How important was the alumni network for you/your D/S?

OHMomof2
Wed, 27 Mar 2019 17:33:10 +0000

I suppose an effective career center and active alumni can be two different features of a college or university, but often they are intertwined. Especially if alumni are encouraged to make their own internships and jobs available to students, or even make them available only to students of the college (I have seen both).

And of course neither alumni nor career center staff are going to come knock on your kid’s dorm room door. The student must take advantage of the resources that are there.

IMO that begins with early visits to career center (frosh year), taking advantage of an organized alumni mentor system if there is one, keeping professors in the loop about professional goals and progress, having an updated LinkedIn profile as well as a vetted and updated resume “on file” with whatever software the career center uses that recruiters can see (Quest, Handshake), and of course work and internships throughout the college years, are things I can think of that can make a big difference.