Congratulations, you have finished your practicum! Hopefully, you were able to learn many new things about your field, continued to improve skills, and made professional connections. Though you have finished this experience, there are many things that you can do to end strong at your practicum and set yourself up for future success.
Share future contact information with connections
If you haven’t done so already, send your future contact information to your supervisor and other connections at your site so they will know how to contact you in the future. While you are sharing your information, you can also ask for how they would like to be contacted. This will help to enable future networking and can be helpful in providing information or recommendations for new opportunities.
Ask your supervisor for a recommendation
Asking your supervisor for a recommendation right after you finish your practicum is a great way to get a document that is reflective of your skills that you can use in the future. Your supervisor will have your experiences fresh in their mind and are more likely to write a more specific and accurate recommendation than if you asked your supervisor later when you are looking for other opportunities. It will also save you time during other applications if you already have a letter of recommendation from this experience!
Update your résumé
Much like asking your supervisor for a recommendation, this is a good time to update your résumé with everything that you did during your practicum as you will more easily recall your accomplishments when recent. Write 3-5 bullet statements about different things that you did to give a comprehensive view of your experiences to use for future applications. Make sure to identify what you did, how you did it, and why you did it for a strong bullet statement that provides information about the skills you used at your practicum.
Reflect on experiences
Take some time to reflect after you finish your practicum. What did you like about it? What new things did you learn? How did you feel about the level of supervision? Are there any areas of development for you? Would you like more experience in certain areas? Have your professional goals changed since the beginning of your practicum? Identifying these areas can be helpful to guide future practicum or professional experiences.
Think about future opportunities
Now that you have reflected on your practicum, you can start to identify future opportunities to continue your professional growth. Do you want to stay in the same professional area as your practicum? Would you prefer a different setting? Do you want more training on specific areas? Use these questions to guide your search for future opportunities to improve and apply your skills.
Check out how to set yourself up for success at your practicum and conduct a mid-point check-in by reading the parts 1 and 2 of this 3 part series:
- Setting Yourself Up For Success In Your Practicum
- Continuing Success In Your Practicum: Midpoint Check-In
For more information on how to write professional documents or continue a search for future opportunities, schedule an appointment with a Career Coach.
