After being laid off late last year, Maura J. Murrihy, a senior portfolio manager, sought help from her alma mater, the Kellogg School of Management, located on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, IL.
The 1981 MBA graduate learned she could choose one of its five alumni career coaches to give her unlimited, free advice. Ms. Murrihy worked for three months with a Kellogg coach, and ultimately landed a job with a Chicago investment consultancy. The coach "added an important layer of accountability to my job search," she says of her demanding counselor. "When you're 51 years old, you need all the help you can get."
Not-so-recent college graduates are demanding more career assistance from their former schools as they face tougher employment markets. Matthew Temple, Kellogg's director of alumni career services, says he and fellow coaches handled 2,160 appointments with MBA graduates during the eight months ended on April 30--45% more than the year earlier period.
Kellogg's counseling sessions focus on self-assessments, resume and cover-letter critiques, plus mock interviews. Coaches also help their alumni assemble lists of potential employers and will assist with salary negotiations for the successful.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2008