Four Year Plan

Whether you are a freshman or senior, the Hiatt Career Center is here to help you no matter where you may be in your career exploration.  

First Year: Reflect, Explore and Connect with your dreams, interests, strengths and goals.

Sophomore Year: Reflect, Explore and Connect with majors, alumni, possible career fields, networking and internships.

Junior Year: Reflect, Explore and Connect with internships, employer events, alumni, CIC, career and graduate school fairs and your network.

Senior Year: Reflect, Explore and Connect with alumni, employers, graduate and law schools, your network, alternative post-graduate opportunities and your future! 

First Year: Reflect

Your first year on campus should be full of self-reflection and observation. What are you thinking and feeling as you make this adjustment to college life? Overall, try to get to know yourself better. Focus on what makes you happy and what makes your life meaningful.

The following four goal suggestions are designed to help you in your self-reflection, and are generally helpful to most first year students.

Goal: Reflect

  • Write in a journal or audio/video record your thoughts, impressions, wishes, goals and passions as you take courses, meet new friends and engage in clubs, sports and other activities.
  • Engage in activities that will stimulate introspection and help you feel good about yourself. Staying healthy, getting plenty of sleep and making good grades will contribute to an overall feel-good attitude.
  • Engage in self-reflection. What are your values, skills and interests?  What do past employers or faculty most appreciate about your work?  One online assessment available to you is TypeFocus, which helps you define and understand YOUR personality strengths, skills, values and interests. It will even link you to career titles that match your results. A career counselor at Hiatt will explain and review your results with you so that you can derive the most benefit from it. Schedule an appointment!
  • Participate in self-reflection exercises.  Some small self-reflection group activities will be offered throughout the year at Hiatt Career Center and in residence halls. Check the Hiatt calendar in B.hired for details.

Goal: Write a resume as a formal reflection on your skills and interests.

  • Draft a resume using Hiatt’s guidelines to attract the attention of others; perhaps for a leadership position on campus or a part-time job.
  • Stop by Hiatt during drop-ins for quick guidance, resume critique and/or approval.
  • Attend a resume writing workshop. Check the Hiatt calendar in B.hired for details.

Goal: Network with alumni to learn and reflect on a particular career.

Goal: Engage in an internship, summer job or other meaningful activity such as volunteering, classes or travel.

  • Reflect on and write about your experience in a journal. Update your resume with the new skills such as research, teamwork or language skills. Other personal attributes such as punctuality and the ability to follow through and meet deadlines are good to observe and then perhaps include on your resume as well. 

Sophomore Year: Assess and EXPLORE

Sophomore year is a good time to gather your reflections, ideas and curiosities to explore. Discover as much as there is to know about your interests and the world of work, careers and other alternative pursuits before you commit to a major or make a plan for your career. If you explore, decisions regarding your major, study abroad, networking and internships will evolve and begin to take shape. Exploration requires being flexible and open to new ideas. It also requires systematic research, as well as first-hand experience.

Use the following goals as suggestions for exploration:

Goal: Reflect

  • Review the self-reflection activities for First Year REC.
  • If you haven’t thought about your values, skills and interests yet, don’t delay

Goal: Research and explore majors.

  • Seek in-depth information about Brandeis majors, including alumni in these majors and what they are doing now.
  • Talk with professors and upper-class students regarding possible majors.
  • Attend information sessions within academic departments and with employers. Check Hiatt's calendar on B.hired for details.
  • Make an appointment with your adviser in Academic Services.
  • Visit Hiatt to identify experiential programs that will give you more information about your areas of interest such as networking, internships and junior year abroad.
  • Choose a major, based on all of your good research and self-reflection to date.
  • Use Hiatt’s online research tools including Spotlight on Careers, Vault, Occupational Outlook handbook and O*Net.

Goal: Write or revise your resume to explore others’ interest in what you have to offer.

  • Promote your skills, personality traits and experience to an employer, internship supervisor or alumni who may be looking for exactly what you offer.

Goal: Explore how your interests and skills fit through internships, networking or a summer job.

  • Attend programs designed to help you prepare for internships and networking.
  • Use as many resources as possible to find a great summer job.

Goal: Adventure and study abroad.

  • Attend the study abroad fair . Check Hiatt's calendar on B.hired for details.
  • Make an appointment at the Study Abroad office to discuss your ideas for exploration through studying and a possible internship abroad.

Goal: Research programs that may require advanced planning before graduation.

  • Research programs such as graduate schools, law school, early decision medical school and research career fields of interest to you.  Key resources include Hiatt’s website, Spotlight on Careers, Vault, Occupational outlook Handbook and O*Net.
  • Contact Academic Advising or the Hiatt Career Center for appointments to discuss your research in-depth. 

Junior Year: CONNECT

During the first two years of college you learned about yourself and what would make you happy, explored personal skills and strengths, gained more work or internship experience and chose a major. Now may be the time for you to continue to Explore while you take action to start connecting with others outside the university; take your ideas about yourself and what interests you for a test drive, try them out on the world and see how you fit. This is really about building your network with employers, graduate and career fair representatives and alumni ; “Network to Connect” might be your motto for junior year.

At any time you might want to go back to the Reflect and Explore pages to review where you have been or to catch up on certain activities.

Goal: Prepare, redefine, reevaluate or determine your strengths, skills, values and interests.

  • Do other formal and informal reflection and assessment exercises independently and with a Hiatt counselor to define a plan for moving forward.

Goal: Plan options for connecting with professionals who can help you bridge experiences between college and post-graduation.

  • Define a tentative plan A and B for your goals after you graduate. Some of your choices: graduate school, law school, medical school, a job or internship, travel or alternative service.
  • Make an appointment with Hiatt's pre-law and graduate school adviser or with Pre-health Advising to help with your planning so you will know how and why you want to start connecting.

Goal: Know how to write and use written business communication.

  • Update and polish your resume, cover letters and thank you notes.
  • Use email appropriately.
  • Ask Hiatt counselors, academic advisers and professors for feedback on business communications.

Goal: Find a summer job, a part-time job or an internship.

  • Decide whether you want a job, perhaps just to get good work experience and money, or an internship for which you may or may not be paid but will gain specific, supervised training in your area of interest as well as networking contacts.
  • Take a “How to Get an Internship or Job” workshop at Hiatt. Check the B.hired calendar for workshop times and dates throughout the year.
  • Read all about networking and informational interviews and practice conducting a brief meeting with someone you know well.

Goal: Connect with employers, alumni and career and graduate school representatives.

  • Impress! Check that your clothing, shoes, general appearance, presentation style (tone of voice, eye contact, handshake), manners and etiquette are appropriate. Be ready to present to others off-campus.
  • Deliver a 30-second “tell me about yourself” introduction that highlights your skills and strengths and what you are interested in doing. Leave it on your voicemail message and perfect it. Create a 30-second “elevator speech.”
  • Connect with as many professional people as you can. Conduct informational meetings to gather information and referrals to build your network.
  • Keep track of contact information and relevant professional data for everyone you connect with using Excel or other software designed for this purpose. 

Senior Year: CONNECT

Congratulations on reaching this milestone in your college experience, your senior year!

If you have been following some of the career planning suggestions in Reflect, Explore and Connect, you are ready to define your strategy for using your network to connect to your post-Brandeis plan. If you have not been following the suggestions, there may be some activities you have already done in a less formal manner. Don’t worry; your timing is fine. We enjoy working with seniors wherever you are in the process of preparing for your post-graduate years.

The following goals are highly suggested:

Goal: Create a strategy and a timeline for a Plan A and B to keep you on track and relaxed throughout your senior year.

and/or

Goal: Develop a plan(s)/timeline for post-graduation so you can feel confident that you are moving toward your goals.

Select goals that are appropriate to your level of preparation in order to connect with your future!

Goal: Prepare to meet employers who can hire you in order to make the best use of your time.

  • Research field, location and other criteria you have for employers.
  • Identify employers who will hire you.
  • Identify as many ways as possible to make contact with these employers: campus recruiting, career and job fairs and forums, alumni contacts, CIC, Hiatt alumni-employer programs, networking contacts, direct mail and direct application.
  • Develop your top three selling points for target employers and rewrite your resume and cover letters to highlight those. (See job search)
  • Use B.hired and other online resources for job opportunities and networking contacts.
  • Prepare for interviews using proper etiquette.  InterviewStream is a great tool to practice your interview skills 24/7.

Goal: Contact alumni (who are happy to speak with you!) in order to start building a network [link] of trusted advisers for your employment plan.

  • Set up informational meetings using B.hired to search for alums in your field(s) of interest.
  • Consider whether networking would help you gain greater clarity.
  • Offer to do an internship if it would give you more substantial experience.

Goal: Take advantage of office hours with professors, whether your goal is graduate school or employment.

  • Ask for advice and possible contacts for informational meetings.
  • Ask for references to put in your credentials file on Interfolio.
  • Ask for specific information about graduate schools and mentors at those schools.

Goal: Build a network of personal and professional contacts.

  • Make sure your contacts are willing to help you with your plans by connecting you to other people, such as employers or graduate school contacts, who can truly help you achieve your Plan A or Plan B goals.
  • Tell everyone you know about your goal and "talk it up" to Hiatt counselors, faculty, advisors, friends, family, clergy and other professionals with whom you have a comfortable, friendly relationship.
  • Talk to other students or recent alumni who have interned or been employed at organizations or attended the schools you are targeting.

Goal: Identify graduate schools and law schools and follow guidelines outlined in the graduate and law school handbooks.

  • Set up tours and informational meetings during breaks in the academic calendar.

Goal: Research alternative work, travel and volunteer programs.

  • Consider domestic and international opportunities.

Goal: Connect with employers or graduate schools.

  • Take an intensive workshop at Hiatt on Finding a Job, Interviewing, Getting the Offer and Salary Negotiation or Applying and Interviewing for Graduate School. Practice interviewing 24/7 with.
  • Check the B.hired calendar for times and advanced preparation if required.

Goal: Implement your original Plan A or Plan B or the plan you defined in the intensive workshop.

  • Connect with employers, graduate schools, alternative travel and work opportunities.
  • Get individualized coaching from Hiatt counselors as you progress toward your goals.

Goal: Connect with yourself in order to maintain a reasonable quality of life.

  • If you are healthy and energetic, you are much more likely to achieve your goals: interviewers and employers want healthy, positive people to join their organizations.

Goal: Try not to stress out!

  • Maintain a sense of well-being: be positive, exercise and eat and sleep well.
  • Find others for support. The Hiatt offers both undergraduate and alumni counseling.
  • The Counseling Center can offer you resources for dealing with anxiety and stress.
  • Give yourself credit for working toward your goals!