Get leadership experience and skills

College is awesome, but your academic experience isn't the only experience you should be concerned with getting. I highly recommend that you have at least three career-related experiences by the time you graduate from college, such as internships and least one solid leadership experience.

Really, you should be actively trying to develop your leadership skills. Leadership experience and skills will help you long after graduation, in your career, in graduate or professional school, and in life in general. But where can you get leadership experience and skills? Here are a few ideas for sources of leadership experience and skills building:

Know thyself. To understand what leadership skills you need to build, it's always a good idea to know where you're starting from. You can learn about your current skill set by taking a skills assessment at your school's career center. 

Get involved on-campus. If you're involved in any student organizations, campus groups, or on-campus jobs, these are all great places to take on a leadership role and boost your skills.

Take it off-campus. Internships, jobs, or volunteer experiences are all opportunities to gain leadership skills. Step up to take on a special project or lead a team whenever possible.

Learn from others. A great way to gain leadership skills is to get mentored by a leader you respect and absorb as much as you can. Having a leadership role model will help inspire you to gain more experience and build your skills further.

Showcase it. As you are gaining leadership experience and skills, you want to visit the career center to help best showcase your experience and skills on your resume.

Now go out there are get some leadership experience and build those skills.

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.