are looking right now, but you likely learned some skills that employers look for.

Getting online also means a start toward building connections. Connect with as many people as possible to strengthen your networks.

Get a Blog

How does that help?

You can choose to write about your fields of interest. If you do not know where your career path would take you, you can use this space by putting down your interests. If you can zero in on a professional topic like digital marketing or financial decisions, that’s great. Otherwise, write about a subject that interests you.

Get an Internship; ASAP

It is never too early to get an internship when you are in college. Internships are valuable as they are the experience you can gather before getting a job. The earlier you have an internship, the more time you have to explore different fields. The more internships you have before graduating, the better it is for you to land a job.

Find a Mentor

You should, at least, have one mentor. And your mentor could be your family, professors, or seniors, but it is better to find a mentor in the field through your social media connections. Unless your parents work in the same field as you are pursuing, their mentorship may not be effective for your chosen profession.

You have to find someone who is doing what you want to do in the future. For example, if you want to work with Amazon for the marketing department, Google both and look at what you get. Try and get in touch with this person. Have more names in your head. If you have at least one mentor, this changes a lot for you.

Another way of finding a mentor in your field is through connections of your parents.

Use Career Services

Every graduate school or college has a career service. But most of the students do not use them. Make use of these services. They connect you to your alumni working in the same field of your interest. The alumni can help you get a job in the field.

Other than getting in touch with the alumni, career services in college also assist in writing professional resumes and cover letters, interview preparations, and other stuff related to job search.

Join an Industry-Specific Group

Industry groups are an untapped resource. Most schools and colleges have huge professional groups that are industry specific. Be a part of these groups and connect with professionals to establish the industry of your interest. Connecting with the industry is one of the great ways to mentor relationships that can help you in the future.

The old-fashioned idea of spending your time in college and exploring professional pursuits are no longer relevant. Networking is the new way of grabbing a job. If you have not started networking, now is the time.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.