Bruins can benefit from Alumni Association and Career Center services even after graduation
By Marcus Torrey
May 16, 2010 9:00 p.m.
Aside from making it through college and earning that hard-sought-after degree, UCLA’s class of 2010 may have an additional reason to celebrate.
A recent report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found employers expect to hire roughly 5 percent more new college graduates than they did last year.
This increase in hiring expectations is the first favorable employment news for graduating students since October 2008, according to the report. For the past couple of years, graduating classes learned the hard way that even college degrees are not recession-proof.
UCLA alumni also realized this, and Mark Davis, director of communications at the UCLA Alumni Association, said help finding employment in their post-collegiate lives has been an increasing need among graduates.
The association offers many forms of help to graduates looking to find a job. These include services such as resume critiques and career database access.
In addition, Davis said the association helps make connections with organizations, such as Bruin Professionals, which is comprised of UCLA alumni who are involved in a variety of career fields. This organization has chapters throughout California, which Davis said is an important factor when it comes to alumni being able to network and make important relationships.
The association provides most of its services in conjunction with the UCLA Career Center. Since the Career Center is funded to help current students only, the services it can provide alumni are limited, Davis said. To compensate for this, the association has partnered up with the Career Center.
To use such services, alumni have to pay certain fees. Kathy Sims, the director of the Career Center, said this is the only way they can provide the assistance they do. Compared to commercial prices for the same services, Sims said the fees for alumni are low.
Alumna Catherine Luu agreed that the fees were reasonable and added that they were worth it.
Luu, who graduated in 2005 with a degree in communication studies, worked various part-time jobs for the first six months out of college to gain experience. She said the association helped her get these jobs.
When her class went out into the world, though, the economy was not as bad as it has been for the previous two or three graduating classes. Luu, now the program coordinator for Operation Frontline, a nonprofit culinary program that helps families find healthier ways to eat, was able to find her position within two weeks of intensive searching. And while the association did not set her up with this position, she said the connections she made through the association indirectly helped her.
As a response to the recession, the Career Center has taken a more aggressive approach in marketing its services, Sims said.
“We go to incoming student orientations for undergraduates, transfers and graduates,” Sims said. “We upload their student IDs into our system and allow them to explore internship options.”
In contrast to the alumni services, the aid the Career Center offers current students is free. The center provides membership to BruinView, through which students can manage summer internships, career pursuits, resumes and applications. It also gives students a way to track the positions they apply for through the system.
Sims said the Career Center’s help also extends beyond job seeking, and that they work with students who are applying to medical and law schools, too.
“Even if you’re not thinking about a job immediately after graduation, we are here to supply an important service for you,” Sims said.
For more information on BruinView, visit career.ucla.edu/BruinView/Intro.aspx
