Are You Ready?

What do you need to do your freshman year to be ready for graduation?

• Get involved and meet other students! Ask other students what they enjoy on campus. Check out organizations at UofM.

• Decide if an honors program is right for you. Check out the University Honors Program and Psychology Honors.

• Explore how you can become involved with community service activities.

• Start a resume that you can add to each year.

• Explore your personality, strengths, and interests through the Career Center's Pathway U. This can help you find career options that are good for you.

• Register for an email address that sounds professional. (e.g., initials and names such as rbpatterson@gmail.com).

• Consider your Facebook, X, Instagram, and other online profiles from the perspective of an employer.

• Keep your grades as high as possible. Those who let their grades fall their first year in college sometimes struggle to get their GPA back to where needed for graduation, graduate school, or job of choice.

• Get a summer job, internship, or volunteer experience. 

What do you need to do your sophomore year to be ready for graduation?

• Start thinking about reference letters, which will come in handy when applying to graduate school or employment opportunities. It's important that you begin building relationships with faculty who can provide these letters. 

• Talk with your advisor about summer jobs, internships, volunteer experiences, research experiences, and job shadowing.

• Job shadow and arrange for an informational interview with someone in a career that interests you.

• Join LinkedIn to begin building a community by following companies and groups related to your interests and connecting with alumni. Create a profile and connect to the UoM alumni group. 

• Attend a Career Center program or event.

• Join a student organization and consider developing your leadership skills by chairing a committee or running for an executive position.

• Find out more about your career options at the bachelor's level and/or the graduate level. Begin talking to your advisor, instructors, and the Career Center about options.

• Update your resume and have it reviewed by staff at the UoM Career Center.

• Consider your Facebook, X, Instagram, and other online profiles from the perspective of an employer.

• Re-assess your interests, values, and skills through the Career Center's Pathway U. Do you find any changes since your freshman year?

• Get a summer job, internship, or volunteer experience. 

What do you need to do your junior year to be ready for graduation?

• If you haven’t already done so, take on a leadership position within a student organization.

• Select elective courses that will round out your academic experience and develop different skill sets. Check out suggested electives for different bachelor's level career interests and different graduate level career interests.

• Obtain an internship in your chosen field. Check out opportunities on Handshake, and talk to your advisor for assistance.

• If you plan to go to graduate school, especially a PhD program, consider getting involved in research. Talk your advisor or a professor about the possibility of volunteering in a lab or completing a thesis.

• Continue to build relationships with faculty you have Identified to write letters of recommendation upon your graduation. 

• Research your field even more by conducting informational interviews with alumni. 

• If you job shadowed, conducted an informational interview, or connected with someone else in the professional world previously, reconnect with them. This could be something as simple as emailing to ask a relevant question. 

• Research your field even more by doing additional job shadowing and informational interviews. 

• Update your resume.

• Meet with a career specialist to evaluate if you are on track with your career development and re-assess your interests, values, and skills.

• Create or login to your Handshake account, the online system to connect people looking for jobs and internships with potential employers.

• For those considering graduate or professional school, begin exploring programs and specific admission requirements. A great resource for those considering graduate school In psychology and counseling is the APA book, Graduate Study in Psychology.

• Join a professional organization related to your career interests. Ask an instructor to help you find the right organization.

• Consider your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram from the perspective of a potential employer.

• Expand your use of LinkedIn to build your network, contribute to discussions in fields of interest and become active in groups to enhance your reach.

• Begin preparing for any entrance exams you will be required to complete (GRE, MCAT, LSAT, GMAT, etc).

• Get a summer job, internship, or volunteer experience. 

What do you need to do your senior year to be ready for graduation?

• Apply to graduate.

• Join a professional organization.

• Continue with your involvement in student organizations and activities.

• Have a senior audit with your academic advisor to make sure you meet the graduation requirements.

• Maintain a good relationship with past employers and professors who are serving as references. 

• Revisit the career/grad school areas that interest you. Do a deeper dive If you need to. Make decisions.

• Revisit your social media and websites to ensure they represent the person you want prospective employers or grad schools to see. 

• Decide if you are narrowing your job/grad school search to a certain geographic location.

• Use LinkedIn to connect with individuals, companies, or alumni who are employed by the organizations you are applying to. Start utilizing those networks to gain employment.

• Use various resources for job searching-- Handshake, professional organizations, websites, Networks.

• Attend Job, Graduate, and Professional School fairs.

• Apply to graduate schools or job opportunities. For grad schools, work with a professor on your Statement of Purpose. For jobs, update your cover letter and resume again. It’s always a work in progress. Make an appointment with a career specialist in to the Career Center to have your materials critiqued.

• Schedule an appointment with the Career Center to prepare for interviews and gain helpful tips on what to wear, how to answer specific questions, and how to research your interviewer.

• Practice your interviewing skills in mock interviews with the Career Center.