Using the Alumni Network for Jobs, Internships, and Life Advice

Let’s be honest—finding a good internship or job is about as stressful as applying for college. Okay, that’s just not true, but it’s an ordeal in itself. So I decided to take a look at the Amherst Career Network. The Alumni Career Network is such a great but underutilized tool that is very easy to access.
 
 

You go to the Amherst website, go to Find People, and towards the bottom of the list is a link to the Career Network. From there, you can create a search that caters to your interest ranging from choice of location to industry. Or if you are looking for a specific type of alumni and not necessarily a company, you can look up people based on majors or extracurriculars they participated in at Amherst.
 
 
So how do you go about using it once you find alumni who are working in a career field or company you are interested in? Well, it seems a little bit risky and intimidating, but honestly, just email them and get in touch. From my experience, all of the alumni have been incredibly gracious, friendly, and willing to help. They have all said how much they love hearing from fellow Amherst-ians.
 
 
But use this privilege wisely. I have been using the Career Network very liberally, if anything, too liberally. In my most desperate moments, I would create a very broad search and email every single person on that list. That is, however, not recommended. I would go about it by first looking for an industry and company you know you would be interested in and would follow up on if you got a response.
 
 
All of the alumni I have contacted have told me is that this is the best way to get a job or internship. Simply resumé-dropping is pointless and a waste of time. In the real world (oh lord…), job searching is ALL about connections.
 
 
Through the Career Network, I have landed some of the internships I was interested in, and I have learned a lot in general about careers and life after college. So, I really do urge the Amherst community to utilize this great resource, because Amherst Alums are really at the top of their game out in the real world, and can really help you out with your ambitions. So steps: find alumni, contact them, be gracious and polite, but most importantly, be awesome.