97. From Campus to Career: Leverage Alumni Networks for College and Career Readiness

Harnessing Alumni Networks: A Journey from Campus to Career

In this episode of 'College and Career Ready,' host Sonia Cacique introduces Quincey Hettinger as they continue the conversation. Together they explore her experiences as a student at Brigham Young University. Quincey shares how involvement in the Student Alumni Association shaped her college experience, provided leadership opportunities, and helped build meaningful connections that furthered her career. The discussion emphasizes the importance of networking, leveraging alumni associations, and actively participating in college events to transition smoothly from education to a successful career.

00:00 Introduction to College and Career Ready Podcast
01:08 Guest Introduction: Meet Quincey Hettinger
01:48 Discovering the Alumni Association
05:13 The Power of Connections
08:35 Networking for Career Success
13:25 Leadership and Volunteering Experiences
14:54 Final Thoughts and Advice
15:36 Closing Remarks and Call to Action

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"Stay well, be present, and enjoy the journey"

Transcript

Sonia Intro: 0:01

​Welcome to College and Career Ready, the only podcast that helps students transition from high school to college and college to their career. My name is Sonia Cacique. I'm a former educator, certified school counselor, career coach, and founder of Discover U. Together, we will redefine what it truly means to be college and career ready. And with our community, you don't have to do this alone. So come with me and let's get started.

Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-1: 0:35

Are you ready to unlock the secret to transforming your career opportunities?

Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Microphone): 0:39

In today's episode, we will expand on the power of networking and building connections during your college years. Joining us is Quincy Henninger who will share her incredible journey and practical tips on leveraging the alumni association. and making meaningful connections that last a lifetime, whether you're just starting college or about to graduate, this episode is packed with valuable insights that can shape your career trajectory. Let's dive right in and start transforming your future today.

1:08

Welcome, Quincy. Welcome to the college and career ready podcast. Thank you so much for being here with us today. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. For our audience. Can you give us a little bit of a high level overview about your background and who Quincy Henninger is? Yes, I'd love to. So I attended Brigham Young university where I majored in global supply chain management with a minor in Spanish. And during my time in college, I was really involved with the student alumni association, which was really. Pivotal part of my experience that I use, to build a lot of skills in college that are still really beneficial to me today. I love that. So, tell me a little bit about the alumni association. So how did you come across them? the reason I asked is because most students sometimes are completely You know, just they don't even know that it exists, and they don't even realize it until after they graduate. So how did you find out about the Alumni Association? Yeah, so when I was first about to start at Brigham Young University before my freshman year, I signed up for this leadership camp that they had for freshmen. It just was two or three days before orientation, and I signed up for that honestly just because I wanted to meet people and make some friends. I was going to Brigham University as an out of state student, so didn't know a lot of people that were going to be going there. And at the camp, it was, it was a lot of fun, but a big part of it was Teaching students what a college experience could look like and the different opportunities that were available. And so there was a big focus on all of the different volunteer and leadership organizations that existed on campus, kind of in a career fair style, but like a club fair, different organization fair to be able to learn. About just the different things that you could get involved in as soon as school started. And so the student alumni association was one of the organizations that I talked to when I felt like we really clicked. So got my name on an email list. And then, uh, I met up with them again after that camp and began, I began with the student alumni association, just as a volunteer for about 2 years. And then I eventually became an employee there where I served 2 years 1st year as the vice president of traditions events. And then my 2nd year was as the president of the executive board, and I know a lot of people are sometimes confused about what a student alumni association is. But our, our motto was. And the purpose of the Student Alumni Association was really to establish meaningful connections between students, alumni, and the university. So, not only to think about, or kind of, not to postpone connecting with each other until after you leave the campus, but to be able to figure out how you can connect. Use your time and your talents to start contributing and connecting while you're a student and the student alumni association kind of had 3 main pillars. It was like an event planning group. So the 1st pillar was. philanthropy, which is what I first got involved in. I helped out with a food drive, I helped out with a student run scholarship fundraiser, and then the second pillar is the traditions event. So we did, we had a traditions ball where we had The mascot would come and he'd be all dressed up and we had traditional foods that were known on the campus. We also had a summit leadership conference where we would have alumni come and speak. The entertainment would be also alumni that had attended BYU. And then the last pillar was connections. And the main program there was developing a, similar to LinkedIn, it was kind of a BYU only LinkedIn and helping to gain those connections and help students to connect in a very BYU specific way. I love that. let's highlight on that connections because that is the part that is just so dear to my heart. what type of connections can students expect to have if they start involving themselves with their student alumni association? Yeah, I think there's so many different connections. I know initially for me, the connections that I was looking for were just friends. And so I started volunteering and I would have these weekly meetings with other students. And it was, it was pretty casual. It was fun. There was an office where the upperclassmen would kind of hang out. And these were people that I really admired. I love that. Rather than. Doing other things, you know, working in the cafeteria, these people were spending time putting on a food drive or doing these things that I really admired of being able to help the community and provide that service. And so for me, the 1st round of connections was. just friendship and finding people that I admire and I felt like I had things in common with. And then secondarily after that, it was being connected to the university because of my roles that I had in this organization. I got to connect to some of the BYU administration, some of the leaders there. And that was really amazing too, to get a little bit of a inside peek into what was important at BYU and be able to stand up for the things that this organization stood for. And then on top of that, then became the connection to alumni that were outside of the BYU campus and being able to use this BYU Connect platform to find alumni. I was involved with this organization the whole time I was at BYU. And so this was during times when I wasn't sure what I wanted to study. I hadn't, picked a major yet, and then eventually I applied to a major, I got in and was looking for an internship and a job, and so throughout the whole time of my college experience, a lot of different parts and different kind of eras for me. I was able to use my, the skills that I had learned of the importance of connecting and be able to use that to find people who helped me learn what I want to do, what I don't want to do, and how to build a career. Yeah, thank you for explaining those three different types because you're right, sometimes, students are look well to start off is just building someone to connect with, especially students who are out of state, you're out of your, comfort zone, being able to find other students who are in the same path as you are, but then also you mentioned something that you said there was a lot of people you looked up to. And, I always say. Go into a room where you're not the smartest, you're not the brightest, because you want to learn from the people who are ahead of you, the people who are. Five, 10 steps ahead of you so you can learn from them. So I think that's, that's pivotal now, especially in today's society, where students are more, doing a lot of things virtually versus in person. but then you moved on and talked about leaders. And again, those are people who can bring a lot of experience to you. And then your third one was careers. So tell me a little bit more about that. because that's, that's the goal of the College of Career Ready podcast is connect the dots from education to careers. How can these connections and alumni help them? For their career path. Yeah, I think networking is so important. I have directly benefited from networking at every part of my career. I feel like it played a really, really pivotal role in securing my internship when I was going through the recruiting process. And the three jobs that I've had in my career have all been because of, I had a foot in the door through a BYU connection. And in most cases, it was not necessarily someone I knew super well, but Found them on LinkedIn or found them through mutual friends and was able to use them to learn about the company and see, is this job a good fit? Is this industry a good fit? What are the pros and cons of this experience and being able to use that? I think in my first, in my first few years in college, It was really just exploring and learning. I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I just talked to a lot of different people who were in HR or in marketing or strategy or consulting, just a lot of different businesses, a lot of different industries, and I just tried to get everything I could out of them. And I think it's, it's kind of becomes a fun game of you meet one person and they can refer you to someone else. And it kind of keeps this chain going of just being able to, to learn. And then after I felt like I'd learned. About a lot of different industries and different careers, then I was able to use that to specifically guide to where I wanted to go and specific jobs that I wanted. And that was really helpful. Like, I think something that is. One of the most important parts about networking is people are eager to help. I've been on the other side a little bit now where students will reach out to me and I always wanna talk to them. I wanna, I'll spend 20 minutes on the phone with them to try to help them if I can. And I definitely felt that on the other side as a student, these are people that, they've been in our shoes, they understand what it's like. They know it's hard. If they're having a good experience where they are, they wanna share that with other people. They wanna help you get to where they are. Yes, I tell the students that I coach is just ask for a 15 minute info session. I actually had one student, connect with someone who works for the Seattle Mariners and, And he requested a 15 minute info session, which later ended up being like a 45 minute session, which was great because they offered it. And why not? So it's beautiful. And you're right. People are, are there to help in and support others because we've been there. We've gone through that road. any tips on how to keep up with your connections? It seems like you are very well connected. Any tips you can share on, on that? Yeah, I think something I had to recognize is that not Although a lot of people are willing to talk to you, there are going to be some people who aren't going to reply. You got to throw a lot of bids out there to get some back. And I think past that there will be people that you're going to connect with more naturally. There's going to be people where it seems like they're more quickly invested or that you relate to them more, or just their story really resonates with you. And so I think it's important to not expect that everyone you talk to will become, uh, these lifelong mentors, but being able to find the people where you really connect and continue to check in. The, I have a person who helped me get my first full time job after I graduated, and this is someone who we, we've met a handful of times in person, but most of our relationship is virtual. It's through texting. He's only, I think, two years older than me, but I've gone back to him time and time again because he's someone that showed up for me He wrote a letter of recommendation for me when he hardly knew me and that helped me get the job. And so he's someone that I could see was willing to partner with me, willing to work with me and wanted to see me succeed. And so he's someone that I still, to this day, go to if I'm having a bad day at work and I don't know what to do, or have an interview coming up for a job and I need some tips. He will show up for me and he'll be there. And that has been so nice to find someone like that who will be the friend and the mentor over years in different seasons of my career. Yeah. Good point. Good point. Because you're right. We, you know, some people will hit it off a little easier and better. And it, it's just a, just a keep, keep going. Trying game, right? and you know, since you brought the Alumni Association, just to encourage our listeners, you can, there's a lot of work study opportunities. You're right. Instead of like doing a work study opportunity at the campus where you're isolated. Get yourself into helping, you know, the Alumni Association. You can also volunteer your time or just join, right? Just join, to be able to support other students as well. Any other, words of thought before we wrap up our conversation? just the last bit here, in addition to the power of connections and being able to have that, I think the reason I also enjoyed being a part of the student alumni association is because it really provided me with a lot of leadership experiences. I didn't have a lot of work experiences when I came into college. And so. These experiences I had volunteering and then later working were experiences that I really relied on to get me that first internship and to get me that first job. And I felt like being in that position to volunteer on campus and help put these events together, it did feel like a position of power that I wouldn't have been given in a full time job immediately, one of the things I think I'm most proud of from that time is I put on this leadership summit where it's a two day experience with about 800 students in attendance. We had a band come and play, we had games, we had dinner and prizes and alumni speakers that would come in from out of town and professors who would come and speak. And to be in charge of that when I was only, you know, maybe 21 years old, I felt like I really gained a lot of confidence in myself to be able to succeed in a career. My manager in college believed in me to get things done and to, to be in charge and to also be able to mentor people who are younger than me. And that leadership experience I think has been so pivotal to just being able to be confident in myself and know that I can succeed in my job now. Yeah, I love this because I always tell students, enjoy the journey, and it seems to me, Quincy, that you enjoyed your college journey. Yeah, I definitely did. and it's supposed to be enjoyable and an opportunity to learn, build your resume. And, the last thing I want to tell our student listeners, Is the number one thing is to actually attend there's so many events at all colleges at all universities, they invest so much to have these events to have these networking events, college fairs, career fairs, student events, all you have to do is attend. That's the number one advice we can give you is just go and show up. Exactly. Yeah. Thank you so much, Quincy, for being here with us. I really appreciate all of your time and your words of wisdom that hopefully our student listeners can take away and be inspired and the, make the best choices when they start going to school and connecting with others. Thanks so much. Have a great day. Thank you for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much to me if you share it with a friend, a colleague, or your own community. If you share it on social media and tag me, I'll make sure to personally thank you. My two favorite places to hang out are Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our show notes for a direct link. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. And as always stay well, be present and enjoy the journey. I'll talk to you next week. Adios.