Work on Your Future over Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Break is a great time to reassure the people who love you that you have a plan for your future. Here’s how:

1. Apply for a Winter Break Externship (applications are due December 2!)
2. Draft or update your resume and schedule an appointment on Handshake to get it reviewed at the Humanities Professional Resource Center.
3. Complete (or create) your LinkedIn profile with a professionally appropriate photo, an eye-catching headline, and details of your student involvement and work experience.
4. Complete (or update) your Handshake profile (hint: if you’ve done step 2, you can upload your resume to automatically populate your profile, and then edit it).
5. Browse job ads. A lot of people don’t start looking at job ads until they’re under pressure to apply for jobs, but you can learn a lot (and expand your sense of what’s possible) by spending some open-ended time surfing job websites and reading ads without that “What can I apply for RIGHT NOW” pressure. Read ads for jobs that you’re not yet eligible for so that you know what your career trajectory might look. Read ads for jobs that don’t sound interesting, and jobs that you’re not sure you’re qualified or. Two key tips:(1) don’t search by major — search by what you want to DO. (2) As you read, focus on the “Requirements” for each job — they’re often a better guide than the job title to whether or not you can do the job.
6. Read up on your prospects! Many industries are recognizing that they need humanities majors in order to thrive:
   • • • Washington Post, Oct 19 2019, The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors
       • Inside Big Data, Sept 12, 2019, Models for Thinking: An Example of Why Data Sciences Increasingly Need the Humanities
       • New York Times, Sept 20, 2019, In the Salary Race, Engineers Sprint but English Majors Endure
       • Forbes, Aug 6, 2019, Why Computer Science Needs The Humanities
       • BBC, April 9 2019, Why ‘worthless’ humanities degrees may set you up for life
       • CNBC.com Mar 3 2019, 10 jobs that pay more than $55,000 that you can get with a liberal arts degree
7. Juniors and seniors: sign up for HUM 275: Careers for Humanities Majors.
8. Not sure where to start? Make an appointment at the Humanities Professional Resource Center on Handshake or by emailing humanitiesprc@illinois.edu with a few times you’re available. We’ll be available to meet with students through the end of finals.