An alumni mentorship program has been created by Career Services to give current students access to a large pool of Hillsdale graduates.
The program, which launches on homecoming weekend, will network students with alumni to help with a number of thing such as relocation, internships, entry-level jobs, and informational interviews.
“Alumni are willing and anxious to help students with career exploration,” said Joanna Wiseley, director of career services.
Wiseley explains that networking is key when looking for potential jobs and internships.
“[It’s] not always what you know, but who you know,” she said.
But, helping students with career and internship related inquires is not the only purpose of the program, according to Executive Director of Career Services, Michael Murray.
“Sometimes this connection may lead [the student] down the path of, ‘oh yeah, I don’t want to do that,’” Murray said.
The mentorship program is not a new idea, but an old one reinvented by improved computer technology and the Internet. In the `90s, career services had a very similar system on paper. The program has been rebranded as part of an initiative that began with Charger Connect in 2011.
“[The alumni mentorship program] is one of our priorities to be launched,” Murray said.
Students will either be able to access the program online through Charger Connect, or by visiting a Student Affairs Mentor in the Career Services office.
“The online registration process is easy—it takes less than five minutes to sign up,” said Pamela Lowe, a Hillsdale alumna and chair of the Career Services Committee of the Alumni Executive Board.
At the time of the interview, the program had 83 participating alumni, but career service hopes to raise that number to at least 100 by homecoming weekend.
“Participating in this program is one of the greatest gifts [alumni] can give students at Hillsdale as they enter the workforce or continue their education,” Lowe said.
The positive response to the program by graduates has convinced Wiseley that alumni are on board with the program.
“Alumni want to help, and we [career services] want to be that conduit to get the students connected with the alumni,” Wiseley said.
Though only in its infancy, the program includes alumni in over 20 industries at companies such as AOL, PNC Financial Services Group Inc, Kimberly Clark Corporation, Stryker Corporation, Edward Jones Investments, and Pandora Media Inc. In addition to having alumni in for profit businesses, the program also includes alumni in non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity and government agencies like the Marine Corps.
The goal of the program is to improve internship opportunities for students and increase the number of Hillsdale college students getting into jobs or graduate schools right out of college—93 percent in 2012.
