Most colleges or universities offer some kind of outdoor recreation classes, though they can be hard to find as they can be offered by physical education, recreation, natural resources, or other departments. Take as many of these classes as you have time, either as electives or see if you can get a minor.
Most schools also have outing clubs. Become active in the club, go on outings, plan and lead trips, serve as an officer. This is a very inexpensive way to get experience and to learn new skills. Heck, you paid for those student activity fees, use 'em!
Do your own adventures. I can't tell you how many candidates I talk to who have taken a lot of classes but have virtually no personal adventure experiences. We have a saying here at Cornell Outdoor Education: "Epic on your own time." By this we mean that you learn a ton through those epic adventures where you are benighted, dumped over, cold, and/or scared-where you find out about your limits of skills, judgment, and comfort. But you won't do those kind of things as part of an organized group, and certainly don't want to do those kind of things when you are leading others. The only way to learn from epics is to get out there on personal trips with friends and to "push the envelope" on your own.
There are a number of entry level part time or seasonal jobs that can serve as excellent stepping stones to a career in the field. Look around on campus. Can you get a student job with the outdoor program (often a part of Student Activities), the outing club, or as an assistant in an academic outdoor recreation or education department?
Your local community will also have opportunities. Almost every area has an outdoor retail shop at which you can work part time there during the school year. Local youth organizations often have outdoor adventure programs where you can work after school or during school vacations.
Most students will have to work during the summer to earn money. You can wait tables or work landscaping and probably make some pretty decent money, but how does that help your career aspirations? In the long run, the several hundreds of dollars-even a thousand dollars-more you might make in some higher paying job next summer, isn't going to worth be even a small hill of beans compared to a solid job or internship in the field. Youth programs, summer camps, local recreation programs, ropes courses, and military bases, all are opportunities for decent (if not necessarily high paying) jobs or internships that will get you that all-important experience.
Experiential Resume
How do you show a potential employer all this experience you've gained? One technique that I highly recommend is the experiential resume. This is an addendum to a conventional resume; it is an opportunity to "strut your stuff" in a way that doesn't fit on the more traditional version.
The experiential resume will list your personal experiences including what activities you did, what role you played (leader, follower, etc.), locations, and dates. It might list your climbs and their ratings, rivers you have run, hikes you've completed, and time on a ropes course. An experiential resume doesn't take the place of a traditional one, it merely complements it. The experiential resume is your way of making all your solid experiences, both personal and professional, stand out to the employer.
Networking
Besides experience, the single biggest advice I can provide is to network; it just can't be emphasized too much. You can have all the skills and experiences in the world, and if you aren't connected, it can still be tough. The old saying "it's not what you know, but who you know" got it partially right. What you know is important, as is who you know, but just as important is the getting to know those people. Networking is the key to developing connections that will help you land that first "real" job and throughout your career.
Your outdoor recreation class faculty, and part time or summer job supervisors, are your first steps to
