I must say, I used to be a doubter of
USC. You see, I went to UCLA for undergrad and I think I was just brainwashed into thinking that you can't spell SUCK without the letters
USC. However, after going there for grad school, I finally realize that
USC is actually pretty great and has helped me way more than UCLA ever will!
First, there's the alumni network. The nickname for this network is called the "Trojan Mafia." And it's SO true. Whatever company you're interested in, you can look it up on the Alumni network and find someone there who went to
USC and is willing to have an informational interview with you. I thought it was crazy that in business school they told us that you could cold call the alums at these companies to ask them about their jobs etc. I totally thought that if someone did that to me, I'd hang up on them! But after meeting all these really helpful and nice alums who are always saying that they want to help you, I've drank the
Kool-Aid and will totally help anyone who is a fellow Trojan and asking for help...and sign off on my emails with a "Fight On!"
Second, the
USC Alumni network also has a lot of events. Since I've moved up North, I've been going to the monthly
USC Alumni lunches to build up my network and meet new people...it's totally helped in that I've met a lot of helpful people who have set me up with meetings with a lot of different people who I would not have met otherwise. I've gotten a few leads for jobs too, but in the current job market, a few = a lot!
Most recently, I went to a "
USC Pink Slip Mixer" up in the city. It's pretty obvious, but this event was basically a mixer put on by the career center at
USC business school for alums who are looking for work. They had career coaches who would take a look at your resume and give you tips, and throughout the night, they also had two seminars as well. I went to one of the seminars...it was 45 minutes long and I don't remember what the seminar was called, but the point I took away from it was that you have to let go of doubt, fear and worry in order to find happiness in your career, no matter what point you were at. I thought about it and it's hard to imagine, but when you don't work for a while, but want to, you DO have a lot of doubt, fear and worry! For instance, I doubt that I can find a job, I fear that if I do find a job I'll hate it and I worry about this cycle incessantly! It's ironic but it's true! Anyway, the point is I finally realized this and I'm really going to be more conscious of this in the future and be more optimistic because in the end, because there were over 200 people who went to this event, I realized that there are a lot of people in my situation and the best we can all do is stay positive!
Well, now that I've finally realized what a valuable asset my Trojan network is, I'd like to take this moment to apologize to my friend Louisa. Louisa went to
USC for undergrad and we backpacked in Europe together for a few weeks back in 1998. Everything was going great until on a train from Geneva to Milan, we got into a screaming match about
USC vs. UCLA....FOOTBALL. We scared the shit out of an old couple who were like um, we like Ohio State and then quickly scrambled out of our train compartment. We spent a day together in Milan and a day together in Florence PISSED at each other but still hanging out and shopping and eating for 24/7 without speaking to each other. In retrospect, it's hilarious, because in over 20 years of knowing each other this was our ONLY fight...but I'd still like to apologize...you were right about the football, and I guess you were right about
USC too...it's great!
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