Summer 2006

ALUMNI NEWS

Career Center Offers Job Hunters Success

In May, undergraduate Lana Ciaramella used information from the Career Center and the online alumni database to contact an alumna in New York to ask about summer jobs opportunities in the city. Students and alumni are able to access a searchable database of AU alumni globally, allowing them to share their knowledge and experience.

“Through her suggestions, I now have a summer position with Davis Polk & Wardwell, a law firm in New York City,” says Ciaramella.

The Career Center has been helping alumni and undergraduates alike refine their resumes, land internships, and settle into new careers, for more than 32 years.

The CareerWeb is another digital database where employers can post positions they need to fill. Students can browse these posts to find a job that interests them or post their own resume for employers to review.

Aside from the online services offered by the Career Center, its staff also sets up job and internship fairs twice each year in March and October, open to all graduate and undergraduate students. The fair gives job seekers an opportunity to connect with employers who want AU students to fill part-time, full-time, or internship positions.

Advisors at the Career Center work with students year after year to complete job, graduate school, and scholarship applications. Steven Field, SPA/BA ’03 (left), worked with Career Center counselors and advisors to complete a Truman Scholarship application, and became a finalist in 2003. They spent substantial time helping him refine his goals and public service ambitions. After his graduation in 2003, Field was accepted into the U.S. Army Civilian Management Training Program in Public Affairs, and began working at the Pentagon after his training in Fort Lewis, Wash.

Rich Reichley, KSB/BSBA ’96 sought to make a career change from operations and project management at companies such as Intel to financial management at the Hirshhorn art museum. Soon enough, he asked AU's Career Center advisors for help. “[Their] suggestion that I speak with AU arts management faculty was the first link in a chain of contacts that ultimately led me to the Hirshhorn administrator, but also to aid other career leapers, especially those at midlife,” says Reichley. He spent two years interning, networking, and volunteering before starting his job as financial manager of the Hirshhorn. “The value of internships and volunteering, even when you are at an advanced age and rather overqualified for the role, cannot be overestimated,” Reichley adds.

The Career Center also sponsors networking receptions throughout the school year for alumni and students in Kogod, SIS, SOC, and SPA. These events present an opportunity for alumni to share their advice and experiences with those who attend, and some even recruit for their companies.

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