Have you ever sat at home on a weekday in January wishing you had something more productive to do than binge watch five seasons of Breaking Bad on Netflix? Your free time during winter break is the perfect time to think about your future career and possible employment opportunities. While the thought of planning a career after graduation scares many of us, Macalester offers a wide array of tools to help students like you. Among these resources are people who were once in your shoes: Mac alums. Here are several ways to reach out to alumni and to make your January more productive.

MacDirect: All juniors and seniors have access to MacDirect, which is Macalester’s online directory for alumni. The link to MacDirect is on the college’s alumni page. Simply log in with your Mac username and password to set up your profile. The new advanced search options allow you to find alumni by industry, occupation, job title, employer, location, major and student activities! You can then message the alumni that match your interests.

Tip: The Career Advisor icon on a MacDirect profile indicates the alum wants to hear from students.

LinkedIn: Macalester Career Connection (MC2) is the CDC’s group on LinkedIn. If you aren’t a part of the group, you should make a profile and get connected.

Tip: Check out the discussion threads. Staff at the CDC and alumni start discussions about available positions, areas of interest and tips about the job search process.

Career Development Center: The CDC website offers an assortment of tools to help you better your career. You can submit an Alumni Information Request Form that will generate lists of alumni by major, geographic location, graduate school, organization and by occupation. If you are in the Twin Cities over J-term, you can set up an appointment to meet with a CDC counselor in person. If you aren’t in the Twin Cities, fear not! You can email questions to counselors at any time.

Tip: Have a counselor look over your résumé. Then send it out to employers with confidence!

This January, we encourage and challenge each and every one of you to contact just one alum who is currently employed in a field that you find interesting. It might seem surprising, but alums want to help you! The majority of alumni who volunteer for Macalester do so in order to talk with current students, especially about careers. Alums benefit from these conversations as much as you do because some of them don’t get the chance to interact with the Mac community as much as they used to.

So, what are you waiting for?! This January, get on MacDirect, LinkedIn and the CDC website and start connecting with alums. You never know what making the call or sending the email might lead to.

Happy connecting,

Alumni Board Student Representatives