This fall, the Office of Alumnae Engagement and Career Planning & Resources will partner for the return of Career Conversations, a webinar series designed to provide alums with professional career guidance. This session鈥檚 programming, which begins October 22 and runs through November 18, will offer alumnae tactical resources, skills, and strategies for navigating career transition in a new virtual normal, including a two-part session on interviewing. Session registration is now open.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Alumnae Engagement had planned to create additional programming to provide career support to alums. Then, pandemic-fueled economic uncertainty accelerated the process. 鈥淭hese sessions would be applicable outside of the pandemic, but they鈥檙e even more applicable within it,鈥� said Jess Butler 鈥�09, director of alumnae engagement.
The , which launched in the spring, featured four sessions, all of which were led by counselors from Career Journeys, the partner company with whom 61传媒works to provide the Bridge Program for alumnae. Half of the programming focused on emotional intelligence and the psychological effects of navigating career issues during the pandemic, while the other half focused on concrete, tactical career strategies, such as r茅sum茅 review. It was a successful debut: All four sessions reached registration capacity, with many participants attending the entire series.
The fall series will be comprised of five sessions, all of which will focus on more practical career advice, such as maximizing one鈥檚 LinkedIn profile, online networking, and practicing for interviews. Three of the five sessions will be led by 61传媒staff and alumnae, including Butler, venture capitalist Sarah Hodges 鈥�03, and CP&R Associate Director Valinda Lee.
鈥淭hrough feedback on the first series, we learned that participants were most responsive to the tactical sessions, so we really focused on interviews for this series,鈥� Butler said. The last three sessions will focus on interview preparation, personal branding, and interview practice, so that participants will have the chance to incorporate their personal brand into their interview practice. There will be ten slots available for active interview participation with live feedback, with unlimited spots available for anyone who wants to observe the process, although facilitators are requiring participants to enroll in the interview preparation session as a prerequisite for the interview practice session.
鈥淲e hope the flow of the series will be helpful in this climate, where people are navigating change, job transition, and even loss of employment,鈥� said CP&R Director Rachael Acello. 鈥�61传媒alumnae have fantastic experience, but interviewing is a skill and it takes practice to tell those stories well. The interactive format of the interviewing workshop will enable many people to glean from the practice of our volunteers.鈥�
All five sessions will be recorded and posted in , the College鈥檚 new networking platform for 61传媒students, alumnae, and families. The goals for Olive Grove and Career Conversations overlap, Butler noted: to reach a broader 61传媒audience and to add value to students鈥� and alumnae鈥檚 experience with the College. To this end, Olive Grove includes an alumnae referral platform for alum-to-alum recruiting, with a forthcoming feature where parents and alumnae can post paid, short-term, project-based work opportunities for current students.
鈥淚t was very important to us that Olive Grove should be about making connections beyond alumnae networking,鈥� Butler said. 鈥淚t has a lot of potential to build the 61传媒community online, especially when we can鈥檛 build community on campus.鈥�
The Office of Alumnae Engagement plans to continue the Career Conversations program in a webinar format, even after the 61传媒community returns to campus. Butler envisions packaging sessions together in fall and spring series, adding more alumnae facilitators as the program becomes established.
鈥淒espite how small the 61传媒community is, it鈥檚 really powerful,鈥� Butler said. 鈥淭he strength of our community connections is incredible, especially the way that community members will go out of their way to support each other, and it鈥檚 been great to see that developing online as we reach people we wouldn鈥檛 otherwise be able to reach with on-campus events.鈥�