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Getting a head start

Patricia Kitchen | Change@work

May 20, 2007

Last fall at Adelphi University's freshman orientation lunch, Joseph Geraci touted the school's alumni association. That may seem a bit premature, as the students had miles to go before being in a position to start writing donation checks.

But the goal was to let them know how Adelphi alumni can be helpful during their student years, says Geraci, the university's director of alumni relations -- as they decide on majors, determine career direction and look for resume help, internships and job openings when that time comes.

"Schools are realizing the resources they have within the alumni base other than strictly as donors," he says.

Adelphi's new student/alumni initiatives include these elements:

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The Count On Alumni for Career Help program (COACH), in which 120 business and finance students this school year visited alumni and their work sites -- including Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Bear Stearns -- to get a sense of the work and culture, along with advice on how to make the most of their college years. Next year the program is expected to be rolled out for students in nursing, sports management, politics, insurance and journalism.

The Future Alumni Leaders Association, whose members are invited to attend social and professional events sponsored by the alumni association. At the orientation lunch, for instance, about 100 freshmen expressed interest in the future alumni group, says Geraci, and at least half attended alumni events over the course of the year.

A new online social networking community, to be promoted next fall, in which Adelphi alums and students will be able to mix and mingle, MySpace-style.

What's at play there and on other campuses is this: During the college selection process, parents and prospective students are asking pointed questions about the practical side of a school's offerings -- such as the services that will be provided by the career center and how active alumni are in assisting with the career search. Adding to that: The Facebook generation expects to be part of a community that hangs together even after diploma day has come and gone.

It makes sense to have more interaction between students and alums, as both groups are "kind of looking at each other," says Rob Shoss, founder of Houston-based Performance Enhancement Group Ltd., a consulting firm that conducts annual alumni attitude surveys.

Alumni want to keep an eye on "the increasing equity of their diploma over time," he says, which includes the caliber of today's students and programs. On the other side, students want the guidance, encouragement and, of course, career entree.

Last fall John Ulin, 22, of Levittown, along with 29 other Adelphi students, met with alumni at Merrill Lynch in Manhattan. That meeting helped Ulin, an MBA candidate, snare an internship there that, he says, has helped him move from the academic to professional world.

He explains the benefits this way: For one thing, he feels an automatic connection when interacting with alums, and thus less pressure. If there is a brief "dead air" moment, for example, either can use it to make reference to campus goings-on. Alumni at all the work sites that Ulin has visited have expressed ongoing interest in the school and its activities, he says. And, since he has mingled with Wall Street highfliers at an alumni event, he's felt more confident during job interviews with non-alums.

More schools are using online social networking communities where alumni, as well as students, can slice and dice contacts by major, occupation, geography and even special interests, says Steve Loughlin, president and chief executive of Affinity Circles, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that sets up such communities. He sees it as a way to "supercharge" such relationships.

Hofstra University is about to launch an online networking and advisement site for students to connect with alumni, one that students can visit after having some networking etiquette training, says Suzanne Dagger, associate director of the school's career center. What would that mean? For starters: No smiley faces, no all-lower-case text, no asking, "Do you have a job for me?"

Such a resource will certainly go a long way in matching students with those who are predisposed to help and even hire them. But Dagger advises students to guard against the temptation to "hide behind computers" -- they need to learn face-to-face communication skills, too.

And don't limit student interaction to alumni who are hiring managers, says Marianna Savoca, director of the career center at Stony Brook University. Just as valuable, she says, are introductions to graduates who work at lower levels in a student's chosen field, because they have insight into trends in the industry, awareness of what's going on at certain companies and knowledge of how the hiring process works.

Ulin tells of the advice that he and other students received this year during visits with alumni: They told students to get to know the dean of the college. And they said to visit the career center, which up until then Ulin thought offered just a few local job listings. Instead, he found a source of support, including help with resumes and cover letters.

Kristin Martin, 21, Commack, an Adelphi senior majoring in business management, says visits gave her a feeling for the atmosphere at the various companies. And she says she was relieved to hear about all the twists and turns that graduates' careers had taken, information that allayed her fear of needing to launch a perfect career path.

Her exposure to alumni "changed my perspective," says Martin, president of the Future Alumni Leaders Association. And that makes it "not so scary to go out into the real world."