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The Yale Career Network: Vaporous to Virtual
November/December 2004
by Jeff Brenzel '75, executive director of the AYA

Alumni go looking for each other a lot. Remember the fellow who used to sleep on your couch because he didn’t like his roommates? Didn’t he take three Internet companies public? Or was he the one who got married to the classmate who became the Alzheimer’s expert? She’s in New York, right?

Many people rediscover each other in this magazine’s class notes. Others surprise themselves by reconnecting at a reunion. More recently, alumni have also been using the lookup tools the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) is making available online. Three years ago, we put the big blue directory of 120,000 names on the web, behind a security system, and gave everyone an opportunity to look each other up by any bit of remembered information. Today, most graduates have either registered for the Yale Online Alumni Community or at least confirmed and corrected their contact information.

We knew the job was not complete, however. We wanted to build an online program that would not only deliver name and contact information, but also help locate a classmate who practices entertainment law in Los Angeles, or someone who might know what really goes on inside the CIA. For that, you can now go to the newest AYA online service: the Yale Career Network (www.aya.yale.edu/career).

Since the network’s launch this past May, more than 5,000 alumni have entered their career profiles, volunteering to serve as contacts for other alumni and students. The process is simple. You go to the website, where a brief, user-friendly online form lets you build a compact version of your career history and indicate your special interests or expertise. Then when someone is trying to find, say, an editor working in academia in Atlanta, you will come up on the screen. Maybe you can help him understand what it takes to edit an academic journal. Maybe you will have a tip for her upcoming relocation to Atlanta. Maybe you will be interested in working for his publishing company.

Response to the system has been outstanding. Alumni are conducting more than 200 searches each day for potential career contacts, and more than 1,300 have used the Career Network’s blind e-mail system to make direct contact with another graduate. The AYA will also open the system to current Yale students later this fall. Whether you are a seeker or a knower, your Yale Career Network is now a virtual reality.

Word of Mouth

“I’ve had five people contact me looking for more information on the consulting industry. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time, about an hour on the phone, with each individual. I even met one networker for lunch. This is a great service.”
—Martin '94MBA

“I was truly surprised at how people responded to the e-mails that I sent through the network. Even those who were well established in their fields, with their own hedge funds and law firms, expressed interest in talking to me.”
—Trina '02

“A number of alumni have contacted me seeking advice on how to get into my industry and even about recent job interviews they’ve been through. I’ve been happy to help out and give them whatever information I can. When I graduated there weren’t very many jobs available, and I remember what it was like.”
—James '92

Note to Readers

This article is provided by the Association of Yale Alumni.

Although the Yale Alumni Magazine is not part of the AYA, we are pleased to give this page to the AYA every issue as a service to our readers.—Eds.

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