It’s summertime. We hope you are having a great break. But we also want to nudge you and say, “What else? What’s next?”
Summer is the perfect season to take a look around and think about what direction you might like your career to take. Your career is an adventure that you get to design yourself. Believe it or not, that can be part of summer fun, too!
So, for the rest of the summer, we invite you to take our career challenge:
- Think of one or two things you are curious about…whether it’s a certain company, an industry, or even what, exactly, someone might do all day when working for a marketing agency.
- Find someone who knows more about these topics than you do—someone who works for that company you want to know more about, in an industry that sounds kind of interesting, or a marketing associate (or whatever type of job interests you). Hint: Start with people you know—family, friends, etc., then branch out to UO alumni through LinkedIn.
- Connect with that person to have a conversation (called an informational interview) and ask them some questions:
- What brought you to this company?
- What are some of the challenges and opportunities you’ve found in this industry?
- What is your day-to-day work life like?
- After the conversation, send a thank you email or LinkedIn message.
Bonus round: Do this as many times as possible in the weeks that remain until school starts again.
Why? Because there is no better way to learn about what you might want to do than by taking a “test drive” and talking to people who are already doing jobs you are curious about. Every conversation moves you a few spaces ahead on the game board.
If you are wondering why someone would want to make time for a conversation like this, it’s because every professional out there was once in your shoes and trying to figure it all out. Plus, people like to talk about themselves and the work they do—who doesn’t love getting a chance to tell their story? And you can learn SO much from hearing those stories.
So, take this challenge and, by the end of the summer, you will get ahead—closer to deciding on a career path, potentially emerging with an idea about what you want to do NEXT summer, or even making a few new connections that can help guide you along the way.
So don’t wait, accept the challenge, and get ahead!
If you’d like some help with this challenge, Mohr Career Services advisors are working throughout the summer. Schedule an appointment and we’ll help you take this important step. You’ve got this!
