Career advice for students

There are many great aspects of being a student: you have more free time, more flexible schedules, and relatively less stressful tasks. When you start working, however, things change: longer working hours, strict deadlines, high stakes responsibilities, and so on. It is not a coincidence that many people typically stop engaging in activities that are not related to their work, when they start working: they just don’t have the time and energy to do them. 

So when you are studying, it is a good idea to make good use of this opportunity to do things that you might be unable to do when you complete your studies. And there are many things that you can do when you are studying that may have a very positive impact on your career. 

Study just like other people

The first piece of advice is very straightforward: be normal. University education can provide useful skills and credentials that you can then use in your career (animal advocacy or else). Although there may be some boring or seemingly meaningless courses, don’t make the mistake of ignoring your studies and grades. In many cases, these courses may turn out to be useful. Even when they are not, your grades can still function as signals of your future performance. Employers can rightly believe that students who succeed in hard and various courses can also succeed in challenging work environments (given that they don’t have unlimited information about each candidate). 

Some of the skills and knowledge that you learn in your studies can turn out to be very useful in animal advocacy career paths as well, such as management, accounting, marketing, communications, scientific research, and so on. Completing your degree with good grades from a prestigious university helps your chances of landing a successful career, including one in the field of animal advocacy.  

Build career capital

While achieving good grades and learning skills by taking courses is the usual way of putting yourself in a better position to pursue career opportunities, these are not the only ways. There are many ways to build career capital: learning things that fall outside of the typical curriculum of your program, doing internships in prestigious institutions, or simply doing something that allows you to get impressive achievements, like engaging in a competitive field that you excel in. 

It is important to be mindful of the fact that animal advocacy careers are highly competitive. Employers typically look for “hard to fake” achievements that signal important skills and traits.

Especially in certain fields, these efforts can be highly beneficial. For example, if you consider pursuing a career path that involves policy or research in animal advocacy, doing an internship in a relevant government institution or research institute can be highly rewarding. 

Learn more about animal advocacy

Although you might have a general idea about the field of  animal advocacy, it is likely that you did not go into depth yet and thus can benefit from accumulating more knowledge and expertise about a range of topics. There is a significant difference between a person who has only superficial knowledge via social media and a person who acquired deep level knowledge from various sources. 

And there are many subjects to learn about: philosophical theories that argue for the just treatment for animals, scientific literature on animal behaviour and animal welfare, social science studies on how social movements can succeed, information on the technology of animal product alternatives, cost-effectiveness evaluations of different interventions that aim to help animals, testimonials of different animal advocates working on different campaigns, and many more. 

As a student, you are more likely to have extra time for reading and learning about animal advocacy. This can allow you to explore various options and figure out which topics most interest you. You can start by signing up for our free online course!

Actually help animals 

While reading is a great way of exploring, you can also learn by doing. Actually contributing to animal advocacy efforts can provide important experience and information, as well as making an impact for animals. 

We highly recommend volunteering for animal advocacy organisations while you are studying if you seriously consider animal advocacy as a career. In fact, while volunteering is always an option, it might be inconvenient when you start working. Animal advocacy organisations value volunteering experience in candidates, as it demonstrates both relevant skills and alignment with their mission.

Volunteering can also help you gain a better understanding of the vast range of career paths that exist within animal advocacy, and to build relationships with people who have those careers. 

Test your personal fit

Choosing a career that fits you is very important to achieve a high impact in your career. To do this, you need to figure out what your strengths and preferences are. In many cases, you might be clueless or misinformed about these aspects. 

A good way to approach this problem is to make experiments. You can join an animal advocacy club or volunteer (or start your own small group), and work on certain things. That way, you can see what your real strengths and preferences are. For example, contribute to organising a protest or an event and see what you do well (or not well) and enjoy (or dislike). Or choose a different activity that might allow you to exercise your skills, like starting a club or a plant-based micro-business. In these experiments, you can test how you could fare under similar circumstances while working for an animal advocacy organisation. 

When choosing to commit to certain activities, do not limit yourself to your field of study. Of course, activities that are closely related to your future degree are natural options. For example, if you are a law or a political sciences student, you might consider diving deeper into animal law or policy. But don’t see these as your only options. Your personal fit might be equally or even more in tune with other fields or activities. Exceptions aside, animal advocacy organisations do not discriminate against students who want to help animals based on their program of study. 

Socialise 

University is also a great place to meet new people and build friendships. While these relationships are valuable in and of themselves, they might also play a vital role in your career. 

Many people benefit from personal relationships while seeking jobs. Friends are also valuable to do things together. These things can be small projects like campaigning for a plant-based menu at your cafeteria or a bigger project such as founding a new organisation after you graduate.  

So don’t see spending time with friends as an opportunity cost to your career prospects. Rather, it might be a good idea to allocate sufficient time and energy to build long-term relationships, including romantic relationships, while studying at university. After graduation, it might be much harder to meet people and spend time with them. 

Work on your personal development

You can also use your time at the university for general self-improvement. An important portion of skill sets and traits that are in-demand in animal advocacy is in fact “generalist” in nature. These may include things like being industrious, organised, punctual, or creative. Achieving good health (including mental health) habits can also be very beneficial in the long term. 

Many people (including animal advocates) find it difficult to change their routines after they reach a certain age or career stage. But these can be much easier while in college since you have more time and flexibility to try new things. 

Written by Lorenzo Fruscella