Starting with 'Self Work': Jayhawk Connections Spark Careers
The Jayhawk Career Network Helps Students Advance
Sometimes making an impression in the job market is not just about having the right answers, but asking the right questions. It’s a way to stand out that students don’t always consider — and it can lead to deeper conversations and meaningful connections.
That’s one of the skills the Jayhawk Career Network (JCN) helps University of Kansas students understand. The free network offers professional development, mentoring, continuing education, and career networking for KU students and alumni. The program, run by the KU Alumni Association, launched in 2018 with donor seed money and is supported in part by donations from the university’s annual One Day. One KU. giving day. Through connecting students to one of KU’s most powerful resources — a global network of 400,000 alumni — it ensures the right questions are asked and answered, by and for Jayhawks.
Howard Graham, director of the JCN, said that often students’ first instinct when trying to connect with alumni is to immediately ask about internships or open positions. But Graham said he has students first focus on the person they’re connecting with to draw out an alumnus’ unique experience and expertise.
“I really advise them to not lead looking for opportunities,” Graham said. “We don't want the students to go out there and say, ‘Hey, do you have an internship for me?’ We want the students to first do self work.”
Graham, who also teaches a careers class on the Lawrence campus, provided a recent example. One of his students wanted to get into documentary filmmaking and was planning to reach out to a KU alumnus whose resume included working on ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary series. Initially, the student came up with broad, standard questions, such as how the filmmaker got into his field. But after Graham explained the importance of asking more specific questions, the concept clicked.
The student delved deeper, asking what editing software was best for certain scenes and what camera was best for certain angles. The conversation with the alumnus ended up being a success in more ways than one.
They got on the phone, and before that phone conversation was over, the student had been offered an internship. Not because he went there asking for it, but because he went there with good questions that helped him stand out.
~ Howard Graham, director of the Jayhawk Career Network
Pathways to Experience & Expertise
Making the kinds of connections that launch and advance Jayhawk careers is the fundamental work of the JCN. Currently, more than 3,000 students have profiles on the platform. The network’s services include both digital and in-person resources, such as a digital mentoring platform, a professional development webinar series, and networking events. The latter include the Mocktails and Mingle event series, produced in collaboration with the University Career Center.
Ultimately, Graham said the JCN provides students access to a living resource — the university’s alumni — that expands upon what students are learning in the classroom.
“The reason you come to KU is that access to the university’s resources, and one of its most important resources is its alumni base,” Graham said. “It's nearly 400,000 living alumni. So how do you get access to the knowledge, experiences, expertise and opportunities that live out there? We want to provide those pathways.”
The program has not only led students to career opportunities such as job shadowing and internships but also ongoing connections to alumni who have offered advice, guidance and mentoring as students enter the job market, relocate to new cities and advance their careers. Jennifer Sanner, senior vice president of public affairs for the KU Alumni Association, said the JCN also provides a way for alumni to give back to the university in a meaningful way, no matter where they are in their careers.
The Jayhawk Career Network is really the tangible manifestation of a philosophy that we've been preaching for years, which is the value of the alumni community and the connections you make. It makes a huge difference.
~ Jennifer Sanner, senior vice president of public affairs for the KU Alumni Association“It has really strengthened the value we can offer and the ultimate advantage to the university of building a community and actually putting some teeth into it. We're not just saying, there's a global network of Jayhawks — it's a tangible, specific menu of activities that has grown tremendously in only five years.”
Jayhawks Supporting Jayhawks
The Jayhawk Career Network’s growth is thanks in part to One Day. One KU.-supported initiatives such as the JCN's webinar series, provided in partnership with the Alumni Learning Consortium. The open access and archived episodes cover topics such as finding alignment between career and interests, achievable goal setting, building confidence and navigating difficult topics and situations. Graham said that in 2023, each webinar has been viewed an average of 140 times and some have as many as 600 views.
Graham said that with additional support from the 2024 One Day. One KU. campaign, the JCN could reach even higher goals. Those include organizing more speaking events that feature KU alumni, supporting additional programming, providing business-to-business networking, and doing more outreach to help spread the word among students and alumni about the services and resources it provides. He said he recently had a KU alumnus come speak to his careers class, which his students found very helpful — in their words, “amazing.”
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