We all know that 1st year is the foundation for what’s to come. You’re eased in gently to find your feet with your subject matter. It’s the calm before the storm – preparing you for a pile of discipline specific content in 2nd and 3rd year, possibly even 4th or more…
And, as 1st year is a ‘finding your way and getting your head around it’ year, it also gives you time to settle into uni life. This is the perfect time to get to grips with connecting your chosen degree to your future career aspirations.
You can set the scene early and make it way easier for the rest of your time at uni:
- Explore your field – related jobs, organisations who’d recruit you, salary expectations etc.
- Connect to your professional association or, at least, know who they are.
- Join things – your future employers are going to want to know about what else you did at uni.
- Talk to people – make connections – sign up for free stuff.
- Grades are super important but equally important is gaining relevant experiences.
If you get in early and know what your career might look like when you graduate – plus what kind of specific and general skills employers are on the lookout for – you’ll be way more competitive in the grad employment stakes. You’ll be a future force.
