The career tips and tricks to finish up your undergrad academic journey
Written by Elise Steinberg, BA '24 (sociology)
You’ve graduated! Now what? Here are some career resources provided by the UO you can take advantage of, even (especially!) after graduation.
The first resource to be aware of as a new graduate is the Duck Career Network. The Duck Career Network is a department within the UO Alumni Association, and exists specifically to help alumni understand how to navigate the professional world. Much of their materials are aimed to help alumni build their professional networks and forge connections among their fellow Ducks. The Duck Career Network has four main resources for you to take advantage of:
Career profiles and blogs
The Duck Career Network website contains career profiles and blogs written by alumni, for alumni. Among them, alumni discuss their perspectives on their jobs, organizations, and industries, as well as their own career paths.
This resource is a great way to connect with alumni in your industry of interest. Many include contact information of their author, but for those that don’t, you can still look them up and message them on LinkedIn. If that doesn’t sound like something you could do with a stranger, keep reading! We will explain how to reach out to alumni and make those connections as we share the basics of building your network.
Life Beyond UO
Much like the career profiles and blogs, Life Beyond UO is a series of blog posts written by alumni, to tell stories and give advice to alumni, especially new grads. Topics range from setting down roots in a new city to establishing oneself as a professional, from interview and job search tips to the benefits of networking and chapter involvement.
Events and event recordings
The events hosted by the Duck Career Network are the best resource for you to get a career-oriented jump on becoming involved in your alumni community. Alumni with career knowledge and experience participate by passing their knowledge forward to the next generation of Ducks. These events are held both virtually and in-person, though there are a greater number of virtual events. Through these events, you can learn about leadership, entrepreneurship, networking, first job experiences, and more! Recordings of virtual events can be accessed under the Events Recording tab!
The recordings are organized even further in the Alumni Skill Share section. The Alumni Skill Share section comprises all event recordings that are specifically related to teaching skills, both hard and soft, that are important as you enter the professional world. Think of it as a UO-based LinkedIn Learning, brought to you by fellow Ducks!
CareerShift job database
The UO Alumni Association is proud to partner with CareerShift to provide alumni with access to over 7.4 million jobs in the US. Through this program alumni will gain free access to contact information for over 91 million emails and direct dial phone numbers globally.
The University Career Center
Now that you have become familiar with the Duck Career Network, it is time for you to be re-introduced to another amazing resource on campus: the University Career Center! You may be thinking that the University Career Center is only for those who are currently students, but that is not the case! The UO Career Center is a great resource for alumni up to one year post graduation, providing many services that are invaluable as you begin your professional journey.
1:1 career coaching for up to one year post graduation
Career coaches at the University Career Center are a fantastic resource for both recent grads and students of any year. Career coaching is offered in one-on-one appointments that graduates can (and should!) take advantage of for up to one year post graduation. Use these appointments to learn about professionalism and negotiation, searching for jobs and internships, building your resumes and cover letters, using the Handshake job search database and LinkedIn, interviewing, and any other topics around career building that you might have!
Lifetime HandShake access
Ducks receive lifetime access to the job search database HandShake. Looking for a part-time job, internship, volunteer, work-study, or early career opportunities? Want to learn about upcoming career readiness workshops and events? Use Handshake to search for jobs, discover new career possibilities, access our career resource library, register for career readiness events and workshops, and connect with local and national employers.
Graduating class resources
The University Career Center website has a section just for you that is full of helpful resources as you move forward from your undergraduate years.
We know that career resources can seem intimidating, especially if you are using them without knowing some of the basic terms and practices that may be referenced. That’s why we've outline some "career prep 101" terms and practices, so that you can use your campus career resources with confidence!
First, networking. Networking is probably the most important thing to understand and practice when it comes to setting yourself up for professional success. It is often through word of mouth that job seekers learn of new opportunities. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you have developed professional connections who can let you know when such jobs do come around. Creating and maintaining a network of professional contacts is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your burgeoning career. In fact, the University of Oregon has its own LinkedIn group that you can and should join. This group will connect you with a vast Duck network.
This brings us to our next item: LinkedIn. If you are planning on reaching out to your fellow alumni, then you should spend some time making sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date and relevant. LinkedIn is basically an online resume, just in a longer form. Your profile picture should be professional, your experience accurate, and your skills section relevant and up to date. Spend a few minutes every week working on your LinkedIn profile to turn it into something that you are proud to have represent you to your fellow alumni and potential employers who may look you up.
Don’t think of LinkedIn as a one way street, though - it is an incredibly useful resource for those on the job hunt. The Duck Career Network has hosted events about how to utilize LinkedIn in the past, so follow this link to the workshop “How To Win On LinkedIn” and brush up on your LinkedIn skills! As previously mentioned, you can use LinkedIn to connect with fellow alumni. You can also look up companies you are interested in and look through the listed employees. You can filter further from this list and specifically search for Ducks employed by a company. From there, you can reach out to fellow alumni to see how they ended up at this company, and maybe how you can too in the future. This type of meeting is called an "informational interview."
Informational interviews are a process by which you can start to build your network. Though the word “interview” is in the name, you are not actually interviewing for anything. Rather, this is a meeting for you and your new connection to get to know each other in a professional capacity. If you are interested in how they got their job, this is a great place to ask them about it. Below is an outline of how you can utilize Duck Career Network resources to connect with alumni and ask for informational interviews.
Let’s say you attended the “Women’s Leadership in Business Panel,” and you were very impressed with one of the panelists. They have the kind of job you're interested in, in an industry you would like to pursue. Armed with only your knowledge that they were a panelist, you go to the event recording. From there, you see that both panelists have shared links to their LinkedIn profiles on the event recording page. You click on the panelist you were interested in and are taken to her LinkedIn. What now?
From there, you can send a connection request. More importantly, however, is that your request can be personalized with a note. It is in this space that you can reach out about a possible informational interview. There are many ways you can do this. One example:
Hi [Name]! I am a [first year, second year, etc.] UO student, and I attended your panel “Women’s Leadership in Business” last week. I was very impressed with your career path so far. Would you have the time to have a 20 minute informational interview with me? I am very interested in [industry] and would love to hear an insider’s scoop. We can do this virtually or in person, whichever works best for you!
This ask demonstrates your connection by mentioning your attendance of the event and that you are a UO student, your interest in their industry and desire to hear advice they can give you, as well as your professionality by specifically stating a time limit and naming the meeting as an informational interview. You do not need to use this word for word, but it may be helpful to keep these key elements in mind.
We hope you found these career resources helpful as you begin your post-UO career journey! Best of luck, and Go Ducks!