Winter break is often a welcome pause during a busy time of the year. Well, at least until the inevitable questions from friends and family start.

“Do you know what you’re doing this summer yet?”

“Do you have anything lined up?”

“What is your plan after graduation?”

You’re not supposed to have everything figured out, but it certainly feels like you should when you start getting peppered with questions about your future. Don’t quite know how to respond? We’ve got you covered. Here are a few things you can say that will show folks that you’re on it.

“The people at the Center for Career Development are basically my best friends. I’ve met with an adviser and go to their events.”

So we may not be on any of your group chats but we’re here to help you and genuinely love doing it. If you haven’t seen us yet, get it on your schedule. You can make an appointment through Handshake, and remember we offer Skype appointments if you’re not on campus.

The Center for Career Development is not where you go when you feel you have your future figured out, it’s where to go to get started figuring it out.

“I already have an action plan that I’ll be working on during the break.”

Break out your action plan to show off. What’s that? You don’t have one yet? Get started using this template. 

“I haven’t applied to many opportunities yet. The kinds of companies I’m interested in aren’t hiring yet, but trust me, I’m on it.”

It may feel like it sometimes, but not all employers hire in the fall or early winter. There’s plenty of opportunities during the spring. Learn more about common Recruiting Timeline. 

“Alumni and employers interested in recruiting Princeton students are coming to ME for career fairs.”

The Spring HireTigers Meetup (Feb. 21) and the All Ivy Environmental and Sustainable Development Career Fair (Feb. 28) are great opportunities to meet alumni and recruiters in all sorts of industries who are interested in hiring for summer internships and jobs. We’ll also be hosting other events with alumni and employers throughout the semester so keep a look out for our emails.

“So my classwork/research/extracurriculars are helping me figure that out by...”

Fill in that ellipsis. Don’t have an answer at the ready? Think about it for a bit. This will help you answer these questions and will be useful in guiding your job/internship search and giving you good talking points for future interviews. 

“If you could go back and give yourself some advice about this topic, what would you say?”

Flip the question right back on them. Plus, it’s a good way to get some insight from someone who may have been in your been in your shoes before.