I finished my first year of college last month in Canada and now I’m back home over the summer. I don’t do anything! I just sit around, visit my old high school friends, travel around and I feel so awful for it. I also don’t necessarily want to work because I hate the kind of work you can do without a degree (like cleaning, shop cashier). I also don’t really need the money at the moment to be honest. My parents are ok with me not doing much this summer but I wonder if it will strongly harm my C.V.? I’m going back to Canada in September for the next semester anyway and all the following summers, I’ll take summer courses in Canada and not return home for a long time. That’s why I travel around Europe now to see it the “last time” basically.
Is it bad that I don’t do anything productive (other than studying for courses I’ll take next semester) this summer? Will it be very bad for my C.V.? Thank you
CV? How old are you?
Many, many kids work in the summer and aren’t adding to their resumes. You also seem to be getting restless in early June. Why don’t you find a volunteer position ? Depending where you, you may find volunteer opportunities that will contribute to your major, your interests, or…
Oh Vancouver! So wonderful
I’m 19 so I guess it’s important to add to my C.V. later what I did over the summer because I think 4 months gap is not good for later employers, but I don’t know what impact it has on later job chances…
Yes volunteer maybe but as aforementioned I personally would prefer traveling around and I’m not restless, just scared later employers will ask why did NOTHING productive for almost 4 months…
Are you going to be one of those seniors who has trouble finding a job and regrets? Hanging does nothing for your future. Using the excuse of “last time” can show an attitude. Why not at least do some responsible, focused volunteering?
In a way, you’re over analyzing this, thinking the gap between freshman and soph years is so critical. You’re still a young 'un. But then, you’re doing nothing productive. You aren’t talking about a future-related internship or something that would look good on the resume.
Of course you’d prefer to travel. Wouldn’t we all. Pick a side and stick to it: you’ll indulge and take your chances later or you’ll get in gear? Have some vision. Sorry to scold.
Future employers are going to have no idea that you did nothing over the summer between freshman/sophomore year unless you tell them. Typically the older you get, the more things you will add to your resume, so something you do this summer likely wouldn’t be on your senior resume unless it is special. Make sure to try and find an internship or have a better plan for next summer, but travelling this summer is fine.
I would definitely get some kind of job…if you were an employer, who would you want to hire: A 3.5 graduate who had never ever worked before, or a 3.5 graduate that had at least had minimum wage jobs, perhaps multiple summers at the same place so the employer knows that someone wanted to rehire them, that the potential employee understands how businesses work and that nobody owes them anything…and that the employee doesn’t think that any task is “too small” for them.
Imagine you had an interview where they asked you “Tell me about a time at work where you had difficulty with a customer”…but you have never worked. If they asked you why, and you said I hate the type of work you can do without a degree like shop cashier or cleaning, so I chose never to work instead.
Would an employer want to hire you? Because guess what, and entry level job in your major area will not be glamorous…you get the tedious jobs and work your way up.
For you it is beneficial because of the above, plus you make money, plus if you make any mistakes you get to do it in an atmosphere where it is not as critical…like if you need to learn that showing up at work at 9:00am really means 9:00am and not 9:15, then the ice cream parlor is better than your first career job where it can effect your prospects for years.
As an adult, you definitely want to show that you have previous work experience on your resume, even if it is McDonalds. Hopefully in the future you want to get an internship related to your major, but to get that job you want to show where you have worked before.
You will still have time to hang with your friends as summer jobs are generally not full time jobs anyway.
Fwiw though, I kept my long-term high school/college job off my CV for grad schools because it doesn’t relate to my field. I did have an on-campus job (writing center tutor) during the school year at college that related to it, though, but it didn’t start until my sophomore year.
I also got the tutoring job without referencing my other job (I was backed by a strong professor recommendation), so sometimes, life can work out without you having (or seeming to have) summer jobs, but of course ymmv.
I would definitely look into getting an internship/job at school related to your field, though, because that looks better than other, non-related jobs.
Get a job. Preferably one of those cleaning or cashiering job for minimum wage so you can see how the other half lives. Empathy is character-building and I think you might find some value in it.
“Get a job. Preferably one of those cleaning or cashiering job for minimum wage so you can see how the other half lives.”
Did these people working in these jobs work their asses of to get 4.0 GPA’s in college, to go to med school/law school, and pay unbelievable amounts of international student tuition like I do?
If they did, and they still ended up in these jobs, then I feel bad for them. If not, then not.
Which doesn’t mean that these jobs are unimportant, but I personally try everything to NOT end up in them.
I don’t think you personally are paying the high tuition. But I did get 4.0 grades and worked in shops and an amusement park along the way before getting into a good grad program. The empathy argument made above is not irrelevant here.
Yeah, I work at Walmart and also work my butt off in an engineering program with a 3.95. Get over yourself.
“Yeah, I work at Walmart and also work my butt off in an engineering program with a 3.95. Get over yourself.”
Sucks, but doesn’t mean I myself have to do it on purpose. I also doubt you will work there forever, in contrast to people without a good degree of GPA. I just asked how/if traveling instead of working this summer is very bad for my C.V.
I never mentioned that I purposely want to work at Walmart or cleaning.
It depends on who reads it, when, and why?
Possibilities: gets ignored, no importance
Gets noticed, deemed a negative, you get auto rejected, not admitted, etc simply because they have too many other qualified applicants who seem more determined,
Gets noticed, deemed a negative but not enough to get auto rejected, admitted, etc. Put on some waitlist while whoever is waiting to review all applicants. Maybe ends up important, maybe not
Gets noticed, deemed a negative, but not enough to get auto rejected, admitted, etc. Rest of your app has positives, offered an interview where you have to explain it. If you have good interviewing skills and otherwise fill the need of company/school, etc, probably overlooked.
OP, your question is whether not working over the summers while you are in college (this one, and it seems the next 2 as well, as you say you are planning to go to summer school) will hurt your CV. The answer is almost certainly yes. When you are getting ready to graduate and present yourself to future employers what will you have to offer them beyond your degree? There will be almost 3 million students in the US graduating from college when you graduate: how will employers know that you are the person that they want to hire? Entering the workforce with no work experience at all isn’t going to help you stand out.
Moreover, it is simply not true that the only jobs you can get as a college student are low-end hourly jobs. Those may be the easiest work for a student to get, but it is not by a long shot the only work. We know rather a lot of gainfully employed college kids who are doing work related to their subject, most earning rather tidy sums, and building their cv. They started looking for & applying to those jobs in Nov/Dec, and got them between Jan & early April. When you all graduate, you can guess that they are in good shape for employment.
Unlike some of the posters, I think traveling is a perfectly respectable summer plan. I also think that volunteering, hourly-wage jobs and paid or unpaid internships can be a perfectly respectable summer plan. The key word is plan: that is, making an active, considered choice about what you are doing, why you are doing it and how you are doing it. The reality is that humans are generally happier with some goals/structures/ambitions/hopes/aspirations/constructive work, etc. in their life, not goofing off for 3-4 months. By your own account, you ‘feel awful for it’.
The thing is that you who are and who you become and where you go in life is the sum of many, many small choices. I think that some of the adult responders here have a problem with a 19yo who figures that since the Bank of Mom & Dad are happy to pay for everything, choosing to not choose is ok. In a way it comes across as choosing to avoid working on becoming an adult.
“There will be almost 3 million students in the US graduating from college when you graduate: how will employers know that you are the person that they want to hire?”
I totally forgot to mention that I’m studying in Canada, so I can’t even apply for jobs in the USA after graduation. So after graduation, I will work in Canada (if I get a work visa there) or in Switzerland. I know that could change the way employers look at C.V.s and make decisions because it’s not USA-standards.
“There will be almost 3 million students in the US graduating from college when you graduate: how will employers know that you are the person that they want to hire?”
I totally forgot to mention that I’m studying in Canada, so I can’t even apply for jobs in the USA after graduation. So after graduation, I will work in Canada (if I get a work visa there) or in Switzerland. I know that could change the way employers look at C.V.s and make decisions because it’s not USA-standards.
True enough, @NewVancouverite: if you are going to work in another country you will be competing with the grads in that country and against those criteria. But: you will be competing as a foreigner who needs a visa in Canada. Granted not the hardest visa in the world for an American to get, and you may have contacts from school- but you are still more work to hire than a local, and as a freshly minted grad you don’t want to have any more negatives than necessary. I’m guessing you must have dual US-Swiss citizenship, b/c a Swiss work permit is very hard to come by.
More importantly: again, you have a false paradigm and are not thinking ahead. Of course you can apply for jobs in the US before you graduate! You don’t even have too far to go for interviews for good opportunities. Another advantage of summer jobs and internships in your field? contacts for jobs when you are getting ready to graduate.
There’s the problem: No, I can’t even apply in the USA and never will because I’ll never get a greencard. I’m only Swiss, no American or Canadian citizenship unfortunately. This makes it hard to get a Canadian work visa (although I study in Canada). I just wanted to clarify that because I think employers in Switzerland or Canada have different priorities for the C.V. than in the USA?
Also couldn’t it be an advantage in employment at least to other immigrants in Canada that I studied in Canada…?