I was once told that 1 in 5 people that work in the Philadelphia communications industry are Temple University graduates. While I was skeptical at first, I soon became a believer. Through meeting a Temple alum at a class sophomore year, I was offered an internship. At said internship, there were more Temple grads on the staff than anyone else. At my current internship, two out of the seven full-time staff are Temple grads. As one of my professors put it, being a Temple Owl immediately affords you a ton of social capital.
You might ask, ‘What is social capital?’ Well, according to Google, social capital are the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively. For my/our purposes, that means that when you become a Temple Owl, you gain access to a vast and responsive network. You can find and make connections through fellow classmates, through faculty, and through alumni. Figure out what type of job or title you want to have in your career, and use tools like LinkedIn to find a Temple grad who has that job (I can guarantee there’s one out there). Send that person a message, tell them you’re a Temple student or recent grad and are interested in learning more, and they’ll respond. At the end of the day, most people want to help you and I succeed, so they’re going to respond to you and help you. Just show them that you’re committed, and they’ll respond in kind.
Have any comments or questions, or want to share any alumni networking experiences? Tell us in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!
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