Award: Bronze

Institution: Northwestern University

Title of Entry: 'Cats Career and Wellness Chats

About this Entry: By mid-April 2020, the Northwestern University Alumni Association career advancement team had determined that our regularly scheduled list of in-person summer programming would need to be postponed. We learned that large numbers of our students would not be starting jobs or internships and even larger numbers of alumni would be out of work due to the global pandemic. To meet these difficulties we developed a strategy to provide targeted digital programming for these groups, both to assist them in pivoting from original work plans or current employment, and to assist them in taking care of themselves and their loved ones. Our aim was to invite alumni and students to engage digitally with a diverse group of alumni experts across 4 distinct sectors: Your Well-being, Job. Search, Skill Building, and Industry. We recorded the programs, and ensured that the transcripts matched the spoken words to make the programming more accessible.

Between May and August, we hosted 14 ‘Cats Career and Wellness Chats. Topics ranged from the Digital Divide (how the poor in the U.S., and those in isolated areas, lack the necessary resources to permit their children to learn in a virtual setting) to an Interview Masterclass; from Salary Negotiation to Self-Love. Across the 14 events, we engaged 2,368 registrants with1,205 participants attending the events live.