Unlocking the Power of Connections: Elevating Student Success with the Center for Mentoring and Professional Networks
As part of its work supporting students in building their networks, the Center is committed to working collaboratively with faculty and staff to support access to alum and other “experts” in areas of interest and to educate the students with whom you work about networking and engaging with external mentors. Following is a description of some of the Center’s offerings, but please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions about other potential opportunities!
On-Demand Workshops:
The Center has a series of workshops scheduled for students around development of networks and engagement of mentors, but we also offer on-demand workshops to support students’ development of external social capital (networks). Following are three examples, but we are also open to additional suggestions. Please request our workshops with at least one week’s notice to determine a mutually agreeable time. Contact the Center at [email protected].
- Drew Connect Basics: a 15-20 minute workshop on what purpose Drew Connect serves, the sign-up process, search tools for finding mentors (primarily alums) within the platform, and tips for outreach. This workshop will also include a discussion of using Drew Connect in conjunction with LinkedIn and why neither should be the exclusive tool.
- Advanced Drew Connect Skills: a 30 minute deeper-dive into the various tools available on the platform, including Career Path exploration, Jobs, Groups, and more.
- Best Practices for Networking/Reaching out to a Potential Mentor: Networking doesn’t have to be intimidating. In this workshop, the Center for Mentoring will offer students easy tips for striking up a conversation in a professional networking setting, whether at an event or one-to-one, in person or virtual. The workshop (including its length) can be tailored to your specific purposes/needs (e.g., the workshop might be 15 minutes or could be as long as 45 minutes if you are looking for a more in-depth discussion and practice-time with alum involvement). This workshop will also include a discussion of how to turn what started as a casual conversation about common interests into a more professional conversation around career opportunities.
Engagement of Alums and Others for your classes
Student Engagement with Alums focused on Career Readiness
The Center can set up the following opportunities for your class. Both will be part of standard Center for Mentoring programming, in collaboration with the Center for Career Development and other campus partners and would occur outside of class.
- Informational Interviews: Alums offer information about their industry and/or feedback on interviewing skills
- Elevator Pitch Preparation: Students connect with an alum in their field of interest to develop and deliver an elevator pitch. Students will meet once with an alum to discuss general content and a second time to deliver a pitch and gather constructive feedback. Students and alums may choose to continue the conversation after the second contact as they wish.
- Each of the above programs will be managed through the Drew Connect platform following an in-person preparation session for students with the director of the Center for Mentoring and colleagues from other departments. All we ask of faculty is to provide a list of students planning to participate!
Identification of Guest Speakers
Looking for alums or others to serve as guests or speakers for one of your programs or classes? Contact the Director of the Center for Mentoring at least three (3) weeks in advance for assistance in identifying diverse and engaging speakers. We’ll even provide swag when they come to campus or send virtual participants a small token of appreciation.
Provision of Swag for Alum and Other Guests:
If you have self-identified alum participants for your program–or other visitors who plan to remain involved as mentors for our students—let the Center for Mentoring know. Just complete the form below to let us know and we’ll bring over a bag of Drew swag or be prepared to send a small token of appreciation to virtual guests. Questions? Contact [email protected].
*Note: swag bag items may vary and contents are dependent on what the Center has available. Contents of swag bags are determined within the sole discretion of the Center for Mentoring.
**Note: If you have more than one alum attending at the same time or over the course of a semester, simply bypass the form and send an email to [email protected].