Hello, LAUS community! Some long-time readers might remember me from entries on this blog last spring, and some newer readers might recognize my name from the comments section from time to time. For readers that don’t know me, I’m a May 2010 graduate, the former President of the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council, and deeply interested in Penn State’s present and future.

When I was a student in my last three or four semesters, I remember thinking about how much I wanted to know what to do next. I knew what I needed to do as a student to graduate, and I had spoken with alumni and professionals that gave suggestions for how to behave once I was settled into a workplace world. But what about the time bridging those two periods in my life? What should I do to position myself to find a job I wanted while I was still in school so I wouldn’t have to worry during and after graduation? What do entry level positions look like, and how can I find them?  What things – good or bad – are potential employers going to look for from my time at Penn State? Though your questions might be different, I think everyone has some questions – especially in the College of the Liberal Arts, where we’re trained to ask things and think about our future selves and communities.

Now that I’m in a position to answer some of those questions (or attempt to answer, at least), I wanted to “rejoin” the LAUS online community and try to provide insight that I think only very recent alumni can. I consider this sort of an introductory entry and, if the good staff of Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies is willing to put up with me, I hope to contribute regularly – I hope that you aren’t shy with your questions.

I accepted an offer before I graduated and started in June. I work in the political world in Washington, DC, but I’m far from a political operative (no, I’m not one of the people they quote anonymously on politico.com). I do technical and social media work for a non-profit organization that works with political campaigns. I had a very wide range of exposure to different opportunities, and I think I can answer general and specific questions. If anyone is after unique information that I don’t have, I bet I can find the answer from friends that graduated with different degrees and career plans.

I view this as an opportunity to create a back-and-forth style community through the blog. I am easily reachable on Twitter (@smloewner) and the comments section. You may also email me at sam.loewner@gmail.com.  Once you find a way to get questions to me, I’ll try to answer them specifically and then, if you don’t mind, I can compile some of them together and generate a post out of it.

Even in just the past year or so, I’ve seen many of the “moving parts” of the life-just-after-graduation world. There’s job-searching, networking, resumes, cover letters, internships, relocating to different cities, career research, and much more. I think we can take questions on any of those topics.  

So, Penn Staters, what’s first?