CAREER NETWORKING

• Journalism
• Law
• Accounting and financial services
• Medicine
• Education

To start this effort off, we have gone through our database and selected industry fields for a number of alumni based on career information they input.   However, only about 30 percent of our database entries have industry fields selected. To help make our effort a success, please register on the site and identify or update the industry field for your entry.  If we do not include a category that your career fits under and you believe it would be of interest to other alumni, please write to us at support@cdalumni.org and suggest a new category.

To use the networking feature:

• Go to our Searchable Alumni Database (If you do not have a user name and password, you will need to register first.)
• Select "Industry" from the drop down list
• Type in one of the valid industries listed toward the bottom of the page
• Hit "Search"

Searches can also be done using geographical criteria -- home city, state or zip code -- to help alumni who are relocating to a specific area get in touch with fellow CD alumni in that area, be it for career information or to learn where the nearest grocery store is.

Please note: These alumni have not volunteered to offer career advice or serve as mentors; they are simply listed in our database as fellow CD alumni working in specific fields or living in a particular geographic area. 

Additional note: If you receive a contact from our networking page -- or find your name listed in an industry search -- and do not wish to be contacted by alumni, simply let us know by writing support@cdalumni.org. We will remove your name from the networking search. 

COMMITTEE REPORT

Few formal resources exist at U.Va. for aspiring journalists. The Cavalier Daily, therefore, is the university’s unofficial journalism school. But many Cavalier Daily staffers and graduates do not know of the resources available to them. The Networking Committee of the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association should close that gap by providing resources and advice for aspiring journalists, as well those who are already in the field.

Immediate Goals

1) Develop a Journalism Jobs guide for Cavalier Daily staffers (on the password protected part of the web site)
• Contact young Cavalier Daily alumni who are currently working at newspaper/magazine/Public Relations jobs for input on the journalism guide (DONE)
• Dedicate a portion of the CDAA web site specifically for aspiring journalists, complete with a list of Internet resources and real-life advice from recent graduates (IN PROGRESS)
• Include link to join the recent graduate Yahoo group list serve

2) Launch web page
• Spread word among current Cavalier Daily staffers of the available resources, which includes advice from young journalists and phone numbers/email addresses of people who can help.
• Contact the American Society of Newspaper Editors to receive a copy of its Journalism internship list poster, which could be sent to the Cavalier Daily office and posted somewhere visible.

3) Seek input from Cavalier Daily Managing Board/staffers as well as young alumni

4) Talk to recent journalism graduates who are interested in maintaining the networking initiative and see what steps should be taken next

Longer Term Goals

5) Use Networking Committee and existing Cavalier Daily Alumni Association committees to contact older alumni who are more established in the journalism business
• Ask them to contribute their stories/advice/input on how to succeed in the field, perhaps updating the CDAA Jobs page with this information

6) Include on web site a list of all newspapers/magazines, etc. where Cavalier Daily alumni have worked/work.
• Include links to newspaper/magazine web sites as well as e-mail addresses or telephone numbers for a contact person there

-- Nicola White
Spring 2005

Over the course of the last few months, we have updated about 1/2 of the networking surveys we received. We have about 70 surveys at this point. The rest of the updating will be completed by the end of October 2003.

Before beginning to work with the Programming Committee and Communications Committee on other networking initiatives such as a spring journalism job fair and a possible CDAA listserve, the committee is planning to meet with the CD Managing Board to discuss the paper's needs. The meeting is tentatively planned for November in Charlottesville.

Once the paper has expressed what they would like from the networking group, we will formulate a detailed plan by the next board meeting.

I am also playing phone tag with OCPP to discuss what may be possible with a job fair and whether the new media program is already working on something similar.

Since I am looking for a job myself, I am very familiar with popular journalism job sites, so I will send Andrew a list of journalism job websites to link to from the CDAA website to help others in a search. I'll send the list by the end of November, if not sooner.

Lauren Shepherd
Networking Chairman
Fall 2003
 

Following the birth of the CDAA Networking Committee this Fall, we have been working to write and fine-tune a strategic plan, recruit members and begin updating the alumni web database.

In the strategic plan, we outlined objectives for the next year, including contacting CD alumni to update their contact information and to determine what sort of assistance they would be willing to provide, such as mentoring, informational interviews, reviewing clips or giving relocation advice. We sent out a networking survey to alumni in December and have been collecting responses. If you have not sent in your survey, please help us out and do so as soon as possible!

We also plan to work with our current CDAA Programming Committee to host seminars with business professionals at the paper. Other plans include setting up a CD listserv for students and alumni subscribers that will post job and internship openings, organizing a journalism job fair in connection with the Office of Career Planning and Placement, and generally promoting the committee’s objectives and events.

We are still looking for volunteers for the committee to help plan events and contribute ideas for how to help current and future CD alumni network to find jobs and internships. If you would like to help, please contact me at laurenconsult@yahoo.com or at (804) 644-1599.

— Lauren Shepherd
Networking Chairman
February 2003