Career Guides
Professional emails and thank-you notes
LinkedIn is the ideal place to find alumni and mutual contacts. Get introduced to 2nd degree connections or reach out to alumni who are doing work that is of interest to you with this tool used by over 500 million people worldwide.
Getting introduced
1. Search for a job title, employer, or other keywords in the main search bar.
2. Find a 2nd degree connection doing something that interests you.
3. Identify your shared connection.
4. Contact your shared connection to ask them for an introduction to the 2nd degree connection.
“Hi Dustin, I see you know Susan from [employer]. I was searching LinkedIn for people doing interesting work and came across her profile. Would you be willing to introduce us so I can ask her to learn more about her career?”
5. Your connection then offers an introduction (via email or otherwise) to the 2nd degree connection.
6. Follow-up this introduction by starting a conversation with the 2nd degree connection.
7. Thank your connection for the introduction.
Meeting alumni
Loggers help Loggers! Find alumni on LinkedIn who are working in careers of interest so you can broaden your network and learn from their experiences.
1. Visit the University of Puget Sound LinkedIn page.
2. Click See alumni to see all of the Logger alumni on LinkedIn.
3. Filter alumni by where they live, where they work, what they do, what they studied, what they’re skilled at, and how you’re connected.
4. Find an alumnus/a whose career interests you. Click on their profile to learn more about their career path.
5. From the profile, click on “Connect”, then “Add a note”. Write a personal message about why you are asking to connect with this fellow Logger.
“Hello [alumnus/a], I am in search of Logger alumni working in [their type of work] and came across your profile. I would love to learn more about how you started your career in [their type of work]. Would you be interested in connecting via LinkedIn and sharing some of your insight in a phone call soon?”
6. Once you’re connected, thank them for accepting your request and inquire about a good time to chat by phone or in-person. If you meet in-person, offer to buy them coffee.
Career Advising
Career and Employment Services (CES) advisors are best equipped to serve students as they pursue part-time jobs, internships, and entry-level positions. CES may be of service to recent alumni still in pursuit of entry-level positions. Alumni with more professional experience may be better served by other career coaching services.
Alumni are welcome to contact CES to inquire about their best next steps based on their career coaching needs.
Local Career Resources
Engaged Pursuit: Career coaching practice of Logger alumnus Tom Perry ’98
Puget Sound Career Development Association
Allenmore Psychological Associates
Note: This list of professional resources is a list of options, but not an endorsement of any particular service.
Additional Resources
Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, 2016. Utilized in CES career classes, this book walks the reader through a design-focused career development process that helps to generate ideas and action steps.
The Muse: Excellent source of career advice and quips that is consistently adding new content.
Handshake
PugetSound.JoinHandshake.com features internships and entry-level jobs targeted at current students and recent graduates. For Logger alumni seeking these types of opportunities, they may request a Handshake account using their alumni.pugetsound.edu email address.
Alumni and Parent Relations (APR) will help you activate your alumni email address. Complete the Alumni Email Request to get the process rolling. Note: APR indicates that it may take up to 5 business days to process your request.