It’s summer time! That means time to kick back, spend time with friends and family, and forget all about school, right? Well, there is lots of time for all of those things, but if you want to stay on top of your professional life, there are plenty of ways you can stay productive over the summer that won’t take up all of your time to relax. This is a quick summer read for all the students out there who want to use their extra time this summer to get closer to achieving their career goals!
Evaluate your past and current goals
Summer is the perfect time to get ahead. Without the distraction of full-time school, you have plenty of time to plan for the future and think about your career goals. This is the ideal time to look back at the goals you set for yourself in the past and evaluate where you are with them. If you’ve achieved or surpassed most of your goals, then it’s time to set new ones and start working toward them. If you still have some work to do, summer is a great time to figure out how you can take steps to achieve them. You may even want to sketch out a vague (or detailed) timeline of when you’d like to accomplish each task, along with steps you can take to get there.Taking the time to set goals and thinking of ways you can achieve each goal is a very effective way to increase your productivity and mark progress in real time. It also gives you something tangible to work toward and will increase your confidence and skills as you achieve each goal.
Update your résumé
This is an easy one. Many students feel they do not have the time to fix their résumé during the semester, so summer is a great opportunity to update it and have it ready to be sent out in applications if you need to apply for jobs or internships during the next semester. Whether you worked a job over the semester or have a new summer job or internship, or even if you completed a class that gave you a field-specific certification or qualification, you probably know your résumé is not as up-to-date as it could be. Even if you have no new experience to add, it’s a good idea to take another look at it and make sure you still like the look of it and it aligns with your personal brand. Maybe you want to take some time this summer to add a personal statement, or maybe you have to take off dated high school information. You may just decide you don’t like how it looks anymore and you want to completely redesign the entire thing. Whatever it needs, taking a quick evaluation of your résumé and making time to update it will go a long way when you get back in school.
Get a professional photo
Everyone feels their best during the summer with tanned skin and time to exercise outside in the sun. It’s the perfect time to get a professional-looking photo for your LinkedIn profile! Even if you already have a photo to use for professional circumstances, you can always use an updated one. And taking photos in the summer is fun! You don’t have to go to a studio for the photo to look professional, just grab a friend and a camera and go for it. These days, even a cell phone with a decent quality camera will take a sharp photo that will be easy to upload to your professional accounts. It may seem like an unimportant thing to worry about during your summer, but it can be really frustrating when it’s cold outside and you don’t have a good backdrop and you need a nice photo for an application right away. Might as well save some stress and take a nice-looking photo when the sun is out and you have the time to plan something nice!
Try for an internship or a summer job
This is an obvious one, but summer internships and jobs are seriously the best way to gain experience, upgrade your résumé, and learn more about the workplace before graduation, all while earning some extra cash for days off with friends! No matter what kind of job you end up working over the summers, you can always make the most of your experience by displaying a strong work ethic and building solid connections with your coworkers and supervisors. Even in part-time, temporary summer jobs, you have the opportunity to meet other students who could end up being important connections. Any job, no matter how unrelated to your desired field, is a valuable chance to learn and meet new people. If you consistently work at one location over a couple summers, or even continue throughout the semesters, you may even be able to use your supervisor or boss as a reference when applying to full-time work in the future. If your summer job or internship is related to your future career, this is even more of an opportunity to make connections and learn in-field information. Consider taking notes of specific tips or bites of information you learn at this position that you don’t think you’d ever learn in the classroom. Some things can’t really be taught until you experience them firsthand, and a summer job is the perfect way to get valuable insight and hands-on learning.
Enjoy the break
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is take a rest. Unless you’re going into the education field, you are probably counting down the last few free summers of your life. While using the time to work and get ahead in school and your career, it’s also so important to remember to take some legitimate time off. Enjoy carefree days with friends out in the sun, go hiking, have a picnic with family, and try not to stress about the future. Enjoy your time off from school, and take some time to do the things you love!
