Chances are you changed your major seven times last semester, got busy taking too many credits, learning your way around Madison, or just like to procrastinate. I’m here to tell you to start to think about your future earlier than later. One minute you’re walking into your first lecture hall freshman year and the next you’re going into senior year wondering where the time went. The best way to figure out that you want to do after college is to network and job shadow.
Job shadowing during winter break is the best thing you can do (besides eating mom’s home cooked meals). This experience provides a great opportunity to explore career possibilities and network with professionals and potential future employers. Also, most job shadows are only a one-day event which means you can also do many other fun things over break as well!
If you don’t have someone already in mind that you would want to shadow, there are several UW-sponsored job shadow programs targeting different industries and career paths. I did my first job shadow though a program with the business school called Badger Business Job Shadow.
I hope you consider taking a day out of your busy (or lazy) winter break to follow a professional on the job and start thinking about life after college.