A strong CMC alumni networking effort is spreading across the US and could come to a city near you.
The brainchild of Aron Khurana ’09 and Rick Voit ’78 from the Chicago Chapter of the CMC Alumni Association, the program aims to help CMC job-seekers by connecting them to other alums in the cities where they’d like to work.
The approach is simple. A mass email is sent out to gather contact information from alums willing to help. Job-seeking students or alumni submit a resume to a resume book with details about themselves, and regional representatives email the completed resume to alums located in the area where the student would like to work.
“By spreading out this contact/call for help, we allow our whole community to help with the effort and siphon job-seekers to those most willing and able to give them assistance,” says Khurana, who says this system allows alumni to help others without the worry of being contacted by an overwhelming number of job-seekers afterwards, many of whom they may not have the time or ability to help.
“Networking is statistically the most effective way to find a job or internship and our alumni are a willing and very valuable conduit for our students into the workplace of every major city in the nation and world,” says Diana Seder, CMC’s Director of Career Services. “It also makes our alumni happy because they find it rewarding to help CMC students and graduates.”
Khurana, who works for Credit Suisse and founded a summer basketball camp for at-risk youths in Chicago (covered in the article “Hoop Dreams” in the Winter 2013 issue of CMC magazine), says the relatively small size of CMC allows alumni to feel a greater connection to their alma mater and thus more responsible for contributing to the growth of the college, not least of which through the success of it’s students and alumni.
“The success of those who graduate after us will enhance the value of our diploma and make the school a better place for us to send our children,” he says.
Besides Chicago, this program has been implemented in New York City under the leadership of Susan King ’85, Amanda Yang ’10 and Roger Cole P’14. The hope is to spread the program to other areas such as Washington DC, San Francisco and Texas. Not only are volunteers needed to help launch the program in different areas, but also those willing to take students and recent alums under their wing.
For more information on the program or how to get involved, contact Meghan Thompson in the Office of Alumni Relations at 909-621-8902, meghan.thompson@claremontmckenna.edu.