Free Career Resources Every College Student Should Know About
There are more free career resources available to you while in college than at any other point in your life. Are you aware of these amazing, free resources and how to make the most of them?
This article contains ways to leverage the career resources around you to continue your growth and achieve your career goals.
Campus Career Center
Career centers are one of the most underutilized resources on college campuses. They often are a great source of knowledge, support, and opportunity. Here are some of the most common services you can find at your career center, and how to leverage them.
Career counseling
Most career centers on campus have options to meet 1:1 with a career practitioner – these are career advisers, coaches, and/or counselors who are experts in supporting young adults with their career journey. They are usually available by appointment. Some institutions will have office hours or drop-in hours for students as well.
Here is the support you might get at your college:
- Everything from general career and major exploration to connecting your skills to specific careers to helping with planning for the future
- Industry specific career counselors (e.g. pre-law, pre-med, etc.)
- Peer advisors or students who can offer their own insight and advice
⭐ Meet with a career counselor at least once per year. Even if you don’t have a specific question, it’s still a good idea to check-in, brainstorm together, and ask for any new resources or opportunities they know of to help you move your career goals forward.
Resume and cover letter writing and review
One of the most common resources available to students at their career center is the resume and cover letter writing and review support.
Here is what you might get at your college:
- Extra feedback on your application materials
- Workshops, 1:1 in-person, and virtual meetings, to receive feedback
⭐ It’s always a good idea to have your most up to date resume reviewed at least once before you begin applying to opportunities. Cover letter writing takes practice – it doesn’t hurt to gather more information and writing tips ahead of applying for opportunities.
Interview preparation support
Another common resource at career centers is interview preparation services.
Here is what you might get at your college:
- Workshops, 1:1 support, or free access to virtual tools such as Big Interview
⭐ Remember: interviewing is a skill – the more you practice the easier it gets!
Job and internship search
Campuses typically have a collection of resources specific for their students’ job and internship search.
Here is what you might get at your college:
- Handshake job boards and external opportunities
- On-campus opportunities such as research, professional development programs, and fellowships
⭐ We suggest you peruse the platforms your school highlights. It’s usually the easiest and best place to start when looking for opportunities.
Networking and events
Career centers are the host of many events throughout the year.
Here is what you might get at your college:
- Career or internship fairs
- Networking events in collaboration with other departments or offices on campus, such as alumni/student mixers, seminars, workshops, or department specific events
- Student and alumni networking and mentoring tools that only their students and alumni can access (like these examples at Sacramento State, UC Berkeley)
- Opportunities to meet peers with similar interests, make connections, and invest in your professional development
⭐ We suggest following your school’s career center’s LinkedIn page or social media accounts, so you stay in the know. Push yourself! Attend at least two career center hosted events this year.
Written resources
Not looking to meet with someone in person? Most career centers have a collection of their own written resources, created with their students in mind. These valuable resources often cover the most common wonderings students have, whether it’s how to format a CV, how to network, how to prepare for an interview, developing a career plan, etc.
Other less common but extremely valuable services
- Free professional headshots (Examples: UC Berkeley Career Engagement Office, Arizona State University Career Services)
- Free access to LinkedIn Learning (Example: University of Oregon Career Center)
- Free career exploration tools (Examples: Arizona State University Career Services, UC Santa Cruz Career Center)
- On-demand video resources (Example: UC Berkeley Candid Career, UC Berkeley Career Engagement Playlist, UC Riverside Career Planning resource)
- Labor market insights (Example: Sacramento State University Career)
- Free professional attire (Example: UC Santa Cruz Career Center)
Making Waves Early Career and Alumni Team
The Making Waves Early Career and Alumni Team is here for you every step of your career journey, even after you graduate! Whether you have a quick career specific question, want someone to brainstorm and strategize with, or want general career advice, we have your back.
Unique ways to leverage Making Waves
When in doubt, ask! One of the most beneficial life lessons is to learn how to ask for help. If you have a question or request, we’ll try our best to address it. Here are some unique ways we’ve supported students and alumni in the past:
- Setting up an informational interview
- Making a game plan to pursue a career pivot
- Developing personal brand and updating LinkedIn
- Creating grad school application plan
- Reviewing grad school statement of intent
- Setting career goals with tangible next steps
- Walking through a job offer
- Discussion salary negotiation strategy
- Determining what internship/job titles to search for
- Preparing for first annual review with manager
Whatever your career goals are, we are here to partner with you to give you the best chance of achieving them! Want to touch base with us? Set up a meeting using this form.
Kaitlyn Endo
ABOUT MAKING WAVES Education FOUNDATION
At Making Waves, we are committed to educational equity. Making Waves Education Foundation is a Bay Area nonprofit that supports Making Waves Academy – a public charter school with more than 1,100 5th through 12th grade students – and leads college and career programming with more than 430 college students.
Knowing the opportunities that come with a college degree, we partner with historically underrepresented and underserved students to help make college affordable and graduation attainable. Centering the journeys of our students, our personalized approach includes college and career coaching, scholarships, and financial planning.
Our alumni network includes more than 730 college graduates, who earn their degrees and land jobs at more than twice the rate of their first-generation, low-income peers, with 85% graduating debt-free.
