In addition to providing career assistance to alumni, including counseling services and workshops, the Center for Career Education encourages alumni volunteers to get involved with the educational programs and employment opportunities for students and other alumni.

Alumni can collaborate with the Center in a myriad of ways, such as:

• volunteering as panelists
• participating in networking events
• posting job and internship opportunities
• providing shadowing and other experiential experiences like Alumni Success Stories

Network with Students

Speed Networking for Engineers  - February 22
Planned in collaboration with the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science Alumni Office, the Society of Women Engineers and the Engineering Student Council, Speed Networking for Engineers provides the opportunity to connect 60 alumni and professionals with students in a night focusing on sharing career advice, experiences and potential opportunities.  Alumni will network and share advice to pairs of students in 5-10 min rotations.  You can register for the event here.  As well, please contact Malla Haridat (vh19@columbia.edu or 212-854-7862) with any questions.

Media Networking Night – March 21                                              
Join us for our 7th annual event, Media Networking Night, which is designed to bring Columbia students into direct contact with a wide variety of alumni and professionals who can speak candidly about their own work experiences. The event features employers from a diverse set of media-related industries, including but not limited to: film, television, radio, communications, advertising, marketing, public relations, books, magazines, and newspapers.  You can register for the event here.  Don't miss it and the opportunity to network with your peers after the conclusion of the student networking!

Share your expertise 1 on 1

Columbia Externship Program - March 12-16
Interested in mentoring a first year Columbia student for 2-5 days over Spring Break (March 12-16^th, 2012)?  Join us as one of 20 Columbia alumni in our pilot Columbia Exploration Externship Program.  We are seeking alumni from a variety of industries to host a pre-screened undergrad and share with them their day to day work life.  Please fill out your interest online or contact Lisa Dicce (lad2161@columbia.edu) if you would like to join the program.

Mock Interview Nights –  January 30, February 8 and 13
Remember your first interviews in college?  Help current students prepare for the spring interview season by practicing questions like "Tell me about yourself" and "Tell me what you learned from this experience" during these three evening sessions on campus.  We need 30 alumni volunteers and parents.  Please consider joining us especially if you have ever played the role of a recruiter or hired in your organization; your feedback can make a huge difference for a student.  Contact Malla Haridat (vh19@columbia.edu or 212-854-7862) for more details or to sign up. Hear from recent alumni interviewers why they recommend you should join us for future mock interviewing nights:

Columbia College Alumni Sponsored Student Internship Program - Alumni Mentors - Summer 2012
The Columbia College Alumni-Sponsored Student Internship Program (CCASSIP) is an exciting new opportunity for Columbia College sophomores and juniors to have an internship experience.  These internships will be available across a variety of industries and will be unique opportunities to gain direct industry exposure.  As part of the program, students will be paired with an alumni mentor, engage in training prior to the program and take part in professional development and networking events. If you are interested in being a mentor contact Malla Haridat (vh19@columbia.edu or 212-854-7862) and share your LinkedIn profile or bio.

Professionals in Residence – March 28 and April 13 
Held over half-day sessions in the spring, this opportunity allows alumni to share industry advice, trends and best practices with students in a series of one-on-one 20 minute conversations.  We are looking for professionals in each of the following fields:

• Media/Communications/Public Relations: Wednesday, March 28th 
• Alternative/Sustainable Energy: Friday, April 13th  

Contact Lisa Dicce (lad2161@columbia.edu) to find out more information, share your interest, or recommend a professional.

Help a student from your desk

Alumni Profiles
Our Alumni Career Profiles feature is an opportunity to showcase the diversity of career paths of Columbia University alumni as an educational tool for students seeking to learn more about opportunities after graduation. We will include brief careers stories of a selected group of alumni who can showcase a range of professional options.  The objective of the tool is to be both informative and inspirational.  We hope that readers (students and other alumni) will gain a sense of the various career paths that individuals take after studying at Columbia University and how careers change and evolve over time. If you are a an alumni from one of our seven schools and interested sharing your advice with students online, please contact Malla Haridat (vh19@columbia.edu or 212-854-7862) and share your LinkedIn profile or bio.

Tell students about your work in 140 characters or less 
Make a contribution by ‘tweeting’ for a day about your daily work activities. Answer frequently asked questions such as “What’s a typical work day like in your role?” and “How did you become interested in this field?” by interacting with students on Twitter through our new program – CCECareerDay. If you're interested in participating, please email Malla Haridat (vh19@columbia.edu) and indicate your industry.

• Spring Career Fair Employers: Wednesday, February 22nd
• Fashion Industry: Wednesday, February 29th
• Media Industry: Thursday, March 8th
• Startup Industry: Tuesday, March 20th
• Green Industry: Thursday, April 19th

Columbia Career Connections on LinkedIn
Make yourself available for current students and alumni for online career networking through CCE's own LinkedIn group.  Alumni can register by visiting LinkedIn and searching "Columbia Career Connections"

Share your Experiences
We would like to hear about the success that occurs after your participation in our events and programs. If you would be interested in highlighting your story where you helped a student through informational interviews, shared advice at an event or promoted job opportunities and had great results, please contact Malla Haridat (vh19@columbia.edu or 212-854-7862).

Hear from recent alumni interviewers why they recommend you should join us for future mock interviewing nights:

Hire Columbians - Champion interns and full time hires at your company!

We are seeking Columbia alumni who would like to champion the hiring of Columbia students at their respective firms and companies.  Alumni understand the value of the Columbia educational experience and are critical for establishing relationships with hiring decision makers.  Our Employer Outreach team is interested in gathering relevant contacts and introductions to hiring managers as well as meeting alumni who would like to promote the hiring of Columbia talent at their firm. Please contact Patrick Smith, Senior Associate Director of Employer Outreach (ps2211@columbia.edu or 212-854-5496) to learn more about this opportunity.

Mentor a Student

Would you like to connect to a Columbia student this summer? Are you eager to provide guidance & support, share tips, and answer questions regarding professional development, networking and navigating the workplace? If so, we’d like to hear from you!We are hosting several programs for alumni to mentor students.

International Alumni - Through the Columbia Experience Overseas Programs (CEO) program, Columbia students participate in 8 week high-quality internships. Since 2007, the Center for Career Education has been partnering with employers and alumni in variety of international cities.  Over 100 students will depart from Morningside Heights to intern in a diverse range of industries including finance, consulting, health care, arts, and public relations.

If you live in one of the following cities and are interested in mentoring students over the summer, please contact Malla Haridat, CC’97 at vh19@columbia.edu

• Amman
• Beijing
• Hong Kong
• London
• Istanbul
• Shanghai
• Singapore

SEAS Alumni -  Students are engaging in internships in a variety of fields including biomedical, civil, chemical, computer engineering, computer science, earth and environmental, electrical and mechanical for our third annual Science Technology Engineering Program (STEP) internship program.  Students will be interning throughout the summer for approximately 8–10 weeks in a variety of locations nationally and internationally. Mentors will be encouraged to share insight about trends in their industries, best practices for the hiring process, and advice about career paths. This can be done with scheduled in person visits as well as phone chats. (We recommend you meet at least of 3–4 times throughout the summer via phone, e-mail, Skype or in person).
If you are interested, contact Malla Haridat, CC ’97 at vh19@columbia.edu.

Alumni Across the US- As part of our efforts to help students develop their professional networks, Columbia University Internship Network (CU In) connects current CU students interning in a new city with alumni mentors during the summer.   As an alumni mentor the commitment would not be a huge one—we generally ask you to be available as a resource to the student and possibly attend an event or two, but what that relationship would look like would ultimately be up to you.

If you live in one of the following cities and are interested in mentoring students over the summer, please contact Lisa Dicce at lad2161@columbia.edu.

• Boston
• Greater Los Angeles area
• San Francisco/Bay Area
• Greater Seattle area
• Washington, DC

 Serving as a mentor is a great way to connect with current Columbia students, build the Columbia brand globally, and help young people at the start of their careers!