5 Steps To Take Before You Graduate College

By Shelly Greenstein on March 28, 2016

omegafi.com

Getting closer to graduation day can be nerve-racking, to say the least. For four long years, you are told to work your butt off so you can walk down that aisle in your cap and gown while all your loved ones watch you with sheer pride and now the day is finally near.

Thing is, they don’t tell you the realities of the post college graduation world. You have to find a job with good pay in your field while also starting to pay off your hefty student loans. Rather than balancing assignments and classes, you need to transition to balancing jobs and bills.

It can be scary to commence into the real world from the collegiate world, but it can also be one of the best times of your life if you take the necessary steps to make the experience the best it can be.

From my own personal experience, I can say that I am taking as much initiative as possible before I graduate so that the transition into society as a functioning adult will be less terrifying. I took as many internship positions as possible while in school to build up on my experience. I put as much money into my student loans as I could. I established relationships with teachers and students in order to advance my future career. I did all of these things because I wanted to get as ahead as I could in a world where I would essentially be starting out at the very bottom.

There are many things you can do in order to optimize your last few months in school for your future career. Here are five things you should make sure to do before you graduate:

1. Go to your career services center.

You can utilize the career services office in your school to your advantage to help you not only create the perfect cover letter and resume but also to get your foot in the door.

See if they can help you find an internship position in your field or even part-time work. This is a very important step to take in order to better your chances for your future career. Every bit of experience will help you in the long run.

2. Establish more personal relationships with your professors.

It is so important to build up a portfolio of references throughout your academic career because it will help solidify you as an ideal candidate for any job opening. Most potential jobs today require you to have at least three references for them to contact in order to even apply for the position.

Pick at least three professors who you have more of a connection with that may be able to serve as a reference for you and ask them if they are willing to help you out. In terms of your future career, it will make a huge difference.

3. Start thinking about your student loans. 

If you don’t have debt when graduating college, you can obviously skip this tough task. But if you are a part of the majority of college graduates with large amounts of student debt, you should start thinking ahead of time how you are going to start paying them off.

I know there is a grace period for most loans, but that does not mean you should procrastinate in paying them off. If you are capable of doing so, start putting any amounts of money into your loan as often as possible before you graduate in order to lessen the blow of monthly payments after you graduate.

4. Apply to as many jobs as you can.

It never hurts to send your resume out to as many employers as possible. Through my own personal experience, I can say that for every 75 resumes I sent out, I heard back from about 10 actual employers. These results just inspired me to send out as many as I could whenever I had the chance.

Don’t feel down if you don’t hear back, just keep applying until you find the right employer that will respond back and lead to a positive hiring experience for you.

5. Don’t forget about your finals.

Seniors tend to treat their final year as something that can be done with a one foot out the door mentality, but that simply is not the case. Just because you can see the light at the end of the tunnel does not mean you should stop putting as much effort into it as you did in the very beginning.

Try your hardest to balance your school work with the efforts you must now put into your impending career in order to optimize your experience as a senior.

Don’t get too caught up in tying up your loose ends that it will ultimately take away from your last semesters as a student. Enjoy your time in school while you can and look forward to your bright future!

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