How Can a Career Prep Program Impact Your Future Career Prospects?

Working toward a college degree through the classroom is a good way to gain the knowledge that you’ll need to begin your career, but career prep is about more than just gaining knowledge.

Getting work experience that employers want to see is just as important. Career prep in college plays a key role in developing real-world experience and the twenty-first century skills—things that employers seek.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 91 percent of employers seek job candidates with work experience and 80 percent of eligible interns receive a job offer. 

Career prep experiences in college are a different way to build on the knowledge that is needed to succeed on the job by gaining the skills to function in the professional world. Being exposed to career prep experiences in college helps you to be seen as a new hire who needs less training and supervising.

Participating in career prep will help you see how theories from classroom work are applied in the real-world situations. They also allow you to explore academic and career possibilities that you may not have considered. As an added benefit, you will meet professionals to develop a network for employment after graduation.

Career prep experiences such as an internships, competitions, or research opportunities can build the skills that you need to make the transition from student to professional a little bit easier, such as:

• Build communications and human relations skills through interaction with coworkers
• Learn critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Become familiar with specialized facilities that you will encounter in the workplace
• Gain confidence

Illinois Institute of Technology offers a number of career prep activities on campus through its Elevate program, which guarantees that every student takes part in career prep experiences such as internships, research opportunities, competitions, and study away, among other opportunities. Illinois Tech students can also gain career prep experiences by initiating a start-up business through the Startup Studio.

Learn more about career prep opportunities at Illinois Tech.