Where to Look
1. Start with people you know. Think of family members, friends, professors/TAs, past teachers/ coaches, work supervisors, neighbors, and anyone else you know who may be able to help. Let them know what type of contacts you are looking for. Even if your uncle doesn’t work in marketing, he may have an acquaintance who does. Try to be as specific as possible: rather than saying you are looking for “anything”, give them several different industries, skills, or locations that can help them think of particular people to refer you to.
2. Tap into the Princeton alumni community. Thousands of alumni around the world are available for you to consult when you are making decisions about your major, graduate or professional school, or career. These are the people who have walked where you have walked, and they are often eager to “give back” to Princeton by helping you with career advice and referrals.
- Alumni Careers Network (ACN): a highly searchable database of about 5000 alumni who have volunteered to provide advice about careers, majors, and finding jobs/internships. This is the place to start, as these alumni have specifically opted in to give advice.
- TigerNet (through the Alumni Association): The full Princeton Alumni Directory is useful if you have specific employers in mind. Use the “Custom Search” for employment information. You may need to contact many more individuals through the Directory to get a good response as most of them have not specifically offered to give career advice. The list of regional alumni associations can be useful if you are looking for alumni in other countries or regions of the U.S. Contact the leadership of each to get information on social events, especially to meet alumni during the summer or on breaks.
- Other Alumni : Talk with leaders in your residential colleges, eating clubs, athletic teams, and campus organizations to identify other alumni. For specialized fields and for graduate study, it is crucial you speak with faculty and staff of appropriate departments to find alumni who are studying or working in the area that interests you.
3. Reach out to other people you don’t know but who may be interested in talking with you. Potential employers and colleagues in your field of interest are always interested in developing new contacts. Expand your network through one of these ways:
Career Fairs and Employer Presentations (see TigerTracks calendar) are great ways to find out about organizations that are new to you. If you’ve never considered working for an organization because you think they only hire a particular type of person, think again. Every organization needs a broad range of individuals in various job functions to keep them going.
Professional associations are organizations of people who have similar career interests. There is at least one professional association for every career and industry imaginable. Many groups offer mentoring programs, conferences, job boards, free resources on their websites, and special membership rates for students.
Social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are also great networking resources. For more information on how to use social media in your job search and tips on effective networking strategies, check out the "Networking" section of our Career Planning Guide (use the shortcuts menu at the top of the page).
Remember, you can make a new contact just about anywhere, so there is no end to the opportunities to develop your network.