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What is the Career Assistance Network?
The Career Assistance Network (CAN), consisting of over 1,100 Wesleyan alums, is an excellent resource for career exploration and networking. These alums have agreed to provide information and advice on careers, employers, job searching, graduate study, internships, and more. Some have invited students to shadow them for a half or full day, so you can see what their job or workplace is really like. A majority of the alums in the network have also agreed to provide the same exploration and networking services to fellow alumni.

When should I use the Career Assistance Network?
The Career Assistance Network can be helpful to you in many ways throughout your college career and beyond. Here are just a few ways in which you can use the network:

Career Exploration: Browsing the alumni profiles can provide you many ideas for career options related to academic majors. Interviewing alums, either in person, by phone, or by e-mail can help you decide what major to declare, what career options to pursue, or what geographic regions you might consider.

Shadowing a Professional: One of the best ways to find out if you would enjoy a job or occupation is to experience it yourself; shadowing gives you the opportunity to do so.

Class Project Interviews: Many classes require you to interview someone outside the Wesleyan community for one reason or another; CAN not only provides an interviewee, but a potential networking contact for later on.

Internship Opportunities: Many of the alums in the network have agreed to help students locate internship opportunities in their fields or with their employers.

Job Searching: Contacting alums is an excellent way to establish your own networking contacts; alums can give you job search advice and may even know of job openings. While they have not volunteered to find you a job, they can be invaluable resources in your job search process.

Graduate School Research: The majority of alums in CAN have pursued graduate study; they can provide information on schools they attended and the fields they pursued.

Changing Careers: Those alums who have offered their services to fellow alumni can help you explore career changes once youíve been out of school and are considering new alternatives.

Relocation: Many alums have volunteered to visit with individuals considering relocating to their geographic regions.

How do you use the Career Assistance Network?
To use CAN, click here to search the profiles of alums to see what they have done with their degrees, where they are working and living, where they went to graduate or professional school, and what services they have volunteered to provide.

If you'd like to contact an alum, simply complete the online CAN request form. We'll provide a computer print-out on each alum you select, plus a copy of Networking through the Career Assistance Network. This free handbook gives you guidelines and suggestions for contacting the alums you've selected. It explains the networking process, provides step by step instructions for conducting an informational interview, and includes lots of questions you can ask either in an interview or while shadowing an alum.