Your Degree Alone Won't Get You a Job: A Career Plan Checklist
January 11 2012

Your Degree Alone Won't Get You a Job: A Career Plan Checklist

College students are enjoying some well-earned time off after a week of finals.

While they enjoy time with family and friends (and with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads) many are also struggling with this thought:

“I need a damn job!”

Sadly, and despite all the evidence to the contrary, many students still think “All I have to do is survive college. My degree will make me employable.”

Wrong. Dead wrong. Don’t believe me? Ask the millions of recent graduates who are unemployed and living with their parents. Or the under-employed, barely surviving while waiting tables or working in a warehouse. Right now… their degrees are not helping.

Succeeding in today’s ultra-competitive job market requires a comprehensive career plan–and some of the most successful students and graduates begin implementing that plan during their freshman year.

Is it too late if you’re already a senior? No! But you can–and must–begin cramming, right now.

Year-by-year, here is what you need to do to dramatically increase your chance to be employed in your chosen career field immediately after graduation:



Does this list look like a lot? Yes, at first. Taken one step at a time, however, these steps are easier to manage than you might think. In fact, several only take one or two hours, or a mere couple of hours per week–well worth the investment!

How many of these critical tasks have you completed? Do you have a “Career Plan”? If not, use the checklist above to get started now.

Or are you still thinking that a degree alone will get you a job?

About the Author: A passionate supporter of Gen Y talent, YouTern CEO Mark Babbitt is a serial entrepreneur and mentor. Mark has been quoted in Forbes, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, and Under30CEO.com regarding internships, emerging talent and the current job market – and was recently honored to be named to GenJuice’s “Top 100 Most Desirable Mentors” list.

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