A Big-10 college campus offers a number of ways to get professional experience:
- Get on the staff of a campus or local publication.
- Join the English Student Council (ESC) and help organize events and programs for English majors.
- Join Student Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations at Illinois, an RSO that puts students on semester-long project teams to provide pro-bono consulting for not-for-profit organizations.
- Find an RSO that interests you! Every student organization offers opportunities to develop your skills in recruitment, event-planning, fundraising, programming, public relations, project management, and leadership.
- Volunteer at the Conservation Lab in the University of Illinois Library.
- Apply to Illinois Business Consulting (no, you don’t have to be a business major!)
- Get to know the Illinois Leadership Center, which offers several ways for students to gain leadership knowledge and experience: volunteer opportunities, paraprofessional positions, and Graf internships.
- Check out the service opportunities available through the University of Illinois Office of Volunteer Programs
- Attend an event with UX Champaign-Urbana to get connected with local user experience and content strategy professionals.
- Get a job doing fundraising for the University of Illinois Foundation.
- Keep an eye on the Virtual Job Board, with your career plans in mind. A part time job on campus can help you pick up relevant skills and experience and give you opportunities for networking. Thinking about library school or information science? Positions frequently come up in the campus libraries. Marketing/advertising/PR? Every unit on campus has a Communications office that handles those things–and they occasionally need student help. Note that every piece of paper, pamphlet, brochure, flyer, poster you see on campus had to be planned, written, edited, designed, and produced by somebody–there are a lot of opportunities to practice your writing and editing skills if you read the job openings carefully. Help desk jobs can refine your customer service skills and give you an entree to fields like recreation, technology services, and building management.