Your first job can tend to head you in a specific career direction. Be sure to keep your long-term goals in mind as you determine your plans for your first position.

Plan Ahead

• Using information interviews for insights, you may want to sketch out a simple career plan--covering where you want to be in 5, 10, and 20 years.
  
  
• This can be useful information in an interview--for you to use when the question of future goals comes up--or to affect your questions about the job you’re considering.

Don't Let Your Plan Take You Away From Unexpected Opportunities

The best-laid plans may need to be set aside if a good enough opportunity comes along. Don’t be afraid to deviate from your original plan. Nothing is written in stone.

Change Is Inevitable

• It is estimated that a person starting a career today will actually have three separate and distinct career paths in the course of their working lives.
  
  
• Right now, your primary focus is finding jobs that will give you skills that will serve you well for the rest of your career. Abilities such as business writing, presenting, selling, and managing projects will transfer to almost any job or career path.

Careers: Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Welcome
  • Making Your Life Easier
  
  
• Taking Stock
  • What Do You Have to Offer a Future Employer?
  • Putting Together Your Package
  • Determining What You Want
  
  
• Making It Happen
  • Getting In
  • Making a Match
  • Shining at the Interview
  • Negotiating the Deal
  • It's a Career, Not Just a Job
  • If Nothing Is Happening
  • Encouraging Words