Being a Badger Has its Perks

Being affiliated with a university like UW-Madison has its advantages. One big advantage is using your Badger status to make connections with experienced alumni to gain valuable information about career paths and opportunities. Some of these contacts happen naturally as you attend events as a student. But you can be even more proactive in your approach to take control of your own career.

Here are just some of the ways to connect with alumni –

1. Search the Alumni Directory through the Badger Career Network

Our alumni have an alumni profile in our directory. They decide what information to make public, which may include email address, phone number, business address, job title and company. Students have access to this service, and can search the 30,000+ alumni who tagged themselves as a Badger Career Network participant. Visit http://www.uwalumni.com/studentcareer.aspx to register as a current student and start searching!

2. Join our Wisconsin Alumni Association LinkedIn Group

As a student, we welcome you to join LinkedIn and our group! LinkedIn is a great resource for those who are looking to connect with professionals in their industry or career of interest. Our group is open only to UW-Madison students and grads so you can more easily find people you’d like to contact. Here's the link to join the group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/40224/0F2FEB0AA671

3. Stay connected with your career office

Your career office on campus organizes dozens of events each year, including informational sessions, career fairs and networking events — all of which feature or include alumni from UW-Madison. Attend as many of these great events as possible to start building your network.

Start using your Badger status today — check out www.uwalumni.com.

Gina Evans is the Career Development Specialist for the Wisconsin Alumni Association