How to plan for your future career

No matter where you are in your academic career, from a first-year student to a soon-to-graduate senior, learning more about your career prospects is always a smart idea, especially when your summer plans may have been canceled and you’re looking for something productive to focus on. We spoke to Hannah McIntyre, assistant director of career readiness at ASU’s Career and Professional Development Services, about her advice for how to stay on top of career prep over summer. 

Get some advice

While you may be on summer break, the ASU career center is still hard at work, ready to answer your career and internship questions. You can set up a virtual appointment with a career advisor, or drop in to the career and internship Q&A session every weekday. For advice available 24/7, check out on-demand appointments, where you can hone in on the advice you need for topics like finding a part-time job or searching for your first internship. 

Learn even more about preparing for an internship or getting ready to join the full-time workforce by taking a career-readiness course (listed under career and internship academy) created by the team at ASU’s career services specifically to help Sun Devils thrive. 

Explore alternative career readiness ideas

If you planned to have an internship over the summer but you’re not sure how it could work, don’t stress. Although you’ll likely have to modify your expectations of what an internship will look like, you do have options. 

The team at career services is working with employers to help them transition their currently available internships and jobs into a virtual capacity, but if your employer hasn’t clarified the expectations for your position, career services can still help. Set up an appointment with a career advisor, and they’ll work with you to help you have that conversation with your employer and provide you with resources to help with the transition.

Make virtual connections

One thing you can still do virtually is set up and attend informational interviews. Career services can help you craft your email asking for the meeting, assist in picking helpful questions and provide tips on how to conduct a successful virtual interview. 

If you’re looking to connect with alumni and community members in your field of interest, join and start asking questions in your career-interest community or by connecting via the mentor network. 

Stay engaged

Don’t forget about ongoing learning opportunities through career services events. Their event calendar is still packed full of helpful virtual workshops and even includes a virtual career fair in June. Keep yourself on track with learning about and exploring your future career by attending these events. 

For more information on what you can be doing over summer to work on your future career, check out this blog post from Career and Professional Development Services. Then explore the virtual career resources available to you at ASU and dive in. Let us know what you’re doing to stay on track toward reaching your career goals by sending us an email at asuadulting101@asu.edu.