It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Break!)
Written on 1:13 PM by Xavier Career Development
“It’s
the most wonderful time of the year!” Is it really? When the month of December
rolls around for Xavier students, many of us will have had a small taste of
home over Thanksgiving break, and then return back to campus to crank out the
last few weeks of work and tremendous amounts of studying for final exams. We
can have a tendency to only focus on what is in front of us, and not what lies
ahead! Keep your eyes on the prize, Xavier students: Christmas break is not
that far away!
Christmas
break is definitely the time for enjoying, in my opinion at least, the most
wonderful time of the year. Family, friends, and food are sources for a
fantastic three weeks away from textbooks, meetings, and emails. It is
incredibly easy to spend 3 weeks wearing sweatpants as a result of the massive
amount of food you have eaten, lying on the couch both starting (and then
subsequently finishing) a Netflix series of your choice knowing you have
nothing holding you back. Although this may be the dream for a lot of us, I
have faith in you, fellow students. We are more than capable of accomplishing
some career-related goals and mindsets while we have time to kick back! Let’s
take this slowly, this is a vacation after all, right? By no means am I suggesting
we all need to spend our breaks researching internships and jobs, interviewing
for them, and finally landing those positions.
Let’s
say we are spending the day at home, checking Facebook albums, updating our
iTunes, and doing some online shopping looking for that perfect New Year’s Eve
outfit. While we are on our laptops, we can write or edit our resumes. After
having done so, we can head over to LinkedIn.com
to update our profiles after having browsed so many of our friends’ profiles on
various social media accounts. Perhaps we have some information to add from a
fall internship we have landed, or update our objective statements for what it
is we are seeking in the spring and summer. After having updated our LinkedIn
accounts, we can navigate over to eRecruiting to
research those possible winter, spring, or possible summer internship and job
positions we are seeking!
By
now we’ve spent a lot of time hunched over our computers, and should get
outside and enjoy the snow and winter weather! Suggest to mom and/or dad a day
of bonding! Sit down with them to explain what it is you really are searching
for or hope to accomplish in terms of your career path: whether you are
graduating in the spring and want to discuss living situations and the location
of your dream job, or you are a sophomore and seeking advice on declaring a
major. Those older than us always give us wise advice about their career
history when it is sought out! While you are out you can also suggest shopping
for business/interview attire! What family member wouldn’t want to help you
present yourself as professionally as possible, especially when you mention the
Spring Career Fair is right around the corner on February 17!
Vacation
is the best of both worlds: allowing for productivity as well as good times
with those we love. Make the most of your break this year!
Merry
Christmas Muskies,
Jenny
Mendoza
