Alumni from all of the University of California campuses will gather tomorrow at Covel Commons for the first all-day career conference being held by the nine UC alumni associations.
The event, called Career Moves 2008, is the first of two alumni-only conferences. The second will take place in San Francisco in March.
Interested alumni must register and pay a fee, though walk-ins are accepted. Around 300 or more alumni are expected to participate, representing all of the UC campuses.
The event is co-produced by seasonedPRO, a private service aimed at helping alumni and their alma maters through career advancement programs.
Richard Katz, founder and CEO of seasonedPRO and a UCLA alumnus, said he believes the program will give alumni an opportunity that may not be available otherwise.
The first step, however, is deciding to attend conferences such as this one, Katz said.
“People don’t like to admit that they need help. It’s sort of like a stigma,” Katz said of the unwillingness alumni often have to attend career workshops.
The conference is geared toward alumni who have been in the workforce for three or more years and are looking to advance in their field or explore outside it, according to the seasonedPRO Web site.
Often it is the members of the younger generation who are able to make these changes, Katz said.
“Younger people are more patient and more open to getting help,” Katz said.
The alumni associations decided to band together as a result of the economic downturn and the possible effects it will have on the job market for alumni, said James Stofan, assistant vice president for Alumni Affairs and Protocol at the UC Office of the President.
Even so, UCLA alumni hold an advantage over alumni at other schools.
Min Kyu Yang, who is the vice president of the new Business Leadership Society on campus as well as the founder of a contracting business, said he believes that diversity is useful in the workforce.
“(Students come) from a crowd that’s extremely diverse. They’re very strong with dealing with many types of people,” Yang said. “This is helpful in the industry.”
The conference will begin early in the morning and will continue throughout the day with lots of time designed for alumni to network with potential employers.
The program is divided into workshops that focus on strategies for advancing in a career. The wide range of speakers and potential employers grants alumni a much broader field of options, Stofan said.
Yang, who has attended various career fairs before but will not attend tomorrow, said he hopes the conference gives many details on success stories.
“I want to learn more about details ““ not necessarily the industry that I’m interested in, but how they got where they are.”
While the conference is only for UC alumni, Katz said that undergraduates can start researching their fields of interest. He suggests talking to professionals in the area and maybe doing an internship.
“They should educate themselves. … A lot of people enter jobs without any real thought beforehand,” Katz said. “Industries have a different culture. It’s important to not waste time.”