Do students really want to be mentored?
January 21, 2020
fredrik
I was at a conference for career services professionals when one of the presenters, a career office director, nearly had me choke on my coffee. “Students don’t want to be mentored,” she said, “they want internships and jobs.”
As someone who’s mentored 200+ students and launched hundreds of successful mentoring programs at Firsthand, I nearly stopped her, mid-presentation, to tell her she was missing the point. Of course students want jobs. Getting a good job is the #1 reason people pursue higher education. Saying that students want jobs and not mentoring amounts to saying that people want a salary, but don’t want to work. Keep reading ›
Creating New Connections
December 7, 2018
Sarah Sheppard
Tameka Edwards ’16 earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University at Albany and went on to receive a master’s degree in communications from her alma mater in 2018. She was working as the Graduate Assistant in the Advancement Events office, down the hall from the Alumni Association office, when graduation was approaching.
With graduation approaching and her career looming in the distance, Tameka wanted to connect with an alum who worked in a creative industry in New York City. She knew about UCAN, the UAlbany Career Advisory Network, but had yet to take advantage of it. Keep reading ›
Leveraging the Power of Networking
January 19, 2018
Stephanie Bucklin
When Meghan Monroy, ’17, graduated from UConn in May with a Master’s degree in Microbiology, she immediately began a contract position that lasted her through September. Up until that point, Meghan says, opportunities had just fallen into her lap—but once the contract position was up, and it was time to look for new work as not a student, but a graduate, she found herself uncertain on how to proceed.