Alumni Career Programs, led by Nick Theodorou ’98, is in the midst of a period of innovation, outreach and expansion. As the primary resource for alumni networking opportunities, the team is focused on connecting alumni to students, academic departments and other alumni to foster a global community of Bruins helping Bruins. Learn how you can take advantage of this resource.

Sometimes, it’s not just about what you know but who you know. In fact, studies have shown that the majority of people have found their jobs through some form of networking. UCLA Alumni Affairs understands this well and is responding to the call for more career networking.

The team of two, led by senior director of Alumni Career Programs, Nick Theodorou ’98, and supported by coordinator Diane Higgins, have taken popular existing programs to the next level. Take the Alumni Mentor Program. In 2011, the program had a couple hundred participants among students and alumni. In 2013, more than 1,750 applied to be a mentor or to be mentored by a Bruin. This substantial growth also included some segmentation by career field, exclusively pairing nursing and engineering students with alumni in the same field. As a follow up, several networking events were organized such as going to a basketball game and career development workshops to keep the mentor pairs engaged.

Interview With a Bruin is another popular UCLA event that pairs alumni with students for mock interviews and feedback. Always a sellout on campus, the program is taking the show on the road and pairing entry-level Bruins with experienced alumni in the same fields for both career info and interviewing style feedback.

Entertainment Networking Night remains virtually unchanged. This is where alumni in entertainment return to give career advice to aspiring students in small roundtable discussions. This year has attracted the largest crowd of students and alumni ever, topping more than 700 attendees. This record attendance can be attributed to strategically reaching out to more alumni in the industry as well as cultivating a partnership with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the UCLA Career Center.

Cross-campus collaborations have generated several new initiatives for alumni volunteer involvement and student career development. In partnership with the Career Center, the Career Prep Externship program is a one-day job shadowing opportunity for a student to experience a day-in-the-life of a graduate in their field of interest. In partnership with the UCLA College of Letters and Sciences, programs like Academics in Action allows students to present a specific project in front of a team of alumni professionals, who then provide feedback on both the content and style of the presentations. Additionally, alumni are brought back to lead lab courses which help students learn real-world concepts related to their discipline.

Off campus, Theodorou works closely with Bruin Professionals and Young Alumni Professionals. Each network hosts a variety of networking and career-oriented events and meetings. They are always looking to expand their alumni membership as well as looking for opportunities to engage with the university.

On May 1, the UCLA Career Center and UCLA Alumni Affairs collaborated to produce the first ever Master’s and Ph.D. Career Conference. This symposium for UCLA Graduate Students and Postdocs, will connect them with more than 100 advanced degree alumni, explore career paths and develop professional skills used in and outside of the academy.

Alumni Career Programs also maintains two key online networking tools. The UCLA Alumni Directory allows any degree holder to find and contact other alumni by occupation, degree or hometown. The UCLA Alumni group on LinkedIn also enables you to learn more in-depth information about alumni and facilitate your own networking opportunities.

UCLA is a big community. With more than 415,000 living alumni and nearly 40,000 students, the long term vision of Alumni Career Programs is to advance the career interests of both alumni and future alumni through campus resources and networking opportunities.

To learn more, visit alumni.ucla.edu/connections or contact bruincareers@alumni.ucla.edu.