Every time a new year comes around, we tend to sit for a few minutes and reflect on the past year and our goals for the future. Although we don’t always stick to these plans and resolutions, it is a great way to reevaluate where you are in life and where you want to end up. During the school year we tend to focus our energy into our schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and our social life, so it always feels like we don’t have enough time to sit down and think about what we truly want to gain or experience out of our lives.
During this time, I reflected on my future career, goals for this quarter, and what types of jobs and internships I would be interested in having. Do I want a job on campus in food services with a lot of hours or do I want a job that is more tailored to my potential future career with less hours? What types of internship opportunities are available for me? Should I apply for one during a quarter of school or apply for one during the summer? Will I apply for one in L.A. or San Francisco? Where will I live and how will I commute to my internship? So many questions ran through my head and I almost drove myself crazy thinking about the outrageous amount of options and directions my life could go in.
When it comes to career planning in your own lives, you probably realized that you’ve found yourself asking similar questions to the ones mentioned above. You may even find yourself wanting guidance from an outside source other than the voice inside your head. When that time comes, the UCLA Career Center is an extremely helpful resource and you can either stop into their office or check out their website, which has multiple jobs, internships, career guides, and events for you to check out. Also, different organizations on campus host networking nights with non-profit companies, entertainment companies, and everything in between. Be sure to attend every networking night you can and attend any events with speakers on campus because it never hurts to start networking early and learn about all the different internships available for you. Indeed is also another great website that can get you brainstorming about different jobs and their requirements.
Start asking yourself these questions early on (especially when applications for summer internships are due in winter) so that when it comes time for you to apply, you have an idea of what you want to do and you don’t have to waste your time researching your options. Be open to different opportunities and apply to everything that interests you because you don’t know whether you’ll be accepted or rejected. Use your LinkedIn profile to your advantage by connecting with classmates, networking, and following popular companies and notable public figures to gain helpful insight for your future career. Remember that this is the time in your life where you should be figuring things out so it’s okay to experiment with different types of internships (publishing, PR, journalism, law, etc.) so that you can figure out where your interests lie before graduation.
Images courtesy of 80000hours.org and maps.ucla.edu