The Altman Program hosted Tulane's Career Specialists Ed Pittman, Byron Kantrow and Julie Hauber, on the Uptown Campus on Wednesday, October 21st as part of Altman's Career Development Series for Altman Scholars. One of the major goals of the Altman program is to prepare our scholars for careers in today's interconnected global workforce. In order to get a head start, we brought in experts to teach students how to leverage various social media tools, even as freshmen, to begin developing a meaningful network. Given that over half of LinkedIn users are outside of the United States, the website is a great tool for Altman Scholars who are interested in an international career. 

Ed Pittman, a Career Advisor in Tulane's Career Center, focused on LinkedIn as a great tool for networking. But, he cautioned, LinkedIn is not about the quantity of connections, but about the quality. He urged students to remember that, LinkedIn is not about amassing a lot of connections, it's about building and maintaining authentic mutually beneficial relationships." Additionally, he advised us that research suggests that 80% of all jobs obtained by college graduates today were obtained through networking.

This session was available to all Altman cohorts that were on campus. Altman freshmen and sophomores focused on building their online presence and network, by making meaningful connections in person and on the web. With this network, our underclassmen can make more precise internship matches as they progress through their college career while also developing relationships with likeminded colleagues and classmates. Altman seniors were privy to a session geared towards their ongoing job searches as they work towards graduation in May. Everyone received helpful guidance on how to make their LinkedIn profiles stand out and truly reflect their skill sets and interests.