Winter break is right around the corner and you may be wondering how you can make use of this extra time to help put yourself a step further toward your dream career. Taking a day out of the week to stay productive during the holiday season and spending time with friends and family can be the thing that puts you ahead of getting exactly it is that you want.
Here are some essential tips from VALLEY to staying productive this winter break.
Connect Through LinkedIn
If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile, making one can be crucial to getting your name out there and connecting with other students, advisors and professionals who work for a company you’re interested in one day working for. LinkedIn also offers features that allow you to look for positions and even take courses in topics that you may be interested in.
Set Up Informational Interviews
Not only does LinkedIn allow you to connect with other professionals, but it allows you to message them as well. Sending a little blurb stating to professionals you admire or are in a position that you may want in the future that you would love to learn more about their journey can help you start up a conversation and even an informational interview.
Informational interviews allow you to ask a professional just about everything about their job — how they got there, what they love about it and even things that they think you can do in college to help yourself in your future career. Oftentimes, if you truly connect with the person, you could even find yourself with a mentor.
Polish Up Your Resume
This extra time leaves you with no excuses to avoid looking at and touching up your resume. You can finally spend that extra few hours you didn’t have during the semester adding relevant experience, skills and course work–making sure to copyedit it to perfection. You’ll finally have an opportunity to show potential employers something you’re proud of.
Look For Spring Semester Internships
This is your time to look for internships offered in the spring semester or upcoming summer so you can get that experience to add to your resume and find more connections in doing so. You can find internships on a plethora of different websites including Indeed, LinkedIn, Fashionista, Ed2010 and so on. Now that you have a great resume and connections through informational interviews, you can be on the perfect route for applying to internships and other positions you may be interested in.
Let us know how you keeping busy this winter break by tweeting us @VALLEYmag.
