After a long and hard sprint semester, students look forward to some time to unwind and have some fun. However, given that the job market is tough and finding a job can prove to be an onerous and uphill task for students after graduating, it is advisable to ramp up your resume by garnering career-related experience. It’s great too – earn some extra bucks and become career and job ready!

Employers across the globe are more inclined to hire students who have added some ‘weight’ to their profiles and undertaken significant work during their ‘spare’ time. They are interested to understand how even an average student has applied herself or himself and devoted time outside the scope of their formal learning to know more and gain practical knowledge. It’s about showing an interest in more than just the discipline being pursued and working hard to gain that valuable job as soon as their course program is done.

A number of experts in the career and job realm have made some invaluable suggestions on the things that students can do during a summer break to add substance to their profiles.

• Take up an internship with a company even if it is not a company that you may want to work with in the future. An internship gives a student a competitive edge through industry know-how and real-world work experience. Meeting new people, spending time with some of the company’s leaders and just the time spent in a ‘real office’ prepares students for what lies ahead and when the time comes to take up full-fledged employment, they would be better prepared than their peers and colleagues. Often, the company that a student took up the internship at, offer the student a job post completion of the course, which is hugely advantageous, given that the opportunities sometimes don’t always exist when they are needed. Working with dedication and a will to learn will set you apart and would place a dream job before you, which would not be available without the effort.
• Enrol in summer classes at a community college. Some such classes transfer to the main university, thereby saving you valuable time and tuition money. Not only do summer classes benefit you as mentioned, they also keep you occupied and mentally alert so when the program begins, you will not find yourself struggling to get back to a strict study regime.
• Use your skills and aptitude in addition to your academic proficiency by volunteering in community service or programs that require leadership skills for the upkeep of the town.

Doing such meaningful and effective work adds volumes to your resume and employers are always on the lookout for people who can use more than knowledge to make a significant positive impact to their organization. During community service, students add a fresh perspective and understand the value of doing something for people in need and makes for a highly quantifiable proficiency. The great part of volunteering is that you can decide the number of hours you put in and it is more effective when done in conjunction with an internship. After all, experience, qualifications, and value-added contribution together make for a great resume.

Keep busy, updated and relevant and it will much easier to get that job that you always dreamed of.