Early Career Engagement - Career Connections Center

UF FIRST YEAR STUDENT CAREER COMMUNITY

Welcome to the Gator Nation! At the University of Florida, you will find a community here to support you throughout your college experience.

Your time at the University of Florida is the springboard for your journey to success. The knowledge you’ll gain, relationships you’ll build, skills you’ll develop, and experiences in and out of the classroom lay the foundation for post-graduation success.

At the Career Connections Center, we recognize that your first year at UF will be filled with opportunities to explore your academic and career pathways. That’s why its important for you to engage with our department and staff early and often in your UF journey to maximize your collegiate experience. Here are 6 ways you can engage with us during your first year:

Download the 8- Semester Career Readiness Guide
Review the Career Prep Process webpage to learn more about requirements and timelines for completion
Take CHOMP
Transition your high school resume to a college resume
Attend the Majors & Minors Fair to explore your academic and career options
Monitor our Events Calendar to identify programs and events designed to support your current career development needs

First Year Student Career Readiness Guide

As a first-year student it is important to explore the multiple factors that impact your career decisions. This document will help you explore those factors and provide a framework for how you can spend time during your first-year enrolled at UF to help you begin developing your career readiness.

Transition Your High School Resume to a College Resume

A resume is a strategic document that can help you begin building experience during your first year of enrollment at UF. For many first-year students, a resume has been a historical list of all your experiences from high school. Moving forward, you will want to transition your resume to focus on your accomplishments, strengths, and skills (transferable and technical).

Use the resume guide and sample resume below to help you get started.

To ensure you understand the decision-making factors related to employment, academic pathways, and post-graduation outcomes, the Career Prep Process was implemented as an institution-wide effort to connect you to career planning in your first academic year at the university.

During your first year, two holds will appear on your One.UF account. You will be required to fulfill actions to lift the two holds in order to register for your second-year summer and fall courses. Look out for emails with details on how to complete the Career Prep process to remove your holds. To remove the holds, you will complete the following:

Complete all activities in the Career Prep Canvas Module.
Activate your Gator CareerLink (GCL) account.

CHOMP is the University of Florida’s Career Help or Major Planning tool. With CHOMP, you can explore potential majors and careers through a series of quizzes, activities, and interactive resources to evaluate your career readiness and gain self-awareness in the areas of work interests, values, personality, skills, and leisure interests. CHOMP is designed to help you learn more about yourself and the many majors and careers that could be options for you.

Remember that assessments are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to figuring out your major and career options. You can make an individual Career Planning Appointment by logging into your Gator CareerLink (GCL) to better understand your assessment results and how you can use them to make more informed career decisions.

If you have not activated your Gator CareerLink account, please use the Quick Start Guide to help you get started.

At the Career Connections Center, we believe that Experience Changes Everything ! Engaging in experience early at UF, will provide opportunities to explore career pathways and develop essential human and technical skills needed to be competitive in a global economy.

At UF, there are a number of ways to gain experience. Watch as 5 current and former UF students discuss how they found experience at UF.