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Second Year: Engage

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The College Specialist Team Career Counselors are available to guide and support you through the following:

Revisit the Career Planning Guide and evaluate your progress

  • Read through the checklist for your current year and highlight areas you want to accomplish during the year.
  • Write down two questions to discuss with a Career Counselor.
  • Consider attending a Career Services workshop or event on a related topic such as Four-Year Career Planning.

Be able to articulate strengths, values, interests, and/or personality while further developing self-awareness

  • Create a resume and cover letter to practice highlighting your strengths and accomplishments.
  • Meet with a College Specialist Career Counselor to discuss possible career paths in your major that align with your values and interests.
  • Talk with employers about your abilities and skills at a Career Fair or Networking event.
  • If you took StrengthsQuest, revisit your results and discuss them with a friend or campus staff member.
  • Consider attending a Career Services workshop or event on a related topic such as “How to Make Your HIRE Score Higher.”

Update and expand your career portfolio and develop supporting materials using Portfolium

  • Include examples of how you have used your top 5 strengths from StrengthsQuest.
  • Continue adding relevant coursework and labs, projects, extra-curriculars, and internships/part-time work.
  • Include visuals such as photos, documents, designs, etc.
  • Include pictures to make your portfolio visually appealing.
  • Add the Portfolium link to your email signature, resume, and LinkedIn profile.
  • Attend a Career Services workshop about Portfolium.
  • Showcase your portfolio to prospective employers; bring a tablet to interviews, networking sessions, and job fairs.
  • Follow companies of interest to increase your visibility to hiring managers.

Clarify your major concentration, emphasis and minor, if applicable, and identify possible related career paths

  • Explore the resource What Can I Do With This Major? prepared by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
  • Review possible major concentrations or minors in the Cal Poly catalog.
  • Make an appointment with your College Specialist Career Counselor.  Discuss whether you might benefit from taking a career assessment.
  • Discuss concentration, emphasis, and minor possibilities with faculty, upper-division students, alumni, and industry professionals.

Update your profile and utilize MustangJOBS

  • Update your resume to reflect your most recent accomplishments.  Upload your resume to MustangJOBS.
  • Explore internships or part-time jobs related to your field of interest.
  • Search for networking sessions that feature companies that interest you.
    • Research employers that are coming to the Career Fairs.
  • Consider attending a Career Services workshop or event on a related topic such as “Get a Job” or “Internship Search Strategy.”

Utilize Career Services’ resources and services, including the College Specialist Team

Begin building a network

  • Connect with faculty/staff, alumni, industry professionals, and employers by engaging in informational interviews or job shadowing.
    • Refine and practice your elevator pitch or sound bites about your education, experience, involvement and goals at networking events or Career Fairs.
  • Update your LinkedIn profile and connect with peers and professionals in your industry.
  • Launch a networking action plan to track your professional relationships.

Gain experience and develop your interests, skills and strengths.

  • Continue to engage in meaningful activities such as extracurricular involvement, community service, and leadership experience.
  • Actively engage in a club or on-campus organization; consider taking on a leadership role.
  • Attend events offered by the Cross-Cultural Centers that educate on and/or celebrate diversity.
    • Participate in faculty research and choose academic projects that relate to your career interest.
  • Conduct informational interviews with family contacts, campus staff, alumni, or industry professionals to further clarify your interests.
  • Seek out part-time work, internships, and co-ops through MustangJOBS, other job search sites, departmental opportunities, and networking.
    • Record your academic, employment, and extracurricular experiences each year in order to update your resume.
  • Consider attending a Career Services workshop or event on a related topic such as ”How to Get to Where You Don’t Know You’re Going” or a Strengths workshop.

Make time for and appreciate the value of reflection

  • Consider attending a Career Services workshop or event on a related topic such as “Planned Happenstance” or a Strengths workshop.
  • Use the following questions to help you reflect on how your experiences this year can relate to your future career plans.
    • Consider how your strengths, interests, values, and personality match possible careers. Identify three job titles that interest you that you would like to explore further.
    • Describe your confidence level with your major and career considerations. If you are not confident at this time, what are some steps you could take?
    • Discuss your career possibilities with important people in your life.

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