Twenty-seven years after graduating, Debra Albert returned to GW and promised to help students get jobs.
As the chief development officer of a New York City software company, the 1982 alumna began taking students out to dinner and helping them network. She is now one of 1,500 alumni mentors at GW, many who meet with students regularly to talk post-graduation plans.
“It is becoming more and more difficult for students to get jobs. Especially in this economy. That’s why using alumni as a resource is so important,” Albert said.
The University has increasingly targeted older alumni like Albert, who have longer-established ties to big companies and larger savings accounts to give back to other career services programs, like internship grants. But alumni relations officials say it’s a challenge because graduates are most active just a few years out of college, when their ties are still fresh.
Keith Greene, vice president of career services at the GW Alumni Association, said the organization has been reaching out to alumni who were ignored before GW had a strong development and alumni relations team.
Greene, who graduated from GW in 1979, said the issue is that the majority of the 250,000 living alumni don’t feel a loyalty to GW.
“Pockets of alums didn’t really receive the attention they should have,” he said. “So we are in the process of re-engaging them now.”
Greene said he constantly feels the pressure on alumni to help students find jobs, particularly when talking to parents: “Every time, the first question a parent asks is ‘What are you going to do to help my kid?”
But he thinks the office – which now has about 200 people on staff – is far better suited for the task than the development office a decade ago, which had less than a dozen fundraising officers.
Engaging older alumni is also more difficult because many graduates from decades past are spread across the country.
“It’s not always practical to get alumni up to GW all the time,” Fiona Conroy, vice president of programs for the alumni association, said, “Many of them are middle-aged and settled down. We have to find alternative ways to keep alumni engaged.”
Rachel Brown, assistant provost for University Career Services, has prioritized engaging with more employers this year to help get students in the door. She said one of the most effective ways to connect with employers is through relationships with alumni.
Adrienne Rulnick, associate vice president for alumni relations and development, added the relationship between career services and alumni relations is crucial to both departments.
“We are always encouraging people to join career mentors, and looking for people to speak. It’s a very intimate relationship because we want alumni to get services, we want alumni to provide services,” Rulnick said.
Student Association President Julia Susuni said she wants to expand student-alumni mentoring by making sure every student knows about the mentorship program. Currently, GW helps students connect with alumni through an online Career Advisor Network that boasts more than 1,500 GW alumni interested in mentoring students.
