The Kenyon Career Network

A Kenyon degree is forever; so is the network! Explore the power of a Kenyon education beyond the classroom, whether you’re a student or graduate, by connecting with passionate alumni and parent volunteers eager to make career introductions and to offer professional advice. 

Mentors on the Kenyon Career Network (KCN) provide information about their careers, industries, workplaces, geographic regions or the pursuit of advanced degrees. Coming soon in January 2019, a new KCN platform (powered by Wisr) will launch, making these connections even easier. Soon students and alumni will be able to search by a more detailed list of mentorship support, including: resume reviews; mock interviews; advice on developing career-related skills; job shadow opportunities; and homestay offers. Even more, the new KCN platform will also offer affinity-based digital communities. With one click you’ll soon be able to join discussions on professional topics in “Communities” based on an athletic or club affiliation, industry, diversity group, academic major or any other area of common interest. Here are just some ways students and alumni can make the most out of the Kenyon Career Network:

• Learn more about the career fields that interest you.
• Learn the procedures for applying for a job in a particular field.
• Develop contacts with other professionals in a given industry or at a company of interest.
• Make contact with individuals who have the responsibility for interviewing and hiring candidates.
• Become more comfortable with networking and informational interviews.
• Identify potential Job Shadow Sponsors for 1-5 days of job shadowing.
• Get advice on what kinds of internships are most popular in certain industries.

Find a mentor

Students: The Kenyon Career Network is currently housed in Symplicity. Log into Symplicity with your Kenyon single sign-on credentials.  You will see "Kenyon Career Network" on the left hand side. Once in that module, you can search for potential mentors by location, employer, industry and more.  In January, you’ll be invited to join the new KCN platform, where reaching out to alumni and parent mentors will be even easier, and where robust discussions about your area(s) of interest will be waiting for your contribution in the new “Communities” section.

Alumni: For now, if you want to access the current KCN list, email cdo@kenyon.edu to request a Symplicity account, then use the email address and password combination emailed to you to log into the system. If you already have your account information, just click the purple button on the top right of this page to log in. Once in the system, you can update your home address information, username and password under the “Profile” module in the purple toolbar at the top. To update your KCN profile--the information that students can see--click on the “Kenyon Career Network” module to access the tab "My Profile." From October through December 2018, the new KCN platform roll out will be to alumni only. Our goal is to get alumni accounts populated before we invite students to join in January 2019. During this window, we also encourage you to sign up on the new platform when you receive the e-invitation. That way you can also network with alumni as they join the platform, and start discussion groups in different digital “Communities” with a specific industry or other affinity-based focus.

Become a kcn mentor

During the fall semester of 2018, you will be e-invited to join the new KCN platform. Using your LinkedIn account, your profile can be auto-populated. With just a few clicks you can select the ways you’d like to help, the industries  which you’d like to provide advice on, and the digital community discussions you’d like to join. Just like that your account will be up and running. This whole process takes about a minute or two. Come January, students will be able to search for you by your expertise or preferred type(s) of mentorship support. When they email you or request a call, it will all be through the platform so you won’t need to share any contact information. Also, after initially signing up, you don’t have to return to the platform to check for mentorship requests, as everything will be forwarded to your email inbox, where you can also reply from. Similarly, call requests will be auto-arranged through a provided conference line. From October through December 2018 things may be quiet on the platform while we get ready for students to join in January 2019. That said, other alumni (including recent graduates) who join the new platform over the fall will be able to connect with you in these same ways as soon as they sign up.

Please note: The Kenyon Career Network is not tied to the Alumni Directory. To access the full alumni directory, visit: http://alumni.kenyon.edu. If you have never logged in before, please email Jessica Stricker at strickerj@kenyon.edu in the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement.