Most Carleton alums are friendly, helpful, and eager to answer questions you might have about different professions, industries, cities, or what it's like to be a Carleton graduate in the world outside of Northfield. Here's how alums can help you:

• Helpful Advice - Have questions about a particular job or career field? Talk to an alum about their job to see if it's right for you! Feel free to ask questions about employers, cities, their job, and how Carleton helped prepare them for it. Set up a business lunch or informational call or e-mail them and find out what you needed to know. Stop by the Career Center to ask about contacting alumni.
• Career Explorations - Many alums have offered to host a Carleton student at their place of work. Students can "shadow" an alum for a day or even five days to learn about the daily tasks that accompany different professions. The alums are very willing to answer questions and best of all-the Career Center does all the work to put you in contact with an alumni!
• Internships - At our online internship database, you can find some internships that are open only to Carleton students. These internships are sponsored by Carleton alums who are actively working to make life a little more interesting for students. Check out the database or come by the Career Center and ask Kathy about Carleton-specific internship opportunities. We also highlight internships with alums in the Internship Weekly.
• Jobs - Alumni are great resources for researching and finding jobs. They can offer information, ideas, advice, and maybe even names of other people to contact. However - and this is the cardinal rule - Don't Ask Alums For A Job. It puts them in an awkward spot if they can't deliver and furthermore, if they get inundated they are less likely to help other students. If you do get to know an alumni through a Career Exploration, an internship, or informational interview, though, don't be all that surprised if they offer you a job. It's been known to happen in the past. Another possibility, and the most likely one, in fact, is that an alum may recommend another contact person for a job opening. (That's called networking, and it really does work!)

Want to get in touch with an alum in a field you're interested in? The Carleton Online Alumni Directory is available for your use. Log into the Directory with your student username and password. It is searchable, and makes it easy to locate classmates living in your city, see who else is in the same profession, find alums who can provide professional services, and much more.