Don't Rely on Colleges For Career Preparation

College is a time of exploration, experimentation, and--of course--education. However, I have heard accusations that colleges do not prepare students for their early careers. While each college inevitably varies in the weight it places on students' career development, the truth remains: students bear a majority of the responsibility for preparing themselves for their careers.

In my opinion, higher-education institutions (at least in the United States) must focus on improving in many areas: cost, education quality, research-teaching balance, etcetera. But, I believe students must focus on improving their own career development practices. Not only will taking charge of one's career during college increase job prospects thereafter, but it will also give students a skill that they will invariably need when they enter the professional world.

This article would be without merit if I did not put forth some suggestions on how students could take charge of their career preparation. Thus, I suggest six ways which the current (or soon-to-be) college student can begin preparing for the workforce while still within the confines of the Ivory Tower.

Choose a School Wisely

Choosing a college is one of the hardest choices a person makes in their early life. Among other things, the prospective freshman must weigh:

• Cost,
• Prestige,
• Family or friend recommendations,
• Location,
• Opportunities,
• Campus life,
• Safety, and
• Program selection.

Since it is not obvious which of these items takes priority, students often pick based off of their "gut instinct." While some may warrant they are happy with this method, I believe it is dead wrong. Making an informed selection of school that aligns with the student's long-term goal is extremely important.

For example, assume a prospective student wanted to pursue a career in psychology and they were accepted into Harvard and Stanford (lucky them). Many students would choose Harvard because of its undeniably premier name and brand image. However, Stanford has the better psychology program and has more connections to the psychology job market. Thus, for this particular student, forgoing Harvard may be the smarter choice.

Students must consider how well the school complements their personalities, career desires, and long-term goals. Putting these considerations at the forefront guarantees--more than any other item from the bulleted list above--that the student will be happy, successful, and on-track with their career come graduation.

There are two caveats here, however:

1. It is rare to find a high schooler who knows with certainty what they want to do in their careers when they are choosing a college.
2. It is often difficult to determine how robust a school's career resources are.

To solve the first caveat, the prospective student may want to ask the office of admissions to put them in touch with students who were "undecided/undeclared" majors during their freshman year. Students who recently declared a major can provide insight into how well the university helps its students choose a career path. That way the prospective student knows how the school promotes career growth and development without having to know exactly what career or discipline they want to pursue. To solve the second caveat, the prospective student should research schools' alumni networks, graduate employment percentages, and career center forums to see how marketable the schools graduates are in industry.

Learn

While it may seem obvious that learning must take place in college, students all to often fail to prioritize it. Learning takes the backseat to dating, partying, working, sleeping, or any number of other things.

The tens of thousands of dollars that colleges cost should not be wasted--use all resources available and get the best grades possible. Not only do grades carry a lot of weight (perhaps too much) in the hiring processes after college, but the amount of raw knowledge that can be acquired with four years of sincere learning is astounding.

I, for example, did not get accepted into my first choice undergraduate institution, but I was resolute to use whatever tools my university had to learn as much as I could. Because I talked to professors, attended office hours, went to study sessions, used the libraries, and volunteered in labs, I got the opportunity to co-publish an academic journal article with a professor. I would never have gotten that opportunity if I did not set out to learn and explore my college to the fullest. Moreover, in my career since graduation, this publication has been a critical talking point in over half of my interviews.

Absorbing knowledge and demonstrating an ability to learn are in an of themselves marketable. Companies do not necessarily believe having a high GPA or multiple-majors means one candidate is smarter than another. However, companies certainly believe these indicators evidence a candidate's desire to continue learning and ability to overcome a job's learning curve. I have heard from recruiters that college majors are often less important than GPA, honors, and extracurricular activities. While that may seem counterintuitive, recruiters say that companies are willing to teach candidates requisite skills which their majors may have omitted, but before making that investment, companies need assurance that candidates have the ability to learn (as evidenced by these other indicators).

Ask Questions

When I enrolled at a research university, I was warned, "professors do not care about you, they only want to do their research. Teaching is secondary to them." Horrified by this, I spent my first quarter holding back questions because I felt I would annoy or disturb the professor. Once I overcame this fear, I realized how wrong this myth really was.

In both my graduate and undergraduate studies, essentially all professors I approached--regardless of tenure or department--were delighted to answer questions. By asking questions, I got advice on literally anything I wanted to know, such as how to procure a job, performing research, course work, obscure material, test taking strategies, common pitfalls, and much more.

Students should not fear their professors, and should look at professors that do not take time to answer questions simply as "bad apples." Students simply must ask questions to get the most out of their college career. Not only does it aid in learning and understanding the coursework, but it also opens the doorway to connections and opportunities the professors may have, both on campus and in industry. A professor cannot recommend a student to a connection or nominate a student for an opportunity without knowing them deeper than just as a face in the crowd.

So long as the student respects the professor's office hours and meeting policies, I believe asking questions is the single best way to stand out from the crowd of faces and obtain opportunities that other students may not receive.

Practice Vocational Skills

This is one of the easiest areas to overlook in college, but perhaps the most important. There are a variety of core skills required in the modern workplace, such as Microsoft Office, social media, business writing, and public speaking, to name a few. Students can often achieve high GPAs but not spend enough time practicing these softer skills and thus appear as a "low performer" on the job, when in reality they are quite the opposite.

Most campus have training sessions and mini-classes in their career centers that can help students practice these skills. However, even if a particular campus does not have this infrastructure, there exist tools that allow students to cultivate these skills on their own:

• http://www.lynda.com- offers a variety of free classes--from time management to operating systems--for free, on-demand.
• https://www.youtube.com- offers thousands of "how-to" videos on literally any skill set required for business (unfortunately however, content is not curated and thus not always quality content).
• https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/office-training.aspx- Microsoft offers training and exams with the purchase of an Office-realted product.
• http://www.about.com- much like YouTube, About.com offers thousands of "how-to" blogs and videos on literally any skill set--only here, information quality is monitored.

Put bluntly, I believe modern students have little excuse for lacking the necessary skill sets they need to excel at their post-graduation jobs; suffice to say, managers will see it this way too!

Explore Jobs, Even while Jobless

Too often an interview becomes a quest to hear "you're hired!" People do not take enough time to reflect on if they even want to be hired in the first place. Students have the unique opportunity to do exactly that, however. By exploring careers early, students can discover jobs that they may enjoy, be happy at, and be stimulated by, far before experiencing the need to accept an offer just to pay their bills. Three ways to explore careers for "goodness of fit" are:

Informational Interviews

Most companies and professionals welcome the opportunity to speak to students. Students who are interested in choosing a specific career path should contact the human resource or recruiting departments at local companies and describe clearly their situation, their interest, and what they would like to gain from an informational interview. Many times, students will be granted an informational interview with a professional many years their elder. Informational interviews typically work best if a student takes time to prepare for them, has questions ready, and does not beg the professional for a job.

Audit Graduate-School Courses

Most academic departments welcome students who wish to audit (observe) a graduate school course in a subject that they are interested in pursuing professionally. By viewing the course, hearing the discourse, and asking some questions, a student can understand much more about what that profession actually entails. For example, undergraduate accounting courses typically focus on what accountants would call "bookkeeping." Graduate level courses, however, begin to get into real accounting issues, problem solving, and analysis. While a student may not understand everything that is being said, a student can see how they feel when they are immersed in real issues, and whether they are interested in the profession at a macro-level.

Visit the Career Center

Career centers often do not have the resources to train staff on each possible industry that students may want to pursue, however, career centers do hold the connections to alumni who work in these areas. Oftentimes, if students express sincere interest and a good reason for wanting to speak to these alumni, the career center will try to accommodate the request. Unlike informational interviews, these types of meet-ups generally are more informal with younger professionals who are fresh in their careers. Because the professionals are young, students can garner a realistic expectation about what their post-college years may actually be like.

Network for the Right Reasons, with the Right People

Networking may be a buzzword, but it is also an invaluable resource. Meeting and staying connected to professionals who can provide (and receive) mentoring is a wonderful use of a student's time. I want to elaborate on three words or phrases from the last sentence: "professionals," "staying connected," and "provide (and receive) mentoring." I believe these capture the essence of what networking really is.

• "Professionals": I would loosely define "professional" as anybody, of any age, who is serious about their career. Sororities, fraternities, honor societies, organizations, and campus clubs all contain varying amounts of professionals. Career clubs (like a pre-law society) and honors organizations usually are comprised almost entirely of professionals. However, sororities and fraternities tend to fall on the other end of the spectrum. Students should be aware of this and choose their networking outlets wisely.
• "Staying connected": Sending one "thank you" email is not staying connected, it is a common courtesy. Staying connected, rather, is a long-term effort to maintain contact and interest in one another's endeavors. LinkedIn is one great way to stay connected, but others include calling, emailing, meeting for a business lunch, or any other form of professional communication that takes place over time.
• "Provide (and receive) mentoring": Networking is a two-way street, which is often difficult for students to understand. Over the long course of a career, there should exist multiple times when both connections perform some service, deed, or duty for each other. At no time should networking be considered a hobby--a mere collection of business cards to utilize as needed. Instead networking should be thought of as building lasting relationships.

With these phrases in mind, re-read the bolded sentence again: Meeting and staying connected to professionals who can provide (and receive) mentoring is a wonderful use of a student's time.

I believe students should network often, wisely, and with as many professionals as possible. Properly executed networking can open doors to jobs, opportunities, and career growth. Because of the collaborative nature of college, it is an ideal time to begin networking. Foregoing this opportunity, however, can be detrimental to student's early careers.

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To conclude, I believe college is a great time for learning and exploration. But I believe it is also a perfect time to begin developing one's career. By choosing a school wisely, learning and asking questions, practicing vocational skills, and exploring jobs and networking, students can graduate both employed and extremely well-prepared to begin a successful career.