Taking Advantage of Your Opportunities

By Alex Bolten

This past week, we had Fall Break. It was also the 8^th week of classes (it’s going by so fast!). We are officially finished with the first half of the semester. Hopefully you’ve been working hard toward your career goals and paths during this time. As each day passes, you get closer and closer to life post-graduation.

While you may be busy with your class schedule, extra curricular activities, and personal life, you need to make sure that you’re taking advantage of any and all career-related opportunities. The more things you do, the better off you will be. Here is a list of some things you can attend to help yourself get ready:

Career Fairs – this seems like a no-brainer, but some people forget to go to them. Even if a fair isn’t directly related to your area of study, you should still attend to gain experience for the fair that is relevant to you. Waiting until you’re a senior before attending a fair is bad, too. When it will really count, you won’t want to be seen as inexperienced, because companies won’t want to higher you.

Career Caravan – This is a really cool field trip opportunity, where you get to leave Purdue for a day and go to a company in either Chicago or Indianapolis for FREE. This can be a fun and very easy way to network, as well as to check out what a company that you’re interested in working for (or is similar to one you want to work for) is like on the inside. These opportunities happen every so often and spots are limited, so make sure you sign up early!

Workshops – There are many free workshops from the Writing Lab, CCO, and more that are held now and again on campus. These can be about things from salary negotiation to how to write a cover letter. You can get some really great tips and advice to help set yourself apart from the 40,000 other Purdue Students here in West Lafayette. Even if you think you have an idea of what will be talked about, go. You never know what you may learn.

You’re at Purdue and all of these opportunities are right in front of you. Why not take advantage of them? You may be busy, but I urge you to find time for these things. They’ll make a load of difference in the end when you’re applying for jobs before or after graduation. You’ll be more prepared and more ready to tackle any challenges that you may face, and will have less of a hard time finding job opportunities.