So S1 joined the listserv early on, but I will admit he did not go to the fall recruiting fair his freshman year and pickings were slim by the spring. He ended up in the same job he had the previous summer which he got from our connections. But CMU really was very pre-professionally focussed. Kids in internships recommended their friends for the following summer. Word got out. I don’t think my kid every stepped into the career office after the first year.
Younger son worked a campus job every summer, working the way up the hierarchy until he was a supervisor. He did everything the career office suggested. He wanted an NGO doing policy work - all the connections they had seemed to deal with economics. He did reach out to friends. In the end he worked for two prestigious NGOs as an intern, got a job with one of them. Finished out the project he’d been working on and decided NGO work was not what he wanted. His current job required no connections.
Wellesley is famous for its strong alumnae network, but in my experience, if you went to any of the Seven Sisters colleges, you are part of a useful and welcoming network.
I went to Mount Holyoke, but one of my first bosses was a Smith grad who hired me because of the women’s college connection. My daughter went to Wellesley, and was hired by a Mount Holyoke alum for the same reason.
Both of my kids got their first job through alumni and the network continues to work for them.
I have posted a few times about before making a decision about a school go visit the school’s career center, see what companies recruit on campus and what kind of services they offer.
D1 was studying abroad when she was going through junior year internship recruitment. She made sure she submitted her resume to the school’s career resume database and went through training so she would be qualified to apply for internships.
Nowadays, “recruit on campus” can have a somewhat different meaning then I’d previously thought (lunches, career fairs, interview days, etc).
Some colleges have an electronic way for companies to recruit. They may never set foot on campus, but recruit there in Handshake (or other career-center software) nonetheless. If they like what they see they reach out, get a resume/letter, move on to a phone screen, set up online tests depending on job type, then fly in students for day(s) of interviews. This was the basic process for D’s offers, actually.
As I mentioned earlier, what can be critical is for students to talk to their PROFESSORS, because those are the people who can help make connections with alumni. A strong recommendation from a prof is worth its weight in gold.
I agree with @Massmomm my D is at Mt Holyoke and the alumni power of the Seven Sisters is apparent even in her first year. So much support for internships etc.
I was a First Gen student, Pell grantee, at Lehigh decades ago. The alumni network helped me tremendously, as did the Career Planning and Placement Office. Lehigh still has very loyal alumni, as does Georgetown, where I went to grad school.
My son got a very good summer job from an alumni of my school who I met once at a happy hour. Additionally, I hire summer interns from my college. Many people associate school spirit with sports. Some schools have significant school spirit despite the success on the athletic fields, and you can see that in the interaction of the alumni with current students.
Just talked with a senior student at Northwestern. He is in film /media. His alumni just got him a job at Warner Bros Studio. Again, if you seek it out I think the alumni will help when they can. Kinda silly not to reach out. It’s just another networking contact to make.
