Among the list of resources and programs that Career Services offers Elon University students and alumni is the Elon Career Network. The database, which serves as a directory for job, internship and geographical networking contacts, exists for students and alumni—but few are using it.
From Sept. 1, 2010 to Jan. 25, 2011, roughly half an academic year, 130 contacts were made between students and alumni listed in the database, which includes multiple contacts made by the same individual. As of September 2011, 671 alumni and parents were listed in the Elon Career Network database, said Michelle Jones, assistant director of Career Services for arts and sciences.
"An intimidating thing for a lot of students is to email someone they don't know," she said. "Some students just don't know where to start."
Jones said the database is a great tool for connecting students and alumni based on career interests or specific regions of the country, but students should first understand how to use it. Students can select an industry from a list provided or enter a general search term to find relevant connections. Users also have the option of searching by city to prepare for networking there.
"If a student wants to move to another city and doesn't know anyone, the person can use the Elon Network for a geographic search," Jones said. "The student could contact someone to find out how active the alumni network is in that area, or even to meet with a warm body – someone who has an Elon connection."
When searching for potential job and internship connections, students should be open to talking to professionals with slightly different career paths from which they might choose, but who are still valuable networking sources, Jones said.
"I always advise people not to discount someone who is not doing exactly what they want to be doing," she said. "Use the database to talk to people in a variety of careers, and ask them if they know anyone to talk to in your field."
Sophomore Vasilios Katsadouros said he plans to use Elon's networking database to talk with professionals and get an idea for what kind of career he wants to pursue.
"I want to set up a meeting about networking soon with Career Services," Katsadouros said. "I really think they can help me out. I know a girl who graduated last year who had found an internship through the network."
Career Services relies on the Parents Council, Young Alumni Council and Alumni Association to recruit parents and alumni for the networking database.
Although some of the contacts may ultimately be able to help students and alumni find jobs, Jones does not recommend using the database for the sole purpose of asking the directory contacts for jobs and internships without first having established rapport.
"You wouldn't just contact them and say, 'I'm looking for a job,'" she said. "You would get to know them and ask things like, 'Would you mind looking over my resume and giving me feedback?' or 'I'm looking for jobs in New York. Do you have any contacts that would help me in my search?'"
One of the benefits of using Elon's database of contacts for networking, is that the people are listed because they want to help other Elon students and alumni, Jones said.
"The Elon Network is unlike LinkedIn, where you could contact someone to do a networking interview with and they don't necessarily need to contact you back, because they may not necessarily want to do that," Jones said. "There's not a warm relationship on LinkedIn, whereas with the Elon Network, they're there for the purpose of talking to students."