How Career Advisors Can Enhance Students' Winter Break
Did you know that students who use their winter break to focus on their career are more likely to land a job after graduation? When most students take the time for a break during winter, those who strive to continue with their career-related activities will have a higher chance of landing a job. This happens because students that choose to network, polish their resumes, practice interviews and expand their portfolio will increase their skills and gain more experience that will be useful for job applications.
A lot of students tend to choose this time to take a break. Which is not a bad thing, taking a winter break will help them relax and avoid burn out. That way, they could come back to school with a more focused mind. After all, rest is part of the process. But that does not mean students can’t utilize their time to improve.
So, this article will dive into the ways of how students can maximize their winter break time to improve their career advancement and how career advisors can help guide them through it.
Career Growth
The Importance of Winter Break for Career Growth
Before we begin, we need to understand the importance of winter break for students’ career growth. Nowadays, the job market has become more competitive than ever. Students will not only go up against other students or professionals, they will also have to go up against technology itself. They need something to help them shine from the others.
Taking up an internship or skill-building project during the winter could be one of the things that help students shine. But, everyone else also has internships and unique skills, how could your students be any different? The difference is in your guidance. In helping students find the right internship to shine and improve their skills, students can shine brighter than the others.
The winter break is one of the most ideal times for students to focus on their career development. During this time, they will have the opportunity to focus more on improving their career without being sidetracked by their academics, since they’re on an academic break. NACE also stated that career-focused activities, such as internships, will help students gain real life experience and skills that they could not get from schools like reliability, oral communication, ethical behavior and a host of other real-life skills.
Winter Break Networking
Networking During Winter Break
What if your students could turn a single conversation over winter break into their next big career opportunity? As a career advisor, you hold the key to show them how. Nowadays, cold networking is the secret key.
The Power of Cold Networking
Cold networking is when someone establishes a contact without having a pre-existing relationship. Warm networking, on the other hand, involves using network with people we already know such as family, friends, teachers, and so forth, to make a connection between the applicant and the potential employer.
NACE’s survey shows that students who got their internship from warm networking are less likely to report that the internship turned into a job offer. For those who reported that their internships turn into a job offer, 70% found their internship from cold networking while only 40% found the internship through warm networking.
That’s why it’s important to have a network outside the ones your students already have. Besides increasing their chances of landing an internship that will lead to a job offer, it will also increase the credibility of your students through experience.
Here’s a few tips on how you can help your students with their networking activity:
Build Online Presence
Help your students build an online presence through professional platforms like Linkedin to increase their chances of getting recognized by recruiters.
Connecting with Alumni
Providing students with a good platform and communication with successful alumni will help them navigate through the job industry much easier and create more chances for them to excel in their field.
Career Fairs
Giving students the opportunity to network during a career fair could be one of the most efficient ways to increase their networking activity. Career centers can provide career fairs on site or virtual and career advisors can guide them on networking for the events.
Skill Development
Skill Development: Learn New Tools or Certifications
Upskilling could never go wrong. Learning new skills during the break or school year will only increase student’s chances of getting hired. While the others might take this time to rest, your students should take advantage of the extra time to acquire a new skill or certification.
Upskilling during breaks helps students stand out to future employers, especially in tech, business and other high-demand fields. For example, students with a tech major can use this winter break to learn a new coding language or data analysis. This will help richen their portfolio.
Other than that, taking up certification challenges will also help them get a better chance at landing a job after graduation. Especially if it’s a skill-based certificate, it will be a strategic investment in your student’s career and will help them land their dream job. Another badge on their resume that will help them shine brighter.
Gaining Extra Experience
Internships: Gaining Experience and Building a Resume
All roads lead to internships. That’s right, all the efforts students are making, from building a resume to practicing for an interview, it’s meant to get the right internship. A good internship in a good company will help them jumpstart their career. It’s the first step into a real world of professionals.
According to NACE, an internship is a good opportunity to develop an advocate for 21st century skills such as reliability, oral communication, ethical behavior and a host of other real-life skills. All of which is important in a work space and will help students thrive in their career.
A winter break is one of the perfect times to take on internship challenges. Guiding students to get their winter break internship is not the only job for a career advisor, you need to also monitor their performance during the internship to get the best results. Start helping your students with their internship by helping them build their resume, practice an interview, and create an intern evaluation template to review their performance.
Career Goals
Setting Career Goals for the New Year
Winter break is also the perfect time for students to reflect and set a new career objective for the upcoming year. You can guide students by helping them see and define their short-term and long-term career goals. That way, students can be more focused on their study and career goals. Make sure your students use SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound— in planning their career.
Other than that, you can also help your students by:
Create a Vision Board
Suggest your students to visualize their career aspirations to maintain motivation.
Plan Actionable Steps
Encourage them to write down key tasks for January for their career steps, like booking a career counseling session or applying to 3 internships in a week.
Track Progress
Teach each student to monitor their own progress and milestones to maintain accountability.
By making the most of their winter break, students can gain a more competitive edge. You can help them see the value of proactive planning with our Winter Break Career Boost Toolkit. Hubbedin’s Winter Break Career Boost is a list of actionable steps students can take to build their career over break. Download it for free and help your students reach their dreams.