Finding free time in between classes, work, and extracurricular activities is like searching for a needle in a haystack. If you add in a few hours to sleep, eat, and check Facebook, you might as well call it a day. Getting everything done requires prioritizing time. For most of us, that means first addressing what is most immediately relevant and leaving the rest for later.
Career planning is one of the areas that often falls into the “rest” category. Preparing yourself for a career seems far enough into the future that you can wait to address it at another time. However, it is never too soon to start incorporating career planning strategies into your daily life.
A great way to start thinking about career planning is to start thinking! Here are some useful tips to help you move forward:
1. Create a list of goals for yourself. Put your list somewhere you will frequently see it. Seeing your list often can serve to motivate and remind you to accomplish tasks in order to fulfill your goals.
2. Include deadlines, prerequisites, and ways you can successfully achieve these goals. For example, if you would like to hold an internship over summer vacation, you will need to complete an internship search, develop a resume and cover letter, and submit applications. Assign yourself deadlines for completing these tasks and provide quantifiable targets, e.g. By December 31st I will find five internships to apply to.
3. Develop manageable tasks. If a task feels overwhelming, break it down into smaller tasks. Continuing with the above example, you might expand your internship deadline structure to include five deadlines of a single internship per deadline, e.g. I will find one internship per week during the month of December.
4. Keep up with the deadlines you have set for yourself. Once you complete a task, move on to the next one. Remember: a quantifiable target is more useful than an open-ended one. Dates, numbers, and other measurable qualities will help you remain focused.
5. Schedule an appointment with a staff member at the Career Center to help organize and plan for fulfilling your goals.
Tags: career planning
