Graduation is a time to celebrate the successful completion of an educational program. It is also a confusing time for many students who are unsure about their next step. You can be a step ahead before your graduation day by doing these helpful things:

Consult School's Career Office

Familiarize with the school’s career service office. It is an office that helps students to find opportunities such as internships, volunteering chances, and part-time work. They will also guide you to prepare the resume, cover letter, and portfolio for the first full-time job.

Prepare an Up-To-Date Resume

Write a new resume to reflect your new status. The school’s career service should help you with the preparation. Bring together all the work history, skills you got in class, on a job or elsewhere and format it nicely on the resume. You can also write a cover letter at this moment. Every job you intend to apply may require a custom cover letter, but you can begin by writing a good basic letter. You will use it to remove or add some content to suit a specific job.

Find Suitable References

Collect reliable references (3-5) that you can quickly send to potential employers when they ask for it. Sometimes a big difference makes a difference between getting or missing a job. You need to provide a name, job title, an email address and phone number for every reference. If you have gone through an internship, request your supervisor to be your reference. Supervisors at volunteer positions or part-time jobs also make reliable references. Even instructors whose class you attended and did extremely well will also make a good reference.

Determine Admission Requirements for Advanced Academic Program

If you prefer a graduate or post-graduate school, establish the admission requirements for schools of your choice. For instance, some schools require you to take some graduate level exam. It is best when you find out before time because there are deadlines to take such exams for scores for timely reporting to your chosen college by the application deadline. Make a point of visiting testing web sites before your application deadline to know the date for taking the exam.

Find Mentors

Mentors are an essential group in helping you through post-college life as you try to determine the right career path. A mentor should be somebody with more experience n your field. He or she will provide you with an insider perspective on the way to navigate through your career. Your supervisors, professors, alumni and other distinguished professionals in your field are good examples of mentors. Their advice gives you the confidence to take risks and offers challenges to set higher goals. Mentors are usually an authority in their career with a personal and professional network that you might find useful when looking for an opportunity to launch or advance your career.

Prepare For Job Interviews

When you plan to search for employment, it is better to start preparing early even before your graduation. It will be satisfying if you can graduate when already someone has hired you. Start anticipating the likely question by recruiters at the places you send your resume by researching on the kind of work they do. Practice interview techniques with carrier representative or someone who is familiar with interview questions and response. Remember to buy fitting interview outfit. First impressions matter a lot. Learn about frequent mistakes made by first-time job seekers and avoid them.

Even as you do all these above, do not forget to study hard for any pending exams. Make sure that you pay any pending balances to student's accounts office and clear any outstanding issues with your campus so that there will be no issues preventing the release of your transcripts or certificates.