Back to School- Why it is Important to Stay Connected to Your Alma Mater


Happy Wednesday, Everyone!

I hope this evening serves you well. I wanted to talk about something that I haven't come across in many blogs.

Going back to university after graduating.

I understand, the "I-will-not-set-foot-on-that-campus-again-because-I-did-for-four-years-of-my-youth" mentality can really resonate with young adults. If I may, I would like to impart a morsel of advice.

Your alma mater is your gold shrine for professional development.

Many universities allow alumni to access career planning tools if you do a simple Google search with your university.

I obtained many internships in my undergraduate studies by using career service search engines. Moreover, you can connect with fellow alumni who have in high places with rising tech, finance, or banking firms.

Think about how you can get a referral just because you two are fellow alumni. This really works.

There is no secret formula to receive an interview from a potential employer. For large firms, recruiting software scans your resume for keywords, and there is very little chance that your resume will be seen by humans; however, securing a referral from a Vice President or manager in the department in which you would like to work will exponentially increase your chances of obtaining an interview.

This is when staying in touch with your university career network really pays off. It's simple. As fellow alumni, we help each other out because we're cut from the same cloth.

Isn't that comforting to hear? You don't even need to have an ivy-league education to work at Goldman Sachs. Yes, having an ivy-league degree does increase your chances of being chosen for an interview because of an ivy league's prestigious reputation; however, your drive and persistence to put yourself out there professionally and make yourself stand out decide if you obtain the position.

You don't have to be extraordinary. Just market yourself well. More to follow on how to market yourself in the next post. Stay tuned!

Summary: Use your alma mater's career service tools. Network with a fellow alumni high up in the corporate ladder to help increase your chance to secure an interview. 

Hope this helps! Until next time, friends.



Meet the Author

Christine is a recent college graduate and Chemical Engineer who, from her own young adult perspective, offers advice and resources that answer many questions for young adults entering the professional world. She enjoys reading extensively, technology, coding, traveling, pushing herself to try new things, and mentoring college students. She has a passion for self-improvement, and wants to share it with all her peers!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Feed Your Focus with Patience and Persistence

Hello, Everyone! This is very exciting. It has been so long since I have written any content on this website, and I am sincerely grateful to return. I wanted to educate everyone on how to hold oneself accountable. This is of paramount importance because it sets the trajectory for one's life; however, allowing oneself the time to reflect on well-defined goals is crucial. Furthermore, to fully appreciate success, one must be willing to underscore what they want to accomplish. In this article, I will discuss how to overcome the biggest barrier to success: lack of focus. There is a plethora of distractions in one's life, which makes it simple to lose track of what one desires. In academic studies, one must be diligent in completing assignments to fully grasp subject matter. Similarly, in any facet in life, one must be willing to accept the joy, sorrow, difficulties, and triumphs unequivocally. "Similarly, in any facet in life, one must be willing t...
Read more

Fueling for the Long-Term Road Ahead

Happy New Year, Everyone! Each year brings the opportunity for self-growth, improvement, and perseverance. It is important to note that we do not need to wait an entire year to set goals for ourselves, but rather, continue the promising trajectory of professional development initiated in prior years. Short-term goals should be made simple. The more elaborate the goal, the harder it is to attain. Moreover, short-term goals should be specific, simple, and attainable. These are the "confidence boosters", if you will. We are more likely to achieve success by accomplishing smaller feats, and these "confidence boosters" give us a sense of pride.  We use these short-term goals as fuel for tackling our long-term goals. Specifically, it is crucial to highlight your long-term goals physically on paper. Goals in the mind are dreams, and dreams never come to fruition. You need to put your dreams out into the universe and manifest your success. ...
Read more

"Success": A State of Being

Good evening, all! I would like to take the time to wish you all a blessed holiday. It seems like it has been forever since I updated this website, and I think it is time for a change. That brings me to a rather insightful moment I experienced at work. A colleague posed me a question laced with philosophical merits: "Christine, how do you, personally, define success?" So, how do I? Simply put, success is not a word one looks up in a dictionary. Success is a state of being. Success is not a feeling. Success is a way of life. I cannot answer "how do you define success?" because success is not a destination. In my experience, there is no secret formula or differential equation to model it; however, perhaps we can state the question in a way that I believe has more of a cohesive relevance: "how does one strive for success?". Furthermore, I have found three tenets that are of utmost importance when foraging one's path towar...
Read more