From College to Career

 Although college may seem like just an institution to gain knowledge about a particular field and master the involved information, it is much more of an experience where students learn valuable skills and practices that carry over into their career. During my college experience, I've faced challenges specific to my major and the overall secondary education rite of passage. Throughout overcoming these obstacles and struggles, strengths and assets have developed within me that will be desirable to employers. Below, I will go over some skill and experiences that can transfer into a career one day:

1. Time managament. 

    College students face due dates constantly, most of which require employing time management strategies. It seems like a magic trick balancing jobs, full course loads, family/friends, and extracurricular activities. Freshman year is often challenging figuring out what works and doesn't work with time restraints. Procrastinating and overloading is a grave mistake that impacts your grades. After my freshman year, I've learned that I have to build my time management skills to be successful. 

    Employers that designate their employees resposibilities, tasks, or projects with due dates expect that the work gets completed on time and with high standards. With effective time managment skills, graduates can use what they've learned about pending due dates and completing tasks with efficiency. I aspire to be a researcher in wildlife biology and work in conservation. Projects and research can be lengthy and sometimes have due dates or time-sensitive tasks especially when it comes to grants or funding. The numerours, constant due dates I deal with now are excellent practice for my future career in research and the science field. 

2. Accountability/Responsibility 

    Along with these due dates being met, there are other aspects to achievement in school. On-time attendance, studying, completing all assignements/tests/readings, and scheduling all are factors that need to be involved in successful learning. These are all personal respsonsibility of the student and create self-accountability. When graduates enter their career-field, employers will hold them accountable for showing up and completing their work. 

    During my college experience, I have made sure my attendance and assignments were priorities. I've worked in labs with field work and projects to be completed. In these situations, I've had professors and advisors holding me accountable to show up and complete what is expected of me. Also, in all of my employment opportunities, I have showed up to all my shifts and meetings on time and regularly. By holding myself accountable, I have developed responsible habits that will be desirable to an employer.

    Although their accountability is typically from an insitution, funding sources, or a government agency, often researchers have to be self-motivated and work without direct supervision. During college, I have had to hold myself accountable for my work, grades, and success. Ultimately, this will be something these funding sources, institutions, and agencies will appreciate from a biologist. 

3. Team Work

     In my science major, I have had many lectures and labs where I was assigned partners or groups, and we were responsible for experiments and assignments. Most of the time, we delegated different tasks to each person. The process of assessing a procedure or assignment, splitting work, and collaborating isn't always easy. Different personalities and work styles sometimes clash, and the work can be hard to navigate together. I am a very independent learner and worker. Working with others was perhaps one of largest challenges in college. However, by repeated exposure to these experiences and being a part of many cohorts and teams, I have develeoped extremely efficient teamwork skills. 

    Researchers, like the ones I aspire to become, often collaborate with each other and work with professionals of various teams. Many times, they also partner on projects or have multiple people working together on the same or similar projects. The teamwork skills I am building in college will not only be sought after in my field but beneficial to my success. 

4. Communication

    I haven't met a peer student thus far into college that hasn't had to engage with the professor, university staff, or other students at least once. Communication in college involves professional, well-written emails, showing up to office hours prepared, and collaborating with other students. These tasks while daunting are necessary experiences that will continually occur throughout one's life. The skills alone will be desirable to an employer one day, and they have also helped build connections with professionals and peers that will give me an advantage in getting hired and in my future career. 

6. The Practical Stuff!

    I've utilized different statistical software like R and JMP. Also, I often use Microsoft's Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote. I've had to navigate databases, emails and websites. These technical skills and more are all skills that help with many professional careers. 

    Besides the knowledge I've learned about my major that involves the field I will work in, there are many other practical, hands-on skills I've had experience with. Simple pipetting and other microscale techniques can be added to my resume. Also, next semester I will learn GIS which is highly appealing to employers in environmental science. I definitely recommend summer internships or jobs in your field of interest to help build those hands-on skills like specimen collection or transects. 

    Some other pratical skills I've learned that will help in my research career and poster creation and presentation, writing IMRaD papers, and developing experiements and studies. There are multiple skills and experiences that can be derived from all of my internships, lab work, and education. Althought they aren't always obvious, reflecting on what you learned and what it took to be successful in these experiences will help you realize what skills you developed that will set you apart from other candidates in the eyes of an employer. 

Best of luck to you all in your educational journey into a career! What you need is already developing within you :)