It was 2009 when Skidmore’s Parents Council, Career Development Center, and Alumni Relations Office partnered on the first-ever Career Jam.

The premise was for students and mentors to connect during the College's largest on-campus networking.  Held at the start of Celebration Weekend, the event enabled visiting parents to offer time and expertise concerning their various career paths.   The initiative has since grown, with some parents returning as mentors long after their students have graduated, plus alumni and employer contributions.   In a dec Career Jam resulted in thousands of students making long-lasting connections that have even led to job and internships and referrals.

With past events packing hundreds of students on the top floor of Murray Aikins, it was inevitable 2020's Career Jam would be different. 

“September arrived and with all the many changes to our campus lives, we realized that for the first time in 11 years we could not hold an in-person Career Jam," said Kim Crabbe, Associate Dean of the Career Development Center.   "Yet, the CDC team quickly reimagined a new, virtual Career Jam that would be held over five days featuring a different career community each day. The silver lining in this new format allowed parents and alumni from all over the country and the world to meet, network, guide, and support students in our new virtual reality without ever having to step foot on campus.  The students loved it!”

Each day focused on the office’s industry- specific career communities: Arts, Media & Communications, Government & Law, Business & Finance, Health & Biomedical Sciences, and Education & Social Impact.

Sample of mentors/companies.

Students from a variety of majors joined Grammy winner Julianne Jordan '91, music supervisor and owner of the largest collective of supervisors in Los Angeles.   Julianne was joined by Emmy winner Nathan Barr '95, a television and film composer.  Both based on the west coast, the virtual format enabled students to network with mentors they may not have had access to otherwise.

As a bonus, Nathan invited musician Harry Ricoleo '18 to join the session.  Harry had reached out to Nathan during his senior year at Skidmore, in part because of how much he had enjoyed his film scoring class. 

"I probably emailed 30 different people and received no replies before reaching out to Nathan," said Harry. 

Lucky for Harry, Nathan did reply to Harry's emails.  It was a busy time for Nathan, and the two began working on various projects the summer after Harry's senior year.  Nathan shared that Hary demonstrated tremendous talent and was proactive in alleviating the stress of his colleagues.  The timing was right for Nathan to ask Harry to work with him further. 

 

 

Melissa

 

Cerri and Marc