Why do some students get great jobs before they live campus while others tend to linger for long on the street looking for some work, just any work and fail to even find it?
The secret is not something you may think. Every year, leaders and top executives approach University lecturers for names of their top students in the class. If you are average, chances that your name could end up with the top bank’s top honcho are high if you just a great student that works closely with the lecturer! You must have a strategy for every situation you face. Otherwise, you risk leaving lots of opportunities on the table. In your life, if you miss so many such opportunities, it may be tough for you to catch up. Opportunities that arise at each stage of your life once missed cannot be reclaimed. For example, a scholarship missed if you are not among the top three student finalists!
Life after campus must be prepared while at campus. This means that you must ask yourself some questions.
“Why are you at campus?”
You should use you’re the time while at campus to create winning relationships, connections and make an impact. People explore opportunities for internship, leadership positions and scholarships while still at campus. You need to remember that there are certain things you must deliver on. One of them is acquiring intellectual firepower and you want your professors and colleagues to notice that you are actually the best.
I have worked in banks, big audit 4 firms, with entrepreneurs and always looking for the best brains. They are always trying to how to find such people who redefine the limits. They go to the university professors to ask who the best students are. If you pay attention to detail, not only being the best in class but also being close with your professor, you are going to get opportunities for being referred to someone for a job. Most of the time such jobs are direct entry.
While at campus, you must create self-esteem. The school is the best place to prove that you deserve a seat on the table. Self-esteem can manifest through many ways; you lead discussions. Most people come to consult from you not because you are very brilliant but because you have mastered some concepts. This self-esteem gives a recharge after campus for example, Makerere University has been electing student leaders. The student leaders who participated in the elections after they had gotten recognition. If you look at the political economy in Uganda, successful leaders have been previous leaders at universities. This already gave them self-esteem that they can do it. There is no way that somebody has won in a highly intellectual university as a guild president will fail to win anywhere in an election. When you go to campus, you must do the right thing at each level.
Establish a strong supporting network. When a given regime rules for more than twenty to thirty years, something is disorganised. There is a generation that is suppressed. The old girl/ boy network operates in a way that your old boys/ girls will pull you up. When certain people hold onto power and don’t give way, it means the others have lost. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be recognisant of your old boy network. You have to create connections and stay in touch. This is why the traditional schools are not successful per see that people are brilliant, because it is not easy for another person to break into their network. If you to St. Mary’s Kisubi, you will notice the some old boys are CEOs or Ministers. When such a CEO is looking for someone to give an opportunity, his first contact is to the school alumnus. He understands that the old boys have the same culture. This is what you must be doing while still at the university- networking.
The biggest challenge is people wait after campus to begin doing the things they should have done while still at campus. This means that you are going to kill more three years. The things you are doing now should have be done at campus. The opportunity is already taken. This is why career guidance is very essential.
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