1. Are you prepared for graduation?
Graduation may be months away or even years from now, but it's important to ensure that you are qualified to enter your future career field of choice. So much goes into building your resume, and thinking about all of this as a freshman can be overwhelming; especially if you have no idea about what you want to do with your life after college.
Whether or not you have an interest in a specific career, you should practice what you love and improve on something that you're good at. When you graduate college, what will you have to show for yourself? Have you taken any internships? Been in any clubs? You want to establish consistency in your work ethic early on.
2. What are your goals?
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Short term, long term, weekly: what are your goals?
Your future employers are going to want to see that you've been working towards a specific goal throughout college... other than graduation.
It's easy to obsess over the idea of leaving school for good, but it's also dangerous. By fantasizing about graduation, you could naively forget about the here and now. Although graduating sounds pretty sweet, graduating with experience sounds sweeter. You can't just take classes and expect a job offer, you need to work for it. You need to brand yourself, build your resume, and establish meaningful relationships with professionals.
Making goals will push you to apply for internships and join organizations on campus geared towards what you love to do.
3. Create an online portfolio!
Online portfolios are a great way to brand yourself publicly. Creating a website that highlights your credentials and qualifications is crucial.
Portfolios can be uniquely tailored to accurately portray 'you' for the employers visiting your site. Any published work that you can link to your portfolio will only raise your chances of getting hired. And by providing your resume in your portfolio, along with contact information, employers will be more inclined to reach out.
Take advantage of your years in college, and make it all worth something!
