JULIA TIERNAN/YH The football team boasts an alumni network of thousands.

Alumni networking helps athletes look beyond sports

Some Yalies can count on more than just the Yale name to help them land a job this spring. Several sports teams have strong alumni associations through which their athletes can contact alumni for jobs and career advice.

Defensive back Ben Blake, PC '00, who is searching for jobs in various fields, appreciates having an association of 3,400 members, the largest among Yale team alumni associations, to rely on. "Most of the alumni who are established in companies more often than not are willing to help you out," Blake said. "Some alumni give numbers and names to call. It helps in getting an interview." Former coxswain Charlie Lozner, SM '99, an investment banking analyst at Lazard Frere, said, "I was fortunate enough to have an ex-rower help me out in the job hunt."

Last year's men's hockey captain Keith McCullough, BR '99, has also reaped the benefits of a tight alumni association and is now eager to help out current hockey players. "I'd help [hockey players] with their resumes, show them a day on the trading floor," McCullough, a sales and trading analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, said. "The program gave so much to us. Once you're out of the game, you want to give back."

Hockey players have a program whereby they can call up alumni who work in various fields. The hockey team also has a Big Brothers program that "serves as a sounding board" for juniors at Yale, according to McCullough.

Football coach Jack Siedlecki attributed the eagerness of alumni to help current players to many factors, among them his legendary predecessor, Carm Cozza, and the remarkable turnaround that the team has recently experienced. "For 32 years, this team had the same head football coach," Siedlecki said. "This created a tremendous loyalty that lasted beyond Yale." He pointed out that the success of athletes such as quarterback Joe Walland, TD '00, in the job search is "a reality of being on the team and having the year that we had. There are some very high-profile kids [in the athletic community]."

While men's hockey coach Tim Taylor also confirmed that his team has a dedicated group of alumni, he added that the network is not a formal one. "Although there is no formal business network of former hockey players offering jobs to graduating seniors, our hockey alums are a close knit group and more than willing to help," he said. "There is a strong sense of family among hockey alumni which is very healthy."

Not all athletes use alumni resources in obtaining a job, though. A former rower who now works at a major investment bank and wished to remain anonymous said, "In terms of an alumni network I have never really experienced one. As for an informal network, I haven't had any contact with anyone I rowed with while I was in college since I graduated." For other athletes, as with many Yalies, finding a job is not a matter of preferential treatment, but rather of utilizing existing contacts. "You're helping your friends, who all happen to play hockey," McCullough said.

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