Ending the Semester like a Pro(fessional): A Career Coach’s Guide to Wrapping Up the Semester to Maximize Success

As the Spring semester ends and summer begins, it is the perfect time to celebrate this academic year’s achievements and pave the way for success in the upcoming academic year. Whether you’re wrapping up your first year of college or nearing the end of your graduate studies, finishing the semester like a professional sets the tone for future prosperity. Here's your comprehensive guide to ending the semester like a pro(fessional): 

1. Polish Your Projects: Take instructor feedback seriously. Make necessary corrections to your final projects to ensure they're top-notch and ready to showcase. While this may seem like extra work, this can only help you to make sure the projects you share with future employers are demonstrating your best work. 

1. Build Your Portfolio: Keep track of all your semester projects and summarize them for your portfolio. This will be invaluable for interviews and future opportunities. Bonus points if you write out these projects in a document for your own viewing in the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format for future interview preparation. The Big Interview STAR Answer Builder tool is an awesome tool to leverage in this process.  

1. Showcase Your Work Online: Upload your projects to LinkedIn or your portfolio website to make them easily accessible to potential employers. Additionally, this is a low-stakes LinkedIn post you can write to draw visibility to your profile and you as a candidate. 

1. Update Your Resume: Incorporate your latest projects and experiences into your resume to stand out to recruiters. Projects highlight and depict your ability to flex technical skills and are invaluable and demonstrating that you can “walk the walk.” If you need assistance adding these items to your resume, do not hesitate to schedule an appointment with a career advisor. 

1. Express Gratitude: Take a moment to thank professors who have had a significant impact on your academic journey. This is beneficial in a variety of ways. First, if a professor you loved is up for promotion or trying to host additional sections of the course you enjoyed, these written emails from students help them make a case that their course had impact, in addition to, of course, seeing that their work had impact. Second, this sets down a great foundation to build upon later when you may be seeking letters of recommendation or references.  

1. Explore Careers: Use the break to schedule informational interviews and explore different career paths. Leverage the LinkedIn Alumni feature to see what our Alumni are doing and set up time to talk to them. These alumni not only have keen insights into the positions you may be interested in exploring, but also wisdom about how to go about securing these opportunities (relevant courses, activities on campus that made them stand out, anecdotes about interview experiences). 

1. Plan Your Summer: Create a plan to develop your skills and experiences over the summer. Even if you are not doing an internship this summer, there are many ways to make this summer a productive one. Check out this awesome resource from our Career Advising Team that lays out ways you can maximize your time this summer. Additionally, make sure to identify ways you can become more career-ready with our NACE Career Competencies Assessment.  

1. Update Your Profile Picture: While your high school senior photos and fraternity formal pictures are great for Instagram, it is important to make sure your LinkedIn profile picture is up-to-date and professional. If you are on campus this summer, the Walter Center has an amazing Professional Portrait Booth that shows you how to take a professional headshot.  

1. Clean Up Your Social Media: Review your social media profiles to ensure they reflect your professional image. Companies will frequently look beyond LinkedIn and check out potential candidates’ more “social” social media including Instagram, X, TikTok and Reddit. Ensure all of your online presence is presentation ready. Just because your profile is set to private does not mean the content is.  

1. Keep Learning: Take advantage of LinkedIn Learning to brush up on skills that will make you more competitive. Through IU, you can access LinkedIn Learning and all its offerings. This includes not only courses to build your skills, but courses that count towards professional exams and directly certify your skills on your LinkedIn profile.  

1. Reflect on Your Achievements: Celebrate your successes and use them as motivation for the future. Check out our website to see the Four-Year Career Guide and see where you are within your career journey.  

1. Connect with Classmates and Professors: Network with your peers on LinkedIn to stay connected and support each other. While you have access to Canvas still, it is a great time to go through your course roster and add all your classmates and instructors. This sets a great foundation for your personal network when you are seeking opportunities later. Remember, even if your network doesn’t have an opportunity for you, their network might. By building up your network, you build up opportunities and visibility for later. 

1. Share Your Success: Consider sharing an end-of-semester post on LinkedIn to celebrate your achievements. These posts can feature course work, student organizations, or even projects you are super proud of from the semester. This is also a great forum to publicly thank faculty and staff members who contributed to your success. 

1. Celebrate: Take time to celebrate your hard work and accomplishments. 

By following these steps, you'll be sure to end the semester like a pro and set yourself up for success in whatever comes next.