The Bates Connection

You always hear stories about how helpful Bates’ alumni networks can be when searching the job market, but I never thought it was true. Yet, this summer I put the Bates’ alumni network to the ultimate test. As, you may have gathered from my previous posts, I am living in Portland this summer in a house with 5 other Bates students and am working part-time for Bates. Clearly, one part-time job isn’t enough to pay for rent, food, and gas. So, I decided to pick up a second job.

I dropped off a few applications at some restaurants close to home. But if it is already the first week in June, my guess is most of those kind of summer jobs have been snatched up. I decided then that I would work a Bates angle for scoring a summer job. I remembered hearing that the owner of Allagash Brewing Co. was a Middlebury alumnus and the Master Brewer there was Bates alumnus. I decided to roll my dice and see what an email, some sharp writing, and a Bates plug could do for me. Sure enough, upon writing one email to the Master Brewer, I get a response that says (to paraphrase) “You’re a Bates kid? You need some cash? Come in on Friday at 8am!”

Literally, that’s all it took. I now how an easy good paying part time job at a brewery where I am both learning brewing skills and hearing about what Bates use to be like “back in the day.”

Using the Bates connection in the job market worked like a charm, and I will never again underestimate its powers.

-Graham

Here’s a pic of the outside of the brewery in Portland where at the last minute I scored a summer job through a Bates alumnus.