At the Alumni Association we sometimes take for granted that you see everything we do to serve you, your fellow alumni and our University. But realistically, that’s not always the case. You might see parts of what we do—a Reunion that brought you back to Grounds, an Alumni Hall football tailgate, this very magazine that brings trusted information from Grounds right to your mailbox.

But we hear over and over from our alumni—often with wonder and delight—that you are surprised when you see the full scope of what we do here at Alumni Hall, that it’s the best-kept secret on Grounds. You might have seen our scholarships, but not our services. You might have seen our gatherings, but not our giving.

The Alumni Association informs, connects, rewards, serves and invests in our alumni and our University. In each issue of Virginia Magazine, this Around Alumni Hall section will highlight an Alumni Association program or initiative we think you’ll want to know more about. We also hope it sparks new ideas that can help us serve you even better, and we welcome that feedback. In this issue, we focus on Alumni Career Services. Though some alumni know firsthand how valuable this program is, others may not be aware of what we offer and how life-changing it can be.

With our eyes on the future, we are planning for not just what our alumni need today, but also for your needs 10, 20, even 50 years from now. Planning for how what we do at Alumni Hall can continue to serve you—just as we have for the past 180 years.

Jenifer G. Andrasko (Darden ’10)
President & CEO, UVA Alumni Association

With our eyes on serving…

Alumni Career Services

Knowing that career development is such a strong need for our alumni, the Alumni Association is expanding career services to focus on the whole career journey. Our approach is to teach, not just tell. We do this through advising, programming and resources in a way that makes the process proactive and fun. We are building out professional and workplace networks to help our alumni find, connect and engage with each other. We are also developing skills training opportunities to better prepare our alumni to be leaders in the modern workforce. We want to empower alumni to own their lifelong career development and achieve fulfilling, dynamic careers.”

Amanda Panarese (Col ’99)
Director, Alumni Career Services

In last year’s All-Alumni Survey, you told us that expanding career services was one of your top areas of focus for the Alumni Association.

40%

Forty percent of respondents prioritized broadening career services and networking opportunities for and among alumni—the top vote-getter among potential focus areas.

800+

Alumni Career Services conducts more than 800 appointments per year, advising on job-search strategies, re-entering the workforce, graduate school applications and more. Appointments can be held in person, by phone or over Skype, and are free for Alumni Association life members.

35%

You might think that young alumni are the only ones seeking career advice. But mid-career alumni (ages 35-50) make up 35 percent of the advisees and are the fastest-growing segment of alumni served.