August 20, 2007 4:48 PM

Tap your school's alums
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 4:48 PM

Some sage advice regarding one of your best built-in networks - your college's alumni - from Monster.com:

No one will ever care about your career as much as you do. But if there were ever a group of people to come close, it would be alumni from your college or university. These former students have likely been in your shoes themselves, and are generally among the most willing to help your career development if you ask.

I fully subscribe to this. No group is more pre-disposed to help you. Nine out of ten times the door will be held open for you if you approach an alum and say, "Hi, I'm Susie [Stewie] Student from Blah-Blah U."

Don't think of it just for landing a job or an internship, either. It may be even more beneficial for career exploration, such as informational interviewing (for more on that, see this piece from the Student Center).

So no excuses when you say you do not have a network. That's bull. Everyone has a network. And you can start right within your own school, most of whose grads are employed in a broad range of fields throughout the workforce.