Put College to Work

Kat Clowes

Description

The future looks bleak for today's college graduates: 53 percent of Millennials are jobless or underemployed after graduating college, and 36 percent have moved back in with their parents. College tuition has tripled in the last decade, debt at graduation has risen to a full year's salary, and more graduates are forced to default on their student loans. Meanwhile, college is not preparing students for the modern job market—wages are stagnating, employers aren't hiring, and young people today can expect to change careers five or six times in their lifetime. The old rules for succeeding in college just don't work anymore. "Put College to Work" is the new rule book that shows how to make today's college environment work for you. "Put College to Work" presents a step-by-step plan to use the resources available to you in college (the resources you're already paying for!) to enhance your education with practical experience, make connections with employers, market yourself as a dynamic and creative employee—and land a job before you graduate. "Put College to Work" shows how to identify your strengths, find the right career field and major to pursue, leverage your skills, and create your own opportunities. You'll learn how to network to employers through your university's career center, alumni association, and major donors, plus the industry and research connections of your professors. Written by a Millennial for Millennials, "Put College to Work" is a supremely practical guide to how college really works today that will empower you to take action now to build your education, your career plan, your business contacts, and your job prospects.

Sujets

• Efficacité professionnel
• Carrière & Mobilité
• Carrière
• General
• Business
• Economics
• General officer
• Career
• Intern
• List of counseling topics
• Counseling
• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• EDUCATION
• Careers
• Internships

Informations

• Publié par: Linden Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781610352697
• Langue: English

Extrait

PUT COLLEGE TO WORK
How to Use College to the Fullest to Discover Your Strengths and Find a Job You Love Before You Graduate
Kat Clowes, M.B.A.
PUT COLLEGE TO WORK
How to Use College to the Fullest to Discover Your Strengths and Find a Job You Love Before You Graduate
copyright 2015 by Kat Clowes, M.B.A. Cover image: Pressmaster/Shutterstock.
All rights reserved. Published by Quill Driver Books, an imprint of Linden Publishing 2006 South Mary, Fresno, California 93721 559-233-6633 / 800-345-4447 QuillDriverBooks.com
Quill Driver Books and Colophon are trademarks of Linden Publishing, Inc.
ISBN 978-1-61035-253-6
Printed in the United States First Printing
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file
To my parents, who supported me .
To my daughter Millie, who changed my life .
To Foster and Frances Brinkley, my grandparents, who showed me that the impossible is possible .
And to Jarred, who gave me the confidence and support to follow my dreams .
Contents
Foreword
First and Foremost
Look Who s Talking: Chronology of the Clueless
PART 1 - PUT YOURSELF TO WORK
1 Advocate for Yourself
Plead Your Own Case
Just Ask
Practice the Ask
2 Discovering Yourself
Popping Bubbles
Don t Get Stuck
Choosing Your Route
What You Hate
Identifying Your Values
Your Strengths
Your Skills
Rock Your Passion
Your Goals
Your Purpose
Now What?
3 Manage Your Time, Maximize Your Productivity
How to Create Time
Time Management Tips
Set Step-by-Step Goals
4 Personal Branding
What Is a Brand?
What Is a Personal Brand?
How to Develop Your Personal Brand
The Current State of Your Brand
Living Your Brand
Your Brand Online
How to Use Your Personal Brand
PART 2 - SUCCEED IN SCHOOL
5 Your Coursework
What s My Major Again?
Choosing Your Courses
Formulating a Game Plan
Alternatives to Classes at Your University
Don t Go the Easy Route
6 Professors
Make Sure They Know Who You Are
Ask For Help If You Need It
Be Someone You Would Want to Help
7 Financial Aid
Workshops
Talking With Financial Aid Advisers
Aid Variables
Scholarships at Your School
Scholarships Outside of Your School
8 Learning Centers
Writing Centers
Tutoring Centers
Math Centers
Language Centers
Specialty Help
9 Learning Differences
Comprehensive Program
Robust Services
Basic Services
10 Counseling and Medical Centers
Mental Health Is Important
Crisis Management
The University Medical Center
Other Health-Related Services
11 Summers
Study Abroad
College Exchange Programs
Certifications
PART 3 - SUCCEED AFTER COLLEGE
12 The Career Center
List of Job Opportunities
R sum Help
Workshops
Career Counselors
Assessments
Internships
Job Fairs
13 Alumni
Do Your Homework
Take Advantage of Your School s Graduates-Forever
Use Alumni Network after You Graduate
14 Specialized Institutes
Why Should I Get Involved?
How Do I Get Involved?
15 Job Shadowing and Informational Interviews
Job Shadowing
An Informational Interview
The Finale
16 Internships
The Elusive Internship
Interning and the Economy
Start Freshman Year
Where to Start
How to Get an Internship
Follow Through
17 Volunteering
Nonprofits
Define What You Want To Do
Volunteering as Networking
Finding Organizations To Get Started
Don t Be a Jerk
18 Conferences, Competitions, and More
Conferences
Conference Structure
Competitions
Lectures
Professional Associations
19 Graduate School
Weigh Benefits and Costs
Evaluate Your Choices
Requirements
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
PART 4 - HAVING A PARTICULAR SET OF SKILLS
20 Rocking Your Job Fair
Do Your Homework
Be Prepared
Be Organized
Create a Plan
Look the Part
Be the Part
Follow Up
21 Networking Effectively
Why Is Networking Important?
Do Your Homework-Again
Your Elevator Pitch
Networking with Manners
Where to Find Networking Events
Network Your Network
22 Crafting Killer R sum s and Cover Letters
R sum
How to Make Your R sum Pop
Cover Letter
23 Acing an Interview
Prep Time
Practice, Practice, and-uh-More Practice?
The Night Before
The Interview
Wrapping Up the Interview
24 Using Social Media-Wisely
The Assessment
Cleaning Up Your Profiles
Your New Profiles
LinkedIn
Putting LinkedIn to Work for You
25 The End? Or Is It?
RESOURCES
Put College to Work Timeline
Consider What You Hate
Examine Your Values
What Are Your Strengths?
The Opposite List
Consider Your Skills
Uncover Your Passions
Your Long-Term Goals
Your Bucket List
Your Short-Term Goals
Your Purpose in Life
Time Management
What You Want Others to See
Your Appearance
Your Personality
Differentiation
Skills
Your Personal Brand
What Others Say
Your Master List
Researching a Potential Employer
R sum s and Cover Letters
Index
About the Author
Foreword
Navigating college is no easy task . It s not always clear that what you do in college will lead to a career, and it s easy to get frustrated. I know this firsthand, having taken a few wrong turns in college. Fortunately, I got some solid advice from Kat Clowes, the author of this book.
When I was younger, I knew I wanted to work in the video game industry. I enjoyed playing video games, and I d even managed to make a little money playing in video game tournaments in high school. But how could I turn that into a career? Should I be a coder? That just wasn t me. I wanted to enter the business side of the industry, so my first choice for a major in college was economics. I found out very quickly the skills necessary for an economics major-statistics, formulas, and quantitative analysis-just weren t me, either.
I talked to Kat about this several times over the course of my first few months of college, and eventually she advised me to switch my major to political science and get more involved in extracurricular activities. That seemed weird-what does political science have to do with video games? And weren t extracurriculars just a distraction from classwork? Kat answered that political science was a better match for my natural skills, and that extracurriculars gave important practical experience that would pay off later.
Switching my major was the best decision I made in college. Political science took skills that came much easier to me, like research, public speaking, and writing. I was able to comfortably complete my classes and have the time and energy for extracurricular clubs and activities that enriched my college experience. Doing activities such as the Model United Nations, the debate team, and an internship at a local laboratory increased my confidence and taught me a lot about preparation and time management that helped me tremendously in college.
I even had the time to hang out at video game conventions, where I met some great people and started building connections that led to my current job with Turtle Entertainment, Inc., the world s best gaming promoter. (Apparently, I was networking, but I didn t know it at the time. I thought I was having fun.)
I m not necessarily working in the realm of my major, but the experience that I built up going the extra mile in college is paying major dividends today. Kat s advice to get more involved outside of classes didn t quite make sense at the time, but her forward thinking paid off for me in more ways than one.
Put College to Work is the end result of the many years that Kat has spent helping students heading to college find the right mix of using the skills they already have and stretching to develop new skills. I hope that, like me, you ll find Kat s advice will help you use college as a foundation for moving forward. I am excited that you will have a chance to share in her experience and advice in order to enrich your life.
Eric Brinkley Product Manager, Turtle Entertainment, Inc. ESL Gaming
First and Foremost
Do you throw up a little in your mouth at the thought of finishing your senior year of college and stepping out into the real world ? Are you having nightmares about being chased through postapocalyptic job fairs by the undead, two-headed statistics that news outlets toss around like grayscale confetti: This just in! Only 40 percent of Millennials have full-time employment! Thirty-six percent will move back in with their parents! What about the rest? Yep, it s cat-food under a bridge for you!
Well my friends, I m here to tell you that you re not going to become a cat-food eating troll. Instead, you re going to learn how to use all of the resources available to you so that you can carve a new path that lets you make the most of college while you re there-and when you leave. It doesn t matter if you re a senior or a freshman in college, or even if you re still in high school.
The information in this book will give you a head start and keep you running in front of the pack. The book is designed so that you can re