5 Things to do Before Your Graduation
The annual graduation season is here again! After spending three or four years poring over textbooks, and countless late nights preparing for examinations, all your efforts have finally led to this – graduation!
Aside from taking a short study break, what else would you be doing in this interim period leading up to the official ceremony, and the start of your adult life? If you are looking to seize this opportunity to kick-start your career, here is a definitive list on the 5 things you should consider.
Prepare Your Resume
A pertinent document for moving forward in your career, the importance of a resume is severely underrated, especially at this juncture of your life. It may seem like a relatively simple document to draft, but the truth is that it is hardly the case.
A well-written and professional resume, will include a comprehensive and succinct history of your entire life’s professional experience and educational qualifications. The process of gathering documents, writing and editing, to refining the layout, will take at least a couple of days. Seize this opportunity and invest the time and effort needed to nail a captivating resume, which can be used for future interviews to come.
Seek an Internship
Because, why not? Especially when it has such high returns regardless of the career path you choose. An internship gives you a good head-start to your career, and an opportunity to try out the career you aspire to pursue.
To have undergone an internship will serve as a perfect way to chalk up first-hand experience, and a great addition to your resume. Just remember, interviewers will prefer job candidates with prior experience, over one that does not.
Attend a Career Fair
With an abundance of time on your hands, make a conscious effort to head down to career fairs organised by your school or private companies. This may seem like an outdated method to job searching, but there are significant benefits that you can reap from this and all you usually have to invest is your time.
From your interactions with prospective employers at the career fair, you will acquire a good grasp of what the current job market is like, and the qualities employers are seeking in a candidate. More importantly, it affords you an opportunity to brush up your networking skills, with fellow job seekers and employers before you officially enter the workforce.
Volunteer
Giving back to the community while learning about society at large, could be one of life’s greatest lessons in humility. There are many local and overseas volunteer programmes available, whether through your school’s charity programmes or directly with charities - there is more to it than just helping the impoverished. Volunteering will expand your network, offer new learning opportunities and the opportunity to immerse yourself in another country’s culture, while giving back to the community.
Don’t Forget to Have Fun
For those planning to start their career right after graduation, this intermediary period might be the best time to indulge in what their heart desires. This is an opportune time to attend that language class you have been thinking about, or throw yourself into that back-packing adventure you have always been talking about! Think out of the box, let your inner explorer come out to play, and this interim period is guaranteed to be the best time of your life.
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