Where Do I Start?
We believe it is vital to take ownership of your career success journey from the moment you first set foot on campus! Acclimating to engineering or computer science studies is a huge task and being told you also need to begin your career success journey can seem overwhelming. Planning out your time at UK doesn’t have to be overwhelming and we’ve put together a guide with year by year instructions to serve as a career development map.
Career Strategy: Steps to Success – Year By Year Guide
Our Year By Year Guide includes an overview of all 4-5 years as well as detailed year by year breakdowns. Additionally, at the end of the Guide, you will find printable checklists you can use to monitor your progress.
Abridged Overview of the Year By Year Guide
- GET STARTED
- Register for Handshake
- Visit the Engineering Career and Co-op Center (ECCC)
- Meet with the Career Peers
- Explore career pathways
- Establish your GPA/find academic resources
- EXPAND YOUR SKILLS
- Build your first resume
- Learn about and create an elevator pitch
- Join student organizations
- Take time for self-reflection and assessment
- PREPARE FOR SUMMER
- Finalize Year One resume
- Clean up existing social media accounts
- Attend and explore Fall and Spring Career Fairs
- Apply for summer internships
- Find upskilling opportunities
- Consider study abroad opportunities
- START THE YEAR STRONG
- Update your resume and refine it by having it
- reviewed in the ECCC
- Revisit your cover letter writing skills
- Refine your elevator pitch
- Get a headshot for LinkedIn
- Attend a Leveraging LinkedIn Workshop
- Create a professional LinkedIn profile
- Practice networking skills
- Create a “Kudos” file and a project portfolio
- EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS
- Schedule a Career Planning appointment with ECCC staff to form a plan
- Attend Co-op Conversations
- Begin searching for co-op opportunities AND summer internships
- Attend Recruiter in Residence Days in the ECCC
- Engage with employers at Fall and Spring Career Fairs
- Apply for co-ops and internships
- CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
- Assess your skill growth
- Update and enhance your resume then have it reviewed by the ECCC team
- Refine your cover letter writing skills
- Revamp and practice your elevator pitch
- Refresh your LinkedIn profile and share summer experiences and co-ops
- Practice networking skills
- Participate in G.R.I.P.
- Keep your “Kudos” file and your project portfolio current
- Step into leadership roles in student organizations
- Apply for co-ops and internships
- EXPAND YOUR NETWORK
- Take advantage of opportunities with your co-op/internship employer
- Build your network through informational interviews with UK alumni
- Attend national conferences for student or professional organizations
- MAXIMIZE THE MOMENT
- Strengthen ability to articulate experiences
- Identify transferable skills to communicate relevance to future positions
- Request recommendations and referrals
- Engage with your expanding network
- PREPARE FOR GRADUATION
- Revise resume for full-time job applications, CV for graduate school
- Update your elevator pitch
- Participate in G.R.I.P.
- Attend Career Fairs
- FINALIZE GRAD STRATEGY
- Meet with ECCC to develop full-time search strategy
- Participate in the Grad to Great series
- Apply for full-time jobs or grad school
- Develop offer negotiation strategy with ECCC before accepting full-time jobs
DO THESE THINGS EVERY SEMESTER
- Maintain a list of projects (group/individual)
- Review, revise, and enhance your resume
- Keep a current list of “hard” skills (technical skills, certifications, programming languages, etc.)
- Build soft skills and NACE competencies
- Attend career events, G.R.I.P., and Career Fairs
- Network, network, network
- Identify goal positions and skills/requirements to compete for those jobs
- Visit the Engineering Career and Co-op Center
DO THESE THINGS EVERY SEMESTER
- Maintain a list of projects (group/individual)
- Review, revise, and enhance your resume
- Keep a current list of “hard” skills (technical skills, certifications, programming languages, etc.)
- Build soft skills and NACE competencies
- Attend career events, G.R.I.P., and Career Fairs
- Network, network, network
- Identify goal positions and skills/requirements to compete for those jobs
- Visit the Engineering Career and Co-op Center
Year One Guide
- GET STARTED
- This is the year you get acclimated to college and new academic expectations.
- You don’t have to figure everything out in your first semester on campus.
- You DO need to start figuring out what you need to succeed in engineering or computer science.
- BUILD CONNECTIONS
- Register for Handshake
- Visit the Engineering Career and Co-op Center (ECCC)
- Meet with the Career Peers
- Explore career pathways
- Establish your GPA/find academic resources to support your studies
- INVENTORY YOUR SKILLS
- Take stock of past experiences (jobs, activities, etc.) and inventory your skills
- Build your first resume with the ECCC/Career Peers
- Learn about and create an elevator pitch
- EXPAND YOUR SKILLS
- Join and engage with engineering or computer science student organizations
- Attend ECCC events
- Take time for self-reflection and assessment
- AIM FOR EXPERIENCE
- Finalize your Y1 resume
- Learn how to write a strong cover letter
- Clean up existing social media accounts and make
- them private – future employers WILL check them
- Practice your elevator pitch
- Visit the Wildcat Wardrobe if you need free professional clothing for the Career Fair
- PLAN FOR INDUSTRY
- Attend and explore Fall and Spring Career Fairs
- Apply for summer internships
- PLAN FOR ALTERNATIVES
- Consider on-campus research opportunities
- Find upskilling opportunities
- Consider study abroad (the summer after Year One is the ideal time for study abroad)
Year Two Guide
- This is the year you are encouraged to explore career opportunities and career goals.
- As you are getting into substantive major-specific course material, pay attention to what interests you and where you excel.
- Identify soft skills for which you consistently receive positive feedback and explore strengthening them throughout the year.
- Begin the year with intentionality.
- REVISIT AND REFINE
- Update your resume and refine it by having it reviewed in the ECCC
- Revisit your cover letter writing skills
- Refine your elevator pitch
- Practice networking skills
- Attend interview workshops
- Participate in G.R.I.P and continue practicing answering interview questions
- EXPAND YOUR PRESENCE
- Get a headshot for LinkedIn
- Attend a Leveraging LinkedIn
- Workshop in the ECCC
- Create a professional LinkedIn profile – get it reviewed by ECCC staff
- Create a “Kudos” file (positive feedback from supervisors, coaches, professors, etc.)
- Create a project portfolio – a compilation of projects you have worked on with details about your role(s)
- DEVELOP YOU STRATEGY
- Schedule a career planning appointment with ECCC staff to formulate your plan
- Meet with your academic advisor to map out course schedules and co-op semesters
- EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS
- Attend Co-op Conversations
- Attend Recruiter in Residence Days to learn more about the opportunities in a casual setting
- Attend Fall/Spring Career Fairs to actively engage with and learn from employers
- Join professional organizations related to your major
- EARN YOUR EXPERIENCE
- Attend Fall and Spring Career Fairs – send thank you emails
- Apply for co-ops and internships after the fair(s)
- Apply for undergrad research
- Don’t turn positions down without talking to ECCC
- Don’t accept multiple positions
Year Three/Year Four Guide
- BUILD EXPERIENCE/VALUE
- These are the years to fully immerse yourself in opportunities – to lead, to grow your technical and soft skills, and to explore interest areas/employers through experiential learning.
- Think of these two years as integral to your engineering or computer science education – you’ll build value both inside and outside the classroom.
- You are aiming to use the final co-op experience(s) as your launching pad for developing a robust and successful full-time job search strategy.
- CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
- Schedule a goals and strategy appointment with ECCC staff
- Assess your skill growth
- Update and enhance your resume for ECCC team review
- Hone your cover letter writing skills – if you are going to write one, make sure it adds value
- Revamp, practice, and perfect your elevator pitch
- Refresh your LinkedIn profile and share summer experiences and co-ops
- Practice networking skills
- Attend G.R.I.P.
- Keep your “Kudos” file and your project portfolio current
- GROW YOUR SOFT SKILLS
- Step into leadership roles in student organizations and within the Pigman College of Engineering to round out your skill set (and resume)
- Stretch beyond your comfort zone
- EXPAND YOUR NETWORK
- Engage with Recruiters in Residence in the ECCC
- Attend Fall and Spring Career Fairs – send thank you emails
- Meet with faculty to get insight into your focus area and relevant grad school programs
- Attend and engage at national or regional conferences for student organizations or major-specific organizations
- Arrange informational interviews with UK alumni at companies of interest
- PROCEED INTENTIONALLY
- Apply for co-ops, internships, and research roles
- Meet as many people as possible during your coop rotation and ask questions
- Take advantage of co-op or intern meet-up events organized by your employer
- Volunteer for assignments on other teams during co-ops to diversify skills and experience
Year Four/Year Five Guide
- TAKE OWNERSHIP
- Year Four and Year Five are the final years to get industry experience under your belt.
- It’s time to start actively thinking about your after-graduation goals. Industry? Grad school? How do you make yourself a qualified and competitive candidate?
- You will begin pivoting from thinking of yourself as a student to thinking about yourself as a professional.
- PREPARE FOR EXPERIENCE
- Revise and strengthen your resume for co-op applications
- Refresh your LinkedIn profile
- Revamp and practice your elevator pitch
- Participate in G.R.I.P.
- Attend Career Fairs
- Apply for co-op positions
- ADD EXPERIENCE/VALUE
- Interview for co-ops you are truly interested in
- Don’t turn down co-op offers before talking to ECCC staff
- Navigate receiving co-op offers with integrity – you are building your professional reputation
- Accept co-op offers and approach the opportunity with enthusiasm
- TRUST THE PROCESS
- Revise resume for full-time job applications, CV for grad school applications
- Perfect your elevator pitch
- Participate in G.R.I.P.
- Strengthen your ability to articulate experiences
- Identify transferable skills to communicate relevance to future positions
- Engage with your expanding network
- FINALIZE GRAD STRATEGY
- Meet with ECCC staff when you return to campus to develop a full-time search strategy
- Participate in the Grad to Great Workshop series
- Attend Fall/Spring Career Fairs
- Apply for full-time jobs or grad school
- PREPARE TO FIELD OFFERS
- Don’t navigate full-time job offers alone, and never accept an offer on the spot
- Arrange a Job Offer Evaluation/Negotiation appointment with ECCC staff to review benefits/salary and learn when/how to negotiate offer(s)