Program Connects Alumni to Students to Build Job Search Skills

One of Fuqua’s greatest resources are its alumni. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a number of passionate and involved Fuqua alumni who are interested not just in sharing their Fuqua experience, but also in helping in any way they can to positively impact the experiences of current students. One critical area of importance is the job search process. This is definitely not an advertisement for “being friends with alumni so they can find you jobs.” That’s not how it works – my job search experience has been one where I’ve charted my own course, figuring out which opportunities were the best fit for me as well as how best to approach them. However, knowing that alumni are available and willing to extend their assistance has been a great help.

An initiative in which MMS students have the opportunity to participate is the Volunteer Alumni Career Fellow (VACF) Program. Students are paired with 2 Fuqua alumni across a diverse range of industries, roles and levels of experience. As part of the program students have one informational interview and 2 mock interviews with their VACF. The interviews are either in person, over the phone or via Skype, and afford students with the opportunity to simulate a typical interview environment. VACF’s provide constructive feedback and help students improve their interviewing skills (and hopefully gain the confidence and preparation needed for the job search and interview processes).

My VACF experience has been an extremely positive one so far. One area of potential interest for me is strategy consulting, and one of my VACFs has volunteered to assist me beyond the mock and informational interviews he originally committed to, to assist me in preparing for case interviews – very valuable assistance.