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Professional development essential over summer

By Samantha Peer columnist 4 min read
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For the Yellow Jacket’s faithful readers, you are accustomed to editorials and columns urging you to devote time to professional development over break.

It is a topic we stress constantly, and with good reason, as our education should not stop simply because classes are over.

In fact, because classes are over, this is the perfect opportunity to do some independent learning and spend time on things that you may not have had the time to do while consumed with homework and extra-curricular activities.

Before your eyes glaze over, stay with me. Professional development sounds awful. This I know. But it definitely doesn’t have to be.

Professional development can mean exploration, not the continuation of boring assignments.For example, this summer I challenge you to volunteer, shadow, “intern” and read.

Volunteer. I have heard from countless professionals whose volunteering has led them on a path to discovery of their calling or vocation.

Perhaps you are an accounting major, but when you spend some time volunteering at a summer camp, you discover your niche may be working with children instead.

If nothing else, volunteering can be an outlet for some passions that your profession doesn’t provide.

Shadow. While many of the courses and activities offered here at WU are very hands-on, one opportunity we aren’t necessarily afforded is to spend time with professionals at their workplace, learning from what they do.

Reach out to a local professional in the line of work that you are considering and ask to spend a few hours with them one day this summer to see what life is like in their shoes.

You could fall deeper in love with your future profession or decide that it is not your cup of tea. Either way, a valuable lesson is sure to be learned.

“Intern.” Notice the quotations.

Fortunately, I have landed a PR internship right here at WU for the summer, but last summer I worked at my local Dairy Queen.

However, this didn’t stop me from building my own unofficial internship.

As a PR student, social media is a needed skill set, so I made and managed a Facebook page for my father’s CPA business.

Writing is also a needed skill set in my major, so I started a blog to keep my writing skills sharp and potentially market my skills to future employers. There are tons of ways to build your own internship and/or build and strengthen skills that will be needed for your future. Read.

 Some say it doesn’t matter what you read as long as you are reading, which is true, but I am talking about more specialized reading.

I am a public relations student, and I am very much interested in helping companies give back to their local and global communities through corporate initiatives, which is called Corporate Social Responsibility.

Therefore, I plan to spend my summer reading about what companies are doing to give back. I suggest you follow suit in terms of your respective interests. Hopefully this advice was not what you thought it was going to be or was something you have been advised of previously, as when I think of professional development, I think of polishing my LinkedIn page and resume.

These are not bad ideas, either. You never know when an opportunity for an internship or employment will present itself, so its good to be prepared with the proper credentials and the summer is a great time to clean these things up as you will have the free time to do so.

In conclusion, no matter what year you are: spend time on professional development this summer.

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