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Is there such a thing as “luck”? Or do we create our own opportunities? The MU Career Center says your hard work creates opportunities! With the proper determination and most importantly diligent preparation you create “luck.” That all starts and ends with you. You have all the “luck” you need! On this St. Patrick’s Day take a moment to reflect on how your sustained efforts and preparation have led you to where you are today and where you want to go!
Getting Involved
- Joining clubs and organizations offers you the opportunity to explore your interests and develop your craft alongside like-minded individuals. For some students it can be alluring to rack up as many clubs as possible to add onto their resume, but looks are deceiving, when in doubt try to inhabit quality over quantity. What impact did you make on your organization and vice versa, what skills have you acquired? These are the things that really matter when you’re assessing what organizations you should be involved in.
- Consider taking up passion projects and not just for the sake of a flashy LinkedIn moment (although we love a good LinkedIn moment). Passion projects can be anything from volunteering with an organization you’re passionate about, starting your own business or engaging in independent research. The idea here is that you are engaging in something outside of your regular coursework and your respective organizations. This is something for you, self-motivated and meaningful to you. These projects will often teach you valuable lessons about yourself, your work ethic, where your talents lie and give you a crash course on how to become a self-starter. You will also gain valuable soft skills like meaningful leadership, critical thinking and problem solving – making you not only a well-rounded individual but a three-dimensional candidate.
- Explore your strengths and your niche! College is the time to experiment and figure out what sets your soul on fire or conversely identify things that you couldn’t be paid to do again. For a lot of us we come into college with an idea of what we think we’ll be interested in but often that changes, and that’s okay! Now is the perfect time to step out of your comfort zone and try new things. You never know where it might lead you, but it’s worth taking the chance!
Your online image
- Be cognizant of how you are representing yourself online! We live in the digital age and if your future employers want to look you up, they now have that information at their fingertips. So, always be wary of the content you are posting and reposting online. Your digital footprint is easily identifiable and will follow you. While there is no official “rulebook” for something like this, as we know social media is constantly evolving, just be conscious and wary of the content you are engaging with and choosing to share.
- You might also consider creating separate social media accounts devoted to your career and your work accomplishments. For example, students in the Missouri School of Journalism will often have separate Instagram accounts dedicated to their published stories or reel footage. This makes it easier and more accessible for employers to find all your work in one place. If you are not sold on creating a new social media account, you can always include links in your bio that lead to your LinkedIn profile or your personal website.
Get well acquainted with LinkedIn and Handshake
- Stay active on LinkedIn and Handshake! Especially during this time when many companies and organizations are looking to bring on college students or college grads for the summer. Take some time to really curate and pour into your profiles! This is the first thing prospective employers and connections will see when they visit your page, make it something worth their time! Some students get bogged down on what they should be posting and the kinds of language they should be using. Don’t overthink it! You can post highlights from a class you’re loving, the acceptance of a new job, or a semester recap. The key here isn’t really what content you’re posting; it’s really about making it your own and connecting with people. Use language that feels familiar to you and represents you don’t feel pressured to use formal professional jargon (that will only make everyone think you used chat).
- Even if you aren’t constantly posting on LinkedIn, you should still remain active and engaging on the platform. The algorithm will begin to recognize that 1) you aren’t a bot and 2) it will start to get a feel for what you’re interested in and what you aren’t looking for. The platform will start to build a “for you-esque” profile on you, showing you content that resonates with what you want to see! Engagement also includes following people, updating your profile regularly, liking and reposting content; the algorithm uses all of this information to better cater to your user experience on the platform.
- You may find it helpful to begin following and connecting with people at companies you aspire to work for. This is a great way to not only build relationships with people in your respective industry, but it will also allow you to see what kinds of roles are open to you. For example, I want to go into copywriting for brands post-grad, so I started following a copywriter that works for Nike. You don’t have to follow people that work at nationally recognized companies (although that’s also super cool). The Mizzou mafia is bigger than you think! Starting to connect with alums on LinkedIn and Handshake will help you start building your professional network. Former tigers are typically more than happy to connect with Mizzou students!
By Raigan Clay