"Junior" Explorers
May 15, 2022
The National Park Service has the “Junior Explorers” program which encourages young people to get outside and explore nature. Work hard, complete an activity book, and earn a patch. Sounds invigorating, energizing, educational and fun.
Maybe universities should consider a similar program for “college juniors” as it relates to their careers.
As you probably have read previously, I see finding a career a process of exploring. Junior year of college is prime time for exploring. Senior year becomes the year of searching and finding; perhaps freshman and sophomore years were times of acclimating and discovering oneself. Junior year builds up to that ultimate exploration activity—the summer internship. Exploring junior year is a “prerequisite” to a confident senior-year job search and prevents senior-year career stress and angst.
If I were designing a college career search, “Junior Explorer” program, here are a few of my design criteria (and I hope for you, a few tips for taking advantage of your junior year):
Start with a process. Consider Dr. Katharine Brooks, You Majored in What? Designing Your Path from College to Career, or Bill Barnett and Dale Evans, Designing Your Life, How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life. I use both in my career coaching business. Both are focused on iterative processes of career exploration.
Consider yourself writing a research paper for your favorite professor. Only this time the professor is you, the paper is “Your Career Exploration,” and here’s the catch: you can only use primary research. You must call and talk to people interested in what you are interested in, doing what you are considering doing or using the skills you are considering using. Your school might have a formal mentoring or networking program, which is a good place to start, or log into LinkedIn and navigate to your University alumni page to find alumni with similar interests.
Try something. I recommend getting out of the dorm room, literally and figuratively. NPS junior explorers don’t discover nature via google—neither should you find a career that way. Find hands-on projects to investigate a skill or an industry. Many colleges use Parker-Dewey as a source of short-term projects. Or find a college-sponsored professional club related to one of your interests to talk with like-minded students about your interests.
Visit your career center to discuss how to get an internship. Internships are an important part of your exploration—you get 8-12 weeks to experience using a skill, learning an industry, and discovering what kind of environment might be best for you. Your career center has resources to help you find internships posted just for students at your school.
Of course, since this is a self-serving blog, I must note that having a coach help you with your junior year exploration will ensure you use your year wisely. A good career coach can teach you a process, guide you through the steps, help you make connections, lead you to resources, and work with you to find an internship. Drop me a note if you want to discuss more.
