The MIT Institute Career Assistance Network (ICAN)

The Institute Career Assistance Network (ICAN) connects MIT alumni with each other and with students to facilitate career strategies, gather quality advice, and open up important networking connections. More than 3,000 alumni across an array of fields have offered to share their wealth of experience as advisors. Advisors may communicate by telephone, e-mail, or in personal meetings.

As a member of the ICAN, I see tremendous value in the college alumni network. If you're plugged into your college alumni network, what are you waiting for? Find your classmates on social networking websites like Facebook or LinkedIn. You can probably find classmates by using Google too. Discover what they're doing and reconnect. Learn from their stories. Get inspired. Ask them to introduce you to other executives in their professional network.

An online chat with a career counselor for MIT alumni

As a member of the MIT Alumni Association, I'm also an active career member of the ICAN or the Institute Career Assistance Network (ICAN). The ICAN consists of over 3,000 advisors. The Institute Career Assistance Network (ICAN) connects MIT alumni with each other and with students to facilitate career strategies, gather quality advice, and open up important networking connections

On May 13, 2010, the MIT Alumni Association held an online chat with a professional career counselor. Over 100 questions were answered and I think you'll find some of this content very relevant. Questions and answers revolved around the following themes:

• Transitioning back into the work force after a period of absence
• Going back to school
• Transition from academia to industry
• Losing a job at Pfizer
• Outplacement services
• Effective networking strategies
• Value of career counseling
• Salary negotiations
• Retired folks looking for part-time consulting opportunities
• Making a career transition
• Leadership and innovation
• How age affects your job search
• Being geographically restricted during a job search
• Job opportunities in management consulting
• Working for a start-up company
• Informational interviews (also known as networking)
• How to get a promotion
• Finding a mentor
• International job opportunities
• How to leverage LinkedIn

You can access the transcript of the online chat here (PDF). Update: New Link Here (PDF).

Leveraging your alumni network

When you prepare to transition careers, it's critical to leverage your alumni network. You may be surprised to discover that some of your classmates are now in powerful management positions. They may provide you with the right opportunity to make that leap into the non-clinical world of medicine. So, whether you graduated from college or medical school 5 years ago or 25 years ago, it's important to leverage your alumni network when you make such a significant life transition.

Not sure how to reconnect with old classmates and colleagues? Attend the next reunion. Join your alumni association and become an active participant. Utilize social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook to find people and reconnect.

Importance of alumni connections

What type of alumni connections do you have? Are you actively involved in your alumni association? I currently belong to 3 different alumni groups, and if I continue my education, then maybe I'll join a fourth someday. For now, I belong to these three groups:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine (UAMS)
  
• University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences (UMass)
  

It's been easy to get reconnected with old classmates through Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Twitter. This goes to show that social networking sites really do work.

So why are alumni connections so important? Imagine that your former classmate is the hiring manager for a certain position that interests you. Instead of trying to reconnect before you submit your CV, wouldn't it be better if you had already maintained that connection? How would you even know if your former classmate is the president or CEO of a company? You'd be amazed at the types of connections you can find through your alumni network.