How to prepare for your dream job from your first year at university

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Prioritize, find your way to deal with stress, and learn English.

Every year about 600 thousand students graduate from Russian universities (and we are talking only about "full-time students"). However, only a few of them get jobs in the top 100 best companies in the country. In any large company, an average of 50–100 candidates apply for one seat, and in leading consulting firms, the competition reaches a couple of hundred people per seat. If you are aiming to start a career in a top company, it will take a lot of serious preparation. It is advisable to start it already in the first year of university.

1. Prioritize

Make a list of goals for the next six months and follow it. Try to learn how to set goals for S. M. A. R. T. - this principle is used in work in all large companies. S. M. A. R. T. - an abbreviation, each letter of which is responsible for one of the performance criteria: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. That is, any set goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, meaningful and limited in time.

Divide each large goal into smaller sub-tasks that need to be completed according to their priority. Remember to include them in your daily to-do lists and record any important information in a notebook or app (like Wunderlist or Trello).

2. Take part in various projects and build connections

Be active: participate in conferences, write scientific papers, create projects, solve cases at championships. This will help you build a portfolio that you can show to your future employer. The ability to make new acquaintances sometimes plays a decisive role in our life. It is "weak ties" (you can read about them in more detail in the book by Mag Jay "The Important Years") that sometimes help to settle most important and urgent problems.

3. Develop hard skills

All skills necessary for building a career can be divided into two groups: soft skills ("soft", communication skills) and hard skills ("hard", professional skills). Hard skills are skills directly related to work. Among them there are universal and specially tailored for your industry. Versatile, for example, includes a confident mastery of MS Excel and MS PowerPoint programs - this will help with employment in any large company.

4. Don't forget about soft skills

In soft skills, I would single out three important components.

First, general communication skills, the ability to maintain a conversation with any person. This also has to be learned. For example, I deliberately began to discuss with friends not only personal topics, but also business issues. Another option is participation in competitions for solving business problems (cases), which, willy-nilly, you begin to discuss.

Second, structural thinking. You need to be able to act on the principle of the Minto pyramid: to decompose the problem from general to specific, then put forward several hypotheses and, after analyzing them, move to a conclusion and recommendations.

Thirdly, the skill of problem solving is definitely required - the ability to solve a problem using an integrated approach and focus on results.

5. Learn English

Leading employers value people who can communicate fluently in foreign languages. And also confident knowledge of English will increase the chances of studying on an exchange at a university abroad, which is also appreciated in top companies.

In the future, be sure to pass the IELTS, TOEFL or FCE certification in order to confirm your knowledge of a foreign university or recruiting specialist. Surround yourself with everything related to English: watch movies, TV series and cartoons in the original, listen to foreign music, put English in the interfaces of your devices. Immerse yourself in the language to the maximum - so learning will go faster and bring greater results.

6. Learn to deal with stress

Learn to deal with stress. Even if you have a normalized study schedule and there are no urgent tasks, you are still susceptible to it. The rhythm of the big city constantly affects us, so it is important to learn how to relax.

Experiment and choose what you like. This can be physical exercise, yoga, massage, reading, walking in the fresh air. Don't forget about the emotional component - meet people who really care about you, spend time with friends and family. It is personal communication that is important here, and not correspondence on social networks.

7. Be curious

In order to understand in which area it would be more interesting for you to build a career, you need to constantly monitor changes in the labor market and know which professions are relevant and which are not, understand what will suit you and where it will be more comfortable.

Explore the main areas of business that are actively developing in Russia. Read the business publications and focus on the company news sections. Follow the sites of your favorite employers and their pages on social networks. Subscribe to groups and mailings with useful information about career development.

8. Choose your dream company

You should always single out 3-5 priority companies for employment and have 10-15 more as an alternative. Moreover, all companies should be of interest to you. Otherwise, there is no chance, as everyone is looking for motivated employees.

Try to find an opportunity to get into one of the selected companies as early as possible in order to study it from the inside and understand how comfortable it is for you to work in it. You can go for an internship or an internship. An internship is the best option for your future career. It may be short-lived, but the involvement in the activity will be complete and you will receive not only financial rewards, but also experience and recommendations.

9. Write a resume

A resume is your image in front of your future employer. Try to make it noticeable, but not pretentious. Do not forget to include the following blocks in your resume: first and last name, contacts, work experience, if any. Be sure to communicate your education and useful skills.

If you don't have work experience yet, for obvious reasons, talk about your outside activities: you may be on your faculty student council, volunteer, or play for a varsity sports team. In addition, a story about your hobbies and achievements will describe you not as a robot employee, but as a versatile person with whom it is interesting to work. Then, after checking your resume a few times, post it on popular career sites.

10. Be free and open to everything new

Stop worrying about what other people might think of you. You don't have to follow any predefined script. Don't be afraid to take risks, take on new projects and change your life the way you want. Set a time frame for yourself in which you would like to learn something, try a new activity, or acquire a new skill - once a week, month, or 2-3 months. Keep a journal of your accomplishments. All roads are open before you, and now is the time to actively move towards your dreams and goals. Go for it!