Letter to the Editor
Conversation
Brother Clarkson, it was very interesting to read the excellent article, “Bridging the Skills Gap,” Page 54, Summer 2016 issue of “The Delta.” It supplements one of Eta Gamma’s (Georgia State) new alumni programs.
In the Hall of Honor and Alumni Chapter of Eta Gamma, we understand the need for graduates to be effective on day one of employment.So we started our Alumni Career Coaching Program last fall, pairing students with alumni in their career fields. We were fortunate to have Andrew Pace, #516 to serve as Chairman of this new program and Charles McDonald, #92 to be Co-Chairman.
Andrew and Charles have done an excellent job, as noted by the Active Chapter in your same issue in “Alumni and Chapter News,” page 28. Plus, we received excellent support from student leaders, headed by then Commander Thomas Lindsey and now by new Commander Juan Patino. We have updated our activity and can report now that 40 active Brothers have met with Alumni Career Coaches. All reports have been positive and seven students have found part-time or intern jobs that are much more meaningful to their career objectives. Let’s face it, waiting on tables is nice to bring in pocket money, but not something that adds to the strength of one’s resume to send to potential employers.
Now we will attempt to apply some of the suggestions from your article to improve our endeavors. We do believe that we have the right approach, for example, to pair a law student with an alumnus successfully practicing law. The program has met with much enthusiasm from the Active Chapter and its leadership.
We would like to share details with other alumni chapters so we can compare notes to benefit all alumni career programs so we can better help all Sigma Nu students get meaningful jobs. We will report back in a couple of months about inter-chapter progress. Contact Andrew Pace so we can start a dialogue: drewpace@aol.com
Ronald K. Hill (Georgia State)