The Office of Alumni Relations has partnered with the Career Center to create the Professional Network, an online network intended to bridge the gap between DU alumni and current undergraduates looking to go into similar career fields.
The Professional Network encourages alumni engagement through direct contact. The system links current undergraduates to alumni working in their respective majors fields via different networks, without a third-party interaction.
To date, 7,515 people have posted positions on the Professional Network, while 712 of these have volunteered to be career resources for students.
The Office of Alumni Relations is attempting to increase both numbers in coming weeks.
“As alumni, Pioneers support Pioneers,” said Jeffrey Howard, executive director of Alumni Relations, during last week’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) meeting. “[We are] trying to figure out what we can do to help you [the undergraduates] make better connections.”
Howard insists, however, that this system is not an “ask for a job” scenario.
Instead, the purpose is for alumni and undergraduates to engage in conversation, get to know each other and develop a connection.
Current students may use the Professional Network to find different alumni, parents and friends of DU, including businesses that have interacted with the university at any point, and contact them via the site’s e-mail system. The e-mail address students register on the Professional Network is then used as the reply address.
Undergraduate students may access the Professional Network through the Career Center’s site.
There they are encouraged to utilize the Career Center’s other online capabilities as well, like the DU Job Network, according to Cindy Hyman, associate director of alumni career programs.
“We want people to get used to using this [the Career Center’s website] as a portal to anything career-related,” said Hyman.
Stuents can find the portal to the Professional Network through the Career Center’s website at du-csm.symplicity.com.
Current students can use their student ID numbers and WebCentral passcodes to create a profile which they will then use to contact and network with alumni.
