Step #10: Use your University Alumni Organization for all that it is worth!

Hiring employees is not objective, it is subjective. Fact. I’ve gone to interviews where no one asked me about my technical skills, they simply wanted to see if I “fit in” and if “they liked me.” Today people spend more time working than they do at home, so finding a “good fit” is definitely important.

People also like people with similar backgrounds. “oh look- he is from Bethesda MD and went to my High School!” and so they happen to read his resume a bit more closely and decide to call him in for an interview. Or “He attended the same school as my graduate school roommate” (true story) and after hearing about the school for 12 months, I knew it produced smart kids. So I brought him in for an interview and ended up hiring him. These things count.

Most universities have strong alumni programs and often they have a database of alum that have “volunteered” to give career advice. Years ago, when I was looking for a job in Russia, I used the Georgetown Alumni database to find alum in Russia or working with Russia who had offered to lend advice. A few years later, I found alum who working in management consulting in London. I used the same tactic as Step # 3 and send a quick email, saying I had found their name in the alumni contact list and was hoping they could talk to me for 15 min about suggestions for finding a job in Russia/Management consulting, etc. The conversations I had were really interesting, and one even led to an interview, so it is worth it!

Moral of the Story: Use your university’s resources. People often hire alums first and alums like to help other alums. It doesn’t matter where you went to school, someone in a good position with good contacts also attended and likely would love to provide you with some advice, and hopefully leads.