how do I use alumni contacts in my job search?

A reader writes:

I’m job searching, and I often come across jobs where alumni of my college currently work.

If I don’t know the person/people, how would I ask for their help in getting an interview or anything else related to the job I’ve applied to? I think that would be very awkward, and I don’t know why they would be inclined to help, since they don’t know me.

The idea isn’t to reach out to a stranger and say, “Will you help me get an interview?” It’s to connect as a fellow alum and ask for their guidance more broadly.

For example:

“Hi Jane! I’m a fellow alum of Sorghum State — class of 2019! I’m trying to break into the breakfast cereal field and am really interested in BarleyCo in particular. I’ve just applied for the barley quality analyst job there, and when I saw a Sorghum alumnus working there, I wanted to ask whether you might have 10 or 15 minutes for a call about the company and the field more broadly.”

It’s even better if you can give an example of a couple of the questions you’re hoping to pose to them, so they can get a better sense of whether they’re likely to be useful to you, and also because it demonstrates that you’re being thoughtful about their time and not just hoping to get a referral out of it. (If you’re thinking “but I really just want a referral,” broaden your goals! They might know of other leads that would be right for you or just have useful insights to share.)

The idea is that a lot of people feel a connection to people from their school and will be friendlier and more likely to help if you mention it. You’ve had a shared experience, to some extent have a shared frame of reference, and are part of the same network, and the person you’re contacting may have received help from fellow alumni themselves and feel good about paying it forward.

This works particularly well if you went to a small school or to one with a really active alumni network, but you can do it for any school (but in my experience, the smaller the school, the more excited people are to find a fellow alum and help you).

Plus, a lot of schools have alumni networks that alums can specifically opt into if they’re open to this kind of thing, so you might check with your school’s career center or alumni office and ask about that. If they have a directory like that and the person is listed in it, you’ll know ahead of time that they’ve expressed openness to being contacted this way.

Also, include your resume so they get a sense of your professional background and how far along you are in your career.

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