{"id":395,"date":"2016-06-27T19:21:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T19:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/career.utk.edu\/CS\/NewSite_TEST\/?page_id=395"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:55:00","slug":"gain-experience","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/gain-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Gain Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Experiential learning is a crucial component of a college education and allows students to enhance their personal and professional development through direct experience and reflection. These experiences can help students to\u00a0clarify career goals,\u00a0gain valuable experience and skills and develop a professional network to positively impact job and graduate school outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to your major coursework, consider these top five ways to gain experience and be <a href=\"https:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/career-ready\/\">career ready<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"box-light card tennessee orange tx brd-\"><\/p>\n<h2><strong>CAREER &amp; PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/explore\/\">Major &amp; career exploration<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/develop-career-tools\/\">Career tools (resumes, interviewing, Handshake)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/networking\/\">Networking\/mentoring<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/find-jobs\/\">Job strategies<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/prepare-for-graduate-school\/\">Graduate school preparation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"box-light card legacy tx brd-\"><\/p>\n<h2>WORK-BASED EXPERIENCE<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/gain-experience\/internships-co-ops\/\">Internships &amp; co-ops<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"https:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/find-jobs\/part-time-employment\/\">Part-time jobs<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"https:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/find-jobs\/gap-year-and-service-corps-jobs\/\">Service corps<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/volunteering\/\">Volunteering<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/studentsuccess.utk.edu\/career\/students\/gain-experience\/externships-job-shadowing\/\">Externships &amp; shadowing<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"box-light card torch tx brd-\"><\/p>\n<h2>SCHOLARSHIP &amp; ACADEMICS<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ugresearch.utk.edu\/\">Research<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/onsf.utk.edu\/\">Fellowships<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/housing.utk.edu\/llc\/\">Living &amp; learning communities<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/honors.utk.edu\/\">Honors<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/servicelearning.utk.edu\/\">Service learning<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/oit.utk.edu\/\">Information technology<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"box-light card rock tx brd-\"><\/p>\n<h2>GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/programsabroad.utk.edu\/\">Programs Abroad<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cge.utk.edu\/coil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"box-light card tennessee orange tx brd-\"><\/p>\n<h2>CAMPUS LEADERSHIP &amp; ENGAGEMENT<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/utk.campuslabs.com\/engage\/\">Leadership, service and organizations<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"box-light card smokey tx brd-\"><\/p>\n<h2>UT &amp; Experience Learning<\/h2>\n<p>Learn more about The University of Tennessee&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/experiencelearning.utk.edu\/\">Experience Learning<\/a>\u00a0initiative which will &#8220;transform our culture to give students more opportunities to be involved\u00a0in civic engagement, to solve complex real-world\u00a0problems, and to contribute to the welfare of their\u00a0communities as part of their regular course work&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experiential learning is a crucial component of a college education and allows students to enhance their personal and professional development [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":4699,"parent":233,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-wide.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-395","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gain Experience - Center for Career Development &amp; 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