Whitties Helping Whitties is a partnership between the Alumni Office and the Student Engagement Center that helps current students connect with alumni in order to grow their knowledge, build valuable networks and find career opportunities. The offices sponsors multiple opportunities for alumni to connect with students via networking, presentations or even just casual chats. Scroll down to see tips and advice from alumni about creating your best life after college.
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You only have four years in college. How do you get the most out of your time at Whitman and prepare yourself for your life after graduation? Alumni share their tips for enjoying your time in Walla Walla, exploring careers and finding your dreams.
Developing relationships with industry professionals in your field of interest can open up new information and access to professional opportunities. Learn more about the power of Whitman connections as alumni share tips they've honed and stories of their networking successes and failures.
Why is there power in networking?
Impressing the interviewer relies just as much on the way you prepare for your interview as the confidence and presence you portray in the moment. So, how do you get started?
It is important to spend time networking, learning about what the company does, and understanding cultural dynamics of the people there.
Networking is not always clearly established at the top of the list because it takes time, it can be awkward getting acquainted with someone new, and the conversations require you to be attentive. However, it is important because you have the opportunity to set up and establish long-term relationships that will help you in your professional career.
Specifically, if you are interested in the company they are working at it is helpful to start networking with them before they enter the hiring period. In my case, I started networking with an alumni that worked at a venture capital firm in Seattle. I started with a phone call and talked to him about the work that he was doing to understand if it fit my interests. A few months later, I reached out when I was going to Seattle and we sat down and had coffee to discuss what I had been working on at Whitman and what he had been working on at the firm. While at coffee, I emphasized skills that I had been developing that might lend well to his line of work. This panned out well for me because in the following months, after keeping in touch and keeping a pulse for job openings at the company, he contacted me to let me know they had an opening for an analyst. It was not long after that I was interviewing for the position as an employee referral, which went a long way, and I received an offer.
In my experience networking, I found each conversation to be beneficial and unique because they offered me the chance to develop a professional skill set, meet mentors, access a potential job, and gain access to new resources that helped my personal career development. Thus, the act of networking became a rewarding activity for me because not only did I develop professionally, but I had engaging conversations with Whitman alumni that were always willing to invest their time and energy into helping me navigate the transition into the job market.
Thus, I highly suggest opening the door and beginning conversations to help the transition into life after Whitman. It will not only aid your efforts in your job search, but it will help you explore different industries while meeting mentors that are excited to help you along the way.
Throughout his career path, Brian Choe '14 has discovered the power of networking.
"I like to tell students that during the process of networking, you have very little to lose and so you should cast a wide net - reaching out to a friend of a friend or maybe someone you've never met, you lose nothing by just reaching out," said the economics graduate who now works at Technolutions.
In addition to networking, Choe says that he relies a lot on the "soft skills" in his work environment. These skills - like communication, organization and analytical thinking - were things he developed at Whitman in classes, campus jobs, and organizations he worked with.
"A lot of employers aren't looking for those hard skills, but more so whether you have the prowess to know how to find the answer if you don't know the answer. The ability to be resourceful and understanding that we are sharpening a lot of these soft skills to thrive in a world of ambiguity," Choe said.
An education from Whitman College is a power tool on your career development toolbelt. Alumni in this section moved into fulfilling careers from a variety of Whitman academic programs. Some discovered career interests along their post-graduate journey, while others maintained their interests from college to career. Explore alumni's stories of how they found a satisfying career after Whitman, and get tips for success in specific industries.
When you grow up in certain neighborhoods in Bellevue, Washington, you get a particular idea of what “success” looks like.
For Al-Rahim Merali ’13, success meant a future in engineering, health or computer science.
As a high school senior and first-generation college student, he applied exclusively to engineering and computer science programs. Then his high school counselor told him to apply to Whitman College — immediately.
“She told me the deadline was approaching, and I should apply, and that we’d talk about it later,” Merali said. So he did, even though he thought Whitman was a ‘reach’ school for him.
He got into what he considered his dream school — an engineering program in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. But he also got into Whitman, and was a candidate for the Paul Garrett Scholarship, the college’s most prestigious award given to applicants who show exceptional academic and leadership achievements. Whitman flew Merali to Walla Walla, where he got to stay with a current student and learn more about the school and campus life.
“That visit completely altered my perspective,” Merali said. “I eventually turned down my dream school and decided to come to Whitman. I’m a big believer that things happen for a reason and wouldn’t trade my Whitman experience for any other.”
It's nothing new that the skills learned by students while at Whitman will be beneficial later in life, but it is the variety of activities, classes, jobs and experiences from which these skills are acquired that may come as a surprise.
For Justin Rose '15 from Corvallis, Oregon, it wasn't necessarily his rhetoric degree that led him to his career nor landed him a job working for the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin. Instead, it was the experience he gained while working with Whitman's Technology Services and as a technology and marketing fellow for the Student Engagement Center (SEC).
"When I was working with the Packers, I asked my boss later, ‘why did you want to hire me out of all the applicants for this role?' He told me that it was so great that I had a little bit of work experience in a support role with tech services, but then after that I started developing programs, running social accounts, running websites with actual consumer-based training and responsibility," Rose said. "I was given lots of responsibility in a space that I was comfortable and that helped me further down the line."
Eddy Vazquez works in Seattle as a visual designer for Amazon. He shared his journey with humor and humility during a Visiting Alumni Artist lecture at the Fouts Center for Visual Arts in October 2019.
Vazquez admits he had moments when he pondered whether he should have gone to design school. But he credits his Whitman experience with not only broadening his education and deepening his empathy, but also with helping him adjust to the the real-world of work.
"I am still figuring out adulting, but a liberal arts education gives you the tools to develop mechanisms to solve problems. Whitman prepared me for ambiguous situations. I may not know what I am doing, but I'll figure it out," he said. "At Whitman, you learn how to learn."
Graduate school can be an excellent way to further your academic and professional interests after Whitman. Alumni extend advice from personal experience with the application and selection processes, gap years and life as a grad student, to help current undergraduates and young alumni understand the possibilities of what a future in graduate school can look like.
Andrea Chin '15, a BBMB major at Whitman College, currently works as a research assistant at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland.
Eventually, Chin would like to go to graduate school and work toward an advanced science degree. She recommends students interested in lab work find a position as a research assistant before enrolling in graduate school to ensure it's what you really want to do. For Chin, going directly into research as an assistant allowed her to explore many different positions and areas of study, possibly bringing her closer to a decision on graduate school.
"I am still at that considering grad school stage, and advice I've been given from current grad students is that you should really be sure that getting a Ph.D. is necessary for what you want to do in the future," she said.
Graduate school is a big commitment, she said, so knowing that what you are studying is your passion is crucial.
"A benefit of being at a research institute like OHSU is the accessibility of seminars given by visiting professors, graduate students and post docs on a variety of fields. I was also able to audit a graduate student course," she said. "These opportunities are all helpful to keep me in the academic mindset."
Whitman students considering pursuing graduate school and careers in academia got real-world advice from Visiting Educator in Philosophy James Garrison '04 in October 2019.
Garrison's advice for graduate school focused on practical tips, such as what undergrads should consider when deciding where to apply, advantages of an urban setting for secondary degrees, and also considering international schools for both the rich experience and the potential cost-savings.
Garrison also offered strategies to make the most of graduate school and to standout in the job market. He urged students to put themselves out there — to network, participate in conferences, publish papers, get specialty certifications and pursue "side gigs" using their education and skills.
