11 Questions to Set Your Career Path

As a college student preparing for a future career through hard work in all your classes, doing homework, studying late into the night and typing paper after paper it would be dreadful to end up without any actual career and stuck in a dead-end job. While some may get lucky and just happen to wind up on the road to success others do not and part of that can be attributed to the lack of career planning beforehand. So before you graduate college whether a month or year from now take the time to plan out your future career path.

The Path to Accomplishment

Visualization is an excellent tool in helping to define where you want to go in your future career. Visualize where you want to be in the future. It can reflect where you want to be tomorrow, next week, next year or beyond. If you can see it you can achieve it. Pick an alternate career goal as well; it’s always a good idea to select more than one optimal career choice.

Are you ready to begin building a vision for your desired professional target, close your eyes, let your imagination run free and ask yourself these 11 questions:

If anything were possible, what would I want to be different in my career?
What type of job would I want?
What would I want to be responsible for?
What type of boss/co-workers/team would I want?
What kind of hours would I want to work?
What type of company would I want to work for?
What type of environment would I like to work in?
What sort of culture would I want the company to have?
What city would I want to live in?
What salary would I want to earn?
What would I want my approach to stress, my workload, and deadlines to be?

As you consider these questions in your mind there are no right or wrong answers. It’s only what’s right for you not what someone else wants. Listen to yourself and your heart.

After you have visualized what you want to do there are more tangible steps you can take to implement you career plans. After you have visualized your career path whatever it may be assess what educational requirements you must have in order to obtain your dream position. How long you will need to go to school for, how much it will cost and are you willing to put in the time and effort, if attending school would take longer than what you would like. Also consider if your career path can be achieved as soon as you would like, if you want to be a psychologist but don’t want to spend eight years in school then your second choice to be manager of a publishing company can be accomplished sooner with just a 4-year degree in Business Management. After you have assessed the educational requirements consider other requirements and additions that can help in your career path; from internships in the area of interest you want to work, or whether you will be required to receive other certifications other than just a college degree. By preparing ahead of time for your future career your efforts in school can be well compensated and you can increase your chances of future career success and happiness.

How to Get an Internship

It's not actually a job but it counts as experience. It can be paid or unpaid and in a wide variety of areas from journalism to the nonprofit sector, to media. What is it? It's an internship, something that most college students thrive for during the course of their college career to enhance their post-graduation results, build their resume and tack on real-world experience to the knowledge and theory they learn in the classroom. But internships aren't just for students whose typical age range is 18-25 that hold the internships. College students older than 25 are also seeking internships, it may have to do with many reasons such as this is the first time they're in college so they would like to apply experience to the subject their studying. The student may be in graduate school and want to keep in tune with the necessary real world skills that relate to their degree or many other reasons. Another segment of internship seekers are high school students as a way to gain experience and build their resumes and college admissions applications. Whether you're a high school student, older or younger college student here are a few tips for finding paid and unpaid internships. Paid internships usually go fast but so do unpaid internships so you want to make sure begin a search for an internship in the subject you're interested in early. Preferably five months before the time in which, you want the internship. For example if you want an internship in the fall in August begin searching in March. The next step is to apply for the internship early and correctly. Don't wait until the last minute when you almost miss the deadline or are rushing to fill out the application and gather the necessary materials to send in and you leave something out. Don't wait to late also because you never know if the person in charge of the internship selection process receives more applications than he or she wants and closes the application submissions. Next step is to use references and referrals if you have them. When you go to an internship interview if someone referred you that the interviewer knows express it to the interviewer or if one of your references is someone the interviewer knows express it to them. Express a reference, referral or both but in a subtle way. Next after you apply if there's phone number to call or email address send an email or call once a week beginning a month and a half before the internship is suppose to start mention your name every time and just let them know you're calling because you're wondering if they've filled the position. Your persistence in calling or emailing will help them remember you and double your chances of getting the internship. Next when it comes to the interview for the internship be prepared practice with a friend or family member what you're going to say, bring two copies of your resume, references and letters of recommendations to the interview. If the interview is one that requires a portfolio make, sure you have it with you and that it displays only your best work. An internship is a rewarding learning experience and there are loads of them to go around but to make sure you get one and the one you want follow these simple steps for greater success.