In response to the economic downturn, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley has ramped up it career advising services with new evening hours, job search teams for out-of-work alumni and satellite services for alumni in New York.
Amid a job tough market, the demand for alumni advising has been on the rise. “In the past year we’ve seen our numbers double for alumni advising,” says Pat Demasters, director of MBA Career Services. “With our new evening advising hours, I would expect that number to increase substantially in 2009,” he continued.
In November, Alumni Career Services added free evening advising hours two days a week, with two to four advisers available to help alums.
Another new addition this fall is the creation of job search teams to help alumni who are out of work. These job search teams, facilitated by a career advisor, are made up of teams of alumni who work together for six weeks sharing experiences and advice.
“It was a good way to jumpstart my job search and gain some knowledge up front that probably would have taken me some time to otherwise figure out,” said Jim Carney, BS 83, MBA 87. Carney found himself out of a job when his employer went up for sale, and he hadn’t actively looked for a job in more than 20 years.
“As a former student, I was very pleased that the school took as much interest as it does in trying to help alumni,” he said.
Anticipating increased alumni need in the New York City area, Haas MBA Career Services has also beefed up its programs there. Through a partnership with Columbia Business School, the Haas Alumni Relations Office has added a range of career management programs for New York alumni and has hired a part-time career coach in Manhattan.
Chapters of the Haas Alumni Network (HAN) in other cities also have added programming focused on career management, including lectures and events on career transitioning.
To learn more about expanded career services at Haas, click here.
