You’ve landed a job for the summer, and what started out as a simple way to pay the bills and hold off college debt has bloomed into something you didn’t quite anticipate. You find yourself enjoying the company of your coworkers, exited to learn more about how this business works, and even looking forward to your shift each day.

Could it be that you…love this job? Even if you don’t love the specific tasks you face each day, you may find yourself feeling an affinity for this business or this industry. You may be spending your afternoons moving rocks in the hot sun for a landscaping company, but if you enjoy many aspects of your day, you admire your boss, and you feel a sense of personal satisfaction when your customers are pleased, landscaping may be the perfect long term career path for you. You may even be itching to advance to a management position and eventually, you might consider starting your own firm.

You may also be having these feelings about the legal profession, the hospitality business, retail, agriculture, or child development. Whatever your summer experience is turning into, there are plenty of ways to leverage your budding ambitions into a full-time, long term career. Start by taking the following steps.

Love Your Summer Job? Set Your Sights on a Long Term Career Path

1. Talk to your boss. Take every opportunity to learn more about how she got where she is today. Find out where she started and what she had to do to advance. Did she have a mentor? What degrees did she earn and what courses did she have to take?

2. Learn more about the business. During your hours on the clock, take a closer look at what’s going on around you. How are financial decisions being made? How are new clients being courted? Where does the money flow in, and where does it flow out in terms of costs and business expenses? Who’s taking care of what and how are all the pieces fitting together?

3.  Ask for more responsibility. If you don’t speak up, your boss may not seek you out. So say something. Request additional shifts, take on difficult challenges, and ask to sit in on meetings that don’t require your participation.

4. Decide what you’ll do when your summer job ends. Will you enroll in a new degree program or change your current major? Will you try to step immediately into another related position? If your plans will require advice or help from someone else, start gathering your contact information now.

Need help planning your next career move? The Des Moines, IA staffing experts at the Palmer Group can answer your job search questions and help you draw a road map to the future. Contact our office for advice and guidance.

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