I applied to Hiatt's Winter Break Shadowing program and was unable to make it to the first 2 dates of the mandatory pre-departure meetings.
Currently, I'm virtually attending the "last chance" one.
I thought I would liveblog it and post any interesting/entertaining/surprising tips.
Andrea Dine, Associate Director of Career Development at Brandeis' Hiatt Career Center, is currently walking us through how to research our alumni matches, in terms of them personally, their field of work, and their specific position.
Interesting Points
- The number one thing alumni matches complain about is students not knowing anything about what they do. I can see how this is irresponsible on the students' behalf, but really…why is that so wrong? Why are these alumni getting offended by our ignorance?
- Number one thing NOT to do: directly ask if they will give you a job or internship. I totally agree with this. That makes ANYONE uncomfortable, especially someone you're meeting for the first time, and who's doing you a favor!
- Facebook is a social networking site good for keeping in touch with friends and family, especially long distance.
- Brandeis has a lot of comedian alumni, who have won competitions and appeared on TV! I know of Myq Kaplan, the people behind friends, and perhaps a few others, but I'm excited to e-mail Andrea after and find out who these people are.
- Whether to e-mail or to handwrite thank you letters is a contraversial question. As a gross generlization, older alumni are more likely to expect hand-written notes. I'm surprised to hear that people still handwrite anything. I only ever write e-mails. That's a nice idea, though, to handwrite.
Much like my Intro to Psych class, throughout the Webinar we are being polled to check that we are paying attention. Some of the questions are in regards to our emotions, while others are more like Millionaire $100 questions. Easy and silly.
- One polling question involved the word "definately".
This is the first time Hiatt is matching students and alumni on an individualized, one-at-a-time basis. Despite the time it takes, they are hoping this will produce better matches!
And that's the end. Thanks Hiatt! That was fun!