Web site offers job mentoring, advice to IU graduates

The IU Alumni Association has created a Web site dedicated to helping its members find employment in their field. \nThe Web site, www.IUalumnicareers.com, is meant to provide IU alumni access to career guidance and counseling and can notify registered users of any new listings that have been posted in their fields. \nJoan Hall, director of membership services for the IUAA, said the organization designed the Web site after several recent graduates suggested the value of such a service. \n"We started the service to meet the needs of our alumni," she said. "We've received a lot of feedback from graduates, especially new graduates, that they want and need career and mentoring services."\nThe Web site's services are available to all members of the IUAA who register with the site. Alumni, job mentors and prospective employers can all register. Mentors can provide career advice and direction to alumni searching for employment through the Web site. According to the press release, IU alums can both serve as mentors or use the site to search for a job. Mentors and would-be employers began registering with the site at the beginning of November 2005. Using the IUAA as a system to support this new service is paying big dividends, Hall said. \n"With 475,000 living IU graduates around the world, the Alumni Association is a powerful network," Hall said. \nThe service is free to all who use it, and only members of the Alumni Association can use the Web site. Each mentor volunteers his or her time and can leave the program at any time. Employers posting job listings pay no cost for their advertisement. \n"Any employer may register to post job openings," Hall said. "And all alumni may register to be career mentors."\nHall said using the IUAA to make contacts with prospective employers and employees makes the system work well. \n"With this new service, the IUAA hopes to assist our alumni and help them succeed by providing a way for them to connect with other alumni for career mentoring," she said.