Why it works
Porter alumni concentrate in the region's manufacturers, design studios, health systems, schools, and tech employers, and they hire from their own program because they know what a Porter graduate can do. An alum is also the most honest source you have on what a job or a company is actually like — they have no reason to recruit or discourage you.
The informational interview
You are asking for 20–30 minutes to hear about their path and their work, not for a job. Come with specific questions — how they got from your major to their role, what a normal week looks like, what they wish they had done as a student. End by asking whether there is anyone else they would suggest you talk to. That is how the network compounds.
How to find them
The alumni mentor network pairs students with alumni by field for ongoing conversations. The online alumni directory (available to students) and program-specific alumni lists let you search by employer or role. Faculty and career coaches make direct introductions — ask. Alumni also come back for the Career Conference, guest talks, and program advisory boards.
Making the ask
A short, specific message: who you are (name, major, year), why them (a shared program, a company you are curious about, a path you are considering), and a small clear request (20 minutes, by phone or video, in the next couple of weeks). Most alumni say yes to a student who is specific and respectful of their time.
Follow up and stay in touch
Send a thank-you within a day that references something specific they said. If they suggested a next step, do it and tell them you did. A light check-in once or twice a year — an update on your path — turns a single conversation into a real connection, and that is the person who forwards you a job posting two years later.
Give it back later
The students who got the most from alumni tend to become the alumni who answer messages. Career for Life keeps you in the network after graduation; the mentor network always needs people who were recently in the student's seat.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.