What Can My Student Do This Summer To Make a Difference When They Graduate?

By Ken Barnes

What can my student do this summer to make a difference when they graduate? Excellent question. The answer can be a little complicated, so let’s start with what they are interested in doing. If you know, that’s great! If you don’t, below are some resources the Internship and Career Center (ICC) regularly uses to help them.

Career Assessments: Assessments help students clarify values, interests, personality traits and skills that are important when considering and evaluating career options. They inventory preferences rather than identify aptitudes. Below are some useful assessments.

• Strong Interest Inventory (SII): an assessment tool used to measure interests and help students choose careers or college majors. 
• Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): a questionnaire that indicates differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions.
• CA Career Zone: a tool that helps students explore, plan for and pursue careers that reflect their passion, skills, and life goals. Mouse over “Explore” to see a myriad of tools including four assessments. Which one should your student take? The more they take, the more they learn!

Internships

• Health-Related Internships: Whether your student is pre-med or interested in another area of healthcare, our Health-Related Internship program can help them jumpstart their career. It places over 800 students per quarter in the world-renown UC Davis Health System and other local facilities. Enrollment for summer has already ended (sorry), but this is a good time to plan for fall quarter. 
• Handshake, the ICC’s new platform for internships, career positions, and summer jobs, is both easy to use and filled with listings. Opportunities can easily be found throughout the state, country, and internationally. 

     
Valuable Opportunities Worthy of Consideration

• Community Service: Community service not only benefits those in need, it also develops skills, shows leadership, and adds a competitive edge to people’s resumes. Here are some resources for you.
  • Community Service Resource Center: excellent for students in the Davis area
  • VolunteerMatch: searchable opportunities in multiple geographic areas
  • JustServe: searchable opportunities in multiple geographic areas
• Employment: Part-time jobs not only develop skills, they also help students fund their endeavors. Here are some resources
  • University Enterprises: opportunities for all students (note, this site is administered by CSUS, but all students are free to use it.
  • Student Opportunities with the State: excellent opportunities throughout the state.
  • Handshake: excellent for on-campus and local student jobs that fit into any student schedule.
  • Undergraduate Research Center: A way for all students regardless of major to take advantage of the resources offered at a tier-one research university such as UC Davis. It may be too late to participate in summer research, but students can set things up for fall.

We’ve discussed quite a few different avenues for your student to pursue. If they have questions about any opportunities or still doesn’t know what to do, send them to the ICC. We can help them find opportunities most suitable for their needs or point them in the right direction to best assist them.