Is this a mentorship program?
No. Huskies@Work is a job shadowing program that connects alumni & students for an opportunity for students to get a glimpse of what a particular career looks like. While some participants do stay in touch with one another, there are no requirements for a matched alumni-student pair to continue their relationship after their initial meeting/phone call.
How does matching work?
Alumni will be asked in the application to describe their job, company characteristics and more. Students will be asked to indicate their area of study and career interests. We will use these details to build strong matches among applicants with similar preferences.
While we try our best to match everyone on their top priority career interests, due to availability of alums in certain industries, it’s not always possible to have a perfect match. That said, there is a lot that students can gain from any UW alum. Look for what else you may have in common other than career — major, campus, affiliations, etc. UW alums can offer a lot of valuable advice on navigating UW, job searching, interviewing and much more.
Am I guaranteed a match if I apply?
While we hope to match all applicants, there are many variables involved, particularly the areas of interest among students and alumni who participate. We will do our best to make as many matches as possible. If for some reason we aren’t able to offer you a match, you will have earlier access to future engagement programming.
When will I hear back about my match?
You will receive an e-mail with match information in late April. Once you receive these details, you can correspond with your student(s) about determining a good date during May.
Is meeting in May required?
While we prefer that you meet in May or November, we also understand that some exceptions might make sense due to your unique schedule. If you are able to meet later in the previous month or early the next month, we support that flexibility.
How much time should I plan for a meetup?
This can vary broadly depending on industry, job type, location and scheduling. Our hope is that you can commit to an appropriate amount of time that would offer a student an accurate snapshot of a day-in-the-life in your role at work. Also, if it makes sense to split this time into two or more visits (due to scheduling, logistics and/or availability of interesting work), we support that flexibility as long as the student is able to travel to and from the job site more than once for in-person visits.
I can’t participate this time, when is the next opportunity?
Huskies@Work currently operates twice a year, once in the fall and again in the spring. Applications open in September and March.
How can I learn more?
Get in touch with the Alumni and Student Engagement team at asengage@uw.edu.