Planning your career while you’re still a student gives you the advantage of having much better job prospects right after graduation. That’s why you should start thinking about planning your career path in the first year of your studies – by doing so, you can consciously and thoughtfully pursue your objectives later on.
Plan Your Professional Future
Planning your professional future without experience can lead you off course. The reason for this is our inability to judge our strengths and weaknesses, skills we need to hone, our character traits and the things we need to work on. A career counsellor or coach can help with this type of assessment of our competences and abilities. It could be valuable to have an appointment with someone who plans career paths as part of their daily work, in order to achieve your objectives and make them attainable, not merely a fantasy.
Meetings with Potential Employers
It’s good to find your first job while you’re still in university. But even if you fail to find one, simply attending job interviews can give you valuable insight as to the expectations of companies you’d like to apply to. If you don’t yet know what companies might be looking for people like you or have no clear idea as to what exactly you’d like to do in life, go to job fairs. They offer you a great opportunity to meet potential employers and learn more about the policies of specific companies. Also, attend conferences organised by companies in your university area and take an active part in workshops organised by them, because this is often how employers look for their future employees.
Internship and Traineeship During Studies
At most European universities, internships are mandatory. And that’s good. This gives you the chance to learn about your profession from the inside, not just the theoretical side. For example, if you’re studying nutritional science and doing an internship in a hospital, you have a chance to see for yourself if you’d like to be a clinical dietitian, or whether you’d rather work one on one with a patient in a private office. During your internship, you can find out if you really enjoy being constantly in touch with people as much as you thought you did, and if providing customer service for 8 hours straight is something you really enjoy. In addition to mandatory internships, taking a traineeship while still studying can be a valuable experience. This will give you an edge over your peers – and a foot in the door if you’re interested in working for that particular company in the future. If the employers are happy with the students’ work, they often offer them a chance to stay after the traineeship is over. This is an opportunity you cannot miss.
Remote Work, Temporary Jobs While in University
You can study and work at the same time. After all, you do not have to work full-time while studying. It can be a casual, evening job. It can be a weekend job or a flexible job that fits the student’s schedule. One of the best options is to work remotely, where the results of your work are more important than the number of hours you spend at your desk. With the ability to work from anywhere you want, this type of work becomes possible under almost all conditions. In theory, of course, because it’s not possible to call clients in the middle of a noisy party or write a decent market analysis on a crowded bus. The most effective kind of remote work is a job where you have a specific space, where you can work in peace and quiet. Only then are you able to devote a few hours to fulfilling your duties. If you are worried that you won’t have suitable conditions for that in your student accommodation – go ahead and move to halls with higher standards, such as BaseCamp. Why? BaseCamp has a special co-working space where students can work without disturbing one another.
Where can you look for information about jobs for students? The first place to check is always the Academic Career Office and the local press. You can also easily search for jobs on your own by looking up job advertisements on the Internet: check job portals or go directly to employers’ websites. While answering an advertisement on a website, remember that the employer wants you to send your CV. It’s generally a good idea to prepare it beforehand and keep it in a separate file, so that you don’t have to create it in a hurry, because that’s when errors can and will happen.
Meetings with Students, Exchanging Experience
The right contacts are priceless on your way towards career success. It is only while studying that you can find such contacts. However, it is less about formal meetings in classes or study circles, and more about close relationships with students from different years, and even from different areas of study. Those who decide to go on a student exchange programme in a foreign country for a year or six months usually have the most promising prospects. By doing so, they gain international contacts and have an easier start if they opt for a career outside their country. But in order to establish such contacts, you need to be staying in the right place – that is student accommodation. Exchange students who rent a room with a family will not get to meet other students as much as those who live in BaseCamp.
BaseCamp is accommodation that offers more than just standalone or shared rooms. It’s a place where students can meet in shared recreation areas, the campus café or the gym. It’s also a place where students live, connected through the co-working space where they can gain professional experience together and share this with one another. In this type of accommodation, the fun and enjoyment are perfectly balanced with time for studying (BaseCamp offers a special library for this purpose) and work. By sharing a common space, it is easier to establish tangible relationships that lead to business and career opportunities abroad.
Learn more about BaseCamp Copenhagen student apartments.
