While Others Play...

It's summertime and as the beautiful sunshine beckons, many students indulge in some well deserved rest and relaxation. As tempting as it may be to play all summer, don't spend all or your free time doing so. Summer is the perfect time to get a jump-start
on career planning for the upcoming year. While your peers dive into pools you shoul dive into articles about industries of interest, research companies you like, practice a skill such as public speaking.

A formal classroom setting equipped with a PhD professor are not prerequisites for learning. Today so much information is easily accessible that you can read about everything: the latest movie review to news about the unrest in the Middle East. Here is a sample plan to help you generate some ideas of what to do:

1) Read periodicals about industries of interest
Ex. Wall Street Journal for finance; BusinessWeek or Forbes for the general business; The New Yorker or New York Times for journalism; Vogue, Elle, or Marie Claire for fashion.

2) Engage in self-discovery, i.e. The art of learning about oneself. Please note this is an iterative process. The key is to focus on you strengths then exploit them and to weaken you "vulnerabilities" by improving them.

3) Expand your mind and your physical limitations. Go see a play or movie (I would highly recommend the latest Woody Allen film), visit an art gallery or historical site, do an obstacle course. The point is to do something that is outside of your normal activities.

4) Do practice interviews. Most companies use behavioral interviews but some also utilize case interviews. Being familiar with both doesn't hurt.

5) Make time for fun. Its summer; everyone needs a beach day.

Schedule 2- 4 hours each week that you can dedicate to career planning this summer. The benefits of doing these things now is less time spent doing them this fall when classes, extracurriculars, and job/ internship search each demands your attention. Taking the time to career plan this summer doesn't mean you can't enjoy summer fun as well; it means less stress during the semester.