Atlanta, GA | Posted:
July 11, 2013
No matter your major or year at Tech, less demanding summer schedules present an opportunity for you to prepare for the next stage of your career development. Even students who are not participating in a summer work experience can stay in control of their success by evaluating the past year and determining where they want the next one to take them. Stay on track by doing the following each summer:
1. Do a personal inventory:
- Is what you are doing in your academic career in line with your career and life goals?
- Are you still happy with and enjoying what you are doing in and out of the classroom?
2. Consider career counseling or academic advising:
- If you aren’t happy with the direction of your academic career or your current job prospects, visit Georgia Tech Career Services for a personal career counseling session.
- Academic advising can help you strategically plan your academic career.
- Academic coaching from the Center for Academic Success can help you improve your academic performance.
3. Plan to attend the Career Fair on Sept. 9–10:
- Review the list of companies that will have representatives in attendance and identify which you would like to talk to while you’re there.
- Even if you won’t be participating in recruitment efforts in the fall, attending the career fair is an excellent opportunity to practice delivering your personal positioning statement and interacting with recruiters.
- Visit the Tech Career Fair website for more information.
4. Do your research:
- Start researching companies on your Career Fair “must visit” list.
- Be aware of other major-specific career fairs and on-campus events with employers that do not attend the career fair. Check the Georgia Tech campus calendar and your program’s website for events.
- Don’t rule out any possibilities — companies that do not actively recruit on campus may still be a viable career option for you.
- Get advice on what to look for when researching companies from GT Career Services and the Wall Street Journal.
5. Maintain your network:
- Reach out to old contacts to say hello and catch up — you never know what new and exciting opportunities may result.
- Make new connections with people who can advise you on your career development through existing contacts in your field.
- Look for advice on how to maintain your professional network from the University of Virginia and Grad to Great.
6. Update your resume and online presence:
- Update your resume with new experience, involvements, and information such your GPA.
- Update or create profiles on professional sites such as LinkedIn to reflect what you’ve added or removed from your resume.
- Audit your social media sites and remove any content you wouldn’t want recruiters to see.
7. Update your wardrobe:
- Make sure everything you have fits properly. If it doesn’t, donate it and purchase at least one business casual and one business formal outfit.
- Remember: You should always wear business formal attire to career fairs and interviews.
- Ladies, when trying to decide between heels and flats for your business outfits, consider this advice from Bethany Miller, a Georgia Tech MBA graduate.
- If you need more specific outfit ideas, check out the Career Services Pinterest Page.
Stay tuned: Next week’s article focuses on how to prepare for your fall job search. In the meantime, browse our Summer Spotlight Pinterest Board for additional useful links.
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- Created By: Lauren Spikes
- Workflow Status: Published
- Created On: Jul 11, 2013 - 9:04am
- Last Updated: Oct 7, 2016 - 11:14pm
Be Prepared for Your Career