EXTRA CREDIT: Ask an Alum

One of the greatest career-building resources that you have as a UW-Madison student is the vast network of alumni who are already out in the working world in a staggering array of different jobs, industries, and careers. In this assignment you will identify a Wisconsin alum who might be able to help you, and ask that alum a polite and specific question about career preparation.

Read this first

• Taking Initiative Student Guide Download Taking Initiative Student Guide
   chapter 06,"Social networking."
• Nina Vasan and Jennifer Przybyla, "Find mentors, Download Find mentors,
  " in Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation (San Francisco: Wiley, 2013).

• Dan Schawbel, "Develop Cross-Generational Relationships, Download Develop Cross-Generational Relationships,
  " in Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013).

Steps to complete

1. In your LinkedIn profile, search for "University of Wisconsin Madison" to see the nearly 300,000 alumni who are listed on this service. You can save this search for viewing and filtering later.

2. Find a UW-Madison alumni contact who you think might be willing to give you some advice on a particular career question. You may do this in a number of ways:

• Pick one of the alumni mentors who are working with your discussion section this semester.
• Pick a UW professor, instructor, adviser, graduate student, or other staff member who also attended UW themselves.
• Use the LinkedIn search for UW alumni to seek out someone who might be willing to answer your question.
• Use the Twitter feed of an alumni group in a particular city or region to find someone who might be willing to answer your question.
• Ask your Career Mentor for a referral to an alum who would be willing to speak with you.

3. Come up with an appropriate, targeted question to ask to this alumni contact.

4. Email your chosen alumni contact with the question you have composed. Remember, your email needs to be polite, succinct, and error-free. (This is no time for emojis, slang, long-winded signatures or exclamation points!)

5. If you receive a response quickly from the alumni contact, make sure to thank them in writing, using the same professional style.

6. Upload a transcript of your communication with the alumni contact to Canvas.

Tips for completing this assignment

• Remember, the best questions are polite, focused, and reflect the fact that you've done some "homework" yourself to make sure the question you're asking is one that your respondent can actually answer!

Questions for reflection and discussion

• How did you find your alumni contact -- by yourself, or by mobilizing someone else in your social network?  
• Was the question that you posed to your alumni contact a general career-related question, or was it specific to that person's own experience?  
• DId you get an answer back?  If so, did you find the answer useful?  If not, why do you think that is?
• Would you contact this alumni again if you had further questions about career or industry issues that you thought they might be able to answer?
• Finally, what would you do differently if you tried this again in the future?

To learn more

• BadgerStudents page on growing your network Links to an external site.
• Sarah Dunham and Lisa Vollmer, "Networking Download Networking
  ," in What To Do With Your History or Political Science Degree (New York: Random House, 2007).
• Katharine Hansen, "Who should be part of your network Download Who should be part of your network
  ," "When to network Download When to network
  ," "Networking for the shy and intimidated Download Networking for the shy and intimidated
  ," and "Networking etiquette Download Networking etiquette
  ," in A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008).
• Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency: "Interviews with people who have interesting or unusual jobs Links to an external site."