Published on Aug 27, 2024

So, you’ve packed up all of your belongings and moved to a new place, gotten settled in your dorm and already done the hard work of putting yourself out there to make a couple of friends to comfort you through this strange rite of passage called college. But what now? How can you make the most of these influential first few months of the next four years of your life? Mizzou has hundreds of different extracurricular activities and professional development opportunities available for students every fall semester, so it can be difficult to know where to begin searching for the opportunities and groups that will feel authentic to you while boosting your career. 

Luckily, the MU Career Center has put together a short “Career Bucket List” that can help you get started on the right path in your new career journey, no matter what major you declared or which extracurriculars you like best. Feel free to add more items to the bucket list after completing the tasks outlined below. Make it your own! 

Create or revise your resume and seek feedback from a Career Specialist 

One of the best things to do in the first stages of your career development is to develop a solid professional resume for yourself. Your resume is your lifeline for events like career fairs, where potential employers will be looking to see your experience and level of preparation, as well as online while searching for jobs and internships or even research grants. Your resume tells the story of who you are as a professional, and is one of the most crucial parts of any application. 

Whether you’ve only worked in food service, or you’re looking to add your third internship experience to your resume, Career Specialists are peer mentors who can help show you how to make the most of whatever skills you bring to the table. Click the link above to easily and quickly schedule an appointment with one of our talented peer mentors.

Visit a career fair to meet potential employers 

If you just entered college, it can be difficult to know how to break into an industry, or where to start meeting people you can network with professionally when you have yet to land your first big internship, or attend higher level classes. One great way to get started networking and exploring your career options early on is to attend one of Mizzou’s many career fairs. At a career fair, potential employers from various companies send their top recruiters to meet students and scope out the best and brightest new recruits to join their payrolls later on. In other words, making a good first impression at a career fair can bring amazing opportunities your way later on. 

Worried that you don’t have the right clothing items to dress for the success you want to achieve through those first impressions at a career fair? Don’t sweat it. You can borrow free professional attire at Truman’s Closet – Mizzou’s version of your big sister letting you steal her nice blazer for the day!  Any MU student, staff, or faculty with a valid University ID is eligible to borrow from Truman’s Closet. It’s recommended that you check out clothing at least one week in advance of the occasion you’ll need it to ensure that your favorite piece will be available for you to use exactly when you need it. 

Update your Handshake profile to get the best job, internship and event recommendations 

Handshake is Mizzou’s own online job application site that houses a vast collection of students, employers, faculty, administration and corporations with Mizzou alumni all looking to hire Mizzou Tigers. When you sign up for Handshake, you can enter job search preferences, your skills and specializations, your resume and your educational background. All of this will be taken into account by Handshake, which will then serve you a specially tailored feed that is designed to meet your specific needs, interests and professional goals. You can even specify whether you are looking for part-time, full-time, or summer work to fit your timeline, schedule, or graduation date. 

The more detailed your profile is, the better your job search results will be – so update that profile today! It’s easy, painless and makes a world of difference when you do finally go search for a job. 

Check out the new “Feed” feature of Handshake, which operates similarly to a LinkedIn feed, for the latest updates from employers and other students on their hiring needs or job search process. 

Create or refresh your LinkedIn profile

Ah, LinkedIn. Everyone knows it, most people avoid it, but the best professionals utilize it to create, enhance and promote their personal brand. Your LinkedIn profile is like a boosted online version of your resume. It’s still professional, but shows a little bit more of your personality than a one-page resume has the space to hold. In this way, a LinkedIn can be crucial to showing employers not only what you can do, but who you are as well. 

LinkedIn is often used by students to provide updates on smaller but still significant updates in their education or career. This could mean a post about a cool project you completed for a class that you’re really proud of, a re-cap of your summer internship, or a few words about the work you did in the last year as an executive member of a student organization. These are the things that may not make it onto the resume due to the limit on space and word count, but that are still important to celebrate and recognize as parts of your professional journey. 

Use Focus 2 to research career paths and refine your career goals 

Having a clear goal to focus on and a vivid vision of your path can really help when planning steps you can complete now to get you the places you want to be later on. You can’t sail in the right direction if you don’t have a North star to guide you. Early on in your career, you may have many interests and opportunities calling you to go several places at once. Focus 2 is an online platform that uses quizzes like the values assessment and personality assessment to help you discover what personal traits you possess that may match a certain career or specialty. It also includes other fun activities such as the “What Can I Do if I Majored In…” feature which allows you to explore possible career paths based on your college major. 

The start of college can be intimidating, but this bucket list is designed to help ease your mind and get you started. It won’t be intimidating forever…but it will always be exploratory, fun and inspiring. Go get ‘em, Tiger! 

By Sydney Waldron