How the Magner Center Can Help Alumni
Brooklyn College alumni may use the services of the Magner Career Center, but services are limited based on when you graduated. The Alumni Usage Terms and Conditions provides information on accessing services like résumé feedback, advice on a career path changes, and networking opportunities.
Alumni with portal accounts can access additional information and register for Hire BC via the Career tab on the BC WebCentral Portal. Alumni who do not have a portal account (those who graduated before 2004), please request an account or call 718.951.5696 to register with the center.
Career Development with the Office of Alumni Engagement
The Office of Alumni Engagement hosts career events and seminars focused on professional development. During these sessions, you'll hear from experts on how to sharpen your skills and grow your career. Visit their page to view upcoming sessions.
Magner Career Center Services
- Résumé and Cover Letter: Improve your marketing documents to increase your chance of landing an interview. Review our Quick Reference Guide to Résumés and Cover Letters. If you graduated within a year and want resume review, available only during the academic intersessions (summer or January), complete this form: tinyurl.com/magnercareerctrforalumni and email careernews@brooklyn.cuny.edu after completion.
- Online Job Posting System: Utilize Brooklyn College's own job and internship database, Hire BC.
- Gain access via the "career" tab of the portal. If you do not have an account, e-mail Rachel for further instructions on accessing Hire BC. Note that postings are mostly entry-level.
- Once you register and update your profile, the Career Center can notify you when a job or internship that relates to your major or career interests is posted.
- Brooklyn College's Job Fairs: Attend our Job Fairs, offered twice a year (fall and spring) and other off-site fairs.
- Career Events, Workshops, and Information Sessions: Most events are focused on entry level roles or internships. Employers hosting the event may have specific requirements for who attends as well. Generally, these events are for currently enrolled students. If the topic is applicable to alumni and space is available, we will open it up to graduates of Brooklyn College. To ensure we are reaching the right audience, there will be events that are not the right fit for some students or alumni.
- Career Counseling:
- If you graduated within a year and want to meet with a career coach during the academic intersessions (summer or January), complete this form: tinyurl.com/magnercareerctrforalumni and email careernews@brooklyn.cuny.edu after completion.
- Alumni who graduated more than a year ago are not eligible for one-on-one career services and résumé feedback sessions, but they can attend our job fairs, access HireBC, and attend workshops (space permitting).
- Although we may not be able to provide career coaching services to alumni, we suggest to those who would like professional guidance to reach out to Geffen Careers. Amy Geffen is a Brooklyn College alumna who has done workshops for the center. She has more than 30 years of experience in management, nonprofits, and education. She has worked with professionals in finance, engineering, IT, academe, marketing, and publishing. We encourage alumni to do research and make their own decision in regards to whether to utilize her services.
Resources Outside of Brooklyn College (Free and Fee-based)
- iRelaunch: IRelaunch provides innovative products and services for professionals seeking to return to work after a hiatus and for employers recruiting from this talent pool. Known for offering paid re-entry internship programs for returning professionals.
- AARP Work Search: AARP focuses on the 50+ population and those generations that follow. Excellent resources including career-related tutorials, videos, and information on the full scope of a job search from career assessments and career change to writing a résumé and interviewing successfully.
- New York Public Library: Job Search Central through the New York Public Library offers free career counseling, workshops, and job search resources. A gem in the heart of New York!
- Baruch Alumni Career Seminars: Baruch College (CUNY) offers alumni career seminars on a wide variety of career related topics for a nominal fee. Open to the public!
- Brooklyn Public Library Lynda: Brooklyn Public Library cardholders can access Lynda.com for free.
- Brooklyn Public Library Business & Career Services: Central Library's Business & Career Center offers a wide variety of resources, services, and programs to help you on your career journey.
Networking and Job Search
- LinkedIn is the largest professional networking site available today and is critical as part of your job search efforts. Exchange knowledge, seek employment opportunities, and utilize as a research tool. Offers excellent tutorials on topics from creating a stellar profile, the best way to outreach to colleagues, and how to find employment via the site.
- Meetup brings people together in thousands of cities to do more of what they want to do in life. Find a meetup group that is focused on the industry/career you are interested in and network with like- minded people.
- CUNY Meetup, as part of CUNY Central's Career Success Initiative, brings CUNY's community of students, faculty, alumni, and friends front and center in New York City's emerging and growth focused sectors. CUNY Community members can connect to, gain insight about, and be inspired by NYC's innovation culture.
- WorkForce1 is a service provided by the NYC Department of Small Business Services that prepares and connects candidates to job opportunities in New York.
- Professional Associations: A professional association is an organization formed to unite and inform people who work in the same occupation. There are associations for nearly every profession or area of interest and many have national, state, and regional chapters available to join. Whether you are looking to learn about job postings in your field, network in your professional community, gain access to current events in your career area, or just have some fun while meeting new people, joining a professional association is a step in the right direction. Research online or contact alumni and other professionals within your area of interest to find the most engaged and productive associations to join.
- For more detail on how to find a job, visit Brooklyn College's InfoCentral.
Online Job Search Websites
Industry and Employer Research
- Glassdoor: Get a free inside look at more than 21,000 companies as well as job postings and information about salaries in different geographical locations. Glassdoor also allows you to see ratings and comments about thousands of companies from anonymous present or former employees of those companies. What better way to learn about the culture of a place where you may be thinking of working?
- Vault: There's a reason Fortune recently called Vault "the best place on the Web to prepare for a job search." Job seekers, students, and professionals have discovered that Vault is the Internet's ultimate destination for insider career and education information. Alumni can access this program for free through the Career tab on Brooklyn College WebCentral.
Alumni ID Card
An additional resource that might help you as a job-seeker is requesting an Alumni ID card. The ID card allows access to the Brooklyn College Library and Library Café and is free (though replacement cards are $5). It also offers other benefits such as discounts at the college bookstore and the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts.
