By Nick Zatopa, Public Relations Writing Student
SAN FRANCISCO – I am speaking with Dylan Houle who runs the Alumni Mentor Program at USF. He has been with the program for three years and has been in charge of building the program since he was hired in early 2014. The program is about to start up this year and is a great opportunity for students to gain knowledge from a professional in their field of interest, as well as widen their networks.
What is the goal of the Alumni Mentor Program?
Dylan Houle: The Alumni Mentor Program is meant to facilitate meaningful professional connections between current students and recent graduates, with experienced alumni working in the field. It is not designed like an internship, but rather our goal is for the student to create new and positive relationships as well as gain good, solid professional advice from college to career. That being said, we do hear of students who eventually obtained a position through the network they created during program.
How many students use the program?
Dylan Houle: In terms of just participation size, in our first year (2014-2015) we had about 80 students and 80 alumni. In our second year (2015-2016) we had about 150 alumni sign up and then over 250 students sign up, so not all the students got matched. This year we have 250 alumni signed up and we’re still in the middle of recruiting students. About 115 have signed up to date with more invitations going out in the coming weeks.
Which companies are represented?
Dylan Houle: Something that is interesting to note is that more than 60 percent of the alumni that sign up, graduated within the last 10 years; so it’s a very young mentorship population. I think this is because the closer you are from graduation, the more you remember what you needed as a student, and the more willing you are to give back. There are a lot of people in the program with middle management positions, even some entry level positions, and you get students that are pursuing their advanced degree, like a masters degree or a doctoral degree, that are willing to come back and help current students. That being said, all big four accounting firms are represented, a variety of banks (Wells Fargo, First National, Citibank), all the tech companies are represented (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Airbnb), a variety of smaller startups, and the hospitality industry is very well represented. One of our mentors owns One Market, another mentor of ours owns The Lot, which is a beer garden in the Marina, so you have all varieties, and we invite all alumni to participate.
What is the structure of the program, and how does the matching process work?
Dylan Houle: The program is structured as a six-month program from November to April. Throughout the summer we invite mentors to come in and fill out registration forms, a couple of short answer questions in terms of who they are and what students should know about them. When the students come in to fill out their forms and select a mentor, the pool of 250 mentors will get narrowed down based on the school that the student is enrolled in (Arts and Sciences, School of Nursing, etc.). We don’t force a match or assign a mentor to a student. The student can look at the mentor’s experience level, their age and their background and then make that decision if they want to be matched with that mentor. Once the student chooses a mentor and is approved, we send out an automated email introducing the student to the mentor, and from there they are invited to RSVP to our kickoff dinner. That is when the students and mentors have the opportunity to meet each other for the first time. From there, the ball is really in the mentor and mentee’s court to keep the relationship going. We suggest they meet once a month, and over the six months we do facilitate opportunities for the mentor and mentee to get together, because we understand that it can sometimes be hard. The first thing we do is partner with athletics, and they offer us complimentary tickets to the men’s basketball exhibition game. Every month after that we host what we “call small group sessions”, and those are hosted by an alumni mentor at their place of work. An example of a past event would be a tour of Airbnb with a dinner at the headquarters hosted by Mike Jennings the CIO.
Are there other networking opportunities with other mentors?
Dylan Houle: Yes, that is why we do the small group sessions. That is the main vehicle for you to meet other mentors. We don’t give out contact information for mentors other than your own because, if we did, certain mentors that work at high level positions or very sexy companies would be deluged with offers of coffee or going to lunch. We do, however, see people at the small group sessions and even the kickoff dinner shaking hands and creating connections with other mentors. It is also advantageous for mentors to attend the small group sessions in order to expand their networks by meeting other mentors.
What do you see for the future of the program?
Dylan Houle: We have demonstrated that there is an interest and a need amongst alumni and students for a program like this. What I would like to see is growth but, at the same time, a more focused approach. What I mean by that is bringing on more departments to play a more active role in recruiting alumni to mentor their students. Also the small group sessions, which have been very broad based; as we get bigger and we recruit more mentors from specific departments, we can put together small group sessions specifically for one department. As we grow I can manage the more broad-based parts of the program and then work with department chairs and faculty members or even club leaders to come up with exclusive, targeted ways that people within the program can get together.
If you are interested in joining the program, the kickoff dinner this year is Tuesday, Nov. 1, from 6-8 p.m. which means you have less than a month to sign up! If you would like to sign up you can click HERE and if you would like to take a look at the Alumni Mentor Program website, please click HERE.
