One of the most intelligent things information systems and MIS majors can do this December is to create a project that introduces technology to business performance, resulting in a dashboard, automation tool, or workflow prototype. These projects demonstrate that you can develop technical competencies with real-world efficiency, which is precisely what employers in this industry are looking for. The initiative and knowledge applied can be demonstrated even with a basic inventory tracker or sales pipeline workflow automation using Airtable, Power BI, or Zapier. Write about the project, post it on LinkedIn or your portfolio, and refer to it during the interview in early 2026.
They should update your LinkedIn profile and start messaging people who work at companies you want to join. Many companies do their recruitment in December for positions in January and February. Try to avoid competing in the new year - take advantage of the break and start now. This is how: 1 - Ensure your LinkedIn profile is in good shape. Be sure to include your school projects, any coding and/or systems work you have experience with and the software, SQL, and database management skills you have. 2 - Identify 20 companies you would really like to work for. Identify people of the company who hold positions in information systems and IT. 3 - Send them messages that are of good rapport, for example: "Hi, I am graduating soon with an MIS degree. I really appreciate the work your company is doing. Would you please spare 15 minutes to give me some direction on how to get into this area?" 4 - Most people are happy to help learners, and although they may not have positions to fill, they may have contacts who do. Companies fill their positions with people they know and have built trust with. Having these conversations now means you will be at the front of their mind when they want to fill those positions in January.
When hiring activity slows and decision-makers are out of office, MIS and information systems majors should shift from chasing interviews to doing targeted company and role research. Few candidates take the time to understand which companies match their skills and effectively communicate that fit, but that's the real differentiator. A focused cover letter connecting your recent experience, coursework, and projects to the role helps you stand out among hundreds of applications. This becomes especially important because curriculum varies widely. Some programs emphasize operating systems, data structures, and programming fundamentals; others lean toward UX or application development. The result is that many graduates step into the market with scattered coursework and shallow projects, making it hard for employers to see a clear trajectory. I recently reviewed a resumefrom a student with classes in software engineering, AI, cloud, and data structures, yet no substantial projects and no clear direction. He couldn't distinguish cloud architecture from a Windows application. The fix is to decide early where to focus, then align your coursework, projects, and internships around it. If you want to work in cloud, build competence in Linux, networking, operating systems, and a practical language like Python. December gives you the space to tighten your narrative. This preparation is what puts you ahead when hiring ramps back up in January.
Pick a specific area like health-tech and learn it. When we hired last year, the people who caught our attention were the ones who could connect their MIS skills to actual problems in a field like healthcare. You don't need to be an expert tomorrow. Try shadowing someone in that industry or watching their webinars. It shows you're ready to do real work, and that's what gets you hired.
Learn more about SQL and Python than what your studies taught you. Complete all of the exercises in a DataCamp or Codecademy course. Most MIS graduates can't access databases or automate simple activities, even though their careers now focus on data. Employers want you to know this, but college doesn't often go into detail about it. You should practice on HackerRank or LeetCode for at least 30 minutes per day. A lot of technical interviews entail live coding, and if you mess up basic joins or loops, you're out of luck. I have turned down individuals with high GPAs who couldn't create a basic SELECT statement. The MIS industry isn't as solid as computer science, thus you need to have good technical skills to stand out. After a month of regular practice, interviews in January are much less stressful.
By implementing a self-directed ROI and Case Study Audit of a System Implementation, you are demonstrating that you have the skillset necessary to support your understanding and application of financial decision-making. December is a pivotal month for the majority of all organizations when they are finalizing their Year-End Financial Reporting and subsequently creating their budgets for Q1 with regard to the impact of the implementation of Information Systems on the overall effectiveness of their organizations. Through the use of public records combined with hypothetical ROI quantification, this gives the candidate the ability to show bridging between Technical and Financial capabilities. Hence, this positions the candidate from being a theoretical analyst to being an executive-level Strategic Thinker, whereby the true value of any implemented Information Systems is determined by the financial impact and results of the information systems whereas previously the value was primarily reflected by the Technical Sophistication of the Information System.
A key activity for information systems and MIS majors in December is to create a brief portfolio showcasing practical problem-solving instances linked to actual business processes. The majority of students concentrate solely on enumerating tools such as SQL, Python, or ERP systems. Hiring managers prioritize your ability to use those tools to minimize errors, streamline a process, or enhance decision-making within a team. A robust December project might involve a straightforward task, such as developing a concise dashboard that organizes and displays chaotic data from a public dataset, outlining a procedure and proposing a system enhancement, or creating a minimal automation that substitutes a recurring task. What is important is demonstrating your comprehension of how technology enhances operations, rather than merely having knowledge of the technology itself. December is a great time to connect with three to five alumni or professionals in positions you're interested in. Inquire about the issues they encounter most frequently. Utilize their responses to mold your project. Applying in early 2026 provides you with a narrative that is precise, timely, and pertinent to the employer's environment. Students who engage in this distinguish themselves by communicating the language of value instead of the language of tools. That is what leads to early offers.
The construction of a small yet professional project during the month of December gives an advantage in hiring that is not considered by most candidates. Recruiters are increasingly focusing on those candidates who are able to demonstrate a live product instead of a list of skills, and even a basic system developed during two or three weeks can turn a discussion around to demonstration. A dashboard displaying five to ten real values of the work of any public API or the light automation that saves two or three hours of human labor per week demonstrates clarity of thought and the capacity to deliver work under realistic conditions. Such a project does not require a fancy architecture. It must also have a clean interface, concise write up, and a GHS repository with consistent commits over ten to fifteen days. Recruiting teams will recall that a candidate has shown consistent improvement since it denotes discipline and that is the image that can be remembered more than any other certification.
I would treat myself like a one person consulting shop and build one flagship project. Pick two job posts you like for early 2026 roles, then design a small system that mirrors their stack. For MIS that usually means a real database, a basic API, and a dashboard that answers one business question in plain language. Then I spend the rest of the month polishing the story around it. Clear readme, screenshots, short Loom walkthrough, and a one page writeup that explains the problem, the data, and the impact in dollars or hours saved. In my hiring rounds, candidates who had that kind of artifact stood out every time, and 2025 hiring research agrees on skills first screening: https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/april-2025-labor-market-update-for-employers-and-job-seekers
The most important thing MIS majors can do in December is document a real systems project they've actually improved. What I've noticed is that employers want proof you can analyze a messy workflow, choose the right tool, and make something run smoother. Take a week to package one or two projects - maybe automating a reporting process, cleaning up a database, or integrating two apps - and write a short summary of the problem, your fix, and the outcome. By January, everyone else is still tweaking resumes. The candidates who show real operational impact get interviews first because their work speaks for them.
I would dedicate December to completing a practical project that involves hands-on work and delivers useful results ready for presentation in January. The project should focus on three key tasks: developing a compact application, designing automated solutions for time-consuming tasks, and extracting important data for visual presentation. It should be smart and complete, rather than large or overly complex. For example, an intern who built a Slack bot that automated repetitive tasks received a full-time job offer because his tool saved the team five hours each week. The impact of this kind of achievement often outweighs maintaining perfect grades in school.
If you are an individual pursuing an Information Systems or Management Information Systems degree, December is one of the most critical months. By creating a portfolio to demonstrate your technical skillset (rather than simply listing your academic achievements), you can better position yourself for job opportunities in 2026. Many of the employers hiring at that time will want to see that candidates know how to work a system from beginning to end. Portfolios provide a much faster way to showcase these abilities than a traditional resume. To develop your portfolio, begin by completing a project that demonstrates both technical skills and practical use of the skills within a local business or organization. The project need not be large or expensive; it can be as simple as creating a system uptime dashboard, automating the workflow of a common business process, or designing a database that solves a specific need for a local business or student organization. These types of projects often become solid example talking points during interviews and will clearly demonstrate an individual's ability to implement theoretical knowledge in actual working environments. In addition, take advantage of December's opportunities to update your LinkedIn profile and resume prior to the January rush for internship positions and entry-level jobs. Make sure that your technical stack (the combination of technologies, programming languages, software, and working experience) is as apparent as possible. Employers and recruiters are using automated systems that quickly filter out candidates based solely on this type of information. Lastly, make sure to reach out to companies that you have an interest in working with! Most MIS graduates fail to realize the importance of informational interviews. In many cases, a 15 minute phone call with an individual working in the IT, Product, or Operations department can lead to a referral for a job posting.
What I'd tell any MIS major is to use December to build one small project that shows you can connect business needs to system design. Not a classroom database assignment. Something real. Take a sloppy workflow from a part-time job, a student club, or a volunteer gig and turn it into a simple, working solution with cleaner data and clearer handoffs. Then document it in two pages: the problem, the flow you mapped, and the improvement. Hiring managers love candidates who can bridge technology and operations. If you walk into January with a real workflow fix and the ability to explain your decisions, you'll stand out immediately.
Technical Product Manager and Director of Digital Marketing at Patio Productions
Answered 3 months ago
For the last fourteen years as a Technical Product Manager of Patio Productions, I have been in charge of examining both e-commerce systems, databases, and digital marketing. I also evaluate candidates for technical jobs. Information Systems majors should use December to create an actual working or functional asset, not simply update their resume. The winter break provides enough time to create a full project which will demonstrate your ability. Create a functional online e-commerce store using either Magento or WordPress along with a fully populated database and functioning checkout process. Alternatively, create a customized analytics dashboard utilizing multiple APIs to provide visual representation of business intelligence. This project shows that you can manage a complex system and understand how technology can be used to support and generate business operations and revenue. A lot of companies hire those who show initiative through building.
Here's what I tell MIS students: don't just be a generalist. Pick an industry, like health-tech, and get good at it. I've seen students who specialize land jobs way faster because employers want that mix of tech skills and actual industry knowledge. If you can complete a small project in that field, say for a local clinic, you'll be in a great spot by early 2026.
If you're thinking about 2026, update your LinkedIn now. I added keywords like 'cloud infrastructure' and put hard numbers on my marketing campaigns. That's when recruiters actually started reaching out. Most profiles just list job duties. The ones that stand out show specific results from projects or internships. It's not about sounding impressive, it's about being specific.
The smartest thing information systems students can do is share what they're learning. I started posting real technical details about projects I was working on, and suddenly my inbox filled up with messages from recruiters and peers. It completely caught me off guard. If you spend December writing down your own take on things, opportunities will show up before the January job rush even begins.
Honestly, spend the time getting good at remote tools like Slack or Asana. In the SaaS world, we hire the people who can confidently manage distributed teams and keep projects moving. I've seen this work in my own teams. Once we had those platforms down, cross-region communication stopped being a source of stress and was just part of the job. It's a huge advantage.
I've hired for tech roles at ShipTheDeal, and here's what I tell everyone - build a portfolio site this December. Candidates who show their work online always get more interviews. I've seen sites rank for searches like "MIS jobs near me" and attract recruiters looking for remote or regional talent. Just add your class projects or internship work so employers can actually see what you can do.
Running Medix Dental IT, I saw too many candidates stumble on regulations. Here's my advice for MIS majors: spend this December learning about healthcare IT security and HIPAA. Getting into healthcare tech is tough because the rules are complicated and patient data safety is a huge deal now. The candidates who can actually talk about this stuff in an interview are the ones who get the job. It's that simple.