Have you ever been in a room with people who are talking about what they want to do after they graduate, and all of sudden you realize that everyone seems to have a plan but you? At this point you may begin to panic and think that you’re a complete failure who will never figure out what you want to do in life.
Many freshmen and sophomores might not be bothered as much, seeing as they still have some time to spend in college trying to figure it out. Juniors might seem a little bit more concerned, but they reassure themselves that their life purpose will hit them sometime within their last year. As for seniors, many of them are running out of time to coast along with no idea about their career choice.
Part of the problem many seniors are experiencing is a direct result of their lack of planning in their earlier college years. Sometimes students may forget that we’ve come to Baker to get an education, as well as have fun along the way. This lack of planning may include anything from putting off applying for internships and not putting forth enough effort in coursework to not doing research to find out what kinds of jobs are out there.
At Baker, students are fortunate to have the Career Development Center to help point us in the right direction toward getting our careers in line. Whether you’ve had good or bad experiences with the CDC, it’s hard to deny the efforts it makes to aid students. Monday begins the first day of Career Exploration Week, which should be a great opportunity for students to interact with Baker alumni.
The event will dedicate each day to different areas of study, and should have broad appeal for most students. It’s easy for us to hear about people getting different jobs and having awesome careers, but interacting with Baker alumni face-to-face really hits home the idea that those kinds of things can happen to us too. They have been in our position before. They’ve sat in desks five days a week and listened to some of the same professors we still listen to today.
No matter what your area of interest is, come out to Career Exploration Week. You never know when you might stumble upon a career that you never would have imagined yourself doing. The alumni are attending the event at their own expense, so it’s only fair that we return the favor by stopping by to see what kinds of opportunities are out there.