Career Center Launches Undergraduate Roadmap

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• Catherine Poland - [email protected]

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Finding a job after graduation in the current economic climate can be stressful, but the UC San Diego Career Center has launched a new Undergraduate Career Roadmap designed to help undergraduates work on their career goals beginning in their first year.

The roadmap offers tips for each year of a student's undergraduate education, from what their overall focus should be to specific tasks to accomplish.

"Students come to UC San Diego thinking 'this is what I want to do,'" says Maricela Alvarado, interim director of the Career Center and director of Online Student Experience. "But sometimes they come in with a limited understanding of what's possible with a particular major, so our goal is to help students understand and explore their interests beyond what they already know."

First Year: Explore Options

First year students should focus on exploring their options and learning about themselves, their interests and what campus offerings are available to support these efforts. This can take the shape of exploring majors, interests and potential career paths through classes, events and conversations with their fellow students and faculty members. Building connections with classmates, staff and student organizations are key to this exploration.

First year students should also plan to create a basic resume and LinkedIn profile to begin documenting their experiences, and attend workshops, information sessions and Career Center events to learn about opportunities.

Second Year: Start to Gain Experience

Second-year students on the other hand should focus on gaining hands-on experience. For these students, that means getting more involved in student organizations, clubs or leadership opportunities, as well as pursuing internships, volunteering opportunities or part-time jobs.

Their second year is a student's chance to refine their LinkedIn profile and resume with new experiences and accomplishments and begin networking with alumni, employers and professionals in their chosen field of interest.

"This is when we really want our students to start thinking about how they might begin to market themselves," Alvarado says. "Yes, you have a resume, but how can we now refine it so that you can begin your branding?"

This can be accomplished by focusing on your accomplishments, research or co-curricular experiences that are applicable to the field you'd like to move into, and listing them in your resume as well as online in LinkedIn, Alvarado says.

Year Three: Narrow Your Focus

Third-year and transfer students should narrow their focus and preparation as they ready themselves for completing their studies. The roadmap suggests that this takes the shape of securing internships and more advanced, career-related experiences through attending career fairs, employer information sessions and networking events. At this point, students can clarify their post-graduation goals and create a plan for job or further education applications.

"We highly recommend our students attend career fairs and networking events because they can begin to understand and learn more about the actual industry and what it feels like to be in a particular company and begin making early connections with employers," Alvarado explains.

In their third year, students can also begin practicing their interviewing skills and strengthening their professional communication skills.

"By the time the student graduates, we want them to be prepared in communication," Alvarado says. The goal is to have students well-versed in critical thinking, leadership, professionalism, teamwork and a host of other areas necessary for employment.

Year Four: Go From College to Career

For fourth-year students, the focus is on their transition from college to career. As they work on their launch from college, the roadmap recommends applying for jobs and graduation/professional school programs, attending recruiting events and actively engaging with employers.

Finalizing resumes, cover letters and application materials is key during this final step, as is leveraging networks for referrals, insights and opportunities. This is also the point at which it is a good idea to schedule time to meet with a career advisor for personalized guidance and final preparation.

And if graduation comes before a job offer, graduates are still eligible to use the Career Center and attend career fairs for 6 months after they graduate.

"I want to be sure that every student who decides to come to UC San Diego understands that we have a service for them," Alvarado says. "We meet you where you are - if you don't know what questions to ask us, that's okay. We will ask you questions because you're not alone in this journey."

The Undergraduate Career Roadmap comes with links to available resources that the Career Center has for each stage, as well: Career Center guides and assessments as the first step, Career Launch Certification for the second, internship resources for the third and job search and graduation school application resources for the fourth.

As with any roadmap, of course, users are free to choose their own route using any of the available options.

The first campus-wide Career Fair of the school year is also just around the corner on Oct. 7, 2026.