Beginning this fall, alumni and parents are being encouraged to join the Elon Career Network (ECN), a new resource offered through Elon Career Services that allows students to connect with Elon alumni, parents and other supporters by using an online database that can be searched by profession, major, graduate degrees and current home location.
Alumni and parents on the system will be have the option of making their contact information anonymous to students and can also limit the number of times they wish to be contacted in any given month.? ?
ECN is replacing the “Be a Mentor” initiative and will offer a richer profile by which students can connect with alumni and parents. Through ECN, alumni and parents will have the opportunity to interact with motivated students who want to grow their personal and professional networks while at Elon, as well as their lives beyond the university.
?“It’s definitely a way to give back,” says Tom Vecchione, Executive Director of Career Services at the university. “We recognize the extensive experience of our alumni and parents in a wide variety of career fields, which has tremendous benefits for our students.”? ?
Students who take advantage of ECN will touch base with alumni and parents on a variety of topics such as general career advice and potential internships or jobs. Vecchione notes that it is well known that a large percentage of employers, especially those who are “high destination,” rely heavily on networks to find future employees.? ?
“People like to recruit and hire individuals of whom they have knowledge, and not strangers,” he said. “It’s becoming more important that college students understand the critical importance of networking for all career fields and learn how to effectively network well before they actually begin their job search.”?
?An easy-to-complete registration page is accessible by clicking the link to the right of this page.