Skip to main content

Professional Development after Graduation: Ways to Stay Competitive

 Even after graduation, it’s extremely important to continue building your professional development and staying competitive to make yourself stand out and more marketable to potential employers by adapting and developing skills. This helps you grow further into your career goals and attain a successful future.

1. Continue to grow your professional network

Continue to build your network and make professional connections in your field after graduation. Think of your professional network as your support system and build on that. Stay in touch with people you already know such as coworkers, former managers, career services, etc. since they can help alert you to possible opportunities. Attend events, join organizations and utilize online platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed and Handshake to expand your network and market yourself to experienced professionals.

2. Continue to build your soft skills

Soft skills play an extremely important role when it comes to getting jobs in this job market. Soft skills that employers are looking for include communication, leadership, problem solving, adaptability and teamwork. You can continue to develop these skills after graduation with internships, projects, programs, training courses and even extracurricular events.

3. Continue to seek internships and entry-level positions

Internships and entry-level positions offer valuable opportunities to gain hands-on experience about your industry and how your career of interests operates.

4. Set your goals

Having a plan and setting your goals is a great way to start your life towards reaching your career success after graduation. Use the SMART goals method to ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and have a time bound.

5. Be adaptable and accept change

The job market is constantly changing, and recent graduates must learn to adapt to stay marketable to employers. Be open to change and look at new opportunities and demonstrate a strong sense of willingness to learn and grow. Look at challenges to push yourself further than what you believe your capabilities are.

By: Shannon Alexander (Career Peer)

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/strategies-graduates-staying-competitive-constantly-job-balakrishna/ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/professional-growth

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Informational Interview with Civil and Criminal Defense Lawyer

I conducted an informational interview with a Civil and Criminal defense lawyer in New York City. He has been associated with this profession since twenty five years. He spends most of his time dealing cases in Kings County.   ·                      What types of criminal defense matters do you handle? The first case that I dealt in court was an arson case. On average, I handle about 2 homicide cases per year. Most common cases are drug cases and white collar crime . I have also handled thousands of DUIs (Driving under the Influence) and a handful of sex crimes over the years. I handle both misdemeanors and felonies. ·                      Can you tell me about a typical day on the job? There is no such thing as an average day for an attorney, you might spend whole day...

The Benefits of Having Your Visions/Goals Outlined

 We all remember creating some sort of vision board as a project for a class in either elementary school or middle school, and at that time, we either saw it as something fun and exciting to do, or just another stressful homework/project. As we get older, things similar to a vision board/creating outlines for things we want to accomplish become essential for our everyday lifestyle, and our long term goals. Today, we’ll be looking at some of the benefits of having a plan/schedule or outline for everyday life, as well as long term goals. 1. When you have a schedule/a to-do list, you efficiently assign a sufficient amount of time required to complete certain tasks, rather than leave most things undone because of distractions or not having a particular guideline to follow. This is most prominent amongst youths as we often get side tracked by social media, or other entertainment factors that hinder us from completing our daily tasks. 2. Motivation: When you wake up everyday, look at the...

Benefits of Having a Mentor

You cannot succeed in life on your own. In the journey of personal and professional growth, you need guidance, wisdom and support. Mentorships embody all that for a great success story. It is a relationship whit the personal attribute is to advise, support and nurture the mentee to reach their full potential. Let’s explore the profound benefit of mentorships. · Building Confidence. Your mentor is, to put it mildly, your personal cheerleader. He provides constructive feedback and encouragement. Mentees gradually build confidence in their abilities to succeed and also help them to conquer their fear of the unknown and gain resilience and determination. · Personalized Guidance. What is good for you is not automatically good for someone else. It is not a one size fit all. Each mentorship is designed to address an individual’s unique strength, weakness, goals and aspirations. With this personal approach, your mentor is there to guide you on matters that concern you and only you. · Personal ...