ii. Focus on Your Path

Photo by University of New Orleans

Although your career will have twists and turns, when you know yourself and know what to expect from a workplace and a job, you have information to begin to make informed decisions. You’re not attending college solely to get a job. But this is likely one of your goals, and your time in school offers a tremendous opportunity to both prepare for your career (or careers) and make yourself more attractive to organizations where you want to work. Successfully learning the content of your classes and earning good grades are among the most important. Beyond these priorities, you’ll learn the most about yourself and your potential career path if you engage in activities that will help you make decisions. Simply sitting back and thinking about the decision doesn’t always help you take action.

Try Things Out

The first two steps of the Career Planning Cycle discussed in module 9 were all about you gathering information. After completing that module, you hopefully have some ideas about jobs and careers that you may like…. but you also might be wondering if you will really like them. How can you know? How can you be certain they will be right for you?

Unfortunately, we can’t see into the future and nothing in life is 100%, but there are steps you can take to help you learn more about yourself and preview the career field you are entering to test out if it is the one for you.

It’s a great idea to try out a new skill or career field before you commit to it fully. You might find out that the field isn’t right for you, but you also may find that you are heading in the right direction and want to keep pursuing it. Not only that, but those experiences can help you become more qualified for other positions! One exciting aspect of college is that there is a huge variety of learning experiences and activities in which to get involved.

In the video below, meet Demi—a student in UNO’s Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism program who’s turning what she’s learning in her classes into something sweet: her own home baking business. Through coursework in HRT she’s learning food production, recipe development, and kitchen science. Now she’s taken classroom knowledge and kneaded it into real-world success. This video shows how blending academic skills with personal passion can help launch your entrepreneurial journey—even before graduation.

Community Involvement, Volunteering, and Clubs

You’re in college to develop yourself as an individual. You’ll gain personally satisfying and enriching experience by becoming more involved with your college or general community. Organizations, clubs, and charities often rely on college students because of their motivation, knowledge, and increasing maturity. The work can increase your skills and abilities, providing valuable experience that will lead to positive results.

Participate in clubs and volunteer in areas that appeal to your interests and passions. It’s just as important that you enjoy them and make a difference as it is to increase career potential through networking and skill-building. But of course, it’s great to do both.

Once you join a club or related organization, take the time to learn about their leadership opportunities. Most campus clubs have some type of management structure—treasurer, vice president, president, and so on. You may “move up the ranks” naturally, or you may need to apply or even run for election. Some organizations, such as a campus newspaper, radio station, or dance team, have skill-based semiprofessional or roles such as advertising manager, sound engineer, or choreographer. These opportunities may not always be available to you as freshmen, but you can take on shorter-term roles to build your skills and make a bigger impact. Managing a fundraiser, planning an event, or temporarily taking on a role while someone else is busy are all ways to engage further.

Volunteering can be an important way to access a profession and get a sense for whether you will enjoy it or not, even before you do an internship. And in certain arenas, such as politics, it might be the only readily accessible approach, especially if you have no prior experience. In all of these cases, you can build important skills and increase your experience working with people in your chosen field. Spend time reflecting on and recording your experiences so that you’re better prepared to talk about them and utilize what you learned.

Adan’s journey into event marketing began right here at UNO—through her role as a student ambassador. Planning tours, coordinating campus events, and connecting with prospective students gave her firsthand experience in promotion, organization, and relationship-building. Those leadership skills not only helped her shine on campus but also opened the door to a career she loves. Her story in the video below proves that stepping up as a campus leader can be the first step toward discovering your professional passion.