Wel­come to fall 2012! Leaves are chang­ing, the school­work has only just started to pile up, and the din­ing halls have already rolled out the pump­kin pie. More­over, ‘tis the sea­son to plan ahead. Con­sider this:

Imag­ine you’re a pro­fes­sor open­ing up your email. You start day­dream­ing about how you have more papers to grade than dol­lars of U.S. debt. Sud­denly, you click on an email from one of your stu­dents: “Urgent: Rec­om­men­da­tion Let­ter due Tomorrow.”

Talk about night­mare and a half. So, why not start think­ing about jobs, intern­ships, and grad­u­ate school now? “I wish I did” will be “Thank mercy, I already did!” Here’s five steps to get you off to a pro­duc­tive start.

Step 1: Find your big pic­ture direc­tion, find your groove. What makes you tick? What are your strengths? Are there spe­cific issues that you want to see resolved by the time you’re 40? What can you do to achieve this? Do some self-searching here or here. Find your big pic­ture direc­tion through pro­grams like Break­out Trips, Princetern­ships, or study abroad!

Step 2: Research jobs, intern­ships, and fel­low­ships now. That’s it, click on Tiger­Tracks, go to UCAN, and attend info ses­sions and career fairs. Eas­ier said than done? Here’s a secret: Google Cal­en­dar. I can­not stress this enough. Pen­cil in impor­tant dates, and you’ll get pop-ups to remind you the day before some­thing is due, or ten min­utes before an info session.

Step 3: Refine your resume. If you’re writ­ing your resume go to Career Service’s page here. If you’re refin­ing it, Wet­Feet gives you the insider tips here. And if you’re tired of spend­ing your Sat­ur­day nights alone, sleep­less, and toil­ing over your “Expe­ri­ence” sec­tion, save your lone­li­ness for your love life and sign up to meet with a career coun­selor here. An extra pair of eyes will help you get a lot done in a short amount of time. More impor­tantly, your social life will thank you.

Step 4: Fill in the miss­ing pieces. You’re pres­i­dent of every stu­dent group on cam­pus. But have you engaged in ser­vice? If not go here. You’ve taken Chi­nese for three years, but have you trav­eled abroad? If not, check this and this out. You’ve had a steady sum­mer job—but have you held a job that will pro­vide you with a pro­fes­sional rec­om­men­da­tion? Go here. You’re doing great in your major, but have you applied for awards that will show your cred­i­bil­ity? Just think: your mar­ketabil­ity is like a Monet jig­saw puzzle—you might look great with the pieces you have, but a com­plete pic­ture will look even bet­ter to employ­ers and appli­ca­tion boards.

Step 5: Relax! You’re almost there. And then check out some inter­view tips while you’re at it. To stay “chill” in the inter­view, get some prac­tice. Career Ser­vices offers mock inter­views. Come with your resume and a descrip­tion of the jobs you may be inter­ested in.