In the past year, our college life has gone almost entirely virtual, making it much harder for students to stay in touch with campus resources. To counteract this disconnect, Sonoma State’s departments are having to be creative with the tools that they are giving students to create interaction and engagement.

The Sonoma State Career Center is one of many agencies on campus that are utilizing online platforms such as Zoom and Canvas Toolkit. The Career Center helps students with career exploration, resumes and cover letters, preparing for interviews, graduate school exploration, and finding jobs after their time at SSU.

One way that the Career Center is exploring online options is through Alumni Instagram Takeovers. This is a way for Sonoma State graduates to show off their post-grad careers. Alumni are sharing about their career pathways, challenges that they have overcome in the workforce and other important advice.

Sonoma State senior, Bella McGreevy, currently works on-campus for Seawolf Living and is the interviewer for the Q&A live portion of the takeover. McGreevy stated, “I personally benefit from the alumni takeovers because being able to be the one who asks the questions for the Q&A’s allows me to build a more personal connection with the alumni so they know my name and can possibly meet with them again after the takeover.”

On Thursday Feb. 11, Katie McDonagh, SSU Class of 2014 alumni, took the virtual stage of the Career Center’s Instagram story. McDonagh shared informative advice about the job search after college, fond memories of her time at Sonoma State and took followers through her day-to-day life.

After working as a marketing consulting company in New York, McDonagh now resides in San Francisco and works as a Marketing Manager for Facebook.

“I think it’s a really cool intersection of creativity and problem solving,” McDonagh said in an Instagram live interview. “You have to be able to take learnings and come up with strategies and solutions based on those learnings.”

During the takeover, McDonagh took us through her daily routine, working from home. She also heavily discussed her time as a Seawolf and her involvement at SSU. “Extracurriculars really give you a chance to go beyond what you learn in the classroom,” she said.

“I always talk about the STAR as being my most important experience.” During her senior year, McDonagh was the editor-in-chief of the STAR, which taught her lessons that she uses in her current profession. A few noteworthy skills that she mentioned were the ability to distill complex information, working with different people and vendors, and meeting strict deadlines.

As a Communications major and Business minor, McDonagh was a busy student as she had her hand in several different projects. She interned with the School of Business and Economics, which gave networking connections that impacted her post-grad job search.

When asked about how her college experiences broadened her networking, McDonagh said, “The biggest success I got from networking was through my internship.” She went on to explain how professors involved in the internship led her to meet future employers. McDonagh still stays in touch with those who impacted her time at Sonoma State. “In general, I’m still connected to a lot of alumni on LinkedIn, but also just keeping in touch with some professors that I got along really well with.”

McDonagh packed the Instagram Live full of lessons and guidance for SSU students to watch. A lasting piece of advice from McDonagh is, “Set yourself up for success and do what you can to immerse yourself in learning. Talk to a lot of people. Do your own research on what is happening.”

The Career Center’s efforts to broadcast alumni’s advice to current students gives hope during an unsteady college life during the pandemic. “These alumni have had a lot of experience in many fields of work and give great insight about what it is like finding a job after graduation,” Bella McGreevy says. “ It’s great to hear their advice and learn about different careers.”

The Career Center is planning more takeovers in the future to showcase alumni’s lives in various occupations and fields. To learn more about alumni takeovers, visit http://career.sonoma.edu.